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***
It seems like Operation Hack into the School’s Security System is on.
I’ve thought long and hard about it all day, not concentrating in any of my classes. It feels like this is one of the biggest decisions I’ve ever made in my life. But I’m done agonizing over it. Done questioning what’s the right thing to do. Ineedto know who my secret admirer is. And if confronting him ends us…well, that’s a risk I’ll have to take. Because if it’s been a prank all this time, I might just die of heartache.
Okay, that’s a little extreme. But it would hurt a lot.
After Willow is done with coding class and I’m done with the paper, Peter drives Lily, Ava, Willow, Liam, and me to Willow’s house.
Willow stabs the key into the lock and pushes the front door open. The five of us pile into the house, where we’re met with Willow’s mom, Charlie, lying on the couch with a book. Her red hair spills over her face.
“Mom?” Willow asks as she steps into the living room. “What are you doing home so early?”
“Hey, kids,” she greets as she places her bookmark in the book and sets it aside. “I finished work early and decided to take the afternoon off. Finally had some time to catch up on reading for book club.” She gets up from the sofa and comes over to hug each of us. “It’s so good to see you. Feels like forever since you guys hung out here.”
“Where are Dad and Mia?” Willow asks.
“Helping out at Ji-Ho’s. Mia is a server and is on clean-up duty, as part of her punishment.”
Ji-Ho’s is the Korean restaurant Asher’s parents own. It’s named after his Korean name. Asher’s parents and grandmother immigrated to America from South Korea after his parents got married. Asher was born here. They opened a restaurant, but unfortunately, it didn’t do well. Asher was discovered at four years old and starred in his first movie, which launched his acting career. He helped keep his family afloat. Now Ji-Ho’s is a very popular restaurant in Edenbury and is doing really well. My friends and I hang out there many times. The atmosphere is so homey and the food is delicious.
“So what’s the occasion for this gathering?” Charlie asks.
“Project.”
“Homework.”
“Test.”
She raises her brows.
“Homework that’s a project that we’re going to be tested on,” Ava quickly explains.
“Uh huh…” There’s never getting anything past Charlie.
But before she can question us further, I say, “How’s work at NASA?”
“Do you really want to know, or are you just trying to divert my attention away from my next question?”
“Divert what?” Ava says with an innocent smile. “Why would we divert anything? We’re not up to anything…”
“Uh huh. You kids are lucky it’s my relaxing time. Just don’t do anything illegal.” She falls back on the sofa with her book.
“Right,” Lily whispers. “Don’t do anything illegal. Like hack into your school.”
“Don’t think about it,” Willow says as she nods toward the stairs. “Just do. Come on.”
We follow her up to her room and settle down on her bed and chairs while she takes a seat at her computer.
“This won’t take long,” she says as she starts pounding the keys. “Just gotta…yep…okay, past the first security barrier. Total piece of cake. Now to get past the second one…”
I start pacing. Maybe I didn’t think this through. I’m making a felon out of Willow.
“I’m fine, Chloe,” Willow says as she continues to type. “You don’t want to know how often I hack into the school.”
Lily gapes at her. “You do?”
“Just to make sure no one’s trying to harm the school, you know? Plus, the school app is always acting up. And sometimes I want to check my grades.”
