Locked In

September 28, 3030 8:59 A.M.        I rustle through my drawers to find clothes to wear for the day. It's just school, there's no one to impress. Jeans and a tee it is. I decide to pull on a flannel last minute, leaving it unbuttoned. Raking my hand through my dirty blond hair, I slip on some sneakers and head to the front door.          "Have a good day at school, son," my dad says as I pass him in the kitchen.         "Thanks," I say, not even bothering to ask where my mom is. As the designated breadwinner of the family, my mother is constantly working. Of course, Dad works as well, but my parent’s schedules never line up. Both of them get home late and I hardly see them while we eat dinner before they both head to bed.          I walk out the front door and immediately witness the chaos. I'm used to it, though. When you’ve grown up in a society that’s been like this for hundreds of years, you grow accustomed to it. Everyone does. Everyone, except for Scarlett Anderson, my childhood best friend. She hates the way things are. History has always been a fascinating subject for her and she is constantly found with her nose in a history book. She would always ramble on and on about it, but I never stopped her because I always loved to hear her voice.          I glance over to the neighboring house to my right to see if Scarlett is outside yet. My eyes greet an empty porch and I furrow my brows. She's always on her front porch at 9:05 A.M. Not that I purposely come out at that time to see her. Okay, maybe I do.          I don't really know what happened to our friendship. She made new friends, and so did I. Then we just… drifted apart. I try to make conversation with her as much as I can, but she always responds with one word and seems to avoid making eye contact with me. It's agitating as hell when I'm really trying to be friends with her again and she just won't have it.         I decide to walk up to her front door, going through five minutes of the guards scanning me and checking my bags. Right as I begin to knock, I hear Bentley Anderson yelling:         "Scarlett, get your ass down here!"         I take that as my cue to leave, passing the guards, and hurry down the street with the crowd. ****** 10:05 A.M.         Just as the bell rings, Scarlett walks in, breathless, and sits down in the seat behind me. I can hear Madison Eldridge whispering to Scarlett, and I frown as Anderson tells Eldridge why she was almost late. It doesn't surprise me that Scarlett's parents didn't bother to wake her. I always knew how terrible her parents are with the way they treat her.         I turn around to face Scarlett. "Do you have a pencil I can borrow?"          I study her green eyes, noticing how nervous she gets. She always gets skittish every time I talk to her--heck, even when I look at her.         "Yeah. . ." She quickly takes out a pencil and hands it to me.          I force myself to turn around and face the front of the class. "Thanks."         Mrs. Hurtado tells us to take out our homework assignments. I pull out mine and begin to pay attention to my teacher, fighting the urge to turn back around to talk to Scarlett.         "Hey," Chloe Slater whispers from my left. "You should let me copy off your homework."         I roll my eyes, but still hand her my homework and allow her to copy the answers. Though Chloe is one of my close friends, our friendship will never be as strong as Scarlett and I’s once was. ****** 12:05 P.M.         "Are we all going to hang out this weekend or are you gonna take Penelope out on another date?" Chloe asks as we sit in the cafeteria.         I chuckle and shake my head. "No, I'm not taking her on another date. We went out last weekend. It was our one-year anniversary."         "Yeah, she told me about that." Chloe picks at the grey gunk the school claims to be food. "She wouldn't shut up about how romantic you were."         "I wouldn't say I'm romantic." I shrug and lean up, placing my elbows on the table. "I just took her to the spot where we first kissed and had a picnic."         "I don’t know what romantic means to you, because that was definitely romantic."         I shrug. "I guess it was a bit romantic."         "But?"         I furrow my brows. "But what? There is no but."         Chloe scoffs, shaking her head with a small smile. "Please. I've been watching the way you act around that girl, Scarlett Anderson." She rolls her eyes. "I can tell she likes you, too."         "I don't like Scarlett, not in that way."         Chloe scoffs again. "Please. It's obvious . . . to me, at least. You're lucky you and Penelope don't have the same classes with Scarlett." She rests her chin on her palm. "She would so hate you once she sees how you act around Scarlett."         I open my mouth to protest, but my best friend Ashton Anaya exclaims:         "Yo, Bennett!" He claps me on the shoulder with a huge grin as I stand up to greet him.         My other best friend Karter Cohen practically jumps on me, slinging his arm around my shoulders. "How you doin', man?"         "Great." I smile at Karter. "Why aren't you with your girlfriend?"          I glance over to the table where Luna Rivera is, catching Scarlett’s gaze on me. I keep my eyes locked on hers, enjoying the way she blushes, realizing I caught her. I couldn’t bring myself to turn away, even as Penelope appears. I can faintly hear Penny speaking to me, her words flying right over my head. Is this getting weird? Have we been staring too long? But her eyes are so pretty...         Penelope kisses my cheek, causing me to come back into reality. "Are you okay, babe?"         I smile, placing my hands on her hips and pecking her lips. "I'm good, baby."          "Gross, none of that now," Ashton jokingly gags.           I playfully shove him. "Screw you. Go over to your girlfriend." I jerk my thumb back over to Scarlett's table, where his girlfriend Madison sits.         "Gladly." Ashton walks over to their table, wrapping his arms around Madison from behind. He kisses her cheek as she smiles before he sits down beside her.         I see Chloe is already sitting with Ryker Cornish, flirting a bit. It’s so obvious they like each other, but refuse to say anything about it. Why? I have no idea.         Karter sits between Scarlett and Luna, draping an arm over his girlfriend's shoulders.         "Do you wanna join them?" Penelope asks me.         I shrug. "Why not?" I take my girlfriend's hand and walk to their table. "Do you guys mind if we join you as well?"         "No," Scarlett responds, gesturing for us to sit down.         I sit down on the other side of Scarlett, as Penelope sits across the table next to Karter.         "Can one of you guys convince Scarlett to hang out with us this weekend?" Madison demands.         "I told you," Scarlett says, adjusting her glasses. "I can't. And if I sneak out, I'm dead."         "Don't get caught," Chloe says, shrugging dismissively.         "It's not that simple," I cut in.          Scarlett stares at me in surprise as I continue, "Her parents would actually kill her if they find out she left the house."         Scarlett turns away and faces Madison. "Bennett's right. How many times do I have to tell you?"         Madison shrugs, causing Ashton to chuckle.         "Well regardless," Penelope says, "I agree with Chloe. Just don't get caught."         "You say that like it's simple," Scarlett remarks.         "I'll help you. I'll come by your place and convince your parents to hang out with me this weekend."         Scarlett tilts her head, obviously shocked. "You'd do that?"         "Of course. Just send me your address, and I'll swing by."         "My parents aren't easy to convince. My dad's a drunk and my mom hates me." Scarlett tilts her head down, adjusting her glasses out of habit.         "Then I'll do it," I say, causing Scarlett to snap her head up at me, wide-eyed. "Your parents remember me, right? I'll convince your parents."         "That's sweet, but--"         "It's settled then." Penelope clasps her hands together. "We should all go to the party at Hayden's tomorrow night."         Hayden Avila, the richest kid in school. He always has parties in his mansion on Friday nights because his parents work . . . and also because they don't care. We might have security guards and the government monitoring us, but they don't stop us from having parties.         "Sounds like a plan," Madison says.         Everyone agrees, except for Scarlett. She just sighs in defeat, giving up on protesting.