The Next Chapter (NEW VERSION)

Chapter 20

—Emily's POV—

We all grab our bags and wave goodbye to Andrea's dad, Ryan. When we can't see him anymore we walk up to our group. Some people are already there waiting with their bags. I spot Jake at the school entrance with his friends. Peter isn't there though, he's by himself near the parking lot.

"Where's Mr. McPelt?" Ally asks.

"I have no idea." I look around. "He said that he'd be here earlier so he should be here now."

After about twenty minutes he runs up to our group. "I'm sorry for being late. I couldn't find my car keys." He laughs. "Alright then. Will the following enter the bus..." He goes on to call a bunch of names and they board the bus. "Andrea and Ally you have seats eighteen and nineteen. Emily and Jake, you have seats twenty and twenty-one." I'm starting to think that God isn't very into me right now.

Andrea and Ally board the bus and take their seats. Jake gestures for me to board before him and I give him a small smile as a thank you.

"Do you mind if I take the seat by the window?" I turn around and ask him. He shakes his head. I take my seat by the window and take my jacket off. It's pretty hot in here. The t-shirt would be the better option. Either it's because it's a bus full of students or it's because of Jake sitting next to me. He still has too much power over me.

After a while, Mr. McPelt enters the bus. "Now that everyone is here, I'd like to remind you of all the rules." He goes on to say that no boys are allowed in the girl rooms and the other way around. That no alcoholic beverages are allowed and so on. When he's done he takes his seat, and we start driving.

I can see how rigid Jake is. He's not moving at all and just staring straight ahead. This isn't going to be awkward at all...

—Jake's POV—

Fuck, this gym stinks.

"As you know, the school always arranges something fun for the seniors to do before they graduate. Something to remember your classmates by. This year the school has decided to go into the city and do escape rooms!" Mr. Smith says, and everyone starts going crazy. What's so great about escape rooms? They're just a test on how low IQ you have.

"Still talking! They didn't have as many rooms as we had hoped for, so we had to divide you up into two large groups and split it between two days. One group will do their escape room the first day and the other group will do theirs the next day. Now-" He quiets down and scans the room. "I don't want any complaints about this next part. You are already split into groups of two and there will be no changing. The teams are already put in the system." Great. I swear to fucking God if I get paired up with Peter. It won't be a pretty sight. A couple of names later and mine still hasn't come up. Neither has hers... We wouldn't get paired together, would we? Everyone here knows about our... History.

"In escape room eighteen we have Emily Sterling and Jake Evans." My heart skips a beat. Literally fucking skips a beat. I should not be smiling this much. But why does it feel like I just won the lottery? "We do have one more surprise. Since we'll be going into the city we decided that we could stay there a while. We have also booked, besides the escape rooms, hotel rooms for you all." The gym erupts in cheers, I have to push a guy off of me. I'm just trying to calm down, my heart's still going crazy over the last thing he said.

Her name.

Emily.

With mine.

"You will stay three in each room. No boys in the girl rooms and no girls in the boy rooms! You will live opposite to the person that you're doing the escape room with. You can spend time with them too but in common areas like cafes or in the hotel lounge. Not in each other's rooms." He has no fucking idea what I'd do to her if we were still dating. I'd devour her. Morning till night, nothing would stop me.