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turned out.
    Then there was no sound at all. Only our breathing. The silence was a bit creepy. “I don’t like this,” said David. “We could get into a lot of trouble.”
    “You’re dead,” I reminded him. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
    We crept out of the classroom. The lights in the hallways were still on. I wondered if they left them on all night.
    “This way,” I said.
    The medical room was where you went if you needed to see the school nurse. I’d been there a couple of times before. Once I got sick from the burgers in the cafeteria. That was when I’d asked the nurse what was in the medicine cabinet. “Lazarus Serum,” she said. Just in case.
    I could tell David was scared. So was I, but I didn’t show it. I wasn’t worried about getting expelled but I was worried about getting arrested. I’d be sent to a juvenile detention for sure. There was no such thing as a fair trial for a Pale. My dad told me that.
    We reached the door. “Keep a lookout,” I told David. “There might still be someone around.”
    David nodded, his face scared. I started to feel bad about asking him to come along. He was taking a big risk.
    I wondered why he’d agreed. Maybe because it was the kind of thing a friend would do.
    That stopped me in my tracks. I’d never really thought of him as a friend before.
    “Hey,” I said to him. “Thanks.”
    He looked surprised. “For what?”
    I waved my hand around. “You know. Everything.”
    David shrugged, but I could tell he was kind of pleased. “You’re welcome.”
    Then I opened the door to the medical room and went in.
    It was dark in there, but there was light from the hallway outside. The medicine cabinet was on the far wall. I sneaked over to it and pulled the handle. It was locked. But I had come prepared. I pulled a long
    screwdriver out of my pocket. I’d stolen it from the design lab.
    I stuck the screwdriver in between the cabinet doors. The lock wasn’t too strong. I could force it off. I leaned on the screwdriver and the metal doors of the cabinet began to bend.
    Then I heard something. Faint footsteps, coming up the hall.
    Someone was in the school. Someone was coming.
    “It’s the janitor!” David whispered from the doorway. He looked scared.
    I swore under my breath. Better make myself scarce until the janitor was gone. But when I tried to pull the screwdriver out, it wouldn’t come. It was stuck.
    “Jed!” David said. “We have to go!”
    “I can’t leave the screwdriver here!” I hissed. “The janitor will see it!” I pulled at it again.
    “Come on!” said David. He was frantic now. I looked over my shoulder. 
    “Shut the door,” I said. “I’ll meet you outside.”
    There was no time for him to argue. The footsteps were getting closer. The janitor was going to appear any minute. So David pulled the door to the medical room shut and ran away. I felt better once I knew he’d gone. I didn’t want to get him into trouble. This whole thing was my idea, after all.
    But there was still the problem of the screwdriver. If the janitor looked into the room, he’d see it sticking out of the cabinet. I couldn’t pull it out. So there was only one thing to do. I put all my weight on it.
    The lock broke with a loud crack, and the doors banged open.
    The footsteps stopped. I held my breath. “Is somebody there?” came a voice from the hallway.
    Uh-oh.
    The janitor had heard me. I looked around in a panic for somewhere to hide. There was nothing in the room but the cabinet, a little desk for the nurse, and a bed for sick kids. Could I hide under it? No. He’d see me from the door.
    The footsteps started again. They were slow now. The janitor knew something was up. I could hear him open doors as he went.
    “Hello?” he said. “Who is it? I know you’re there.”
    I put the screwdriver in my pocket and opened the cabinet. There it was. The kind of needle they give you shots with. It was inside a plastic bag, which was marked