NEAT LANDING

"I must be crazy to listen to you guys", I murmured. I was surprised at myself for agreeing to do this thing.

"Oh, come on. Admit it. Even you are curious to know about your boyfriend-to-be", said Emma nonchalantly.

I was dumbfounded hearing the term. Boyfriend-to-be. Will he ever be my boyfriend? Is my heart ready to accept him?

We were at Emma's place. She had arranged black hoodies for us to sneak into the school office at night. Initially, I wasn't ready to do this, but gradually my curiosity swept over.

She threw a hoodie at me. "Wear this quickly. It's almost twelve now. We gotta accomplish the mission".

"Mission of stealing school records?" I said sarcastically.

"Oh, come on. Don't be such a spoilsport. We only want to look at the records. We will place them correctly after we get what we want", she winked.

"We are going to be screwed", I said frowning.

As Sophie had predicted, the guards were asleep. We sneaked into the school surreptitiously. What we saw later was something I had predicted.

"Told ya. The main door's closed. Now let's go back", I said hastily.

"Get your ass over here, muppet. Don't you remember that there was a ladder near the fence over there? Lets get that", Sophie ordered.

"What are you suggesting? The office is in the sixth floor. Is your ladder so long?" I asked.

"Dumbass. We are gonna use the ladder to climb up to the next floor, and then when we get inside, we sneak into the office of course. Am I the only smart one here?", she said smirking. Both I and Emma scoffed.

"What if the office is locked?" asked Emma.

To this question, Sophie smirked. "I have come with preparations, of course." She took a Bobby pin from her pocket and proudly displayed it. Emma and I were speechless.

"What? Don't tell me that you are gonna give up after coming this far", Sophie scoffed. "Come on, lazy asses. All we have to do is get a ladder, climb and sneak into the office. That's it", she said, sounding as if the whole procedure was damn easy.

"Fine, you're the boss", I sighed. Winning against Sophie in an argument was something I never managed to do.

We found the ladder and placed it directly below the window of a classroom on the first floor. The classroom usual remained unlocked, according to Sophie. Now the only thing was to decide the positions. "I will climb. Sophie, watch the main gate carefully and Emma, stay near the ladder", I commanded.

"No way. I'm coming too", Sophie argued.

"Use your brain, moron. We need at least two to watch the guards. And I'm better at searching things without messing the whole place. Okay, I'm gonna climb now. Text me if anyone comes", I said and started climbing.

I quickly climbed and entered the classroom. Fortunately, it wasn't locked. I went all way up to the office and sneaked in. I had once seen the staff taking out the school records from the cupboard near the door, so I searched the same cupboard. I was relieved to find the records there.

I kept searching for Liam's records. Finally, I found them. When I was about to read them, I received a text from Emma .

GET DOWN QUICKLY. I THINK ONE OF THE GUARDS SAW US. WE DON'T HAVE TIME.

Just when I was about to finally look into Liam's record, this guard screwed the plan. I didn't want to give up now. I clicked the photo of the record and texted her back.

I HAVE FOUND THE RECORD. HIDE THE LADDER AND GET OUT OF HERE. I WILL COME DOWN SHORTLY.

She texted back. THEY HAVE GONE TO THE OFFICE. QUICKLY HIDE SOMEWHERE. WE WILL TRY TO DISTRACT THEM.

I quickly placed the documents inside the cupboard and hid under the table. After a while, I heard footsteps and some voices. If I get caught, I'll be rusticated, without a doubt. My heart was pounding against my chest.

After some time, their voices subsided. Have they gone? Without checking the office? I sneaked out of the table, and was grabbed by someone. I couldn't see the face, the person was holding me against the wall, his hand covering my mouth tightly. Who was he? A kidnapper? Am I done for?

After we could no longer hear the guards' voices, the person released me and I saw him. I was apalled when I saw him. It was Liam.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, unable to contain the shock.

"I would like to ask you the same question, miss", he replied, equally surprised.

"I was umm.. well.. umm.. Wait, why do I have to explain it to you? It's none of your business", I said irritably and went to the door. I was shocked again to find the door locked.

"Fuck. It's locked", I exclaimed.

"Seems like we have to spend the night here", he said, pretending to sound thrilled. I felt my cheeks burn.

"No way. I'm getting out of here." I searched the place for any rope. Alas! I didn't find any.

"What do we do? If we don't get out of here, we will be found by the guards and rusticated from the school", I felt ache hearing my own words.

"Don't cry, kiddo. I have a way", said Liam, sounding confident and jumped out of the window.

"Wait are you fucking crazy?" I couldn't control myself and jumped out of the window in shock.

What was I doing , jumping from the sixth floor? Am I gonna die? I'm in the air but I don't feel terrified. On the contrary, I feel.. quite amazing.

When I was a few feet from the ground, my reflex kicked in and I thrust one arm downwards , taking a perfect landing position. I landed safely.

I couldn't believe how the heck I was alive. I never did this before and I certainly didn't know how to dive and land. My body started trembling thinking about the whole thing. I saw Liam in front of me, his eyes astonished.

"I was right about you", he smiled.

"What... the fuck.. are you .. talking about..How the hell... are we alive?" My voice was shaking.

"You will know soon", he smiled again and leaped over the fence.

I returned to Emma's home, unable to think clearly. Both of them were waiting near the door.

"Where the hell were you? Did the guards find you? Are you alright? What happened?" Sophie kept on asking without a pause.

"One question at a time, Soph. What happened ,Hayley?" Emma asked me apprehensively.

I was still in shock. "Will you believe me if I say I jumped from the sixth floor?"

"Are you alright? What are you talking about?" they both asked me simultaneously. Both were worried about me.

"Forget it. I managed to escape without getting caught. Let's sleep", I said finally. I didn't want to worry them. I hope this is all a dream and everything will be back to normal when I wake up tomorrow.