𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙚 | ✓

vi

Sneaking out of a hotel room is hard enough. Sneaking into a second one is worse.

Late that night, after the chaperones have done their routine room check and lights-out is called, a certain curly-haired girl is laying in bed. She's waiting for her moment to strike.

The clock switches to 10:00 and she stands. It's time.

There's a singular window in the entire hotel room and it's in the main area near the fold-out couch where Lavender sleeps.

Earlier that day Akanke had considered telling Lavender about the dare, but she'd kept her mouth shut. She was certain that if the referee of the game found out about the planned break-out/break-in, which went against every rule the chaperones had set regarding bedrooms, she'd shut it down immediately. So Akanke just laid low and told nobody but Cash and Daniel her plan.

She opens her door and looks out into the main room, observing the quiet scene before moving into it and making her way toward the window.

Akanke steps over Lila, who is asleep on the floor in a heap that moves up and down with her breathing. She looks content enough where she is, but Akanke knows she isn't. The other girl could be sleeping in a nice warm bed right now. Instead, she's laying on the cold, hard floor with a hoodie and a pillow. Akanke wonders for the millionth time why she passed on the dare. It was probably the easiest one she'd get for the whole trip. And she thought Lila liked her.

Akanke can't help but think of the time earlier that week when they'd kissed behind a bush at the back of Acadia High School. Lila must've felt okay with it then because it kept happening. What had happened? What had changed? She asks these questions for what feels like the millionth time.

Jess is on her bed with her earbuds in. Akanke can barely hear the music coming out of them from the distance. It's something soft, with a lot of piano. Probably Lo-Fi if Akanke had to guess. Her friend loves that kind of music.

Lavender is passed out on the fold-out bed. The tv remote is in her hand and the sheets from the bed are pulled up to her waist. She's snoring a little but it's not annoying in anyway; it's more soft and content.

She makes her way over to the window, which is locked. A quick flip of a plastic switch changes that, but it sounds to her like the noise will wake everyone in the whole building. Akanke whips her head around and looks at each girl in the room, confirming that they're still asleep.

The glass piece of the window slides over rather easily, but there's a piece of bug netting in the way. She presses on it, briefly contemplating slashing right through it with her foot or hand. Then she sees the switches on the side. They're like the ones on a lot of bus windows, the ones you have to pull at the same time to get the window to move.

Outside, the netting is dropped into a bush and Akanke climbs out, lowering one foot to the ground, then the other. Her feet hit the wood chips outside and she cringes immediately. "Shit," she whispers to herself as Akanke moves to close the window behind her. It's colder outside than she thought and she wishes she would have worn something other than her pajamas. Maybe a hoodie. Or shoes.

Faint music mixes with the sounds of the night and the gentle wind that blows through the trees and for a moment Akanke feels alright. Stage One is a success and she's done it. She's snuck out of her room. Now to begin Stage Two.

She counts as she passes windows. "One, two three, four, and five." The fifth window is closed but the curtains are open. Inside, a boy is sitting on the floor with a phone screen illuminating his face. Another is sleeping on a fold-out couch and a third is in the collapsable bed that belongs to Jess in the girl's version of the room.