Jane's a teenage weirdo. She's awkward, plain, anxious, and above it all, a hacking prodigy.
Ryder's the quintessential high school hero, or so it seems. Dark secrets that threaten their lives are uncovered when Jane decides to snoop into Ryder's...
Then Victoria inhaled, her chest puffing out. She whooped loudly, her voice carrying across the park. Jane could hear her inarticulate shout echoing through the trees.
"What are you doing?" Jane asked, mortified.
Even if they were the only people in the park, she still felt a tinge of embarrassment.
"Come on! We did it! We pulled it off!" Victoria whooped again, this time louder than the first.
Somewhere, a pair of pigeons flew off in surprise. The fireflies continued their aimless dance, unbothered by the noise.
Almost unconsciously, Jane found herself shouting along with her friend, a cathartic expulsion of wordless sound. Even with the effort of howling her lungs out, it felt like her exhaustion was filtering out through her mouth. She felt alive.
"Yeah!" Victoria cried.
Jane's breathing was heavy from the effort. She pulled her phone from her jeans and checked her notifications.
Worried texts from earlier tonight. That would be from Victoria.
A social media alert. And another text from her mother.
She bit her lower lip. She'd forgotten about her mother's errand.
The clock in the corner of her screen read that it was nearly midnight. Any second now, the high school's servers would wipe the camera recordings with their faces in them. They would have escaped without a trace. A perfect job.
Well, mostly perfect.
Jane rose to her feet, arms stretching overhead. "Man, I'm tired."
Victoria stood with her, noticeably less out of breath than she was. "Okay. I'll walk you home. It's on the way, anyway."
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"Catch you at school tomorrow?" Victoria asked as they drew close to Jane's lawn.
"Tomorrow's Saturday," Jane replied.
Victoria must have incredibly been exhausted, much like Jane herself was. Their eyelids practically drooped.
"Oh yeah..." Victoria said. She moved a strand of hair from her eyes.
Jane stopped, turning to her friend beside her. They'd nearly reached her house.
"Hey, Vicky... thanks," she said.
"For what?"
"I never would've pulled it off without you," Jane said, truthfully.
She wasn't sure if she would have been brave enough to do it at all, if not for Victoria.
"Aww," Victoria crooned. Without warning, she squeezed Jane into a hug.
Jane's shoulders tightened instinctually for a moment. Slowly, she relaxed into Victoria's arms. She was surprisingly warm.
