Neon Bruises

Chapter 1 - Trapped

Ridgeview High
Date: Monday, September 23rd, 1985
Time: ~3:25 PM (after school)
The gym is mostly empty now. The echo of sneakers and whistles faded minutes ago.
Jean pushes open the narrow maintenance room door, the smell of rubber mats and cleaning supplies hitting him immediately. His backpack sits right where he left it earlier, tossed behind a stack of folded wrestling mats.
He steps in, grabs it-
CLUNK.
The door shuts behind him.
"...the hell?"
Before he can react-
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
Jean turns.
There she is.
Stacy Walker.
Cheer captain. Blonde. Clearly pissed.
She's standing on the other side of the cramped room, arms crossed, trapped just like him.
"You just-what, closed the door?" she snaps. "Did you not see me in here?"
Jean tries the handle.
It doesn't budge.
Locked.
"...Cool. Cool cool cool."
Stacy lets out a sharp, annoyed laugh. "Unbelievable. I've been stuck in here for like ten minutes already, and now you show up and make it worse."
Jean leans against the door, tugging again. Nothing.
"Yeah, because I definitely locked us in on purpose. This is exactly how I planned my afternoon."
She rolls her eyes hard. "Great. I'm trapped in a closet with a comedian."
The room is tight. Too close. A single high window lets in weak sunlight, dust floating in the air. No one's coming-at least not anytime soon.
Stacy tries the door again herself, harder this time.
"Hello?! Anyone out there?!"
Silence.
She exhales sharply, pacing once before stopping, clearly trying not to panic.
Jean watches her for a second-this is not the type of situation he wants to be in. Especially not with her.

She notices him looking.
"What?" she snaps. Jean steps up beside the door and starts pounding on it hard.
"HEY!-Yo! Anyone out there?!"
His voice echoes out into the empty gym.
Stacy flinches a little at the sudden noise, then joins in, slamming her palm against the metal.
"HELLO?! We're stuck in here!"
They both keep going-knocking, yelling-
Nothing.
Just the hollow echo bouncing back at them.
After a few seconds, Jean stops, listening.
Still nothing.
Stacy slowly lowers her hand, frustration creeping back in. "Great. Fantastic. Everyone's probably gone already."
Jean presses his ear lightly to the door, trying to catch anything-footsteps, voices-
...dead quiet.

"Yeah," he mutters, "either that or they just really don't like us."
Stacy lets out a breath, running a hand through her hair. The attitude's still there, but there's a flicker of something else now-uneasy.
"This is so bad. I'm supposed to meet-" she stops herself, annoyed, then shakes her head. "Whatever. Doesn't matter."
She looks back at him.
"You got any brilliant ideas, or is yelling your whole strategy?"

The room feels smaller now that the reality is setting in.
No immediate help. No easy way out. Jean exhales, rubbing the back of his neck before nodding toward the wall.
"Man... just sit down, don't freak. We need to think."

Stacy immediately looks like she's about to snap back-but stops.
There's a pause.
She studies him for a second, like she's deciding whether to argue... then lets out a tight breath.

"...Fine."
She sits on a low stack of mats, still tense, arms crossed, leg bouncing slightly.
"This is still your fault," she mutters, quieter now.
Jean slides down the wall near the door, sitting across from her.
"Yeah, I'll add it to my long list of crimes. Right under 'existing' and 'walking into rooms.'"

She almost smiles.
Almost.
Silence hangs for a moment. The kind that's awkward-but not unbearable.
A faint sound of waves can be heard in the distance through the vents. The late afternoon light shifts slightly through the small window.
Stacy glances at him again.
"You're new, right?" Jean tilts his head slightly, a smirk creeping in.
"Yeah," he says, "you always interrogate people you're trapped with?"
Stacy rolls her eyes immediately. "You're literally the only other person here. What else am I supposed to do, sit in silence?"

Jean shrugs. "I mean, that was going pretty well for a second."
She scoffs, then narrows her eyes at him. "So what, you just break into schools for fun?"
He doesn't miss a beat. "Yeah. Big hobby of mine. Real adrenaline rush-maintenance closets are where it's at sister."
That gets a short laugh out of her before she quickly reins it in, like she didn't mean to.
"...Idiot."