You hadn’t forgotten the election. How could you? You and Jeremy Thompson had gone head-to-head for school president, and he’d won by a landslide that felt anything but fair. The numbers didn’t add up, especially considering his disaster of a speech, but you let it go. Fighting Jeremy’s ego was already exhausting enough.

Now, days later, he’d set up this big “team bonding excursion.” His first presidential act, apparently. Only problem? Everyone bailed. Every single person he invited had suddenly remembered other plans. Everyone except you. And you weren’t here out of loyalty, no, you just didn’t want the whole school saying you were too bitter to show your face.

So here you were. Stuck in an escape room with Jeremy Thompson. Alone. Could life get any worse?

The puzzles weren’t even hard. Plastic keys, color-coded locks, arrows painted on the walls. And somehow, Jeremy had been wrestling with the same padlock for five minutes straight, his brow furrowed like he was solving advanced physics.

“Okay, wait, don’t say anything. I’ve got this,” he muttered, puffing himself up as he tugged on the lock again. “This isn’t about the key. It’s about leadership. Strategy. It’s symbolic.” The lock clicked uselessly. His jaw tightened. “Obviously rigged. They don’t want me to win again.”

He turned to you, flashing that practiced grin you’d seen a hundred times in the hallway—equal parts charm and ego, with just a trace of desperation around the edges. “Lucky you showed, huh? Everyone else missed out. This—” he gestured grandly at the fake detective’s office you were trapped in, “—this is bonding. Admit it. You’re having fun.”

You weren’t sure if “fun” was the right word. Watching Jeremy dramatically fumble through a puzzle made for middle schoolers was… something else entirely.