Shadows

8. Be careful

I'm running late to class.

I glance at my watch and groan. The bell rang ten minutes ago. Thanks to us wasting time trying to get out of traffic to actually take the shortcut, after that everything was just a blur of speed, Spencer sticking his tongue out of the window because "dogs always do this in movies", us screaming at him to get his head back inside, Axel hoping he somehow gets decapitated, Xander focusing on the road, Lance lost in thought- because only Lance can get lost in thought moving at 200mph listening to continuous hollering- and finally me trying to decipher how I even know these people.

Anyway, after Xander parked the car we instantly began running towards our lockers, and I must say they are very adequate at bandaging considering they hadn't gotten loose until now.
Anyway,

I HAVE ENGLISH.

I race down the hallways at full-speed, when I finally turn the corner to my corridor, a grin spreads across my face, my eyes at the prize(the doorknob  in this case).

My heart pounds as I race towards it, just seconds away. The moment I reach out to place my hand on the doorknob, another hand crashes into mine, and then I smack into a hard chest.
We both recoil at the same time, me clutching my forehead and Xander beginning to apologize.

"I'm sorry-"

"No no it's my fault I wasn't looking where-"

We hear the teacher talking inside. I look at him at the same time he looks at me

We're screwed?

He nods, we're screwed.

Suddenly he ducks, pulling my arm to make me duck, I give him a confused look, he looks at me blankly, pointing at the glass window above us. I give him an understanding look. Then it all crashes down at me that we should've been in class- I glance at my watch- twelve minutes ago. And not only is he strict about timing but also I was late to an unforgivable rate yesterday and he probably hates me even more now and he's probably going to take advantage out of this situation and give me lifetime detention and oh damn I don't even have a reason-

"What's your reason?" I whisper panic-eyed at Xander, who is somewhat as calm as ever.

"Car broke down, you?" He replies quietly.

I frown, "Crap- I was going to say bus broke down."

"You don't take the bus."

"And you expect him to know that?"

"And you expect the others not to?"

"Who cares they'll back me up."

He stares at the ground with a shrewd look, and it dawns on me that we're crouching and whispering to each other in front of the door of a classroom we're supposed to be in-

"Come on." I start crawling away from the door. It's a good thing there are no cameras in the hallways- it would be a sight to see. He simply ducks away from the window- I should've done that- and helps me up.

"Do you want to skip?" He asks me.

"What?"

"Do you want to skip school today?"

"Are you crazy?"

"Well, you did fall down the stairs yesterday, he probably already knows you don't take the bus, and I'm not expecting he would have any mercy on you. It's reasonable if you're not at school today, no one will know, and you won't get in trouble. Sound good?"