Free Trapped by Michael Northrop

doors, so you can’t punch through the glass and open it. It’s just got those metal plates to push against.”
    “Then how do we know it even locks?”
    “Dude, have you ever gotten there early? It locks.”
    “It locks at the bottom,” said Krista, joining in.
    “What?” asked Jason.
    “It’s got like a keyhole, one of those round metal disks with a keyhole in the middle, down by the floor.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah, I was there when they opened up once.”
    “We could, like, pick it,” I said, and was sort of sorry I had.
    “Pick it? Alright, 007, go ahead,” said Pete, and the others laughed. It was true: I had no idea how to pick a lock.
    Julie laughed the loudest, a high-pitched whinny, and that sort of annoyed me. I felt like Pete was just ripping me to impress her. Then again, I’d only started talking to agree with Krista. Being in here with these girls, this could be trouble for us.
    “You know what, though,” said Jason. It was like when he knew about the heating, he had the same kind of confidence in his voice. He sounded like a car mechanic about to deliver his assessment: blown radiator, broken timing belt. “I bet we could blow out the cylinder.”
    I sort of knew what he meant.
    “With what?” I said.
    “Something long and metal,” he said. “Like a drill bit and a hammer.”
    “Uh, anyone got a drill bit and a hammer?” I said, looking around. It was an easy laugh, and I immediately felt like a jerk for getting it at Jason’s expense. He didn’t care, though. Hewasn’t as thin-skinned as me, or maybe he just wasn’t tripping over himself to impress the girls.
    “We could get them,” he said, a little smile forming on his face.
    “Yeah,” said Les. “No problem.”
    We’d locked the door before leaving shop. We’d turned the little button on the doorknob and swung it closed behind us. But it would be easy to break that window, reach in, and open up. We even had a volunteer. Suddenly, though, I wasn’t so sure. I guess I just got cold feet.
    “I don’t know,” I said. “We really want to break in? I mean, we’d be breaking into the shop just so we could break into the cafeteria. That’s like one broken window and one blown-out lock, just so we can go scavenge some truly crappy food. Truly crappy food we won’t even be able to cook.”
    That was my big speech, my heroic last stand. It didn’t go over well.
    “Yeah,” said Les. “That sounds about right.”
    “Dude,” said Jason. “We’ve got to eat.”
    “Don’t be such a wuss,” said Les.
    I was thinking, Screw you, man, I just don’t want to get kicked off the basketball team, but I didn’t say it. I held it in and assessed the situation. Jason and Les were all for it, Jason because it was his idea and Les because he wanted to break something. But the girls weren’t saying anything. Julie was the swing vote. Krista and Pete would both go along with her, so I sort of turned and started talking in her direction.
    “Yeah, we’ve got to eat,” I said. “But we don’t have to eatright now. I mean, what is it, ten o’clock? It’s not even lunch and we’re going to start busting things up, trying to get at the PB&J?”
    “Dude,” said Jason. “I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday. Yester-frickin'-day. That’s almost twenty-four hours.”
    “I’m pretty sure the human body can go twenty-four hours without food,” I said, sounding uncomfortably like a teacher, that same condescending tone. Why was I being such a jerk to Jason this morning?
    “Yeah, but why should we? The food is right there. Right there.”
    “Let’s just wait a while,” I said. “At least till it really is lunchtime.”
    A few people checked the time.
    “But what’s the point in waiting if we’re hungry now?” said Jason.
    “What if someone comes in the meantime?” said Julie, and I was glad to have her on my side, but I knew she was going to get shredded for that one.
    “Ha!” said Jason.
    He walked over and