I just realized the last time i updated was in march. feel free to yell at me😭
~~~
"Hey! You! Kaden! My brother's friend!"
Qibli internally sighed and turned around at the sound of Anemone's voice.
"Your stupid football friends stole my phone and put it in the boy's change room and I need you to go get it."
"Why'd they st—" he paused. "Never mind. I don't care."
Qibli went into the change room and went to where the freshman jocks liked to hang out. They stopped being obnoxious fourteen year old boys long enough to acknowledge him.
"Hey, you're the Desert guy." The one in the middle of all of them said.
"Did one of you take a cheerleader's phone and hide it in here?"
The one in the middle laughed. "Yeah. She got all mad and yelled at us. It was really hot."
"She wants it back."
"We told her she has to make out with me for it."
The rest of them laughed.
Qibli rolled his eyes. "Just give me the phone."
They must have realized that he really wasn't in the mood for childish games. The middle one nodded and one, who seemed to be the ringleader nodded, and of them left and came back with a pink phone covered in rhinestones.
Qibli took it from him. "And don't treat girls like this. If you showed them some respect you wouldn't have to do so much for a kiss."
Qibli opened the door to see Anemone standing there impatiently. "God, finally." She held her hand out and he gave it to her. "Could you have been any slower?"
"I can go give it back to them if you want."
She rolled her eyes. "Thank you. Is that what you wanted?"
He grinned. "Was that so hard?"
"Whatever. Bye."
"What's her problem this time?" Moon asked him as she came up to him with Summer beside her.
"The freshman jocks stole her phone."
"What did that have to do with you?"
"They put it in the change room and she wanted me to get it for her."
"And you did? What a little sweetheart." Summer told him with a smile.
"Guys I'm gonna cry." Kinkajou said as she came up behind them. "I don't think they should be allowed to make us go to school four days after New Years."
"I know, what a tragedy." Qibli said. She didn't catch the sarcasm in his tone.
"Right?! Like my sleep schedule is still so messed up! I woke up like twice last night and I was supposed to go to the mall with Tamarin today but now I'm too tired."
"First world problems." Summer sighed.
Kinkajou nodded in agreement, but it didn't look like she fully understood what that meant. "I had the weirdest dream last night."
"You should tell Summer all about it." Qibli said.
"Do you and Moon have somewhere to be?" Kinkajou asked him.
"We have this thing....at this place...that's mandatory." He wrapped his arm around Moon's waist and started going towards the door, Moon looking relieved out of her mind.
"Oh, okay. Well have fun! I'll see you guys tomorrow then!"
"I'm so sorry I have to miss out on this story."
"You dont!" Summer interjected. "Kinkajou can send you a voice message of it. And then quiz you to make sure you listened to the whole thing! Right Kinkajou?"
Kinkajou beamed. "Yes of course!"
"I just love how you're always so thoughtful." Qibli said flatly to Summer.
She grinned at him. "Any time. See you guys later."
~~~
"So she wants the purple one." Moon opened the storage locker. Webs had sent them to get books that he had ordered months ago and forgotten about.
The closet was a tiny little space, room for one or two people at most. She held the self closing door open with her foot as she stepped inside and looked through the closet. Qibli stayed where he was in the empty halls. "Oh found it!" Moon said. She reached for one of the packages on the top shelf but couldn't reach. "Can you grab that for me?"
"What?"
"The one on top."
"You mean go in there?"
"Of course. Is there a problem?"
"Nope. I got this."
She chuckled a little. "You're so weird sometimes."
Qibli hesitantly laughed it off and went passed her into the closet. He reached for the one she was pointing at.
"Wait, I actually don't think it's that. It should be book-shaped. Do you see any more purple ones?" She squeezed passed him and looked up at the shelves again, completely forgetting about the door. They both only remembered after it closed itself behind them, leaving them in pitch black.
Moon flinched when it slammed shut. She turned around, which was pretty hard considering they weren't both supposed to fit in there. She searched for a knob on their side, but her fist didn't close around any.
Qibli, had pressed himself into the wall behind him and was urging her to open it. "Any day now,"
"Hold on, I'm trying to find the knob."
"Well try harder! It has to be there somewhere!"
She kept feeling around the door. "I don't think I can find one. I don't have my phone on me. Give me yours, we'll use the flashlight."
There was some movement as he searched his pockets. "I don't have it. I left it in class. Try pushing it."
"I doubt that's gonna work."
"Try it!"
"Hey, calm down, why are you yelling at me?"
"I'm not—" he cut himself off when he realized he was talking really frantically. "Sorry."
She tried pushing the door with no avail.
"Well I guess we're stuck here. Someone'll pass by eventually and let us out."
She started hearing a fast tapping sound. "'Eventually?'"
Moon shrugged. "I guess so—are you okay? What are you doing?"
The tapping stopped.
"Qibli what's wrong. We're not missing anything important—he's probably just talking about some old white guy's morning routine."
He was breathing rapidly now. "It's not that."
"What is it then? Woah, you're shaking." She realized when she reached for him that he was quivering.
"I'm a little claustrophobic." He admitted.
"A little?"
"Okay, a lot claustrophobic. It's horrible. If I don't make it out alive, tell Thorn I ate the the donut she was saving for after work—she'll know what you're talking about— and tell Winter that I didn't mean to give his dog a bald spot. And then tell Kestrel that—"
"Qibli come on, you're not gonna die." She ran her hands up his torso until she found his neck.
He seemed to relax a little when she made contact with his bare skin. "I know we can't really move right now but can you see me?"
"I wish."
"Just focus on me, okay?"
"Mhm."
She stood on her tippy toes and kissed his neck (it was the only thing she could reach). "Just take a few deep breaths. Is it helping you that I'm this close? Or should I back up a bit."
He chuckled a little in the middle of his breathing. "You don't really have much of a choice, do you?"
She smiled. "See? You're relaxing."
"You're helping, yeah." He told her. "If I was in here alone I'd most likely have passed out by now."
"You're that claustrophobic?"
"Yeah, my friends locked me in a locker as a birthday prank in middle school and I ended up just passing out in there and they found me and rushed me to the er."
"Oh my god! Please don't start reliving that. Think about anything else."
"Uh.. Today's cream cheese's birthday."
"What?"
"Cream cheese was invented three hundred and seventy two years ago today."
"Why do you know that?"
"I'm an only child. I get bored. You must understand."
"Hello?" Someone called from outside and they both froze, thinking they'd imagined it. "Is someone in there?"
"Yes! Can you let us out?" Moon called back.
"Sure—wait, how do I know you're no murderers?"
"Cause...we're not."
"I'm not sure. Maybe I should call the cops or something and they can deal with you and your murderiness."
"Come on, please! We're students here! We got locked in by accident."
"How do I know you're students? Who's the worst teacher?"
"Kestrel!" Moon and Qibli said at the same time.
The door clicked and opened immediately. They rushed out and Qibli took in a giant gulp of air like he'd been underwater for two hours.
"Oh my god you are students! Yay me! I'm a hero!"
It was a girl Moon had seen before a few times. She always seemed to be very expressive when it came to her thoughts.
"I'm Peril!"
"I'm Moon, and this is my boyfriend Qibli. Thank you so much for helping. We've been in there for so long." Qibli was still gasping for air behind her. "Sorry, he's a little out of it but he'll be back to normal hopefully soon."
"You have a boyfriend? How'd you do that?" Peril asked her. "I want one too, actually I know exactly who I want it to be and I even planned our wedding and everything and used a baby simulator to find out what our kids would look like but he's my friend and his friends don't like me and I don't think he likes me in that way either." Did you ever feel like that? If so maybe there's hope for me too! Oh my god thanks for the talk! I'll go see him now!" As fast as she'd come, she disappeared around the corner calling for someone names Clay.
Moon shook her head to get that overwhelming conversation out, and went to check on Qibli.
"How are you feeling now?"
"I can move! I can see things, I can breathe—" he picked her up by the waist and twirled her around. "And I can do that!" He dropped her back on her feet and it took a second to steady herself. "Life's great."
She laughed a little. "Yeah, thanks for not passing out."
He returned her grin. "Thanks for not letting me pass out. Let's go get our stuff and leave. I'm ready to get out of here." He draped an arm across her shoulders and started making his way to the sophomore lockers.
She stopped him. "Excuse me go where? It's the middle of third period."
He looked genuinely shocked. "We have to stay here for four more hours?!"
"Yes, dummy. That's how school works. Let's go back to class."
~~~
A little Moonbli like you guys asked for💓
Yes Peril's gonna keep randomly popping in throughout the book lol. I just love her with my whole heart she needs to be included.
Don't forget to vote and comment <3
~Jess 💗