Free Inferno by Robin Stevenson

with blond, shoulder length—and a skinny face with dark eyes and a nice mouth. Not standard-cute the way Jamie is, but interesting-looking.
    â€œWait here a moment,” he says. He’s talking to all of us, but he’s looking at Parker. She nods and grins at him like she’s not worried about a thing. He walks over to the sign and inspects it closely. Then he looks at the building and the bright lights. “Get back in the car.”
    Just like that. All of us, even Jamie, do what he says. Leo starts the engine and quickly pulls out of the parking lot.
    â€œWhat the hell, Leo?” Jamie turns to face him. “Did Dante get you spooked or something? We could’ve done it. We could’ve pried it off the posts and been gone before anyone knew anything was going on.” He shoots me a dirty look. “I knew we shouldn’t have let someone new join us.”
    â€œIt’s not Dante’s fault,” Parker protests.
    Jamie is pissing me off. I want to hang out with Parker and her friends, but he’s being totally irrational, and there’s a limit to how much crap I’m prepared to take. I turn and glare at him. “You want to do it, go right ahead. I’m not stopping you.”
    Leo’s voice cuts across our argument. “They had video cameras, okay? They’ll have our license plate, our pictures...we’re not doing this one.”
    â€œThat sucks,” Parker says. “It was such a great idea.”
    There is a long silence. Disappointment settles over us, so heavy and thick you can almost see it. When it comes down to it, I am actually kind of relieved about not having to steal anything, but it is hard to imagine simply going home now. And I have to admit I’d loved the idea of going to school tomorrow and seeing everyone’s faces when they saw the sign. “Hey...,” I say slowly.
    â€œWhat?” Parker asks.
    I find myself glancing over at Leo, but I can’t see his face. “I was just thinking...well, what if we made a sign that said
Juvenile Detention Center
? And put it up at the school? Wouldn’t that work almost as well?”
    Jamie snorts. “What, like with paper and colored markers or something? That’s lame.”
    My cheeks are hot, but I’m not going to let Jamie make me look like an idiot. “Whatever,” I say. “Markers, paint, whatever. I mean, it’s the message that’s important, right?”
    Parker nods excitedly. “I think it’s a great idea. We could make it really big—like a banner, you know? And hang it right across the doors.”
    â€œIt’s not a bad idea,” Leo says. He looks uneasily at Jamie; then he shrugs. “Let’s do it.”
    â€œJamie?” Parker’s voice is soft. “Come on. It’s better than nothing.”
    â€œFine. Whatever.” Jamie doesn’t look at her.
    Leo grins. “We’ll go to your place then, okay? Do you have paper and stuff?”
    â€œWe could use a couple of white cotton sheets,” Parker says. “We’ve got some old ones we used as drop sheets when we painted the apartment. Oh, and we’ve got leftover green paint too.” She grins at me. “Dante, awesome idea. See, guys? I told you she rocked.”
    Leo laughs. Jamie doesn’t say anything. An uneasy feeling shifts and settles in my stomach, but I ignore it.
    Leo heads downtown and pulls up in front of a twenty-four-hour pizza joint. Jamie opens the door beside it, and we all troop up two flights of narrow stairs. At the top are two numbered doors. Jamie pulls a key out of his pocket and lets us into number four.
    I look around the living room with its dark green walls and dirty gray carpet and feel a surge of excitement.In the past, when I’ve gone to friends’ places, their homes looked more or less like mine: parents hovering close by, offering us snacks; little brothers and sisters hanging around