“Wait,” Zuriya called out.
The group was still standing in front of the cafeteria doors. Michael worried that cafeteria attendants would overhear them; the doors weren’t exactly soundproof, and she was pretty loud. They’d never make it to the tech lab if they suspected anything amiss. It was a long walk if he remembered correctly. And they only had about thirty more minutes left before the next bell rang. There was no time to waste on unnecessary conversations.
Asante was already walking towards the classrooms when Zuriya stopped everyone. He paused mid-step, glanced back, and waited for her response. Zuriya didn’t answer right away. She looked conflicted but remained silent. Asante looked confused by her interruption but more annoyed with her hesitation. His face showed that he, too, didn’t want to waste any more time.
“What?” he asked.
“You want us to go all the way back down there? We’ll be late for gym next period. What if the teachers notice?”
“It shouldn’t take long if we hurry,” Asante answered.
“But, wait.”
“What now?” he asked again.
“W-why don’t we just talk in the library? We can just sit far away from everyone else.”
Michael and Asante glanced at each other. Both seemed confused and annoyed by the situation. But David sided with Zuriya and came to stand next to her.
“She’s right. They’ll know something’s up.”
“We may be a few minutes late. Plus, gym never starts on time,” Michael answered.
He walked next to Asante, preparing to head towards the lab again, when Zuriya shouted again.
“Wait.”
“What is it?!” Michael and Asante asked.
Zuriya looked shocked by how they responded and even took a step back.
“Relax,” David said.
“It’s just…are you really asking us to go back down there? We could all get into a lot of trouble.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be as bad if we hadn’t wasted so much time standing here,” Michael retorted. “If we’d left immediately, we could have been nearly there already.”
“Tha-that’s not the point. Why can’t we just tell someone? Let them handle…whatever is really down there.”
Michael hadn’t noticed before, but he could tell Zuriya was really afraid. David constantly kept trying to keep her calm. He must have picked up on it faster than they could. Michael glanced over at LaNiye. She was quiet as usual. But once their eyes met, she averted her gaze towards the ground. He looked back at David. Even though they had escaped being taken with Dr. Reed, he hadn’t really thought about how terrified they all must have been. And the thought of returning to that place must be equally scary.
“No one has to come if they don’t want to,” Asante said.
“Yeah, if you’re so scared, Zuriya, just head to the library then,” Michael added.
“Shut up, Michael. I’m being completely serious,” she snapped back.
A student walking down the hall jerked their head towards their little group. Now, it was his turn to be taken aback. What was that reaction for? He hadn’t meant anything negative by it. He just thought they could wait there for the bell, then head to class if it was so important. He and Asante would go to the lab to look for clues. Just standing there in the hallway, they were beginning to look more and more suspicious.
But her face did reflect her seriousness. Gone was her cheerful look when they first met, but the deeply troubled look she had earlier in class was also gone. Now, she only looked angry.
“We’re just kids. This shouldn’t be our responsibility. We need to tell a grownup.”
“And what if the person is somehow connected to what happened to Dr. Reed?” Michael asked.
“This is real life. You can’t believe that everyone is out to get you in the real world,” David answered. “Maybe the adults will know what to do or who to contact.”
That was a giant ‘maybe’ to rely on. But Michael didn’t want to take that risk. He already didn’t trust those who were supposed to uphold the law. Those who were supposed to protect the innocent and weak were sometimes the very ones who put them in danger in the first place. If it hadn’t been for LaNiye, those guards would have taken him and Asante to wherever they took their teacher. He wondered if Zuriya or David had been down there instead of her, would they have left him to get kidnapped? Maybe it was best to leave them out of it.
But they know their teacher was taken against his will. And now, suddenly, everyone says he requested a vacation? That had to be a red flag. He may need help. And if they were going to have any chance at that, then they needed to move quickly. They would need more information about him and the guys he was working with. The lab had to be the best place to start.
“Look. Just do what you want to do. But we’re going to the lab,” Michael said, walking away.
“You’re going to get us all in trouble again,” Zuriya shouted.
“You’re not even involved.”
“Why are you so eager? Aren’t you worried about getting expelled?”
“Yeah. Didn’t Principal Mays say you were only one offense away?” David added.
“Yeah, so what?”
“What do you mean?” Zuriya said, raising her voice. “You could be expelled. Shouldn’t you at least be worried about that?”
“Nope.”
“But why?!”
Zuriya’s angry expression became one of pure confusion. She started pacing, her hands messily running through her hair like she was going to short-circuit. Michael looked at David and LaNiye. Both looked concerned, but neither made any move towards her. Guess they didn’t know what to do either.
Maybe he was asking too much of them. Regardless of what they had experienced together, they were still strangers. And he was asking them to go against their better instincts.
“We saw the kidnapping. Dr. Reed couldn’t have asked for leave. Not willingly.”
“You don’t know that,” David said.
“No. Not for sure. But I’m not going to wait around for evidence to fall from the sky. I’m going to the lab to get some kind of an answer.”
Zuriya stopped pacing and turned to LaNiye.
“What do you think? You’ve been pretty quiet.”
LaNiye looked between Zuriya and Michael. She looked stuck, like she was having an entire conversation inside her head. Her face kept shifting between the two. Each time she turned her head, she looked sadder. Michael thought that she might start to tear up.
“Um…I-I don’t really know,” she said, “I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Exactly,” Zuriya said.
She stood beside her, attempting to put an arm around the girl’s shoulders. But LaNiye instantly pushed her away. Zuriya once again looked confused. LaNiye, realizing what she’d done, looked apologetic. But she continued talking.
“Sorry. I just…I also don’t think that we shouldn’t do anything at all.”
“We can tell the principal. Or an officer. Or a—”
“We don’t know who to trust,” Michael interrupted.
“This isn’t a movie. You can trust the grownups and police,” Zuriya snapped back.
Michael couldn’t tell if she was being serious. Did she really think that all adults were there to protect her?
“What about the adults who chased us out of here last night?” He asked, “Do you think they’d listen to us?”
“Calm down, Michael,” David intervened, moving to Zuriya’s side.
“Why do you always feel like you have to protect her?”
“Because you’re going too far. She’s just voicing an opinion. Your making fun of her is not fair.”
“Life’s not fair. And maybe she should learn that.”
“Well, not everyone has to live YOUR life.”
“What was that?” Michael asked.
He started approaching David, who was now standing up straight. He stood in front of Zuriya, blocking her from Michael. Did he really just take a jab at me, like Lance did? Michael felt his anger swell up again. He balled his fists and took a step towards David.
“STOP!” LaNiye shouted.
She looked surprised when the hallways suddenly became quiet. She walked over and stood next to Asante and Michael. Zuriya seemed to look hurt. Does she really feel so betrayed?
“I-I want to go to the lab,” she said.
“LaNiye, you don’t—”
“No one is making me do anything, David. I really do want to go.”
“You’re going to get in trouble,” David stated.
“I still want to go,” LaNiye answered.
“We’ll tell the principal,” Zuriya warned, “She’ll stop you.”
“Tell me what, exactly?”
All five students froze in place. Michael turned and saw their principal standing behind them. How long had she been there? How much had she heard? She looked down at the group with her arms crossed. No one said anything.
“Well, Zuriya, what did you want to tell me?”
Zuriya looked ashamed. From the way she cowered in front of the principal, Michael thought she must have been bluffing about revealing their plans to her. But just in case, he thought he’d give her the chance.
“Go on, Zuriya,” he said.
Principal Mays gave him a stern look but returned her focus to Zuriya. She waited for her response.
“Umm…we were going t-to tell you about…”
“About our plans…to request a free period for STEM CLUB,” LaNiye interjected.
Michael was surprised by LaNiye’s quick thinking. Principal Mays turned to her, then back to Zuriya. It was a good lie, but he could tell she didn’t believe them. His classmates weren’t experienced enough to lie to adults face-to-face. Plus, she had that face that grownups got when they knew children were lying. And all the hesitation didn’t help their case.
Principal Mays shifted her gaze toward LaNiye. “Is that so?”
“Since Dr. Reed is on leave, we wanted to ask if we could use the P.E. period to meet for the club. After all, none of us want to be expelled. And we can update Dr. Reed when he gets back.”
There was a short moment of silence. Principal Mays looked back at Zuriya.
“Is that true, Zuriya?”
Zuriya still looked frozen. She hadn’t even looked up at Principal Mays. Michael wondered why she stalled. She didn’t usually have trouble speaking her mind. She had made that quite known. This was her prime opportunity to snitch on them. Only Asante, LaNiye, and himself would get in trouble. But he saw her nod, still refusing to meet the principal’s eyes.
“Hmm. I suppose it would look good that you’re continuing your punishment.”
“But, what about the firefighters? Are they still down there?” David asked.
“They’ve completed their inspection.”
“Did they find out what was wrong?”
“They gave a detailed report to Ms. Mendoza. I believe she said it was one of the gas canisters that were left in the chemistry lab. Someone didn’t pack it away properly, and it started leaking gasoline onto the floor. The labs all have powerful ventilation for such events, but it would seem it pushed the scent into the hallways instead of outside.”
“So, are the rooms safe?” LaNiye asked.
“So long as you aren’t using the sixth-grade classrooms. All such classes have been moved into the seventh-grade classrooms since they are gone on their field trip today. But the STEM Club meets in the tech lab, so you should be fine down there.”
She turned to Asante.
“You’ll have to play the part of teacher since Dr. Reed is absent.”
“Of course. We’ll just continue on the project he had me working on. We just need to follow the manual,” Asante said.
“Very well. Permission granted,” She said, bending down and placing a hand on Zuriya’s shoulder. But still, she addressed the entire group. “If anyone needs me, feel free to come find me. I’ll be more than happy to assist.”
“Thank you,” Asante said, waving to the principal.
LaNiye also smiled and waved. David tried to smile, but it looked forced. Zuriya still refused to meet her gaze. She did lift a hand as the principal walked off. Michael was going to ask why she didn’t rat them out, but Zuriya quickly regained her composure.
“We’re just going to investigate,” she said, “And if we don’t find anything concrete, we tell Principal Mays what we saw. Agreed?”
“No,” Michael said.
“Come on. I’m trying to be diplomatic. Can’t you meet me halfway?”
“Why not just tell Principal Mays? We can get her to check it out instead,” David asked.
“Run along and try to catch her then. If you need us, we’ll be in the lab,” Michael taunted.
“Everyone ready?” Asante asked, “You don’t have to come.”
“Well, now, David and I are more likely to get into trouble if we don’t come,” Zuriya said, looking at LaNiye.
“I thought it would be better to have permission. At least now we don’t have to worry about sneaking around.”
“Nice job,” Michael said, “Didn’t expect you to be able to lie through your teeth so well.”
“I-it wasn’t really a lie,” she said.
“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with,” Zuriya demanded, marching off down the hallway.
Asante jogged ahead of her, taking the lead. LaNiye followed behind him. Michael turned to face David, trailing behind them. David looked like he wanted to say something, but Michael quickly faced the group again. He wasn’t ready to overlook David’s comment from earlier. David seemed to understand, and the two silently walked with their group.
