Chapter 2

I found myself getting caught up in the atmosphere of excitement. Even though I was still working on catching my breath, I couldn’t help but smile back. The hoodie fit me a little loosely, but I didn’t mind. It probably helped hide my frame. I had always been a scrawny guy and growing over five inches in the last year had stretched my already meager weight across an even longer body.

“Let’s boogie,” Rockett said. He had a deeper voice, and as I fell into step behind him, I realized that I was definitely the youngest person here. They were probably all third years or even further along. I felt a small flutter deep in my belly that this could be some asinine prank, but at the same time, something about this whole clandestine group felt like I could put my faith in whatever they had planned for the night. As soon as we were out of the volleyball area and in deeper shadows between Nielson and Mitchell dormitories, everyone pulled their hoods back up, Hannah and Abigail tucking their hair in as well. When in Rome, do as the Epicureans do and have a good time with new friends. I pulled my hood up and kept close to the group.

We made our way back to the quad that started this whole situation. I looked up at Wiley Tower, still lit up on the top two floors where the architecture school lived. My favorite study nook was on the floor right below them. The first nine floors all belonged to the library, and most students didn’t go to the higher levels of the library since it was all preserved archives and probably pre-dated the Dewey Decimal System.

“Ok, split up. You’re with me,” Hannah’s voice drifted from one of the hoods ahead of me. A hand grabbed mine and pulled me into a quick jog. I followed and we skirted alongside the bookstore, sticking to the deepest shadows. I lost sight of the others as they dispersed in other directions with barely a rustle. I could barely see her, but I looked at Hannah’s hand holding mine. It was warm, dry, soft, and she had a firm grip. I hoped my hand wasn’t cold, sweaty, or gross. She shifted her grip to a C with her fingers grasping mine in the same shape. I bet my hands were sweaty. I wanted to blame the mad dash across campus, but it probably had more to do with an upperclassmen girl holding my hand more than anything. I walked into the corner of the bookstore as she slipped around it and bashed my face against the concrete drywall. I groaned loudly in surprise and pain and let go of her hand to feel at my face with both hands. I didn’t feel any blood, but my nose throbbed and I knew I was going to have at least a decent bruise.

Hannah was at my side in an instant, whispering rapidly, “Oh no! Are you ok? I forget that….sorry, you just don’t know your way around yet. I am so sorry! Here, let me see,” she pulled my hands away from my face and somehow took stock of my face from her darkened hood looking into mine. “How do you feel?”

“Fine, I guess?” I gingerly touched at my face again, my hand brushing hers as she withdrew. I lowered my voice to match her.

“Take a moment and catch your breath again. We will meet up with the others soon. Get behind the building here though.”

She led me successfully around the corner this time and we leaned against the cold, rough wall. “Ok, but for real. Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I promise. It was just a surprise is all. I don’t think I busted my nose or anything.”

“You can take a hit then?” Hannah teased me. She also nudged me in the hip with her elbow.

“I guess so,” I replied with a quiet laugh. “You must sneak around campus a lot. It’s almost like you can see in the dark,” I teased back.

“Oh not yet, but maybe one day soon!” she replied with a more serious tone than I expected. “Here, let me guide you again and let’s catch up. They should be there by now and we need to be in position.” I felt her hand find my wrist and then she did that finger grip again and we were off.

I did my best to follow her steps and stay low. We snuck through a giant bush of some kind and came out behind the bookstore. I knew we were near the student center now, where the cafeteria, a few fast-food restaurants, and a few other student activity rooms were. There were lights on the far side of the student center, but on this side, all they did was throw even darker shadows across the space between the two buildings. Hannah led me to a set of concrete stairs where we left the grass and walked out onto a sloping concrete ramp. Some sort of loading dock. We moved quickly up the ramp and she stopped against what felt like a corrugated steel wall. From the other side of the wall came a tap, then three taps, then two taps. Hannah repeated the taps back and a second later it sounded like a patter of four rapid taps, as if the sender had drummed all four fingers.

A moment later the bushes were rustling quietly and then Rockett and John Willie whispered their arrival. Another few quiet moments and Abigail and John David appeared out of the gloom by their sides.

“We good?” Hannah asked.

“Both patrolmen are at the station right now,” John David said.

“The common is clear,” John Willie included.

“Splendid,” Hannah whispered. “Let’s get to it then.”

Up to this point, I had been just silently going with whatever happened. I had no idea what we were doing, and my questions finally started to spill out.

“What…” I began.

“Everything will make sense in five more minutes,” Abigail sidled up next to my right. Hannah was on my left. They pushed me forward into the darkest shadows of the loading ramp, and when we reached the bottom, I heard Rockett whisper my name from above my head. He was standing on the ledge that delivery trucks would back up to for rolling supplies directly into the delivery space.

“Give me your hand,” he said.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I raised my right hand up and I could barely see him moving to grab my hand, but his grip was like iron. He pulled me up without even pretending to try. I settled on my feet just as Hannah and Abigail scrambled up next to me. I was starting to realize I had found myself surrounded by people with a lot more secrets than they liked to scamper around campus after dark for a laugh. I was in well over my head now. I had a sudden desire to call it quits and go back to my room and just let this whole weird night come to an end. Five more minutes, Abigail had said. I could wait five more minutes, I guess.

“Here we are!” John Willie loud enough for me to hear where he was. It really was very dark. I couldn’t remember seeing the moon on my dash across campus or the walk to the quad. “Come here,” he said. I felt him grab my sleeve and pull me towards him. The others crowded in behind us. I let him place my hands on what felt like a steel bar that was connected to what felt like a door. “I’m going to count to three, and when I do, I want you to pull up on this bar as hard as you can. I’m going to be on this handle. If we get this right, then tonight, we feast!”

“What?” I asked.

“THREE!” he whisper yelled at me.

Aw screw it. I yanked hard. The handle didn’t budge, but I felt the door buckle just slightly near the top. A loud click sounded right next to my head, and the doors swung inward.

“We’re in!” John Willie announced. Muted sounds of celebration erupted behind me, and I felt multiple hands slap me on the back. Everyone moved through the door from almost complete darkness of the loading dock to the deepest inky void where I couldn’t see my hand when it was actually touching my face. I knew we in the student center now. I just had no idea why we were in there, and why we had just broken into the place. Adventure. Yay.

“Stay close,” one of the guys whispered, and yet another hand grabbed me by the arm to lead me along. I tried my best not to stumble, but this was just strange and I’d much rather be in bed. After what was probably only a minute or two, I could start to make out shapes ahead of me. The front of the student center was called the Commons and it was scattered with red metal benches and picnic tables with lights spaced evenly around the perimeter. Some of that light was spilling through the windows of the student center and I realized we were in the cafeteria. Why in the world were we in the cafeteria after midnight? I figured we were just about to run out of time on that five-minute countdown Abigail had given me.

“Come on!” I heard from behind the serving line. In the dim glow from the windows, I saw someone being hoisted up and they slid through the small window that dishes would go through on a conveyor belt to the back part of the kitchen. A moment later, a door swung open and Hannah waved at us to hurry through. Once again, I followed everyone else into yet another room that was baffling me as to why. This time, John David’s solid form moved quickly to the large walk-in freezer and with a small whumpf of released pressure, he swung the door open wide.

“Make it quick! We don’t have much time left,” he called over his shoulder.

I stood there, watching my fellow conspirators rush in. I heard them talking back and forth for a moment and then Hannah appeared in the door. “Do you like cheesecake?”

“Uhh…cheesecake?”

“Yep.”

“Sure?”

“Great!” she spun on her heel. “Yeah, that one looks great. Let’s go!”

They vacated the freezer and John David closed it behind them. He then led us back to the cafeteria eating area and Hannah closed the door behind us, but she remained in the kitchen. I heard her lock the door and then she came squeezing out of the window.

“Everyone down!” John Willie rumbled.

I took a moment to react, seeing everyone drop behind tables. A hand grabbed me and yanked me backwards where I pressed up against a column with John David at my shoulder.

“Don’t move,” he whispered in my ear.

Just then, a powerful beam of light came through the windows at the front of the building. It moved across the space I had been standing just a few seconds before. I held my breath. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see John Willie tucked under a table, cradling a large white box. I saw him trying to cover it with his dark hoodie. Hannah was plastered to the conveyer belt, her eyes glittering even in the mostly dark room. The flashlight moved over the wall above her and her eyes gleamed. She quickly closed them. I couldn’t see Abigail, but I guess she wasn’t visible because the beam of light disappeared and after a tense moment where I realized I had been holding my breath, we all crawled out of our hiding spots and quickly made our way back to the door we had entered the student center through.

“John David, you’re up,” John Willie said.

John David made a noise and then moved to press his hands against the door. He placed his ear against it next. Then he slowly leaned against the push bar and opened the door the barest inch. I couldn’t see or hear anything beyond the door. To my wonder, I realized I could see the others gathered around me. Not well, but on the way in to the building, this part of the building was completely closed off to external lights so it had been fully blacked out. Now I could just begin to…

“Ok, we’re clear. Move!” John David opened the door quickly and we all surged forward. I stayed right on Rockett’s heels as he made his way to the loading dock ramp and hopped down. He turned to help me down, but I just leaped off. My adrenaline was up again and all thoughts of bed time were long forgotten. I landed, but had misjudged the drop. I fell to my knees and my breath exploded out of me in another gasp of pain. John David had followed my jump and I felt hands grab me under my armpits and haul me to my feet.

“Careful now. Parkour lessons later,” John Willie was smiling, and still holding that big white box.

I limped up the concrete stairs, following John Willie through the bushes, and when I reached the corner of the bookstore that I had smacked my face into earlier, we pulled up to peek around the corner. John Willie pointed ahead to three disappearing figures that I recognized as Abigail, Hannah, and Rockett.

John David stepped up next to us, “Ok, so now for the second to last part. Just stay with me. No running, no skulking. Just two fellas out for a walk.”

I nodded.

John Willie smiled and said, “See you soon.” He gently shifted the box in his hands and disappeared around the corner.

“Steady as she goes,” John David softly sang, and we stepped out from the shadows and walked along the path heading away from the direction John Willie had gone. We passed Loward Auditorium and to my discomfort, took a path that led us towards the Commons. I kept my eyes peeled for the person with the light. We skirted the Commons and I could see the windows that looked into the cafeteria, but the overhead halogens cast a large glare over the windows and I realized it would have been hard to see inside.

We walked in silence for a long time. I had definitely lost track of the time. It felt very late. John David led me to the edge of campus and we followed a nature trail that led to a small opening in the trees that led to the lake where the university ski teams practiced. I had never been out this far before. Not that I had really had the time to as a first semester freshman with an overloaded schedule.

Next to the lake I saw a rustic wooden table with benches. There were five people seated there. John David and I completed the set.

“And now, for the final part of tonight,” he said. “We feast!”

Cheers broke out and Hannah took paper plates and utensils from her backpack and passed them out. John Willie opened the box and inside was a big cheesecake with the school mascot immaculately detailed across the top. Hannah passed me a knife as I reached the table.

“Care to do the honors?”

I took the knife and smiled. “Oh, yes!”