Gucci in Juvie

Chapter 12

'I'mma smooth your shoulders down and calm what shook/ It was all forlorn, if only for a season.'

-repetition, Purity Ring

Hu Li spread out a huge sheet of paper on the table.

'Where did you get that from?' I wondered if she had stolen it or something. The only paper I had seen so far were random scraps.

'It's called tape.' She traced her finger along nearly invisible cracks in the sheet. She had taped scraps of paper together to form an irregularly shaped polygon. Genius.

'Wow, you did an amazing job.' I murmured. 'Didn't even notice.'

'Thanks.' She answered, flipping her hair. 'I try my best.'

I didn't reply.

'Hey, something wrong?' Hu Li leaned down to my level and looked me right in the eye. 'You seem a little...off.'

'I'm fine, I'm fine. Just thought of something, but it doesn't matter, I don't think.' I snapped out of it and concentrated on the huge paper in front of me.

'Okay, if you say so.' Nathan walked over from a shelf full of stationery. He had felt-tip markers and sharpies in his hands, all different colors.

'Ooh, colors.' I grabbed a handful of metallic sharpies from him and sat there admiring them.

He chuckled. 'There's a lot more where that came from, so help yourself.'

Hu Li smoothed out the paper and took a seat beside me. Grabbing a bronze sharpie, she divided the paper into sections using thin copper lines. One, she wrote 'Information'. Another, she wrote 'Friends/Foes'. And in the last one, she wrote 'Escape Plan'.

She pointed to the 'Information'. 'So, here's where we write everything that we know about this place, to the very last detail.' She pointed to the 'Friends/Foes' section. 'Here's where we write a list of people that we can and cannot trust.' Finally, she pointed at the last section. 'And here's where we draw out our escape route and plan.'

'Sounds good.' I grabbed a gold sharpie and Nathan grabbed a silver one. Together, we wrote down everything and everybody we knew. The only sound that could be heard was the scribbling of pen against paper as words were formed on the page.

I didn't know too much, so I finished writing first. As Nathan and Hu Li continued to write, I thought about what I had been thinking about when I zoned out. I was thinking that we had to be careful and very, very observant. Clues and information could be anywhere, from the most obvious places to where we would least expect it. The only way we could find these bits and pieces them altogether was if look.

And so I looked. As my friends continued to scribble (like, seriously, they were starting to make me feel inadequate. And I never feel inadequate), my eyes roved around the room.