We figured they were testing us tonight, whetting their palates to the concept of introducing two more people to their group. But we were also testing them. If they were truly able to navigate so far under the radar that they could drink and smoke on campus without getting caught, then we’d dip our toe in the water tonight. Let them know they can trust us. But not give them too much ammo against us if they decide they can’t.

We pushed out of Willits’s front doors and into the darkness probably playing it too cool; walking slowly, casually, toward our fate as if we were just walking to get a midnight snack in the dining hall. Ruthie started moving toward the quad, but I grabbed her arm, remembering that night I saw Catherine and Annie sneaking out.

“Let’s go the back way,” I told her, figuring if that’s how they did it, that’s how we should do it, too. As we made our way around our dorm, forming into the same shadows I saw Catherine and Annie disappear into, I looked behind me, for a brief moment, and wondered if anyone in there was watching us the way I had been watching them. Would they tell? Or would they want to join us?

We walked through the cold forest, the bitter chill sat at ground level all the time, the evergreens too plush to ever let it out, until we found the stone wall surrounding campus. There were rumors that Dr. Felix Chastain had the perimeter of the grounds blessed by a pastor prior to breaking ground on the first building. While the pastor was saying his prayers, Dr. Felix Chastain followed him, dropping stones on his path to lay the groundwork for a wall to separate the blessed land from the unblessed land; to make sure everyone knew that on this side of the wall lived purity, and on the other side of the wall was more temptation than we’d ever know.

We were fifteen minutes into the forest before we started hearing noises, the whispers of laughter, the crackle of crisp fall leaves under boots.

“Hello?” Ruthie said, cautiously, though we hadn’t broken any rules yet. We had two hours before we were technically doing anything wrong. Right now we were just two students going for a walk. If we found anyone other than Catherine, Annie, and their guy friends, that’s exactly what we’d say.

“You made it.” The guy who invited us, Timothy, we learned shortly after, approached, his face a soft gold from the light on the end of the joint in his mouth. He seemed surprised, but happy to see us; to see me.

“Thanks for the invite,” Ruthie said. I was too busy looking at Timothy’s face, distracted by the way the fire made his eyes glow.