Earlier this year, I binged-watched House of Anubis. That is what, in part, inspired me to write this story. Another part was trying to get better at writing romance/character development/dialogue. I’m a very plot-oriented person, so an exercise in writing believable, fun characters was my goal with my Q3 story. Enjoy!
part I
“Do you want to know what the worst part is?” Duckie didn’t answer. He was too busy banging at the wooden panel that sealed their only visible exit. “This was the first date I’d ever been on!” Duckie stopped making noise and turned around.
“It wasn’t a real date. It was a trap. Trickery,” he replied, a dramatic pause between each sentence. Bex couldn’t help but wonder if all Americans talked like they were on the telly.
“All first dates involve traps and trickery,” Bex replied, shining her torch in Duckie’s face.
“Maybe on the lady’s end.”
“You’re right,” Bex said, swiveling the light back at the wooden paneling. “We’re so desperate for men that we’d do anything but be ourselves.” Before Duckie could get another word in, she changed the subject. “There has to be some way to undo what we just did. Otherwise, nobody from DelPhi would ever be seen alive again.”
“Maybe.. the exit… is somewhere here,” Duckie said, gesturing to the opposite side of the room. They were in what seemed to be an ordinary storage closet, about 1 ½ meteres in length and width. Ordinary aside from the fact that there was no longer a visible way in or out.
Bex followed Duckie’s gesture with the torch. His hand was pointing to a wire shelf stocked with bleach, kitchen roll, and other cleaning supplies.
“We’ve checked there. And we’ve checked the paneling covering the front door. We’ve cried for help for-“ Bex looked at her watch, “almost an hour. We’re stuck until someone smells our rotting corpses and lets us out.”
“But,” Duckie countered, “Laila somehow found a way out. She used this same passageway, right?”
“That was the plan”
“You really shouldn’t have let Laila go alone,” Duckie said, grabbing the torch from Bex. He shone it on the closet shelves again. “If we somehow make it out of here without her, my sister will kill us both.”
“Someone had to stay behind and distract you”
“Traps and trickery,” Duckie replied, sticking the torch between his teeth. He rolled up his shirtsleeves, and began looking at the closet shelves for the third time.
Bex stared at the beam of light coming from the torch. Her mind started to wander. She couldn’t help but lose herself in the events that led to them being here, wasting each other’s oxygen supply. And if she was being honest—
…
“Now that we’ve finished our tour, be honest with me,” Duckie said, stopping in his tracks to face her. Bex raised her eyebrows. She was nervous. When nervous, she found it best to postpone speaking for as long as possible.
She’d learned from her mistakes.
“What are you most nervous about,” Bex’s stomach prepared to jump out of her throat. “Regarding the start of term in just two days?” He said it excitedly, as if they were about to embark on a fantastic and adventure-filled journey.
Bex took a deep breath. She hoped it came off as theatrical and not at all the only way she could get an appropriate amount of oxygen into her lungs. To get her stomach to settle.
“Honestly?”
“Honestly.”
“And you promise to keep this just between you and me?”
Duckie smiled, as if he knew that she was about to say something utterly ridiculous. Which was fair: the fact that words were coming out of her mouth continued to surprise her. It was the most lovely and temperate of summer days, yet Bex managed sweat through every layer of clothing. The sun shone directly in her eyes, and her heart beat so loudly she could barely think.
A breeze washed over them. She slightly shivered and stepped forward, out of the sunlight. Their noses were centimeters apart.
“I don’t know,” Bex whispered, “how to tie a tie,” Duckie shook his head in mock disappointment.
“I’m surprised they even let you in this school,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Bex nearly jumped. “I’m going to have to teach you.”
“I thought all campus tours came with tie tutorials”
“They don’t,” Duckie said, turning on his heels. “They happen over dinner.” Beads of sweat pooled at her hairline. Everything was going perfectly— so why was she so nervous?
“7—tomorrow night.” She felt her face flush, and was glad Duckie was already a few paces ahead.
“Let’s make it 7:30,” Duckie said, turning around to face her. “I need some time to brush up on my knots” She felt like someone kicked her in the stomach.
“7:30 it is,” she replied.
At first, everything happened exactly as she had planned. But somehow,something went terribly—
…
A loud THUD brought Bex from campus back to the storage closet. She saw Duckie taking his anger out on a box of toilet paper.
“Goddamn it!”
Duckie slumped to the floor. Bex sat down too, careful to leave a sliver of space between them. “Maybe this wasn’t a passage. Maybe we did something wrong and triggered a trap.”
Bex shook her head. “Our portion of the map clearly marked a staircase somewhere in here. In this closet”
Duckie crossed his legs and pivoted so he was facing her. “How did you get your hands on the map anyways?”
Bex shrugged.
“Oh come on, there’s no point in keeping secrets now. Either we trust each other and maybe get out of here, or we keep lying and die.”
“I trust Kendra to save us.” Her roommate’s girlfriend was capable and smart enough to find them. She’d come back to Phoenix House tonight before bedtime, realise that the three of them were missing, and find help. They would work together to find Laila.
There was no need to give anything else away.
“Pleeeaaaase? If we get out of here, I’ll tie all of your ties for a month.”
“This is the biggest secret I have. That’s not a fair trade.”
“It’ll be a month before you can tie one on your own, anyways.”
“That’s because I had a bad teacher.” Bex could tell he was out of replies by the way he smiled back at her.
“How about I tell you how I found my piece of the map?” Duckie offered.
“I already know,” Bex replied, shaking her head. “Tucked away in grandfather’s copy of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Gifted to you and Kendra upon his passing.” Duckie shook his head in disbelief.
“I can’t believe my sister told her girlfriend our most important family secret”
“Kendra didn’t tell Laila anything. Laila found it. Your sister was using your half as a bloody bookmark.” She turned to Duckie. “Why is the map in two parts, anyways?”
“Because of the schism”
“The schism?” Duckie nodded. He held the torch underneath his chin, like he was about to tell a ghost story.
“Granddad was part of the last class of people at this school who were in Delphi. He and one of his mates at Phoenix House got into a fight. They burned the only copy of the map. But grandfather, from memory, recreated it in two parts. He hid one half with him and one half on campus. He didn’t want them to be found until after he passed, for his safety and the safety of our family.”
“They’d hurt you guys over the map?”
“Delphi was responsible for innumerable acts of questionable justification,” Before Bex could ask for more information, Duckie changed the subject. “Anyways, mum didn’t know about the map because she was at school here while grandfather was still alive.” Both Duckie and his sister referred to their British mother as ‘mum’. The word sounded strange in their American accents.
“But you and Kendra started the search this term, after his funeral.” Duckie nodded. “And your grandfather didn’t tell you where the map led? Or what you were supposed to be looking for?”
“There’d be no fun in that,” he replied. “But I think Kendra and I figured it out.”
“And?”
“And,” Duckie said, shining the torch right into Bex’s eyes. “I’ll tell you after you tell me how you found your half of the map.”
“All right,” Bex said, recrossing her legs, which had gone stiff. She thought back to that first day in the Phoenix House common room, with Laila. Bex wondered if she’d ever see her roommate—or anyone else—ever again…
part II
Bex and Laila decided to spend their first afternoon reading together. For about half an hour, they read on the common room couch. They quietly flipped pages and occasionally reached for the bowl of popcorn that rested between them.
Then, other students started to trickle in. Most of them stopped to say hi to Laila, who introduced them to her new roommate. Everyone else in Phoenix House moved in four years ago as a first-year. A fresh face was uncommon and exciting.
Bex resolved to commit every face to memory. It helped that Laila supplemented her with an in-depth, off-the-record biography—after the subject was out of earshot, of course. Then, it was back to reading—until someone new entered through the door, surprised and delighted to meet the newest resident of Phoenix House.
As Bex and Laila cycled through these conversations, they continued to learn more about each other: (least) favourite school subjects, bucket list items, and childhood adventures. Both girls were only children raised by highly esteemed academics—but had very different educations. Laila’s mother, the illustrious archaeologist Dr. Croft, stuck her daughter in boarding school as early as she could. By contrast, the Professors Yeoh brought their daughter along as they taught, researched, and travelled around the world.
“Why’d you give up travelling for a typical, boring school?” Laila asked. “I’d give anything to expedition with my mum.”
“It sounds stupid, but I wanted the kinds of friendships I saw on TV and read in books,” Bex explained. “We moved every few years. My only close friends are the cousins I’d see on holiday. And I love them—we’re like sisters. But I wanted to meet new people and make my own friends. People who like me for me, not because we shared a happy childhood.”
Laila nodded, “That makes sense. I’ve made incredible friends here. And have had moments with them that I wouldn’t trade for a first-class trip anywhere in the world.”
There was something else, too. Something Bex didn’t have the words to articulate. In all her travels, she’d been told where to go and what to do. Her adventures up until this point—traversing ancient ruins, scuba diving through coral reefs, exploring bustling markets—were fantastic. But they’ve all been with her parents. Bex never had a journey that was truly hers.
The decision to go to boarding school was the first one she’d ever really made. Her parents were incredibly supportive—it would make her uni application more competitive, after all. The only real challenge was becoming a version of herself that was bolder, stronger, and more independent than the girl she’d been for the past fifteen years.
“I’ve never had much classroom experience either,” Bex confessed. “I was homeschooled a lot. Sometimes my parents just had me take their classes”
“Your parents, the professors?” Laila asked ,eyebrows raised, “Shouldn’t you be heading straight to uni, then?”
“No,” Bex said with a laugh. “I’ve watched enough bad TV to know that high school gives you invaluable life lessons. And they can’t be found in any textbook.”
“What do you mean?”
“Socialising. People skills. How to make friends. How to flirt.” Bex said with a shrug. “There was no drama in my educational experience. I think I’d learn from it.”
Laila was about to say something, but she was interrupted. Someone thundered down the stairs and stomped towards the kitchen. The girls both looked up. Laila immediately scowled and buried her face in her novel. Bex’s eyes locked with the only boy in Phoenix house she had yet to hear about. Before she had time to wonder why, he veered away from the refrigerator and into the common room.
He looked at Bex the entire time.
“Laila,” he said, his eyes still softly focused on Bex. The deep blue pools shimmered, like sunlight reflecting off something just below the water’s surface. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your new friend?”
Bex met many American students and academics throughout her travels. But nobody who looked like this: straight out of the shows she binged with her cousins late at night. A main character in a drama chronicling rich, sociopathic teenagers played by gorgeous people in their mid-twenties.
Fall term didn’t start for two more days, but the drama was already beginning.
Bex turned to face her new roommate, intrigued. Laila dramatically flipped a page in her book. It was clear she wanted nothing to do with the American. Bex, on the other hand, wanted him to be a character in her story. And with boys like these, the stories practically wrote themselves.
Bex looked back at the American.
This was the moment—her chance to be a part of something she’d only seen on screen and page. And to play the part, she’d have to leave her old self behind. She’d have to act like someone who’s in control of their narrative. No matter how ridiculous she felt.
What’s the worst that could happen?
“I can introduce myself, thanks,” Bex said, standing up and holding out her hand. She silently told her conscience to shut up and channelled every ounce of wisdom she could from her late-night TV marathons. “Rebecca Yeoh. Bex—for brevity.”
“Bex for brevity,” he considered. He took her hand gently. “Chase Duckworth. But my friends call me—“
“Duckie.” Bex finished, punctuating the end of the sentence with a firm handshake. And a smile. Bex heard all about Chase Duckworth. Not from Laila—and she wondered why—but from the headmistress. She spent a great deal of time during orientation singing his praises to Bex: Prefect, top of their class, and the first American cricket captain the school has ever seen. How lucky she was to be living in Phoenix House with the Chase Duckworth.
“Your reputation precedes you.”
Duckie looked at Laila pointedly. Bex’s new roommate glanced up from her book and met his eyes. “You have never been worth my time. I told her nothing about you.”
Clearly Duckie’s reputation wasn’t as pristine as the headmistress made it seem: was that just Laila’s opinion, or something the entire house shared? How had she met nearly everyone else in the House without hearing his name once?
“Laila still hasn’t forgiven me for a silly little trifle last term.” Bex was about to ask for more information when Laila interjected:
“Bex, just ignore him.” She went back to her book. Laila was clearly not interested in interacting any more with the obnoxious—albeit attractive—American; but Bex was.
For the plot, of course.
“Guys like me are very hard to ignore,” Duckie said with a shark-toothed grin. Looks like I’m not the only one getting my dialogue from a teen drama, Bex thought. She considered her response, wanting to move the conversation forward in a more exciting direction.
“Bex, would you like to leave?” Laila asked through gritted teeth. She was still glaring at her book.
“Hold on a second. He’s right,” Bex replied. “Boys like Duckie are very hard to ignore,” she said with a smile, daring him to make the next move.
Laila and Duckie both looked at her, with an expression somewhere between confusion and surprise. Duckie recovered first, settling back into his devilish smile.
“The same goes for girls like you, Bex”
“In his case, it’s technically girls anywhere and everywhere,” Laila said bitterly.
“Laila. It’s time to let it go,” Duckie said, shaking his head. “Bex, I’d like to set the record straight—“
“I haven’t told her anything,” Laila said. She re-opened her book and stuck her nose in it. Bex didn’t know it then, but it was the angriest she would see her roomate this entire term.
“Over dinner,” Duckie finished.
“Absolutely not,” Bex replied. Duckie looked a bit bemused but didn’t miss a beat replying. He was no stranger to rejection: over time, he’s learned how to bounce back from it unscathed.
“Because of the rumours you heard? The very slander I’m promising to rectify?”
“Because underneath the rumours and the slander,” Bex said, grabbing her book from the couch, “There is always a kernel of truth. And I won’t put myself in such a precarious position until I know exactly who I’m dealing with.” She wasn’t sure where that came from—maybe a Gossip Girl season finale?
“This ‘precarious position’ is a chance for us to get to know one another.” Duckie sat down next to her. “And you’ll see I’m not the terrible guy Laila makes me out to be.”
“Laila didn’t have to tell me anything. And she didn’t. I’m sure I know exactly what kind of guy you are,” Bex replied, “And I know I’d be in a whole lot of trouble if we dined alone together.”
She turned to her roommate. “And I will be eating with my roommate this evening. Shall we? ”
“I was just waiting for you to ask,” Laila replied, as they both stood up together. The girls left Duckie sitting there, in the common room, alone on the couch. After he was out of earshot, Laila asked:
“You’re not seriously thinking of going out with that pile of rubbish, are you? It seemed like you were rejecting him but also encouraging him to try harder.”
“Of course not,” Bex snorted. “Duckie seems fun to mess with. He obviously takes himself too seriously.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing. Most of the girls he’s dumped would take him back in a heartbeat. And there’s a lot of them.”
“But not you.” Bex said matter-of-factly.
“Gross. We never dated.” Bex looked at her roommate expectantly. “So you’re wondering why I dislike him, then? Aside from his obvious transgressions against every girl within a ten-mile radius?” Laila exhaled dramatically. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”
The two roommates turned the corner in the stairwell..
“Last term, Duckie kept trying to ask me out. He wouldn’t leave me alone. He was intrigued by the fact that I was the only girl that’s ever rejected him.”
“If he’s the school’s most eligible guy, I’m worried about my dating prospects.”
“Definitely not the most eligible. Looks can take you a long way, I guess,” Laila said. “Anyways, Duckie eventually found out I’d been secretly dating his sister, Kendra, the entire time he tried to get me to go out with him.” Laila laughed. “He threw a fit. It was hilarious.”
“What’s Kendra like?” Bex asked. If she and Laila were dating, the twins were probably very different.
“She’s great. The funniest person I’ve ever met. You’ll meet her tomorrow when she gets in from LA.” Laila opened the door to their room. “Bex, how did you hear about Duckie anyways? I didn’t mention him because I wanted your first day to be a posiitve experience.”
“When I arrived, I had a chat with the headmistress. You know, to learn more about the school. Transferring as a fifth year student is difficult.”
Laila nodded.
“And she suggested that the Prefect of Phoenix House give me a tour tomorrow morning.”
…
Of course Bex didn’t tell him all of that. Or any of that. The memory flashed before her eyes in an instant, and then she was back on the supply closet floor, wondering how quickly things went from normal to ridiculous to utterly hopeless.
“Remember the first time I rejected you?” She asked, after taking a deep breath of musty, bleach-scented air.
“I haven’t been able to set foot in the common room since,” Duckie said sarcastically.
“Yeah, well right after that, Laila and I went back to our room to get ready for dinner. She was telling me all about her girlfriend’s annoying twin brother while I was moving a bookshelf. Some of the wallpaper accidentally came off. I saw the DelPhi letters, surrounded by a bunch of names.”
“People who were part of the Order?”
“Yeah. I know that now,” Bex said while nodding. “I, of course, had no idea what to make of the writing. But Laila told me she’d seen the symbol before, on what looked like a map. The writing was all in Latin, so she didn’t remember much of what it said—she couldn’t even tell what it was supposed to be.”
“When she found it in grandfather’s book?”
“Yeah. Laila thought it was odd that a copy of Metamorphoses was on a shelf that was only otherwise occupied by 21st century beach reads. She asked Kendra about it, of course. Kendra freaked out and said it was a delicate family heirloom that her recently departed grandfather gave her. After that, Laila just attributed it to some rich people eccentricities and forgot all about it. Until we saw the symbol again.”
“When did this all happen?”
“A few days ago, before Kendra went to London with your mum.”
“How did you make the connection between the names on your wall and the Order? Did you find something at the library?” Bex shook her head. “Kendra?”
“Not Kendra. You.” Duckie raised his eyebrows. “I all but forgot about the names on the wall until we went on our campus tour. Remember our trip to the gym?”
part III
He remembered. It was part of the routine tour he had to give as part of his Prefect duties. Most of his tour attendees were first-years. A few days ago, the headmistress called Duckie into her office and informed him that there would be one new fifth-year this term. Due to her unusual circumstances, she would receive a private tour. Duckie realised when he first met Bex that she would be the lucky girl with whom he’d spend hours of quality time.
It wasn’t a question of whether he should make a move: there were so few opportunities to meet new girls at this school that it would be stupid not to. The rest of the age-appropriate girls at school were wise to his tricks.
Then again, Bex seemed to catch on fast— she all but called him out on his strategy in the middle of the common room. But that rubbish was probably some sort of feminist defence mechanism Bex concocted after auditing her parents’ college classes. Or spending time around self-assured university girls. Or maybe even university boys…
Duckie suddenly wondered if living abroad with older, foreign guys gave Bex the confidence atypical of a fifteen year old girl. FIfteen year old girls are supposed to be the most insecure people on the planet. Statistically speaking.
For a home-schooled only child, she seemed incredibly well-adjusted.
He shook his head. No girl, no matter how snobby, worldly, or confident would last very long when he’d made up his mind.
It was no match for Duckie’s charm, wit, and persistence.
And this was a new day, indeed—a beautiful one. He couldn’t think of a more perfect way to have a fresh start: a long, romantic walk on the academy grounds.
Duckie braced himself for abrasive comments and lots of eye-rolling. He was surprised with the relative normalcy of their interactions—which threw him off his game for a little. Bex asked typical new-student questions and seemed interested in everything Duckie had to say.
What was she playing at?
Duckie felt a shift in the energy after they reached the cricket pitch. He and Bex walked across the field and entered the gymnasium. The gym housed all of the academy’s athletic awards it accumulated since its founding, centuries ago. Duckie initially planned on guiding Bex’s attention to the cricket trophies, where his name was inscribed on various awards and plaques. But he decided against it. It didn’t seem like something she would really care about (he was right). Instead, he showed her a piece of family history.
“This is my grandfather’s old cricket team,” Duckie said. He pointed to a man with a thick head of dark hair and blue eyes. “He also lived in Phoenix House,”
“Your mum’s dad,” she said. Not asking, but stating.
“How’d you know?”
“There are no Duckworths listed on the roster.” Bex stepped a bit closer to the photo. She seemed to be searching for something.
“Don’t tell me your grandfather’s in there too,” Duckie said jokingly.
“There haven’t been any Englishmen in my family.” A pause. “That I’m aware of.” She turned to him with a cool gaze and said, “And I plan on keeping it that way.”
Duckie snorted. “Yeah okay, maybe moving to England was a stupid idea then. And in case you forgot,” he added. “I’m an American, not a Brit.”
“It would be the last thing about you I could ever forget,” Bex said, turning back to the photo.
“Well, I’ll leave you and my grandfather alone for a bit,” Duckie replied. “Gotta pee.”
When he came back, Bex was furiously typing away on her phone.
“Ready to head back?” he asked. She quickly stashed her phone away when they made eye contact.
“Yeah, let’s.” He sensed a slight tone of urgency in her voice. Something was off.
On their way back to Phoenix House, Bex continued to ask questions about the school. But they seemed a little off. Unlike before, when they were asked with a casual interest, they now seemed forced and awkward. Something was definitely on her mind. What could she have seen at the cricket pitch that made her so shifty?
He stopped wondering and decided to ask her.
“Now that we’ve finished our tour, be honest with me,” Duckie said, stopping in his tracks to face Bex. She silently raised her eyebrows, but it looked like she was keeping herself from saying something.
“What are you most nervous about regarding the start of term in just two days?”
…
“So you could tell that I was nervous?”
“Yeah. I could tell you were worried about something after we left the gym.”
“Does this mean you didn’t believe what I said about the tie?”
“I didn’t, but then I watched you try and then reconsidered. Nobody can even pretend to fuck up that badly”
That was not even one hour ago. They were in Duckie’s room. Ted—Duckie’s roommate—was suspiciously nowhere to be found. Bex and Duckie both had school-issued maroon ties around their necks. Duckie’s was knotted perfectly on his pale blue dress shirt. Bex’s rested in a sad limp knot over her sweater. She wasn’t pretending—she really did need to learn how to tie a tie before the start of term.
Duckie’s hands brushed past her collarbone as he tried to undo the knot, explaining where she went wrong. She could barely hear him over the sound of her thumping heart, her churning stomach, like a kettle about to steam in the middle of an earthquake—
“So what happened?”
“What?”
“At the gym. What happened?”
“Oh.” She shook her head, as if that would shake the tie-tying memory from her system.
“I was looking at the picture and realised a few of the names looked familiar,” Bex explained. “After a bit, I realised that they were the same names written on the wall in my room. I looked at the photo a bit and saw that there was a second document hidden behind it. I undid the frame and found the map.”
“I must’ve looked at that photo hundreds of times and didn’t notice a thing.”
“And then, I texted Laila a photo of the map and explained that your and Kendra’s granddad was on the list of names in our room. On seeing it, she knew that Kendra’s map from your grandfather was the second half of this one. The half we found corresponds to the Academy grounds, and your half corresponds to something else beyond the school’s border. Do you have any idea what it is?”
“Honestly?” Duckie took a deep breath. “I have no idea. Kendra and I have lost our minds trying to figure it out. We didn’t even know that the top half of the map was the academy until you mentioned it just now.”
“Laila and I thought that if we got a photo of your half, we could at least find out how to navigate to this other area. We tried to plan on how to do that while reading library materials for any clues.”
“And then?”
“And then nothing. We tried to do research on the layout of the map and where it led to. But all we could tell from our half of the map was where the entrance was.”
“The boys’ bathroom”
“Yes, the boys’ bathroom,” Bex said, with a stretch, moving her torso from one side to another. Something cracked in her spine. “Now tell me—when did you suspect that I had half of the map?”
“Well, last night, I was passing by your room, and—”
“Passing by?” Bex said, with air quotes and raised eyebrows. “What were you doing on the girls’ floor?”
“Just getting a book from Kendra,” he replied, a bit too smoothly. She didn’t believe him, but in the interest of time, she decided not to push him on it. “Your door was propped open, so I peered in to see if you or Laila were home. The room was empty.”
“And then you did some snooping.”
“No, of course not. I just happened to notice that your desk was piled high with books and your laptop was open to some intense-looking diagram. I thought that was incredibly odd, considering we hadn’t started the term yet.”
“Nothing wrong with getting ahead.”
“I know. I’m top of our class.”
Bex shrugged. “Not for long,” Duckie looked like he was about to open his mouth but Bex beat him to it. “Anyways, what did you find after snooping around?”
“I wasn’t snooping, I was just curious to see what you were studying.” He turned to face her. “So imagine my surprise when I found books on the history of our school and a floor plan pulled up on your laptop. And a concerning number of doodles of the DelPhi emblem”
“I can’t believe you looked at my doodles,” Bex said with mock disappointment. Duckie laughed, and in between that and the next sentence, their eyes met and they realised how small that closet really was.
“So, uh—” Duckie cleared his throat. “I recognized those materials as the very same ones that Kendra and I were using to investigate our portion of the map. And I figured your part must be somewhere around your desk, so I was going to investigate—”
“Snoop around”
“Whatever. And then, as I was about to go into your desk, I got a call. From you.”
“From me?”
“Yeah, when you got lost on that trail run in the woods behind campus”
“Oh yeah.”
“I knew from your poor navigation skills that I had some more time to investigate before you returned.”
“So you were only helping me so you could look for the map.” Bex snorted. “Typical. But I guess you never found it, huh.”
“I heard Laila and Kendra in the hallway headed for this direction, so I slipped out of there as fast as I could”
“I wonder if Laila ever got around to stealing your half of the map,” Bex wondered aloud. “And if that’s what led her to a different spot than the one we landed in.”
“There’s no way,” Duckie said. “After I saw your research project, I asked Kendra to move our half of the map. She never told me that Laila saw it, probably because they never talked about it again and Kendra assumed that Laila forgot. We then devised a plan for stealing the map from you”
“And were you successful?”
“Signs point to no. But at least I had a good time trying,” he replied with a grin.
part IV
Not even three hours earlier, Duckie and Bex were free to do anything they wanted.They chose to agonise themselves over dinner—a dinner that may have, under different circumstances, been enjoyable.
Instead, it necessitated a game plan, a contingency plan, and a Plan C—just to cover all their bases.
About twenty-four hours after Duckie discovered Bex’s “research project”, he asked his sister to meet him in the common room.
The Duckworth siblings talked strategy over a game of Scrabble. After laying out the events of the past forty-eight hours, they determined that Bex had somehow found the second half of the map. Kendra suspected Laila was in on it too.
“This dinner you have with Bex tomorrow,” Kendra began.
“Yeah?”
“You realise it’s a fake date, right?”
Duckie sighed. “Yeah. Why else would Bex go from aggressive feminist to nervous schoolgirl in the span of 24 hours?”
“From what I heard, she wasn’t being an aggressive feminist,” Kendra replied. “You were just being an ass, and Bex responded appropriately.” Duckie made a face. “Anyways, Bex and Laila think that you think this is a real date.”
“You’re sure they’re not onto us?”
“Laila is good at many things, but hiding the way she feels is not one of them,” Kendra replied. Duckie knew that firsthand, from the withering glares and leers she’d shot in his direction over the past five years. “If she was more suspicious of us, she’d be acting a lot more cautiously.”
“Alright, Ken, I trust you,” Duckie said, flipping the “X” tile in between his fingers. They spent the next few hours devising a plan: Duckie would distract Bex while Kendra looked around for the map.
“Laila said she was going to London tomorrow evening to get dinner with her mum,” Kendra said. “I think she’s lying. She’ll probably be rooting about campus somewhere, doing more research. Regardless, she won’t be in her room, where I would be able to catch her in her lie. I’ll do a thorough search of the map there, and see how far they’ve gotten with their research.”
“Alright, I’ll keep Bex distracted with the trademark Duckworth charm,” Duckie replied with a grin. “Just let me know when the coast is clear to head back,”
“I’ve seen you charm all different kinds of people,” Kendra said, “But Bex seems like she can see right through you. Are you sure you’re able to keep the upper hand in this scenario?”
“Bex is the kind of girl who thinks she’s smarter than everyone else,” Duckie began. “And even though she may be smarter than me, we have the upper hand here. All the smarts, insults, and emotional walls she puts up are no match for the fact that we’re onto her.”
“Alright, well, just make sure that she’s not the one charming you”
“There’s no danger of that,” Duckie snorted. Kendra raised her eyebrows.
“Chase, I know you, remember? And unlike your conscience, I’m not afraid to tell you the truth.”
“What is the truth, then?” Duckie asked, crossing his arms. “You think I’m in love with her or something?”
“No, you idiot. But your eyes follow her when she comes into the room. Your pupils widen when someone mentions her name. Something about her pushes your buttons.” Kendra played her turn on the Scrabble board. “I don’t care what that something is as long as you’re in control of the situation—not her. I won’t have you losing our family legacy over some girl.”
“I could say the same thing about you,” Duckie replied.
“I have the good sense to know when I’m being manipulated,” Kendra said, “You, on the other hand, are too cocky to see when it’s happening to you.”
The next evening, Duckie sat in the common room. He pretended to read Finnegans Wake while he replayed his conversation with Kendra over in his head.
I know when I’m being manipulated, Duckie thought to himself. Or, at least I would know, if it ever happened to me. Which it hasn’t. Or has it? Was Kendra right? Had Bex been manipulating him this entire time? He shook his head and told himself to focus on the task at hand.
Duckie just got off the phone with the fifth-nicest restaurant in town. He could have made a reservation at the first through-fourth nicest restaurants, of course. But you can’t make the mistake of bringing a girl to too fancy a restaurant on your first date. Well, making the mistake once is understandable, especially if you’re only thirteen.
Duckie’s ideal choice would have been the fourth-nicest restaurant, but it was too close to campus. Duckie needed to keep Bex occupied long enough for Kendra to search her room.
Duckie flipped a page in the novel, staring at Joyce’s words as they blurred in front of him. He itched his head and realised that his palms and forehead were sweaty, despite the cool temperature of the common room. Was he nervous? Well, the fate of his family’s best kept secret, his grandfather’s dying wish, rested on how well this date went. Obviously it had nothing to do with the date part of the date—which, by the way, was a fake date.
So, yeah. The stakes were pretty high. A little sweat was normal. Duckie checked his watch: Bex should be down within five minutes.
“What are you so nervous about?” Laila’s voice startled him. Duckie looked up from his book and realised his knee was uncontrollably shaking.
“First date jitters,” Duckie said apologetically.
“Who’s left at this school that would date your pathetic ass?” As if she didn’t know. Duckie decided to play along. Hisface warped into a smug expression, and he motioned with his eyes behind Laila. She turned around, and Bex stood there in a thin sweater, worn over a summery—but dinner appropriate—dress. She clutched her small white purse tighter as she weathered the fiery look her roommate threw at her, as if Laila would snatch it from her as punishment for her poor taste in boys.
“Bex,” Lalia said through gritted teeth. “Let’s talk about this upstairs.” Duckie had to hand it to them. Their acting was first-class. He wondered why Laila never went out for the school play.
“Actually,” Duckie said, clearing his throat. “We should get going,” he said, looking at Bex. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. The less time he spent under Laila’s withering glare, the smaller the chance that he’d give himself away.
Bex nodded and stepped past Laila, and stood near the couch Duckie was sitting on. He closed his book, brushed some imaginary dirt off his trousers, and stood up next to her.
“Bex, it’s not too late to contract a stomach bug. Or the flu,” Laila said, crossing her arms. “Any disease, really. You could have the plague if you wanted.”
“Laila,” her roommate replied in a warning tone. “I know what I’m doing.” The hell you do, Duckie thought. The two of them thought that they were so smart. He had Bex figured out. He knew her for less than forty-eight hours, but in those two short days, he felt like he really knew her, and going on a date with someone like Duckie was completely out of the question.
Unless, like today, there was some sort of scheme involved.
Duckie put his hand gently on the middle of Bex’s back and gently guided her to the front door. Laila made a noise somewhere between a spooked horse and a dolphin emptying its blowhole. As he and Bex left the common room, he heard Laila stomp up the stairs.
She’s really doing a disservice to the drama department, Duckie thought as he held open the front door of Phoenix House for Bex. He looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time. Girls loved that.
In response, Bex smiled awkwardly.
Quite the performance from both of them, really.
It was the perfect summer evening, with a gentle warmth punctuated by an occasional breeze. Duckie spent most of the walk asking Bex about her travels.
“Tell me about your favourite sunrise,” he asked. When Bex responded, the pink in her cheeks deepened—a blush that ebbed and flowed but never left her face the entire night. She made charmingly bad jokes and used her hands to gesticulate wildly as she told stories. The righteous self-confidence she had when the first met was replaced with a comfortable, conversational ease. Every once in a while, she would tease Duckie for being cocky or snobbish or American. But nothing like that day in the common room. There was a sparkle in her eyes that told Duckie he should laugh instead of running for cover.
It was textbook first date behaviour. Which is what kept the voice in the back of Duckie’s head active and alert, whispering to him never to let his guard down. If this was acting, it was scary good.
Not even Duckie was that good an actor. When you’re charmed by someone like Duckie, you know you’re being charmed. But you go along with it anyways because it makes you feel good, and seen, and wanted. With Bex, he wasn’t sure. She was inconsistent, haphazardly switching between passionate storytelling, self-deprecating jokes, and insulting her date.
Yes, there was the small possibility that she was actually interested in him. But wouldn’t that go against everything she believed in? Then again, who has the ability to control how often and to what extent their face turns red?
It’s either a biological miracle, or Duckie is as good as pushing Bex’s buttons as he was hers.
They reached the restaurant, and were seated. As more time passed, Duckie got the feeling that Bex thought he was only here for romance. The conversation shifted to more substantive topics: memories, friendships, family, love. It seemed like neither one of them passed up an opportunity to smile: the place where Bex would eventually grow crow’s feet would crinkle every time Duckie laughed at something she said or when he attempted to pronounce something off the Italian-only menu.
Duckie felt the tension leave his body as he settled further and further into a more comfortable version of himself.
Time slowly pedalled to a stop.
Things started to change after the server brought out the entrees. Duckie noticed that Bex checked her phone twice in the same five-minute period. After it happened a third time, he asked Bex if everything was okay. She nodded, and took a large gulp of water.
The conversation resumed, and felt similar enough to before. Except Bex would glance at her phone every time it lit up, which rested face-up on the dinner table.
This had to be about Laila. It had to be. The timing was a little too coincidental. But what could’ve happened? Did Kendra catch her? Was she lost? Did she find where the map led to?
Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
They skipped dessert and paid for their meals. Bex, of course, insisted on paying for her half. After leaving their tips, she stood up immediately, ready to leave with a pace unusual for someone who ate a mountain of spaghetti bolognese.
“Wanna stop for ice cream?” Duckie suggested. There was no way he could fit anything else in his stomach, but he wanted to test if Bex would want to prolong the evening, or hurry back.
“I’m rather full—can we go back to the house?” Duckie nodded as he held the door for her again. Scheme or no scheme, he was still a gentleman. While she passed through the doorway, he checked his phone to see if Kendra texted him. Nothing. And if something went wrong on their end, Kendra definitely would have texted him. Then again, service in Phoenix House was notoriously unreliable. Duckie sent his sister a quick message saying that they were leaving the restaurant and Bex was in a great rush to get home.
As they started back towards Phoenix House, Duckie had to struggle a little bit to keep up with Bex. She wasn’t sprinting but was hiding the fact that she was in a rush. He had to think of a way to slow her down, just in case Kendra needed more time. He asked her to tell her more about Jodhpur, India’s Blue City, the site of her favourite sunset of all time.
As she described the way the blue rooftops changed colour in the light of the sinking sun, he delicately moved his hand so it “accidentally” brushed hers. He wasn’t expecting his fingers to tingle—he did start it, after all. But it’s like even though his mind was fully aware of what was going to happen, his body was unprepared.
The second their fingers touched, Bex drew her hand away.
“Sorry,” she murmured. He smiled apologetically. Was part of him hoping that she would grab his hand, her cold fingers wrapped around his overheated palm? Yes. But not because he wanted to hold her hand, but because whatever was pulling her back to the house was stronger than his ability to slow her down.
Maybe he wasn’t as good as he thought he was.
Bex looked at her phone again, scowled, and jammed it back in her purse.
“Bex, is everything alright?” Map aise, she looked genuinely stressed. He was concerned for her, as her friend.
“Yes, of course,” she said with a thin smile. Her eyes tried hard to maintain a facade of pleasant neutrality, but he could tell there was something stewing beneath the surface.
If there’s one thing I’m sure of tonight, it’s that she’s lying, thought Duckie.
part V
“Well, you seem in a hurry to cut the evening short. I just wanted to make sure it was nothing I did to make you feel uncomfortable or unpleasant or said or—”
Bex stopped in her tracks and whirled on her heel to face him.
“The evening was excellent, except on one account” Duckie raised his eyebrows. “You never taught me how to tie that tie.”
Duckie smiled. “I have it on good authority that my roommate will be gone for the next few hours.” Bex’s smile widened, and this time, her eyes joined in. “Just a second.” He pulled out his phone and called Ted.
“Oi, make yourself scarce…. Yeah til curfew, I guess? I owe you big time, thanks man.” Bex laughed.
“Your place it is.” She waited for him to take the few steps he needed to catch up with her, and they walked together.
So she wanted to go back to the house… to go back to his room? That makes no sense. I mean, for any other girl in any other circumstance, it made sense. But even then, what was the rush? This was the nicest evening of the summer so far. He could think of nothing more romantic than taking her hand and walking slowly back home…
He shook his head again. Focus. Think about how this has to do with the map. Even then, what was the rush to go back to the House? Wasn’t the point of this dinner to distract him? And wouldn’t it be better to do it further from the House?
Duckie glanced over at Bex. There’s something here that I’m missing, thought Duckie. Something I’m not seeing. He wasn’t sure what the something was, just that it felt like cold sweats and a kick in the stomach. Kendra’s words echoed in his head:
“I don’t care what that something is as long as you’re in control of the situation—not her. I won’t have you losing our family legacy over some girl.”
He let out a deep exhale. As long as Kendra wasn’t caught, everything was fine. They could head back to the house, and Duckie could do his best to stop Bex from entering her room until he got the all-clear from Kendra.
“Tell me more about your summers in California,” Bex asked. As he told her about surfing in Manhattan and hiking in Mammoth, their hands brushed together two more times. This time, Duckie had nothing to do with it.
Before he knew it, they reached the Phoenix House door. Duckie held it open for Bex, half-expecting to see Laila sitting in the common room, scowling at them.
But she was probably up to her own schemes tonight.
Bex gestured for Duckie to lead the way. He grabbed her hand and they all but glid down the hallway to where the boys’ rooms were. When they got to his door, he looked at Bex. Her face was still tinged red. Was there any real possibility that she was leading him into some sort of trap?
The possibility that she was falling for him while trying to trick him didn’t escape him. The Duckworth charm was irresistible. Even Laila fell for it in her own kind of way.
“Hey,” Bex said, as he reached for the doorknob. “I, um, had a great time tonight,”
“Well, the fun’s just beginning,” Duckie said with a grin. “We’ll start with the Kelvin knot, then move to the half-Windsor. Standard 101 stuff,”
“Yes, I’m very much looking forward to the tie tutorial,” Bex said dryly. “But before we begin, I just wanted to apologise for being so… You know…”
“Difficult? Abrasive? Belligerent?”
Bex frowned. “I was going to say disagreeable”
“That works too,”
“Anyways, I hope we can start again?” she said with a smile. Up until now, he had a feeling that Bex may have been faking her behaviour on this date.
But an apology from Bex?
Now he was sure he was being manipulated.
“I accept your apology,” Duckie replied, opening his bedroom door for Bex and leading her inside.
Back in the supply closet, Bex and Duckie thought back over that evening.
“I also had a good time,” Bex said. Duckie looked at her pointedly. “No, Duckie, I genuinely had a good time.” She paused. “Before we were trapped here, obviously”
“And you apologising to me right outside my door, right before you tricked me and got us both locked in this closet. Was that genuine too?”
Bex pressed her lips together.
“Of course it was. I think we’d get on well as friends and maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge you a slimy bastard when we first met.”
“Friends, huh?”
“Well, I meant some of what I said in the common room. Anything but friends and I’ll live to regret it. And once you close the door on friends, you can never open it again.”
Duckie snorted. “That’s ridiculous. I’ve opened that door many times.”
“I’d want to keep it shut,” Bex said plainly.
“Look around, Bex! The door’s already closed. Who knows if it will ever open again?”
Bex thought back to earlier that evening. They stood in Duckie’s room with school-issued neckties around their shoulders. She could feel her heart racing and palms sweating. It was now or never.
“I have to use the washroom,” she said, and all but dashed out of there. Time was running out: It was now the entrance to the map was right near the boys’ bathroom. She hadn’t heard from Laila since her roommate went through the same entrance almost two hours ago, and she didn’t want to wait any longer to find her.
She reached the wall and found the lamp that contained the switch that opened the panel—
“Aha!” Bex spun around and saw Duckie staring at her. The panel door cracked ajar.
“Allow me,” Duckie said, pushing the door in, stepping into the room, and inviting her inside.
“Such a gentleman,” Bex said through gritted teeth.
“So you thought you could get away with it?”
“Duckie, I—”
“Listen,” he said, letting go of the door and pointing a finger straight at her. The door creaked back over to its original place and shut with a thud.
“Duckie, you shouldn’t have done that”
“It’s MY family’s—”
“No. Shut up—the door. There’s no handle. We’re trapped.”
That was a little over an hour ago.
“I guess it was your fault that the door was closed. Funny how things turn out.”
Duckie made a face. Bex got up and placed a palm on the block of wood that trapped them inside the closet.
“The door is closed,” she said with a whisper. The room suddenly seemed so small. She exhaled and ran her fingers through her hair. “We might die here,” she continued slowly.
“You’re not thinking about eating me, are you?” Duckie replied, half joking. Bex glared at him. Her breathing became increasingly laboured. She slid down to the floor and held her head in her hands.
“I just—I need some air,” Duckie looked at her. He considered saying something snide, but decided against it. Choked sobs erupted from her body in the corner. This was the last thing that Duckie expected; but thanks to Kendra, he knew that was when panic attacks typically struck.
“Bex, I…” he struggled with what to say. When something like this happens, how do you support someone you barely know? Doing it for your twin sister was hard enough. Doing it for a fake date? A new friend? He was unsure about where they landed regarding the whole “starting over” situation.
“You don’t have to—” she said in between large gasps of air. “I—it’s just all falling apart.” Just as she said that, Duckie heard a faint thud above them. “It’s all ca—caving in and we’re stuck.” The thud got louder. “This happens every once in awhile, but I’ve never felt the sounds like this bef—”
Another BOOM interrupted her. Crumbles of the ceiling began to fall around them.
“Bex, this isn’t just in your head,” Duckie said, looking up at the ceiling. “Something’s happening…” The chunks falling from the ceiling got bigger and bigger. Bex looked up at the gaping hole in the middle of the ceiling. She used her sweater sleeve to wipe the snot from her nose and closed her eyes, trying to regulate her breathing back to normal like she practised.
When she opened her eyes, she saw a dusty black high-top sneaker appear through the rubble. Followed by another. Laila jumped down, holding a rope. Kendra was holding the other end. Bex could tell from the creaking that the ceiling wouldn’t hold for much longer: Duckie rushed up to climb the rope, using the shelves around him for support. Bex and Laila faced each other.
“We’re getting you out of here,” Laila said gently. “Kendra and I… we have so much to show you.” Bex’s brain was almost back to normal, but her body was still in a state of panic. She nodded slowly.
“Did you find where the map leads?” Bex asked, wiping her face with her other sweater sleeve. The ceiling creaked precariously, and Duckie and Kendra took a few steps back.
“Yes,” Laila said, grabbing Bex’s hand. “And I know you’re still coming to, but believe me, it’s worth it.” Some more rubble fell around them, and Kendra threw down the rope again. “But we have to hurry.”
Bex climbed slowly, mirroring Duckie’s movements to scramble up the shelves. Laila followed behind and grabbed the extra torch. Kendra helped them up into the ceiling hole, which must’ve been part of Phoenix House’s attic.
They twisted and turned through a musty stairwell, lit only by the three torches carried amongst the four of them. Bex kept an iron grip on Laila’s hand and continued to breathe deeply, reminding herself that they were going to make it out of here.
After twenty minutes of walking up and down stairs, they somehow ended up underground. The ground was completely level now. Laila and Kendra led the others down a dark and progressively narrowing passageway.
It opened in a place that was outside, but not above ground. The foursome was faced with a giant maze.
Laila turned to Bex and Duckie and said, breathlessly:
“Welcome to the Labyrinth of Daedalus”
Fin.