Page 74 of Rules for Rule Breaking
“We’re underage. What do we do?” Bobby mouthed.
An idea popped into Winter’s mind, and Bobby nodded as if to give her permission to do it.
She discreetly reached through the door and felt around the wallfor the thermostat. Without looking, she cranked it up to the highest heat, then slowly closed the door so as not to draw attention. Despite her stealth, the officers saw her and descended like doughnut-eating vultures.
“Run!” Winter whisper-yelled.
Winter and Bobby leapt down the stairs and rushed to warn Omari. They cut through the dancing bodies and found him in a corner, changing the music on a makeshift DJ station. Bobby tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the approaching officers. Omari’s mouth turned into an O, but it was too late for him to do anything. The officers flashed the lights, and the room went deathly silent.
“Whose house is this?” one of the officers, with a steely face and rust-colored beard, demanded.
Omari took a deep breath and stepped forward.
The sound of the heater kicking on in the old house echoed in the wall. Bobby and Winter smiled at each other as a burning dust smell filled the room. As the officers busied themselves with trying to find the source of the smell, Bobby and Winter tried as best they could to fade into the background, moving bodies in front of them as they searched around the ceiling. Bobby grabbed a lighter out of someone’s hand and ripped the label off his beer bottle, handing them both to Winter.
Obscuring themselves in the dimly lit corner of the basement that held the hot water heater, Winter jumped on Bobby’s back and lit the label near a smoke detector. An ear-splitting screech immediately filled the room, followed by a collective groan.
Winter and Omari made eye contact from across the basement. He nodded his approval, then yelled, “Evacuate!”
No one in the basement was a stranger to a party bust; they knew the drill. They helped one another out of every door andwindow they could find. Bobby dragged Winter into the laundry room and hoisted her up onto the washing machine so she could shimmy through the window. Using her legs, she braced herself and appeared to be using all her strength to pull Bobby through as well. His shoulders cleared the small opening, and he fell out of the house, landing on top of Winter in the wet grass. They took a moment to catch their breaths. He didn’t even care that they were covered in mud and smelled like a mown lawn.
“What did we just do?” Bobby said with a deep chortle.
“Let’s not think about it too much.”
Suddenly, a light shone on them, bright and jarring, making Bobby wince away from it.
“Turn off the moon, Park,” Bobby groaned, pawing at her. When his hand hit nothing, he opened his eyes and was met with a flashlight in his face and an officer behind it.
Bobby and Winter sat side by side in a fluorescently lit public safety office. They were left in a back room alone as the officers dealt with other partygoers who were far louder and more unruly. Winter hiccupped and then giggled. Her giggle quickly turned into full-blown, side-splitting laughter.
“I fail to see what’s funny,” Bobby said.
“We’re going to get in trouble for the first time in our lives. What do you think that’ll be like?”
Bobby smirked. “I have no idea. I might actually break my dad.”
“I think Halmeoni will be proud, though.”
“Good. Because we may have to move in with her after our parents find out what we did.”
They both laughed and then trailed off.
“I’m kind of excited. Is that wrong?” Winter asked, barely concealing a dark smile.
Bobby contemplated the girl before him for a second. Her hair pointed in every direction, with blades of grass sticking out. Her shirt was damp and completely stretched out, askew on her body. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes open and alive.
“Come here,” he said, motioning her to him.
Her expression became serious, and she slid closer. She tilted her chin up and closed her eyes, waiting for him to kiss her.
“I’ve really missed you,” Bobby said, holding her face in his hands.
She opened her eyes but didn’t move. “We’ve seen each other almost daily for nearly a decade.”
“I know, but I’ve always had this loneliness that was only for you.”
Winter sat there still as stone and gawked for a moment before propping herself up on her chair with one of her legs to close the space between them. Their teeth clanged together, and they both backed up, laughing and covering their mouths.
