The Best Part of Hello [sample]

04

"Do you mind if Sophie and I help?" I ask her with a smile.

"What?" Mrs. Scott turns, her short hair bobbing against her shoulders. She looks between Sophie and I and then towards the other end of the room where Evan and his friends have come back. "You want to help Evan and the others?" she looks at me curiously, like she's waiting for the punch line of a bad joke. I guess teachers have also recognized our shared hatred for each other.

I start to nod and force a smile to sell it to her. "I do."

"You sure?" Mrs. Scott eyes me and then looks at Sophie as if she needs confirmation. I see Sophie give her a flattering grin and our teacher begins to purse her lips.

"Yes, Mrs. Scott. I'm sure,"

"Okay then, but you better go now because the boys have a lot to do." Mrs. Scott ushers us away and Sophie squeezes my shoulder.

"Damn girl, you are a good actor," she gives me a little wink and I laugh.

"Common, lets go save some stomachs."

• •

"THAT STUFF STINKS," I say between the choked coughs. Evan's cigarette dangles from his mouth, the ash falling to the floor as the cigarette burns further. He leans in, pulling at my waist and then takes a long drag of the cigarette before blowing the smoke into my face. I'm too repulsed I can barely stumble backward and try to bat the smoke away from my face with my hand.

"You're beyond disgusting," I grimace, the taste of tobacco on my lips.

"Thank you, darling," he mimics a Southern accent and licks his lips, dropping the cigarette from his teeth and rubbing his shoe over it.

"Ugh."

"Will you two stop flirting with each other and come on over here and help us!" Damon yells. He's tall, at least six-foot-two with dyed brown hair. He rocks a pair of green eyes that make just about every girl wish he wasn't gay and a sense of fashion you only see models wear on catwalks.

Tom, on the other hand, is brilliantly intelligent, and with the type of look that goes with it. He wears black-rimmed glasses that frame his face and a pair of converse that are quite literally stuck to his feet. I don't think I've ever seen the boy in another other than his pair. Not in the gym, not at school dances, not ever. He and his brother share their height as well as their extremely annoying knack for making people like them. They keep to themselves mostly, but I've worked with them both on school projects and they are too likable for their own good.

"We are not flirting with each other," I say defensively as Evan and I join the others.

Evan looks at me sideways, as if to say are you kidding? And makes a face at Damon. "Really, her?" but he's grinning a grin that makes me creeped out.

"Right," Tom says, his arms wrapped around a bucket of water. "So, here's the plan..."

•

Armed with a tree stump and a makeshift pick made from bobby pins, I slowly make my way around the glass that scatters aimlessly on the floor and slip into the space where Evan and Sophie stand. The security guards are crawling all over this place, and it's clear that trying to find an escape out of the steel door towards the terminals is going to be anything but easy.

The wind has died down but has been replaced by torrential rain. Each drop announces itself on the building, thunderous and loud. Each piece of broken glass that crunches beneath our feet makes one of us inhale sharply as if we are waiting for the ground to give way beneath us. I feel on edge more than ever, my heart stammering in my chest and my ears ringing. I want to turn back and join the others but it's too late now.