Escape Theory

Escape Theory - By Margaux Froley



PROLOGUE




September 10, 2010

Freshman Year



Those Nutter Butters are going to need milk.

Devon glared at the package of peanut butter cookies at the foot of her bed. The bright red plastic caught the light from her desk lamp, taunting her, daring her to break into the package. Of course she wanted to devour them, but there was the problem of living in a dorm room. Milk—the milk required to have on standby when eating Nutter Butters—wasn’t just out the door, down the hallway, past the living room. No: here the milk was across a grassy courtyard, past a library, two boys’ dorms, and the teachers’ lounge, tucked away, in the oak-paneled dining hall.

They can wait. Devon swiveled on her stiff twin bed, twisting her toes into her crisp new Ikea bedspread. It felt hotel phony, not like something that was hers, in her new room. She put her focus back on the smiling pair of girls she’d tacked up to her wall. In the picture her best friend, Ariel, was holding two fingers up to the camera, all-cool peace sign/Hollywood starlet, while Devon smiled but kept her eyes toward her feet. The photos always followed a pattern: Ariel confronting the camera, leading the way, Devon a willing passenger. But that was just an Instagram memory now.

Devon’s eyes drifted back to the package of Nutter Butters. Her mom had snuck them into her suitcase before she left for boarding school four days ago. Devon re-read the purple Post-it: Share with your new friends, but save one for Derek!

The peanut butter cookies were a nice gesture. They were Devon’s favorite after all and only because her mom had turned her on to them. The two had a ritual of demolishing a package over an episode of Grey’s Anatomy and saving just one in case the handsome “Dr. Derek Shepherd” miraculously appeared at their door. Mom subscribed to the “ya never know who you’re going to run into” philosophy. Always on the prowl for a classic Leading Man (she wore lipstick for even the quickest errands) and always leaving a cookie for a charming stranger who might appear at her doorstep.

That was before boarding school. Before Devon got a scholarship to Keaton, and before her mother told her it was an opportunity she couldn’t afford to turn down. “The doors Keaton will open for you.…” Devon’s mom had begun on more than one occasion without ever actually finishing the thought. Devon wasn’t sure where those doors led, but she knew she was supposed to walk through them for one reason alone: her mom had never had the same opportunity.

That wasn’t Devon’s fault or problem, of course. Just because her mom’s family couldn’t afford some ritzy boarding school when she was a kid didn’t mean Devon had to go to one now. The scholarship was nice and all, but Devon didn’t ask for it. Her mom had applied and set up an interview before Devon had even heard of Keaton. To her, boarding school was full of those people; and nothing she’d seen so far had changed that perception. Devon still didn’t want to be one of those people who used seasons as a verb, like “My family summers in the Hamptons” or “We winter in Aspen.”

Once again, Devon felt herself getting angry. She had spent her summer break listing many cogent psychological reasons about why she shouldn’t attend Keaton, which of course her mom chalked up to being “just an ungrateful teenager,” which only infuriated Devon more. Really? Couldn’t Mom come up with a more creative phrase to describe her only daughter? Sure, Devon was thirteen, and sure she was annoyed that her “mature” body hadn’t quite come in yet, but mentally she felt old enough to be in control of her own life: as in perfectly justified in not wanting to live in some upscale mountain penitentiary for the absurdly rich.

Next week Ariel would be headed to public school in Piedmont. Ariel: who made Devon feel like she belonged anywhere they went simply because Ariel acted like they belonged everywhere they went. No awkwardness about cliques or cafeteria seating. No first day jitters. New friends, new crushes on boys, new after-school hangouts; none of that fazed her.

And here was Devon, stuck at the top of a mountain at The Keaton School.

Ariel’s ease could never spill out of the photo and into her, no matter how hard Devon stared at it. She turned to the Target digital alarm clock (“Because you won’t have the Mom Alarm anymore,” her mom chided on a dorm room shopping trip), blinking 10:18 P.M. Twelve minutes until the bell rang and everyone had to be inside their dorms for the night. Twelve minutes until she could stop feeling bad about not socializing and reasonably crawl into bed, crossing off another day of her sentence at Keaton. Twelve minutes until roll call and Devon’s dorm head would peek in.…

Devon Mackintosh: check.

Where else would she be? Or more importantly, as Ariel would ask, whom would she be with? Keaton was perched above the small beach town of Monte Vista. It’s not like Devon could wander over to the nearest shopping mall and catch a late movie with some locals. No, Devon was physically trapped on the mountain. There was only one way up and one way down, as far as she knew. It was almost funny.

When they built these dorms Devon suspected that “durability” was the prime objective. The thin gray carpet could absorb any dirt, footprint, or stain. (And probably had. Yuck.) The cinderblock walls were painted a slick and glossy white, which made it virtually impossible to stick, pin, nail, or tape anything to the wall. But there was a single framed corkboard. Someone must have taken pity on the students and allowed them at least an iota of space to post mementos of their pre-Keaton lives. But apart from that teeny area of suggested self-expression, Devon’s twin bed, lean closet, and rickety desk was definitely more white-collar prison than the golden door of opportunity her mom described.

“Knock, knock. Devon?” came a sing-songy voice.

The Senior RA, June Chan, poked her head inside.

Devon sighed, but mustered a smile for June. Who actually says “knock, knock” out loud? June was from Taiwan and spoke Taiwanese, Mandarin Chinese, and English fluently. To Devon she seemed like an over-eager cheerleader who’d been at Keaton since birth. When Devon first arrived, June was there to greet all the girls in the dorm with a neon-bright smile and a bouncy ponytail. “Hi, I’m June. Like the month!” She spoke in exclamation points. Since that first day Devon had only seen June wearing dark green The Keaton School sweatshirts and sweats, like an athlete in training. But Devon could never figure out which sport. Maybe being at Keaton was the training itself.

Behind June, doors slammed. There was a burst of high-pitched giggling, the kind she and Ariel once reserved for slumber parties. A cry echoed down the hall—“Hey, that’s my bra, bee-yotch!”—followed by another round of laughter and footsteps. June smiled at the mayhem. She caught Devon’s gaze and turned back. Her mouth tightened into a thin, sympathetic smile.

Even June, the month, would rather hang out with them.

“Just checking in on you,” June said, sounding concerned yet upbeat all at once.

Yes, Devon was already the charity case. The girls in her dorm all seemed to have gone to volleyball camp or ski school together. Insta-Friends by the end of the first day. But somehow Devon missed her chance. Her Insta-Friend sponge pellet—the one that would turn her into a perfect friend if you just added water—turned out to be a dud.

“Clueless just finished,” June added. “We’re starting up Bring It On if you want to come and join us? It’s the Spring House Pajama Formal. Kind of an annual tradition.”

Devon reached for another photo. “Thanks, but I’m cool. Just want to get this done,” she said.

“Okay, but you’re welcome any time, all right, chica?” June flashed Devon another encouraging cheerleader smile.

The harder people tried, the less Devon wanted to hang out with them. Ariel never tried. Maybe that’s why this whole orientation week sucked so much; everyone was desperate to be everyone else’s friend. But, it was all too soon and would never last; couldn’t they see that? She saw the way the seniors sat in the dining hall in tightly formed cliques. Surely they were all fake smiles freshman year too.

June left the door open.

Closed doors were frowned upon at Keaton. Devon had read in the rule book—in typical form, it was called The Keaton School Companion (as in: another fake friend)—that if a member of the opposite sex visited your room, doors had to remain open at least twelve inches. Also, “four feet” needed to be on the ground. That was Rule #4c if she remembered correctly, only to be surpassed by #5a, where having sex was an offense punishable by suspension. Basically it was against the rules to do anything with a boy in her room except stare at their dueling feet.

Maybe they were going to have to reword that rule in the future. Say if a boy might want to make out with a boy? There was apparently no rule against members of the same sex making out. The Companion could catch up eventually (judging from its tone, it hadn’t been updated in thirty years), but for now, the gay students had a loophole they could exploit. Lucky for them. Yes, Devon did want to make out with a guy sooner than later. One fumbling, wet kiss last summer in the back booth at Peet’s Coffee didn’t exactly count. If Devon had one goal, it was to actually hook up in high school. Ariel agreed. Besides, Devon figured there had to be one benefit to coed living.

She looked at the next photo. Another one of her and Ariel: tanned, short shorts, flip-flops, and fake mustaches. Over the summer she and Ariel liked to put on fake mustaches and take pictures around town, trying to get shots of people giving them weird looks. She wished she could show Ariel The Keaton School Companion—now that would make her laugh.

The bag of Nutter Butters caught Devon’s attention again.

They still needed milk.

Waiting until tomorrow seemed impossible. “So, go get some milk, loser,” is what Ariel would have commanded. Devon looked at her clock. 10:21 P.M. Nine minutes. If she left right now, she could dash up to the dining hall and be back in time for curfew. She could burst into the Spring House common room with a cold pitcher of milk and cookies to share just as Bring it On was starting. “Look, I brought it!” she could shout. And the girls would giggle back. Boom: Insta-Friends. June would probably say something like, “Welcome to the party, chica!”

It’d be as easy as that. Right?

Or she could stay in her room eating the cookies alone without milk. But Ariel’s voice would call her a loser all night long. Steeling herself, Devon stuffed the cookies into her sweatshirt pocket. She figured if a teacher asked what she was up to, it would be good to have the cookies on hand to back up her story. She shoved her feet into her sneakers and ducked out her door without even bothering to consult the mirror first. Best just to move. Best not to think.

Outside the wind had picked up. Devon pulled her sweatshirt hood over her head to keep her hair from flying everywhere. She squinted, her eyes adjusting to the moonlight. We’re really far out here, she thought. The night had a sharp chill to it, as if a storm was coming in off the ocean. At the bottom of the black Keaton hillside, Devon could see the straight line of faint yellow lights: Monte Vista’s main drag. Beyond that the velvety black of the Pacific Ocean merged into the dark sky on the horizon. The wind whipped a strand of hair across her eyes. Get the milk and get back to the dorm before curfew. That’s all she had to do in nine … no, eight minutes.

The Dining Hall stood at the peak of the hill—its façade largely floor-to-ceiling windows. A ring of classrooms encircled it, and below that, the ring of dorms. The layout meant there was a view of the valley below from every dorm room, but it also meant every meal involved walking up to the dining hall. While Devon’s mom might find it “invigorating,” Devon found it an annoying metaphor for Keaton. Everything was an uphill battle, even a pitcher of milk.

Devon hurried up and across the wet grass of Raiter Lawn and passed the cobblestone path below the senior boys’ dorm, Sherman. Senior boys sat on their balconies, shirtless, comfortably nestled into crappy wicker chairs and surrounded by surfboards, stinky lacrosse gear, and passed-down hammocks. The sound of someone playing guitar drifted from behind a tapestry-covered window.

Devon kept her head down. She was short—five feet three inches and a thin frame—and she hoped she could pass by undetected. Someone whistled from the balcony above, but she didn’t look up. The freshmen were warned that seniors could initiate a water balloon fight anytime during the first week. She ran quicker just in case that whistle was a precursor to getting soaked—up, up, up, her breath coming fast.

The Dining Hall doors were open. She pushed through, her heart thumping, and made her way around the polished wooden tables and benches—perfectly aligned and glistening in the moonlight—toward the drink machines. Soda, ice, lemonade, iced tea, water, and milk; they all buzzed and hummed in the silent hall. Devon found a plastic pitcher next to the water jug and pulled the lever under the low-fat milk.

Nothing.

She tried the non-fat. Nothing again.

That’s when she noticed a plastic latch above. The machine was on lockdown for the night. Water was her only option. Great. So much for listening to Ariel’s voice. Her Nutter Butter plan was already going awry.

“Don’t you know they control our diet?” a voice asked.

Devon jumped. June had warned the freshman girls about avoiding popular make-out spots around campus at night. It was considered a major faux pas to stumble upon a couple behind a bush or in an empty classroom. But this was just one voice. Sitting alone in the back of the Dining Hall. She squinted, trying to turn the outlines and shadow on a bench into someone she recognized. Long, gawky legs with knobby kneecaps. A spiky head of hair. A narrow neck that threatened to topple from the weight of a bulging Adam’s apple.

Jason Hutchins.

Another freshman. Devon remembered him from orientation. He kept bumping the back of Devon’s chair. After she had shot him an annoyed glare, he whispered an apology while the headmaster talked about their class schedules.

He stood up. Devon guessed he was easily six feet two inches, and only thirteen or fourteen. No wonder he could barely fit in his seat. He tucked something in his pocket as he walked toward her. She caught herself thinking that once he got over being gangly, he could be kind of hot. His face didn’t need any help. Then again, she had to grow out of this flat-chested stage before she might be considered cute, so who was she to judge.

“Just wanted some milk. Didn’t think that would be against the rules,” Devon said. She tucked her hands into her jeans pockets. She had a bad habit of letting them flip and flail when she was nervous. And being alone in the dark dining hall with this boy was definitely making her nervous.

Jason leaned against the wall by the milk machine. Devon noticed he wore cargo shorts (as he would for the next three years, because he always needed pockets), and a simple belt where new holes had to be punched to account for his bony hips.

“You think they’d want us to drink milk. It’s in their best interest to keep us strong.” Jason clipped a pen into one of his many pockets.

“Their best interest?” Devon leaned against the counter. She remembered now that Jason was a legacy student. In theory it only meant that he had a sibling or parent who attended Keaton before him. But when the headmaster asked all the new legacy students to stand up during orientation, Devon understood that being a legacy put you in a special club. It meant you were a bigger piece of the school’s DNA than other students. Only five kids in their class of seventy had stood.

Later, June (the month) explained that Jason was the prize legacy of the freshman class. His older brother, Eric, had graduated from Keaton last year. Apparently Eric was a perfect Keaton specimen: chemistry genius, all-star lacrosse player, but more prankster than Stepford Student. (“Keaton values individualism”—The Month’s words. Uttered seriously.) Jason and Eric’s very rich and very generous father, William, had also attended Keaton. June had whispered the last part conspiratorially: Rumor had it that the new science wing built three years ago existed solely because Jason’s dad wanted better chemistry facilities for Eric.

Jason grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. Threw it up in the air and caught it. “You know, for the organ donations. That’s what we’re here for. A big bunch of young, unsuspecting organ donors. Gotta feed the machine somehow.” He took a big bite from his apple. “So, like I said, they want to keep us healthy.”

Devon put herself in Ariel’s shoes. The smart thing to do would be to play along.

“Silly me. Here I was thinking they were shaping us into well-rounded young adults.”

“Bor-ring,” Jason drew out the word as long as possible. “That’s what they want us to think. Looks much better for the catalogues.” He examined his apple and took another oversized bite. Some of the apple juice dribbled down his chin and onto his white V-neck shirt. Devon had to look down to hide her smile. Jason had just blown whatever cool image he was trying to create. But honestly, it was the first time she’d caught anyone doing anything remotely human all week. “You’ve got it all worked out then. Good thing I ran into you … Jason, right?”

Jason held Devon’s gaze longer than was comfortable. “Yeah, good thing,” he said.

Devon instinctively took a small step back. She had seen that look-into-your-soul look before. Last summer Ariel made Devon double date with these guys that worked at Amoeba Records, Luke and Spencer. Devon was supposed to date Spencer, but he wouldn’t stop talking about “the importance of The Clash in music evolution.” Talk about bor-ring. She remembered that he kept staring into her eyes, willing her to like him back. It was the same look Jason was giving her now. He was definitely flirting with her. Devon broke away from the stare by brushing her hair out of her eyes. She was bad at flirting. Her over-analytical brain crept in. He didn’t ask her name. Clearly he knew. Now she was the lame one for asking the question. “Well, guess I’m not going to get that milk, so, see ya, Jason.” Devon put her empty pitcher down next to the machine and made a beeline for the exit.

“Hutch. Jason’s … whatever.… Hutch is really more my thing,” Jason-turned-Hutch called after her.

Devon turned only when she reached the doors.

“Gotcha, Hutch. Well, good luck with the organs.”

“Are those Nutter Butters?” Hutch asked with a smirk.

The package was sticking out of her pocket. Great. Now it looks like I can’t go anywhere without bringing cookies with me.

“You gonna eat those all by yourself?” Hutch left his apple on the countertop and began rubbing his palms together like a cartoon villain.

“Why, you want one?” Devon asked. Save one for Derek. How right her mom was. She made a mental note to thank her later.

“Hells yeah.” Hutch was next to her in a heartbeat, reaching for the bag. “Wait, sorry, that was rude of me. You should do the honors.”

He pushed the bag back, eager for her to open it. There was nothing in Hutch’s face that made Devon feel like they had just met or needed to be on their guard.

Amazing: her first Insta-Friend. Not from a sponge pellet, either. She tugged at the plastic, but stopped short of opening it.

“That brings me back to the original problem,” Devon started. “You can’t do Nutter Butters without milk. It’s a thing.”

Hutch raised his eyebrows. “Oh, it’s a thing?”

“It’s a thing. Like peanut butter and jelly.”

“Like Simon and Garfunkel?”

“Yeah. Like Rocky and Road.”

“Or like orientation week and sucking.” Hutch smiled wide at his own joke.

Devon laughed.

“Let’s get some milk then,” Hutch said mischievously.

“The machine is locked. Think we already established that,” Devon reminded him.

“This machine is. But where do you think they store the milk for the machine?”

Devon found herself smiling, again, too. What did he know that she didn’t?

“Come on. If it’s a thing, then we gotta go on a mission to make the thing happen.” Hutch grabbed Devon’s hand and pulled her through the doors. “That’s just what was missing tonight. A secret mission.…”

Devon’s thoughts were louder than Hutch’s words. His long fingers clasped her hand, scrunching her knuckles together. He pulled her along the gravel path outside the dining hall, leading her around back. The ocean wind whipped at her hair again, but, Hutch’s oversized grip felt warm and protective around hers. Safe. Which was weird and definitely not safe, her over-analytical brain reminded her, because she’d just met him.

One solitary light jutted out from the roof in the back, illuminating stacked wooden crates and metal dumpsters. Hutch pushed on the metal handle of a lone rusted blue door. “Presto,” he whispered.

Sure enough, it opened right up into the school’s industrial kitchen. No locks here. Hutch led her inside, only letting go of her hand when she was past the threshold.

The door shut silently behind them.

“They don’t lock the kitchen?” Devon’s voice sounded ditzy in her own ears.

She tried to make sense of her surroundings while her brain tried to catch up. How did a package of cookies get her here? Five minutes ago she was alone in her dorm room, and now here she was on a “secret mission” with Hutch, the knobby-kneed prized Keaton legacy. In the dark, her heart began to thump again. Ariel would be proud. This was undeniably stupid and exciting. “A place that bases everything on an honor system leaves a lot of room for stupidity,” Hutch said.

Devon reached for the light switch, but he placed his hand over hers.

“No lights. It’ll give away our position.”

Hutch was just inches from her now. The outside light cast a dim glow through the small window above the door. Devon tilted her face up to him and felt his warm breath on her forehead. His light brown eyes were on Devon, flitting between her nose and lips. His eyelashes were dark but barely registered compared to his wide eyebrows. And his lips had that perfect dent in the middle. Devon found herself wondering what it would be like to kiss those lips. Hutch’s hand tightened over hers for an instant, but then he pushed away. The moment over. If it was a moment at all.

“We’re not supposed to be in here,” Devon whispered.

Hutch hopped on a sterile metal counter, his long legs dangling, as if he had all the time in the world. “Supposed to? Devon, Devon, Devon,” he said in a faux-mocking voice. (So he did know her name.) “ ‘Supposed to’ is such a loaded little phrase. Do you really want to live your life doing everything you’re supposed to do?”

It wasn’t a rhetorical question. He stopped smiling. His eyes dug into Devon, forcing an answer out of her.

“No, I guess not,” Devon stammered.

“Good. Because I figure there’s two kinds of people in the world. The ones who do everything that’s laid out for them, the supposed-tos, and then there’s the people that look above it and do what they want to do. I prefer the latter, but maybe that’s just me. A not-supposed-to.” Hutch shrugged and slid off the counter, tip-toeing to the industrial fridge that hummed in the corner. “Now, how about that milk?”

The school bell echoed across the dark campus.

Curfew!

Devon gasped. She clutched the cookie package to her chest. Bad idea. She was right; this was stupid. She was supposed to be in her dorm room right now. Why did she have to try out her Ariel-like personality so close to curfew? She wasn’t Ariel. That was the whole freaking point.

Hutch didn’t budge.

“Um, we have to go, don’t we?” she hissed at him. This wasn’t a rhetorical question, either. The Companion clearly stated that all students have to be inside their designated dorms by 10:30 P.M. Hutch pursed his lips, as if disappointed. “If you say so.” He crossed to the door and pushed it—but it didn’t open. “Hmm.” He pressed the handle and pushed again. And again. He cracked another smile.

“What?” Devon blurted out. She could feel the panic rising up along her spine, up the back of her neck and flooding her squirming skull. No, she didn’t want to be at Keaton. But that didn’t mean she wanted to get kicked out before classes even started, either.

“You try then,” Hutch said. He stepped aside.

Devon gripped the metal handle and pushed hard against the door. Nothing.

“What are we supposed to do?” Her voice quavered. “They’re gonna wonder where we are. We have to check in. Rule #3b.” Why wasn’t Hutch freaking out? Did being a legacy mean you couldn’t get into trouble? All she could do was imagine packing up her dorm room, taking down the pictures she’d just tacked to the corkboard, her mom’s disappointed silence on the drive back home. Her mom would never forgive her—

“Supposed to. Supposed to. You keep saying that.” Hutch strode back across the kitchen and opened the fridge. He leaned inside, hands on bony hips, scanning the shelves. The frost billowed around him like it was whispering dirty secrets.

“Well, yeah, sorry if I’m some annoying rule-abider, but it is boarding school,” Devon muttered. She tried to fight back the bitchy tone the fear had brought on. “There are rules. And we are breaking at least one, probably more. Like, does this count as four feet on the ground? I don’t know. And doors aren’t supposed to be closed like this when members of the opposite sex are … that’s 4b, I think … no, maybe it’s 1b, no, that’s plagiarism.…” Her voice trailed off as Hutch emerged from the fridge clutching an armload of supplies. “What are you doing?”

“Look, someone will be coming around sooner than later. We’ll just flag them down, explain the cookie thing, it’ll be fine. These things happen.” Hutch dropped his supplies on the metal counter with a clang.

Devon started to breathe again. Maybe he was right. One of the pillars of Keaton was honesty, and they were just looking for milk. She had the cookies to prove it. “You really think someone will come by?”

“Sure, they always do. Ten minutes, tops. Your dorm head probably won’t even notice if you’re late. And you know what we should do in the meantime?” He was already pulling a bowl from a nearby shelf, a wooden spoon from a canister. “Finish our mission.”

Devon’s ears perked up at “our.” She had never been an “our,” “us,” or “we” before with a guy. Ever. Our mission. Hutch poured pancake mix into the big bowl.

“Weren’t we just getting milk?” Devon asked.

“Oh yeah, change of plans. We’re making Nutter Butter pancakes now. Infinitely better, right?” Hutch nodded at Devon, practically agreeing for her.

She tried not to nod back. And yet she couldn’t help but go along with it. With him.

“Nutter Butter pancakes? Is that even a thing?” Devon hoisted herself onto the counter next to the ingredients.

“Oh, it’s a thing. You’ve just been too busy doing everything you’re supposed to do to know about it. I think I’m going to have to illustrate. Commence opening Nutter Butters.”

Devon broke open the plastic package. “You’re lucky you found me. I was going to share these with Spring House.”

“Screw Spring House. They won’t appreciate your Nutter Butters like I do, Devon.” Hutch reached into the package and grabbed a cookie. Devon picked one out too.

“Cheers.” Hutch clinked his cookie against hers. He gave her a wink and took a bite. The two of them chewed, eyes locked. The only sound was their crunching cookies against the hum of the fridge.

“You know,” Hutch began, his mouth still full of cookie. “There are two kinds of people in this world.”

“The supposed-tos and the not-supposed-tos,” Devon replied, trying not to spit crumbs at Hutch.

“Yeah, those too, but there are another two kinds of people in the world. Those who like peanut butter and those who don’t. And we, Miss Mackintosh, are the same kind of people.” Hutch pulled a measuring cup down that was hanging on the wall next to the stove. “Now be a good organ donor and crack open the Bisquick, will ya?”

“You know what I heard?” Devon poured the pancake mix into the bowl. “Nutter Butters are particularly good for the organs.”

Hutch lit the gas stove.

“See, we’re actually providing a service. Getting our organs nice and healthy for donating.” He cracked an egg into the bowl with a flourish.

A beam of light suddenly broke through the dark kitchen.

“Duck!” he hissed.

Devon jumped off the counter and landed next to Hutch on the floor. They huddled below the table. A jerky flashlight swept past the kitchen windows.

“Isn’t that our rescue party?” Devon asked. Her hands started to shake with all the adrenaline surging through her body.

Hutch wrapped both his steady hands around hers. “Except that’s not a teacher. That’s Tino. He’ll go nuts if he catches anyone in his kitchen. Trust me.” He kept his eyes glued to hers and brought one hand to his cheek. He kissed the inside of her palm and pressed her hand to his cheek again. Her heart froze. He kissed me! Well, he kissed my hand, but still! A kiss! She could feel his soft skin peppered with rough patches where he had started shaving. “Looks like someone’s not used to breaking the rules,” he whispered, smiling at her.

She pulled her hand away and looked down at the floor. “No, that’s not it.”

But Hutch tilted her face back up toward him. “It’s okay if it is. It’s kind of cute actually.”

Devon smiled slightly and let Hutch’s hand linger on her chin.

“I almost forgot,” Hutch whispered. “Never leave evidence behind.” He reached his hand up and over onto the table, and slowly, careful not to make the plastic crunch, he brought the bag of Nutter Butters down to their hiding spot.

“My hero,” Devon whispered back. “How would I survive without you?”

“Without me, you and your cookies would be toast,” Hutch whispered a little too loudly.

Devon pressed her lips together, holding back her laughter. Hutch frowned. Devon bit her lip and Hutch shook his head at her. Laughing was not an option. Her chest heaved from the pent-up air trying to escape.

A key slid into the door. Hutch’s eyebrows rose into two wide arcs over his eyes. Devon’s right hand started shaking once more. Hutch reached for it, and kissed her palm again. He held her hand between his and nodded slightly. Everything’s gonna be all right, he seemed to be telling her. This place isn’t as bad as it seems.

She believed him.

And then the key turned and the lock clicked into place.