The Perfect Escape (The Perfect Escape #1) - Suzanne Park Page 0,30
stick together.”
Zach spoke. “That sounds like it belongs on the periodic table of elements. Lardium.” Snorting hard, he pushed up his glasses to the bridge of his nose using his index finger, in a nerdy, yet nonironic way. Then he hiked up his pants, which were weighed down from his thick leather belt, which was in turn weighed down by all the shit he attached to it, like his clip-on phone holster, his carabiner key ring, and the chain attached to the wallet in his front pants pocket. It deters pickpocketing, he’d say every time we teased him about it. He was right. No one ever tried to steal his Velcro wallet. It was like he was wearing a waist-size leather charm bracelet on his hips, dangling his loser charms.
“All right, I’m situated,” he announced with a definitive nod.
“Okay then, let’s roll!” I battle-cried, realizing only after I said it that I’d made the world’s worst skate pun. Jaxon shook his head as we walked to the entrance.
There were maybe twenty kids our age ahead of us in line, most of them in the “two or more Teslas per household” demographic. A lot of them had pairs of brand-new skates casually thrown over their shoulders. Some even had translucent sports wheels. For roller skates? Really?
All around us, people wore ’80s-style clothes. Headbands, sweatbands, tube socks, fingerless gloves, and lots and lots of zippers.
“Was this supposed to be a costume party?” Zach asked.
Jaxon shrugged. “I dunno, I heard about this from a friend of an online friend, remember?”
“So, basically a complete stranger.” I sighed.
“Yup.”
Zach hoisted his belt a little higher and fished his wallet from his pocket. “I think I only have a twenty on me. I hope there’s no cover charge.” He tore open the Velcro and peeked inside. “Maybe only ten actually.” He pulled out a tattered bill and examined it.
Someone’s hand fluttered down and snatched the ten-dollar bill away from Zach. “Finders keepers,” a familiar voice giggled.
Annie stood behind us, smiling sheepishly, wearing a neon-sweatshirt-type thing that hung off her shoulder.
“That’s not how finders keepers works,” Zach growled, snatching it back. “What you did is stealing.”
“Touché.” She broke into a wide grin. “I was just messing with ya. Sorry, Grandpa Zachary.”
Jaxon looked up from his phone. “That’s Grandma Zach to you. Hey, I heard you dumped that asshole soccer team cocaptain, good riddance to El Co-Capitan Loser. You slumming it with us today?”
Her mouth fell wide open, even though she knew as well as anyone that Jaxon was one of the school’s biggest gossips, and nothing was a secret at our school between us friends. He participated in both the free market and black market for Clyde Hill dirty secrets. He was a walking TMZ.
“Wellllll,” Annie said, drawing the word out and rolling her eyes, “he was a competitive dick who sulked when I beat him at anything.”
We nodded because we all knew the type. Our school was full of them.
She continued. “He ate less than me, even though he was like fifty pounds heavier. It really bothered me that when I’d eat my whole meal, he’d take half of his home. He said it was because he had to watch his weight for wrestling, but whatever.” Her shoulders slumped, and she let out the saddest sigh. “I always pick the wrong guy.”
Again, we all nodded. She always did.
She elbowed me gently. “Enough about my love life. What’s going on with you? I haven’t seen you in a while. You look different. Like, happier or something.”
I let out a nervous laugh an octave higher than usual. “Not much, just school, college applications, after-school stuff, work—”
Jaxon interrupted, “He’s being modest. And boring. He’s been busy inventing, writing business plans, learning how to choke people using his bare hands, hanging out with girls.” He really emphasized that last part.
Annie shot me another surprised look, which offended me a little. Was it really that hard to believe?
My ears burned with embarrassment. “You skate much before?” I asked, turning the conversation away from me. “My goal is