“Hey. Did I wake you?”
“Um, yes?” she said, like it was the obvious answer.
“You’re gonna think this is so dumb, but I need your help, Skip. Well, Keenan needs your help.”
She groaned, a similar reaction to mine. “What did that idiot do now?”
“He broke into the football stadium at SGU, and he needs our help getting out of there.”
“Oh myGod.” She let out a dramatic sigh, exasperation in her voice. “Is he trying to get banned?”
I chuckled. “I know.”
“All right. Come pick me up. You have thirty minutes before I go back to sleep and you two are on your own.”
Thirty minutes later on the dot, I pulled onto Sierra’s street. She climbed out of her window and dropped to the ground with anoomphbefore running over to my pickup.
Her breathing was heavy as she climbed in the passenger side. “Let’s make this fast. If my parents figure out I’m not asleep, I’m in deep shit.”
A few silent minutes passed as we drove through town.
Sierra finally scoffed. “What the fuck was he doing breaking into the football stadium anyway?”
I shook my head, shrugging. “Beats me. It’s Keenan. When has he ever been logical?”
She snorted. “Fair enough. He’d better hope none of us get caught. Especially you, Mr. SGU Rodeo Team Scout.”
“I’m not the only one they’re looking at, and you know that.”
Sierra fell silent, and I knew right away the conversation was over. I’d been trying to convince her to come to SGU with me after graduating for a while now, but the answer was always no. Ididn’t understand why she was so against the idea. Yeah, we wouldn’t be getting out of Goldfinch, but at least we’d be together.
Keenan was nowhere in sight as we pulled into the stadium parking lot. I parked next to his truck, and Sierra and I both hopped out, heading toward the fence.
“Should we jump it?” Sierra looked at the fence then back at me, a devilish smirk on her face.
“What? Why?” I’d always been the rule follower of the three of us.
“I mean, we’re already here, so why not?”
I sighed, never able to say no to her. “Fine. Five minutes. Then we’re getting the hell out of here.”
Sierra climbed the fence with ease, hopping down onto the other side. I followed closely behind, and we stepped out onto the turf. The stadium lights overhead were off, but it wasn’t difficult to spot Keenan’s figure on the fifty-yard line. He was lying on his back, looking up at the sky.
We ran over to him, and he perked up, looking ready to run away.
Once he realized it was us, he pressed a hand to his chest. “God, you guys scared me! I thought you were campus police.”
“I thought you needed help getting out of here. Your truck is parked outside.”
He shrugged. “It got you guys here, didn’t it?”
“So you lied,” Sierra deadpanned.
“Come on, Skippy. Live a little.” He patted the ground next to him.
She plopped down, lying on her back with her knees bent. I lay down next to her, sandwiching her between me and Keenan.
“Don’t you guys want to get out of here one day?” she asked.
