Alice in Wonderland High by Rachel Shane

Author:Rachel Shane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: F+W Media

CHAPTER 16

The footsteps outside triggered fight-or-flight mode. Apparently, I chose the same path as most deer when faced with an oncoming car. Fight. Or more accurately, freeze, since I certainly didn’t choose flee. Kingston clicked the flashlight off and tugged me into a standing position. On wobbly legs, I managed to follow him, knocking into a table in the process.

“Shh!” he whispered.

My hip throbbed where I’d smacked it, but I bit my lip to keep from crying out. We squeezed behind a desk and crouched down, pressed between the wall and the chair. My leg muscles strained from the squatting position. I tried to readjust, but Kingston slapped a hand on my shoulder and steadied me. The folders in my hand cut into my skin.

The footsteps in the hallway grew louder.

My body betrayed me, erupting in tiny earthquakes of convulsions when all I wanted was to be taxidermied into this very position, like a trophy moose mounted on the wall. Kingston snaked his arm around me and pulled me to his chest to muffle me. His heart competed with mine for the quickest to have an attack.

The footsteps entered the room.

I sucked in a diver’s breath. The blaze in my chest could ignite a whole forest. Now that my eyes had adjusted to the eerie darkness, I could make out the faint outline of shoes on the opposite side of the desk. They paused, one pointed toward us. Kingston squeezed my arm.

My lungs ached and I leaked a trickle of air through my lips, eyes squeezed shut because I knew how this would end. I’d get caught and arrested, and would never be unfashionable again because all I’d ever wear would be an orange jumpsuit like everyone else in jail.

The footsteps pivoted and headed to the open file-cabinet drawer. Papers rustled as whoever it was shuffled through them.

Kingston and I exchanged glances. Someone else arriving at three A.M. on a random day to sift through the same files as us? That couldn’t be a coincidence.

The mystery person slammed the drawer shut, making my teeth clatter. Heart racing, breath desperate, I waited once again for my sentence. This time the footsteps grew softer, and then the door to the room banged shut.

I let out a breath and started to rise, but Kingston held me back with a shake of the head.

He flipped open his cell phone and set it on his lap, a makeshift, less-obvious source of light.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

He texted so I could read: Shh. Coast = not clear. Not wasting time just in case.

He opened the top file on his lap and started perusing. My hands were so clammy they could lubricate a desert, but I followed suit, if only to distract myself from the inevitable end to my freedom. Being grounded actually seemed tempting.

The file on my lap was bulky with papers. I slid the top page off and held it up to the light, leaving the rest of the open folder balanced on my lap.

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