Try To Change Me

Chapter 23

"He'll huff and he'll puff and he'll blow your house down," the man whispered merrily, continuing to mock Mr Irving's laboured breathing. The teacher ground his teeth and bit down on his retort: Hazmat wasn't worth it. 

"If Anthony is the big bad wolf," a quiet voice said from just behind them, "Then that makes you the fat pig."

Ms Smith pursed her lips and kept her eyes focussed ahead of her, but as she stepped up beside them, Mr Irving could see the twinkle in her eye. 

Hazmat refused to be out done: "Would you like a slice of bacon, Ella?"

Before his thoughts could register, Mr Irving abruptly dropped the man. Haz let out a grunt as he fell, hitting the edge of the tunnely and coasting down to the bottom. He glared up at the other man.

"What was that for?"

Coach shushed him. "I thought I heard something."

Grumbling something uncomplimentary under his breath, Haz fell quiet, and all three strained to hear anythign in the darkness. Carissa slipped up beside them, raising a thin brow. 

"Why did we stop?"

Salena's softer voice echoed her question with less attitude. "And where is Finnegan?"

Their coach blinked once, then twice, before tearing off down the tunnel, leaving a desperate "Shit" hanging in the space he had occupied. Ms Smith gasped and followed suit, waving the girls back as she did. 

"Stay with Hazmat."

Salena looked down at th injured man who was checking his stitches, and then up at the other teenager who was checking her nails. "Oh boy."

Ebony refused to admit that the heat that remained in her cheeks was because she had been walking beside Austen for the last five minutes. Or because three minutes ago, when she'd tripped, he'd taken her hand. Or because he hadn't let go since. 

It was just unquantifiably hot in this storm drain. 

They'd managed to stand in the middle of the skate park for about 30 seconds before the feeling of being watched drove them to find cover. Phitz assured his friends that If Finnegan knew anything about this skate park he would have led them through the tunnel because it lead directly to where they were supposed to meet. So now they were scurrying through the drains, eyes and ears pricked for the first sign of the others.

Ebony was getting a cramp in her face. 

Somewhat relunctantly, she removed her hand from Austen's and rubbed her face, slowly coming to a stop. 

"This is ridiculous," she murmured, "We're just running around like... rats in a maze. We could be going in circles for all we know."

Phitz snorted and flapped his hand at her. "We're not going in circles."

"Dude, how do you know?" his best friend shrugged and spun in a tight circle. Ebony couldn't help but notice that when he finished turning, his shoulder was almost touching hers. "I mean, I didn't even knoe they built these drains anymore."

"They don't. That's why it's being renovated."

Ebony sunk to the ground as the boys continued, Austen mentioning something about 'unstable' and 'dangerous', to which Phitz responded with 'that's not what your mum said'. She sighed and leant back against the side of tunnel. Instead of hard concrete, the surface wobbled, sagging with her weight. Ebony gasped and jerked forward again, rolling onto her knees and staring at the surface.

Austen and Phitz stopped their bickering and exchanged a glance. "You ok their Ebbie?"

She ignored them, squinting in the bad light until she could just make out the different coloured square she had leant against. The flourescent emergency lights above them were few and far between, but Ebony held out her hands and confirmed the different texture gently.