Mischief Girls

Chapter 1

The phone isn't ringing.

It's a quiet night, unusually so for the evening before Halloweekend. It's nearly midnight, and the weather has gotten much colder this week, dropping ten, even twenty, degrees.

Theo sits to my right in the little cubicle space we call our headquarters, playing with a rubber-band ball. He yawns, and so do I. Our supervisor, Foster-who was a senior at Ellison two years ago and is barely old enough to be properly managing us-spins around in his chair, scrolling on his phone.

"If we don't get any calls tonight, can we go home early?" Theo asks, and Foster stops spinning.

"Nice try. If I'm here, you're stuck with me."

Theo grins. "I'm sure you can handle it till overnight shift gets here."

"I am overnight shift," Foster says. "They got rid of the temps because of budget cuts."

"What?"

"Yup. It's just me after one in the morning. If you've got a problem with that, ask your dad to make some calls."

Theo frowns. "Damn." He tugs at a loose rubber band on the colorful ball in his hands, then turns to me. "At least you get to go home soon."

I check the clock. "Twenty minutes."

"Jealous." Theo clutches his chest, all drama.

"Then quit. You don't even need a work-study job!"

Foster pouts at us. "Don't quit-I can't take being alone the whole night."

"Foster," I say, "for a twenty-four-year-old, you are such a baby."

He grins at me. "You love it."

"You can't hit on your employees, Foster!" says Theo.

I roll my eyes. Foster Lawson is a flirt; everyone knows that. It's just how he talks. The tone, the smirking. Plus, he's handsome: tall, with hazel eyes and spiky black hair. Tanned skin from his outdoor climbing hobby. A sharp jawline and impeccable style, from his thrifted clothes to the silver cross hanging from a chain around his neck. With his looks, of course everything he says sounds like he's flirting. He's not even doing it on purpose.

It's why he got this job, we think, Theo and I. His charisma puts people at ease, so much so that he feels more like a friend than a supervisor most days. The thing is, Foster didn't graduate from Ellison at the end of his senior year. He didn't have the grades, mostly because he simply didn't show up for his exams. He was a bit of a legend for a while. He dealt a lot of drugs; he got into shenanigans; he was the life of the party. He talked his way out of most everything. The dean took sympathy on him and gave Foster a choice: Repeat senior year or start working for the college. Or else, finally get reported to the cops. Ellison had already given Foster a lot of leeway, and that was his last chance.

At least, that's how the story goes.

I'm glad he's here. Apparently, the old supervisor was a real stickler. Employees weren't allowed to do homework on shift, even if there were no incoming calls. I'm grateful Foster's fine with my having my laptop out so I can do some work.

"Whatcha got going on there?" Foster asks me, ignoring Theo.

"My honors project. I chose Professor Campbell-Tucker's class-I'm doing a paper on child development and how it's affected by whether kids are enrolled in day care or not." I cross my eyes at my screen, and the words on the document blur. It's my first year here at Ellison, but I know I want to be a sociology major with a focus on children. Each year, Ellison students can choose to do an honors project related to one of our classes. I picked my Child Soc class.

"Ugh, honors projects," Theo says. "I'm so glad I didn't do any of those this year."

Theodore Gardner and I are on shift together most nights at Night Walk, the college's student safety organization, where upperclassmen walk fellow students home from the library or other places on campus late at night. Well, upperclassmen . . . and me. I take the ten to midnight, and he takes eleven to one. He's a big white guy, so he probably feels safer taking the later shift. Usually we have temp staff take the rest of the night, until four, but I guess now Foster's in charge of that.

When I applied, Foster told me it was a bit unusual to have a freshman interviewing for the role. But I took a gap year in between senior year and college, so I'm older than most of the freshmen here-plus I did a summer program at Ellison, taking a few intro classes before the fall term began, so I already feel familiar with campus. Once Foster realized I knew campus well, I was in. It's a good work-study job. Studies show there are fewer calls to the cops if colleges offer some kind of Night Walk-type service (it improves safety and doesn't get police involved). Plus, I have a hard time sleeping most nights, and this is a productive job for an insomniac. That, and the hourly pay is decent.

Theo, meanwhile, has been doing Night Walk since he was a sophomore, and now he's on his way out as a senior. He knows the college better than anyone, probably. His parents went here, as did his two older brothers, and he did pre-college camps here in high school because he'd known since he came out of the womb that he was Ellison-bound. Most kids here are like that, to be honest. Theo's just extra Ellison down to the bone. His dad is on faculty, too, and Theo was literally named after Theodore Ellison, the founder of the college. He wears his dad's class ring every day-it's obnoxious, but if he's volunteering his time at Night Walk to help people get home safe, he can wear a suit for all I care.

I like to think of Ellison as the college that kids who aren't Ivy League legacies go to. Ellison loyalty runs strong through student generations-most students are either legacy admits or locals from upstate. It's a small, tight community that mingles well with the Mount Echo locale.

Out of boredom, I check my phone to see a few texts from my best friend from home, Pooja, peeking up on the screen. She's on fall break in our hometown, Serenity, back on the West Coast.

Pooja

When does your semester end? Should we take a winter break trip somewhere sunny?

Pooja

All your photos lately have been so dark and dreary, I'm depressed FOR you.

Pooja

And also in general-I do need to switch up my meds.

I grin and type a quick reply, letting her know the dates and that we should call soon to do one of our mental health walks-where we each walk two miles and gossip the entire time on the phone. Pooja goes to a community college in Serenity. The weather is much better back there, and she's right: Ellison, with its Gothic-leaning architecture, looks depressing as hell, not to mention creepy, come the end of the calendar year. She sends me back a thumbs-up and a series of emojis of planes and palm trees, as if to punctuate her point.

The office phone finally rings, startling me. I pick up. "Hello, Ellison Night Walk."

A girl's voice comes through. "Hi. I've never used Night Walk before, but I'm on campus and wanted to be walked to the dorms. Where can I find you guys?"

"We're in Koenig Hall on the first floor, but if you're not in the Student Center, we can come to you on campus." I twirl the phone cord between my fingers.

"I'm at the library, so I'll be right there, thank you!"

"Dorm walk?" Theo asks when I hang up.

I nod. "Any plans for Halloweekend?"

"Latin Society's hosting a costume party. You're going, too, right?" Halloweekend is a decent-enough deal in Mount Echo, at least for costumes, but the biggest night of the year happens the Saturday after Halloween: Mischief Night, an unsanctioned tradition of getting blackout drunk, pulling pranks, and scaring friends. It's not in the official college brochures, but people were talking about it all through the summer program and orientation. Halloweekend plans come first, though.

"I'll be riiiight here," Foster jumps in, singsong. "If you were wondering about my plans."

"You can come as an alum to the LaSo party," Theo offers.

Foster shakes his head. "You kids are too young for me."

"Shut up. You're barely an adult yourself." I look at Theo. "Yeah, I'll be there, but we're going into town for the block party first. Landon and I are already working on our costumes. Are you bringing that girl you were talking about last week?"

"Nah." Theo winces and runs a hand through his floppy brown hair. He looks like a sad little puppy. "Didn't work out. Maybe Halloweekend will turn things around for me."

"Plenty of fish in the sea, Theo."

"Hey," a girl says, walking up. She looks South Asian, with warm brown skin and long curly hair. "I'm Anika. I called a couple minutes ago?"

"Hey!" I put on my customer service voice. "I'm Raina, and this is Theo. Where are you headed?"

"Just around the dorms?"

Theo stands. "I can take you. Raina's shift ends soon."

Anika presses her lips together and shifts uncomfortably. "Oh, um. If it's okay, I'd prefer to have you walk me?" She looks my way.

Oh-something familiar about Anika's demeanor tugs at my heartstrings.

Theo nods at me, and I stand up. "Of course. Let me grab my jacket." On the other side of the desk, I pick up a pen and sign myself out. "I'm going to take Anika back and head home from there. That all right?"

"Yeah, I won't tell the boss." Theo smirks.

Foster looks up and laughs. "Get home safe, Raina."

With my corduroy jacket slung over my shoulders, I pick up my badge. "See you tomorrow?"

Theo gives me a salute. "Godspeed."

Anika and I step out into the chill together, and I smile down at her. She's at least two heads shorter than me, and I don't consider myself particularly tall. "Where are we headed tonight, Anika?"

She coils a strand of hair around her finger. Her fingernails are painted a dark burgundy red, perfect for fall. "Greenbriar House?" She says it like a question.

"Whoa, is that where you live? I thought freshmen never got accepted to Greenbriar." We take a left out of the Student Center to walk toward the dorm building. Greenbriar House is by the Village, where staff and faculty often live, which means it's the nicest dormitory on campus. So, for example, while Landon and I live in Ellicott House, a first-year residence hall with no air-conditioning, doors that constantly lock us out, and probably mold growing in our communal showers, Greenbriar House is cloaked in gorgeous ivy, has a private garden, and every student gets their own personal bathroom.

Anika laughs awkwardly. "Just lucky, I guess."

"Damn," I say. "I'm jealous."

Anika presses her lips together into a sort of smile. "Hey, thanks for walking with me instead of your coworker. I'd just rather have a woman walk me home at night."

Briefly, I make note of the topic change. If Anika doesn't want to talk about her fancy housing, I get it. People here can be weird like that when they have special privileges. "Of course," I say. "I get it." I shrug. "I have a little sister." And honestly, maybe that's who Anika reminded me of when she walked in: Maya. My older-sister instincts kicked in. I know Anika and I are technically in the same year, but as a gap year student and a Night Walk rep, I feel like a default older sibling to people in my class. People often assume I'm a sophomore anyway. Landon says I give off eldest-daughter energy.

Of course Anika shouldn't have to walk home alone at night with a man she doesn't know, even if he's employed by Night Walk. I feel a surge of protectiveness toward her.

Anika's eyes perk up at the mention of my sister. "Are you two close?"

I pause, considering. "I wish we were closer. It's hard to be close when we're physically so far apart."

"Yeah," Anika says quietly. "That makes sense."

We walk past the quad and the foresty path toward the dorms. There's a beat of silence, and Anika clears her throat. "The weather hasn't gotten so bad this year."

I glance at her. "How do you know what October was like last year?"

Anika blushes, or maybe it's just the cold. "I'm from around here. Brookline?"

Ah-Brookline's a town about forty minutes away. I went apple picking there last week. "Is your family still out there?"

Anika pauses, then nods. "Yeah."

"Must be nice to have them so close." I think about Mamma and Baba-across the country, with Maya still in high school. If I went to school forty minutes from home, I'd get to see them all the time. I wouldn't have had to miss Maya getting ready for homecoming, and I could go home to Mamma's cooking and Baba's bad jokes whenever I felt like it.

Anika nods again. "Yeah. It is."

"What are you studying?" I'm not trying to pry, just making small talk.

"History. My mom studied history in college, and now I am, too."

"That's special, to be following in her footsteps." We're approaching Greenbriar now, around the curve of a small grove of trees.

"Yeah, it is." She hesitates. "I'm trying to pave my own way, though."

There's a sudden vulnerability in her voice that makes me want to reach out and give her a hug. We're in the same year. We could be friends if we met in class or at a party. But this is a professional situation, and besides, we're already here. "I'm sure you will," I say instead, opting for an affirmation.

Anika stops at the front steps to Greenbriar House. "Thanks for walking me. This place is spooky at night."

I smile. "And especially around Halloween."

She nods. "Especially around Halloween."

I fish for something to say, for reasons I can't name. "Well, if you ever need to use Night Walk again, you know where to find us." I reach into the pocket that holds my badge and hand Anika one of the business cards Foster convinced the school to print for us.

Raina Chandra, it says in gold script. Night Walk Student Representative.

Anika takes it and slips it into the front pocket of her jacket. "Thanks, Raina."

I smile. "Happy Halloween. Get some rest, I hope?"

She gives me a salute. "I'll do my best."