Page 79 of Lesson Learned

“There’s a—” he breaks off, holding up a finger before he searches a drawer. “Here.” He hands over a weird plastic gadget. “You slide it into the lock when you’re inside the room. Stops someone using a key while you’re in there.”

Relief fills me until if it wasn’t for the counter between us, I’d envelope him in a giant bear hug. “Thank you.”

I walk away from him with a lighter step, some measure of control returning to me. James is a blight on the school, but at least I’ll be safe when locked in my room.

Once this school year’s over, I can lay an official complaint without jeopardising my scholarship. By then, Marnie could have come to her senses, and we can go together, increase the likelihood they’ll take action.

Probably not, but a girl can dream.

Later, back in my room, I test the device and practically hum as I hear it engage the lock. It’s not even the increased safety, or not entirely. It’s the fact I did something. I fought back.

And tomorrow, I’ll look for stronger ways to fight back. Perhaps even think of a way to get Marnie free of his clutches.

The universe feels rosier as I lie in bed, composing a good night text to Conner, wondering if he’s in the mood for a little sexting.

* * *

CONNER

My heart rate is elevated as I let myself into the school gate in the early hours of Tuesday morning. I’ve walked from home, not keen on waking my driver to take me. The last security patrol around the grounds finished half an hour ago and I’ve kept watch on the feed since to ensure they didn’t stray from their usual protocol.

So far, so good.

My excuse for being at school this early is flimsy, a lack of sleep and a desire to get ahead of class planning. But it’s not as though I’m breaking into a secure area. I can get everything done that I need to while staying within my designated zone.

It even occurred to me to accomplish the task within school hours, removing another level of suspicion, but if someone glanced over my shoulder at the wrong time, the entire plan would crash down around my ears.

I don’t need to introduce more danger. The risk I took yesterday with Paisley was foolish enough. I made the appointment thinking I’d tease her a little, nothing extravagant, nothing that could get us caught. I had thought to Skype her later, carry out a punishment via video.

Then the moment I got her alone in the office, I couldn’t stop.

A shadow moves as I approach the lobby from the student housing side, giving me a jump-scare. Xander, the janitor’s apprentice, someone who shouldn’t be anywhere inside the housing block at this time, disappears into a room.

I wait for a few minutes, smiling at the thought some elite student, girl or boy, must fancy a bit of rough. When he doesn’t reappear, I move ahead.

The lobby doors have never sounded so loud. When I swipe into the teachers’ offices, the card takes forever to register and give me the green light.

Once inside, I move to a terminal, booting up the computer using a guest profile and downloading the program I pre-prepared from the cloud. It would be a thousand times easier to use a thumb drive, but they’ve disengaged the ports to prevent viruses.

I apply it to the program they’ve installed to check documents, using the backend login and wait impatiently for the entire thing to run.

Work is hard to concentrate on when I know one set of swipe card protected doors is all that separates me from Paisley’s room.

Half a dozen times, I pull my phone out, ready to text a message. Half a dozen times, I put it back in my pocket, trying to focus on my work.

When the battle grows so vigorous, it’s annoying, I leave the building and walk around the grounds to clear my head.

That’s when I see Xander again, wriggling out through a grate in the side of the building, set near ground level.

The crawlspace.

I knew it was under the building. The original plans submitted to council showed its use as an access point to wiring, air conditioning units, water pipes, and drainage. From the blueprints, the only access was through these grates, but Xander’s appearance indicates an internal entry point as well.

He went into a room and came out through the crawlspace. The discovery could fulfil Creighton’s request for physical entry points aside from those requiring swipe cards.

To find out more, I’ll have to either examine a room myself or talk to Xander. We’ve already had a few conversations but this one can’t be passed off as idle curiosity. If I want to go down this route, I need to approach him as a potential recruit.

The software reaches its end and I scrub all the lingering traces from the computer. Since I’m already here, I get to work prepping for my next week of lessons.

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