I look up to see a girl with pink-streaked hair and multiple piercings hurrying through the door. She’s wearing paint-stained overalls and looks vaguely familiar.
“Christie, right?” I ask.
“Yeah! From your sculpture class last semester.” She drops her bag and surveys the room. “Wow, this place is more depressing than I remembered.”
“It’ll look better once we’re done with it,” I say, trying to sound optimistic.
Over the next two hours, three more people trickle in. There’s Chase, a quiet sophomore who always sits alone in the cafeteria. Jen, who transferred in from community college last year and still hasn’t quite found her footing. And David, a gangly freshman who stammers when he talks.
We’re a ragtag group of misfits and outcasts. The people who don’t quite fit at Ashford Academy.
But we’re here. And that’s what matters.
By the time Karolina, Josh, Cameron, and Stella arrive with coffee and pastries, we’ve made real progress. The frame is starting to take shape. The atmosphere shifts from tense to almost celebratory.
“Look at you, project manager extraordinaire,” Karolina says, handing me a cup. “I’m impressed.”
“Don’t be impressed yet,” I say, but I’m smiling. For the first time in days, I feel like maybe this will actually work.
We break into groups. Some people work on leveling the ground outside where the rink will go. Others start sorting through the water pump system. I’m crouched down with Cameron, examining the valve assembly, when Christie’s voice cuts through the noise.
“Uh, guys? We have a problem.”
Everyone stops.
I stand up and walk over to where she’s kneeling beside the compressor unit, the critical piece of equipment we borrowed from the facilities department that will help freeze and maintain the ice.
She’s holding up a piece of metal tubing. Or rather, half of it. The copper pipe is bent at a severe angle, the metal torn and jagged.
“The coolant line,” she says, her voice tight. “It’s completely broken.”
My stomach drops.
“What? How?” I crouch down beside her and take the piece from her hands. The break is clean, brutal. “When did this happen?”
“I literally checked it ten minutes ago when we were setting everything up,” Christie says. “It was fine. Iknowit was fine.”
I turn the piece over in my hands. She’s right. I remember seeing it intact earlier, positioned carefully with the rest of the assembly. But now…
“Could it have broken on its own?” Jen asks nervously.
“No way,” Marcus says, coming over to look. “That’s solid copper. You’d need serious force to damage it like that.”
A cold feeling creeps down my spine. I look around the room. We’re the only ones here. The building has been empty except for us all morning.
“Maybe it was already damaged and we just didn’t notice?” David offers weakly.
But I can see it in everyone’s faces—the confusion, the unease. Something isn’t right about this.
“It must have broken on its own,” I say firmly, standing up. “There’s no other explanation. We’ll just… we’ll figure it out. I’ll call the facilities department and see if we can get a replacement.”
I’m lying. I don’t think it broke on its own at all. But I need to keep everyone calm, keep them focused.
“It doesn’t look like it broke on its own.”
The voice comes from behind me.
Every muscle in my body goes rigid.
