When Amy clears out, we’re down the corridor, sidling through the double doors to the furnace room. Then out the cellar door, racing up the concrete steps and rushing the few feet up and over the solid, snowplowed drifts and down into the trees behind the building. No one has been caught sneaking out this way yet, that we know of. (Please, please don’t let anyone get caught.)

We’re silent as we weave our way through the leaning pine trees, taking the long, long way. Laughter and shouted conversations from campus spill into the spaces between buildings, echoing. Ordinary life is right there, close and loud and bright. But this moment feels louder and brighter. Nevaeh and Katherine holding hands, their plumes of breath caught in the light that reaches us. Taylor with his arm through mine, keeping me steady, the crunch of the snow and glimpses of the dark, glittering lake to our left. I grin up at Taylor, big and bright, and squeeze his arm. His smile in return is huge. He feels it too. We all do.

It takes forever and also only seconds to make our way to the theater. We all crowd together in the trees across from the performers’ door. The small gravel parking area feels like an endless abyss. It’s a little dark back here, the streetlight in the driveway not quite reaching.

I squeeze Taylor’s hand and he says, “On your mark—”

And then I launch, trying not to laugh wildly, skitter to a halt on the driveway, flattening against the rough basement wall, the rest of them following. Muffled giggles and gravel scattering.

“This is ridiculous,” Nevaeh whispers, and she is grinning, still holding on to Katherine’s hand.

“Just wait,” I whisper back, and crack open the door to usher them inside.

We make our way to the warren of storage rooms. I push open the door to our little hidden theater and flip the switches, and dim can lights flicker on overhead. I step aside so they can emerge into the broad room, cozy-snug, so apart from the world and with so much potential.

“Holy shit,” Nevaeh says, her arms crossed, her smile coming slowly, and then it’s a beam.

Taylor heads straight for the arch, the painted columns. “Holy wow,” he says, running his hands over a column and nodding like he’s coming up with a plan.

Katherine slips her hand into mine, a sheen of glitter across her cheeks. “You found it.”

I squeeze her hand, and my heart is full and warm. They like it! I knew they would, but it’s such a relief that they do.