Escape Room

Mint

He s gay. For sure. Sky s sitting on the backrest of the bench, right behind Alissa and me. It s just the three of us. The rest of the park is deserted.

Don t think so. Alissa takes out her wallet. How much do you want to bet?  

I have no idea who my two best friends are talking about. Their conversations often pass me by, like I m on the other side of a wall. 

Alissa waves a five-dollar bill around. It reminds me of the first day of junior high. I thought Alissa had made a bet then too. 

She came up to my desk that first morning and asked if the seat next to me was taken. Alissa was the kind of girl who could have sat anywhere. She was so incredibly beautiful. Her eyes were the color of the sea on the Italian coast, where I d spent the summer. I looked around suspiciously. Where were her giggling friends, laughing at me from a distance because I d fallen for it? 

But there was no one else there. We were the only ones in the classroom. 

Sky s voice brings me back to the present. Let s bet for a pizza, he says. And Miles can deliver it. Perfect.  

So they re talking about Miles, who works at the pizzeria with Sky. I ve never seen him before, but Alissa s mentioned him a few times. 

A girl with blond hair and a red scarf around her neck comes jogging into the park. As she passes us, she flashes me a quick smile. 

He s on his way, so now we just have to wait and see. Sky puts his phone in his pocket and casually rolls a cigarette. He never has actual packs of cigarettes. Sky always does everything just a little bit differently from everyone else.

 

Did it hurt? I hear Alissa ask. I m back on the bench in the park. What were they talking about now? 

I follow Alissa s gaze to Sky s eyebrow piercing, which he had done a while ago. When he turned up at school the next day, the skin around the

Maren Stoffels published her first book at age 17. She likes stories that are based on real experiences. Reading her books make you feel like it could all happen to you. And maybe it will...

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