how he did it, not even to Peejay, but by the day of the party, a secret room had appeared beneath the koi pond at the campus’s main entrance. It must have been under cover of night and involved some hefty bribes to the school’s security guards, with dozens of workers needed to finish it all up from one school day to the next.
The large rocks beside the pond had been replaced with fake ones that could be easily moved, and which served to hide the trapdoor, which led into the room that allowed about twenty students at a time to party, and which those who knew about it still occasionally used to skip class and smoke cigarettes. The ceiling of the room, somehow, was the glass bottom of the pond itself, and the night of that party the moon had been full and the light refracted through the water, making the room softly shimmer, like something out of a dream.
Peejay had already been in awe of his brother, and he had ignored all other lock-in activities to stay at Hamish’s side all night. He hadn’t known someone could be so universally adored.
The joy that had lit up people’s faces when they came down the stairs and found the secret room, the booze and the music and the couch behind a curtain for couples to make out on. It had been a masterful party, no doubt, but by nature of the room’s size too exclusive. Hamish had said so himself, regretting the fact that no one wanted to leave the secret room to make space for others to experience the party, and because of that, not everyone had been able to attend.
Peejay had been dreaming of his chance to host well before Hamish’s accident a week earlier, which had turned Peejay’s brother into a rag doll lying in a hospital bed, his nights accompanied by the fitful snoring of people who loved him sleeping uncomfortably at his side, by the gentle whir of machinery keeping him alive, the occasional squeak of a nurse’s comfortable white sneakers going past in the hall, the rhythmic beeps of monitors.
Peejay had considered skipping the party and staying at his brother’s side. But it had been four straight days of just that, and Peejay’s parents insisted that he take a break, distract himself. Hamish, too, likely would have agreed. And after all of the planning he’d done, much of it with Hamish in mind, it would’ve been a waste not to attend the lock-in. This way, he’d be able to give Hamish a story when he woke up.
A locked door would not come between Peejay and this dream to throw a party that would honor what Hamish had done three years ago, and maybe even rise above it. A party Hamish would be proud of.
He expected this door thing to be no big deal. Diego, bless his pretty little heart, was a kind and beautiful boy who often had problems with doors. It’s not that Peejay thought Diego was dumb. Diego was Marisa Cuevas’s brother, so on genes alone it was unlikely that he’d come out completely inept. But Diego’s intelligence was not rooted in mechanical things.
However, what Peejay found was no small mechanical issue.
It was sophomore Malik Harris, who played on the school’s rugby team and was not small at all.
Malik, for some reason, had a heavy steel chain wrapped around his torso and through the double doors leading out to Peejay’s staircase. Three large padlocks hung off the chains, and though Peejay (rightly) guessed two of them were purely ornamental, it still gave the impression that Malik meant to stay put for a long while. Even more troublesome: next to Malik was a five-liter jug of water, something wrapped in tinfoil (presumably a sandwich), two books, assorted snacks, an electronic tablet, a phone charger and a bucket. Surrounding Malik and staring down at him were a gaggle of freshmen, that American girl from Peejay’s art class, Ludovico Rigo (swoon) and the improv team’s mentor and notoriously lenient English teacher, Mr. Gigs.
There were many questions swimming around in Peejay’s mind, and he didn’t know why, out of all the things he wanted to ask, he chose the one question he already knew the answer to. “Malik, what is that bucket for?”
2
7:55PM
The crowds finally gathered at four of the five main exits of the school building. It was not so much that they had noticed the people chained to the doors, or had a sense