“If all you’re going to do is rot away in this room the whole week, why don’t you help move these desks to the roof?”

I took the shiny key attached to the lanyard Miss Halsey had tossed at me and opened the bulky, metal door leading to the staircase. It opened with a defined click, and Serena impatiently tapped on the long desk. The poor thing wobbled under each light blow, legs shaking and threatening to collapse in on themselves. What a shame the school had seen fit for a teacher to be resigned to using this hunk of junk for the majority of the year. Still, I took her cue for what it was and slid the door stop underneath the sill with the side of my shoe. The sheer mass of the door fought against the plastic stop, pushing it until it finally settled at a little less than a forty-five-degree angle. More than enough room to maneuver the desk in and up I figured as I grabbed the edge of the tabletop and lifted.

“Hoist your side higher.”

“If I lift it any higher, you’re going to be balancing the damn thing on your head,” I grumbled, straining under the weight of it.

“Well, it’s crushing my chest, so do something different!”

Refraining from commenting on a topic that would bring me nothing but trouble, I raised the desk a little. It was clearly pressing more into her collarbone now, yet she must have found that more bearable and didn’t fuss. We went through the doorway and Serena took the first stair going backward, forcing me to bear most of the heft of the desk as it bore down on me. Not that I was complaining about that. It would have undoubtedly crushed her had our roles been reversed. And as much as she could drive me crazy, I didn’t want her to become a smudge at the bottom of the stairwell.

“Step, step, step.”

She carried on with the unending mantra, and I couldn't decide whether it was for her benefit or mine. Regardless, I utilized them and we managed to get a rhythm going—me taking on the bulk of the weight and her guiding our steps.

“Almost there,” Serena huffed when we reached the top landing. The door to the roof was already propped open like Miss Halsey had promised it would be. With a final heave, we angled the desk through the doorway and onto the concrete surface of the rooftop. I gratefully released my grip, shaking out my arms while Serena did the same.

She shot me a displeased look. “What are you sore from? I was the one doing all the heavy lifting!”

A scoff slipped out and made her frown. “First off, I’m not sore. I’m just getting the old blood flowing again. Second off, you better learn the meaning of teamwork soon. We still got a bunch more we have to drag up here.”

Serena rolled her eyes at my comments but didn’t say anything. She knew that it was the truth, and there was no use pissing each other while the task at hand loomed over us.

“Fine, it’s not your fault you were born a giant, so I can find it in myself to forgive you.”

“That’s kind of you, but I think I’m about average. It’s you who’s coming up a little short.”

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” She sighed and pushed a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear. “Whatever. It is kinda cool to be up here, though.”

I wasn’t certain what was cool about this at all. There was nothing worth noting, other than the uniform slabs of concrete underfoot. The smooth cracks between them had filled with hardy plant life, giving a little color to the otherwise unyielding monotony. The slabs of brown bricks surrounding the silver door we had come from completed the boring picture. That being the case, Serena would have to excuse me for my lack of enthusiasm.

We had just been roped into doing another one of my teacher’s unwanted tasks. In fact, I grew more and more certain by the day that the creation of the Volunteers Club was done solely to offload anything she was too lazy to do.

The heavy patter of footsteps alerted me to the other girls coming up the stairs. They each emerged from the doorway holding a desk that was nowhere near as cumbersome as the one we struggled with. They dropped them off on the right side, a spot that had unofficially become the dumping ground for these old desks.

 “Took you two long enough,” Nicole complained.

“Yeah, that probably could have been avoided with better planning,” I drawled.

The height disparity between us really did make a basic task like this a lot more difficult. That was the reason I had suggested pairing myself with Nicole and having her go with Aubrey; however, that plan faltered the second I uttered it. The two of them shared a sidelong glance and decided that Serena would be best for the job. That sealed my fate as the younger girl preened under the unfounded confidence and swore we could do it.

“Let’s not get all worked up about it.” Aubrey appeared in between us, arms spread out like she was seconds away from interfering in a rooftop brawl. “What’s done is done. We got a lot more to go, so no arguing.”

“You can’t help but play peacemaker.” Nicole lightly flicked her nose before heading toward the stairwell. “Hurry up, then. We can’t rely on these bums.”

“Hey,” Serena yelled, “I resent that!”

Aubrey flashed us an apologetic smile and raced off after Nicole, leaving us alone again.

“Still weird to me how close they’ve been acting recently.”

I nodded in agreement.

They’d been like that the past couple of days, and I highly doubted it was an act. Ever since they worked their issues out, they were conjoined at the hip. If one had to use the bathroom, the other also felt the sudden urge. If you struck up a conversation with one, you would find yourself talking to them both.

It left me in a little bit of a predicament. I was obviously glad that they were getting along well, but I was no longer confident about spilling my indecisive feelings to them. Who was I to break apart their happiness and tell them that I liked them both? It was my stupid turmoil in the first place that drove them to get upset to begin with. Neither of them had obviously brought it up either, so maybe it was for the best to just carry on like this.

“Hey, Grant? Are you listening?”

“Not at all,” I smirked. “What were you saying?”

She puffed out her cheeks in that cute pout she would often do. “You really need to work on getting lost to the world like that. It’s super freaky.”

Placing a hand over my heart, I stumbled slightly to really sell the act. “How will I ever recover from such a cruel sentiment?”

“Not sure, but we’d better catch up to them. We can’t let them think we’re slackers.”

“I assumed Nicole was talking about you.”

She glared at me. “You assumed wrong.”

“Happens to the best of us,” I said, following behind her back to the classroom and the rickety desks.

---

“Nice work, everyone.” Nobody was enthused with her lame compliment, which Miss Halsey recognized immediately. “Oh, lighten up a little. It’s not like I didn’t plan on giving you something for a job well done.”

“Ice cream?”

“A relaxing day at the spa?”

“I could use a little extra credit.”

“We don’t need–”

Everybody immediately glowered at Aubrey, and Serena slapped a hand over her mouth.

“Better than any of that.” The genuine smile on her face made me believe that this was going to be a worthwhile reward. We leaned forward in anticipation. “Just to check though, do any of you have any plans this weekend?”

Everybody gave her some affirmation in the negative.

“Great!” She clapped her hands together. “You’re all invited to the astrology club campout.”

She did the most relaxed version of jazz hands I’d ever seen while everyone watched on in muted shock. Eventually, Serena took it upon herself to say something. “We don’t have any astrology club.”

“Of course we do. You guys are its members, which is why I’m taking you on this wonderful trip. No need to thank me.”

Good thing thanking her was the farthest thing from my mind; Nicole was the same.

“You got paid to run two clubs,” she accused our teacher.

“Yep,” she said, not even attempting to deflect or deny it. “Stipend hit my bank account yesterday and now some of the higher-ups were asking for proof of our activities.”

Of course, this ‘reward’ was only to maintain appearances and to earn some extra money. Should I have been surprised that a teacher wasn’t above such a thing? Probably. I wasn’t sure what it said about her that I wasn’t. Still, a free weekend trip was more exciting than lazing around the house. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

“I’ll go,” I said, and Serena nodded along with me.

Aubrey shrugged. “Should be fun with everyone.”

Nicole did not appear convinced, crossing her arms and sighing. “Just where is this campout supposed to be happening?”

Miss Halsey airily waved a hand at us. “Somewhere with a fantastic view of the stars.”

“You have nothing planned, do you?”

“Not a thing, but I’ll see you all bright and early tomorrow.”

And now I was starting to think I should have considered looking a gift horse in the mouth.