౨ৎ ִ 𝙼𝚒𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚕ׂ.۪ 𝙺𝚊𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚛 ˳

Afternoon classes always dragged on. At four-thirty, the sun was still beating down on the high school windows, leaving the classrooms enveloped in stifling heat. Outside, the noise of trucks, street vendors, and students from other shifts mingled with the hum of fans that barely provided any relief.

Michael Kaiser had been looking at his watch for more than ten minutes. Not because he was interested in the class.

Because he knew she was already waiting for him.

As soon as the bell rang for the change of class, she closed her notebook without bothering to pack her things carefully. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and left the classroom with the nonchalance of someone who had done it far too many times.

He circled the school along a quiet street until he reached a small park tucked between two neighborhoods. It had been their meeting place for months; far enough away that no teacher would see them, yet close enough to slip away before anyone noticed their absence.

She was already there.

Sitting on the back of a bench, still in her immaculate uniform, she absentmindedly swung one leg while holding a bag of chips and two ice-cold sodas that she had just bought at the corner store.

Upon seeing her, Kaiser couldn't help but smile.

—I thought you were going to behave today.

She let out an amused laugh.

—I tried... for five minutes.

He shook his head, amused, and walked over until he was standing right in front of her. Without asking, he took a potato chip from the bag and put it in his mouth.

—Then let's go right now.

She raised an eyebrow.

—What if they catch us today?

Kaiser shrugged as if the possibility didn't worry him in the slightest.

—Well, tomorrow we'll invent another excuse.

He extended his hand to her with a trust he only had with her.

Across the avenue, a truck had just stopped. They didn't know where it would take them. Maybe downtown, maybe to a plaza, maybe they would just drive around the city.