kiss and feel what was left of lock-in night’s effects on their affections. They’d never found each other so beautiful before, never enjoyed each other’s conversation or presence quite so much. Eli munched on the last of his popcorn silently, trying not to disrupt with his chewing or the creaking of his chains.
Maizey Krokic and Anwar Gomez exchanged “I love yous” for the first time, shortly after their release from the auditorium, and they spent the next few hours up on the roof making out and trying the words out on each other, over and over again, marveling at how true it felt to say them, how much they believed them.
There seemed, for a moment, for some, to be a little bit of the lock-in night magic left in the air.
* * *
So the party was on. Peejay had never doubted it for a moment. There was still the issue of the supplies, and the DJ, and the teachers now running around everywhere trying to put out fires. Some literal ones, even (the highlighter war had escalated quickly and significantly). How, exactly, the administrators would miss a party right under their noses in this state was a bridge to cross later.
As his peers rushed to feel like the night was not lost, Peejay decided to visit Marisa’s cronies and check the strength of their blockade. He wasn’t the first person to think of this. On the roof, Peejay heard that poor Eli child swear to the soccer team he had swallowed the keys. Not believing him, they rummaged through his pockets, upturned the bag he’d brought with him, checked under his tongue.
In the green room, Malik was being interrogated by teachers’ questions in a similar albeit less invasive way, and he was glancing at the novel by his side so longingly that Peejay had the urge to shoo the teachers away and throw a bedspread over Malik’s hulking form to let him read in peace. Omar Ng’s sister in the gym was so nervous looking everyone had mostly left her alone by the time Peejay arrived. He felt like the poor child might explode from nerves when he finally examined the door she was obstructing. Without tools, there was no breaking the door itself. The chains, too, were heavy and industrial looking, and even with the right tools, it’d be hard to make them come off without hurting Joy.
That left the basement.
* * *
Lolo Dufry perked up at the sound of another visitor. She was sore in so many places already, and though it was an honor to fight for the reefs alongside Marisa, she was bored out of her damn mind and wished they’d had time to set up a couch or something. Her text conversations with Joy had devolved into strings of nonsense emojis. When Lolo saw it was Peejay in the basement, a bittersweet feeling ran through her.
She was so happy to see him—she was not just immune to his charms, but considered him a close friend, had even come by the hospital a few days ago to pay her respects—but it pained her to think she’d been down there all alone while everyone else got to spend their time in Peejay’s company. When their eyes met, Peejay smiled, his face lighting up. “I should have known you were part of these shenanigans,” he said, one cheeky eyebrow raised.
Lolo gave a faux-nonchalant shrug. Then she bit her lip, dropped the facade. “Sorry about your party. I really am.”
Wonderful as he was, Lolo had seen Peejay’s mood turn in an instant, and she braced herself for his expression to turn dark. Malik had told them in their group chat about the tirade, though Lolo could tell he’d tried to sugarcoat it.
“What do you have to be sorry about?” Peejay said, walking over to some boxes stacked up by the shelves Mr. Gigs had rummaged through while looking for tools. Had they been there before? Lolo had barely noticed them, couldn’t remember if they’d been there when she and Marisa had snuck in the day before, rehearsing. Peejay grabbed the top box and lowered it to the floor, tearing open the tape on the top flaps.
He squatted on his haunches as he sorted through the cellophane-wrapped earphones Diego had managed to bring in before the literal lock-in began. Two boxes had made it in, which was less than half of what they needed for a truly inclusive party the way Peejay had dreamed. But so many students had been