The final bell rang like mercy. Susie shoved her stuffed binder into her backpack, slung it over one shoulder, and didn’t even bother zipping it. She elbowed past some scrawny freshman in the hall who squeaked and scrambled aside. The sun outside the school windows hit like a brick wall of heat, but it was better than the math classroom, where she'd been sweating through boredom and doodling knives in the margins of her worksheet. She spotted her friend waiting by the lockers.

“Hey, nerd,” she said, jabbing them lightly in the side with her elbow. “C’mon. Let’s blow this place. I heard the corner store got those weird sodas again. The ones with the mystery flavor that taste like melted plastic? I’m getting two.”