Both Héctor and Sal stared at the same hallway as before.

At Swifton Middle School.

“What’s happening?” said Héctor.

“I don’t get it,” said Sal, and they shut the door once more. Opened it again.

Nothing had changed.

“Sal . . . ,” Héctor said.

“Dude . . .” Sal couldn’t even finish the sentence.

Héctor turned to face Sal. “I don’t think the Room is letting us go home.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“This doesn’t make any sense!” said Sal. “Is the Room trying to make us late for our classes?”

But the Room had never done something like that. They’d always been perfectly on time. Why would it start making them late?

“This isn’t happening,” said Héctor. “It’s gotta be a mistake or something.” He flung the door open after closing it, but nothing was working. That didn’t stop him from repeating himself: Close the door. Open it. Close the door. Open it. Close the door. Open it.

Every time, the halls of Swifton Middle School were on the other side.

Suddenly, Héctor got it.

“Sal,” he said. “I think we’re supposed to be here.”

They threw their hands up. “What? How?”

Héctor’s mind was swirling. “What if this is what Juliana needs? Before she left for her meeting with the principal, she told me that she wished both of us could be with her.”

“Both of us?” said Sal. “She wanted me there?”

Héctor nodded. “She doesn’t hate you, Sal. She just needs you to get why you can’t say something like that.”

“Oh, good point,” they said. “This stuff is hard, but I don’t want to hurt her again.” Sal looked up and down the hallway. “So . . . what exactly are we supposed to do now?”

Héctor did not have the answer to that, but his heart thumped in his chest. He was excited. This was like one of those improvisation exercises he had to do in theater, except this one was real life.

“Sal, we should go find her,” he said. “We can do this!”

And he took a step forward, out into the hallways of Juliana’s school, and he beckoned for Sal to follow him. Sal looked to Héctor, fear in their eyes.

“We’ll be fine,” said Héctor. “I promise.”

He put his hand out for Sal, who finally took it and joined him in Juliana’s school. As soon as they did, the door shut behind the two of them.

And immediately, it disappeared.

Héctor couldn’t deny the bolt of panic that shocked his system, and he saw it reflected on Sal’s face. Both of them ran their hands along the wall, trying to maybe find a gap or a frame or any evidence that the door was still there.

They found nothing.

Héctor turned around, breathing heavily, and leaned against the wall. Sal just laughed.