"I fucking hate doctor's appointments." Chet swore.

"We all do, Danning. All of us." Tony "Tango" Duke agreed angrily from ahead of Chet. He was one of the Outcasts and also a senior. After Teague, he was the one that Chet trusted most. It helped that Tango had a miniature crew of his own, Joe Franklin, Marco Ortega, and Cody Dowell, who circled him like a planet. If Teague somehow was unable to keep leading, Tango was likely to step up. Tango was at the nurse's office (or what used to be nurse's office before the lockdown) because of a toothache. But the second in command of the Outcasts stoically endured the pain with only a grimace here and there.

A significant amount of wax seemed to have built up in Chet's ears. They were scraping against his ear drum, causing everything to sound louder in one of his ears and also causing some irritation. One of the kids up ahead in the office was screaming and crying, which didn't help.

"Fucking Jimmy DeLaney. EVERY. MOTHERFUCKING. TIME." Ortega growled and clenched a big fist. The bulky Hispanic teen was the muscle of the four friends and one of the bigger guys in the Outcasts, though still quite a bit smaller than Chet.

"Easy, Ortega." Tango held out a hand, his own patience quite tested.

"Jimmy DeLaney? That annoying little freshman shit from the Geeks? Wasn't that little rat here last time, too?" Chet asked.

"Jimmy is always fucking here." Joe Franklin said. "And almost always, it turns out to be for absolutely fucking nothing."

"That little bitch cries more than any girl I've ever seen." Cody Dowell, the other muscle of the four friends, grumbled. He was a large, mohawked Black teen who was bigger than Ortega, but still noticeably smaller and shorter than Chet.

Jimmy screamed. It sounded like, "MOMMY!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Ortega yelled, causing many of the other kids to jump and yell in surprise. "YOUR MOMMA AIN'T COMIN' HOME TONIGHT, JIMMY! NOT TONIGHT! NOT EVER!"

"HEY!" Brian Jones poked his head out of the nurse's office. "YOU, THERE! KEEP IT DOWN!" The hulking nerd bellowed at Ortega.

After more standing, bullshitting, and waiting around, it was finally Chet's turn. Some freshman nerd whom Chet knew as either Mimi or Mina was assigned to him.

"What seems to be the problem?" Mimi or Mina asked.

"There seems to be a lot of wax in one of my ears. Everything sounds louder on the left side."

Removing the left ear wax wasn't a problem, but when it came to the right ear, she ran into trouble.

"Grace! Can you take a look at this?" She called.

"What is it, Mimi?" Grace came over to them.

"The wax in his right ear. I'm not sure if I can remove it. It's too big." Mimi said.

"Let me see." Grace took over. "Okay, yes. This might be a problem. But nothing that we can't fix."

"What's going on?" Chet asked.

"The wax in the right is too big for us to remove right now. You're going to have to dissolve it to size by applying some drops in that ear 3 times a day for 2 days, then come back so we can remove it when it's smaller." Grace said before handing him the medicine in question.

"Fuck. A second appointment." Chet muttered before he got up to leave. "Always a second appointment."

As he exited the nurse's office, he saw Kirk and Mark. Kirk looked at him briefly before looking away. Mark bared his teeth, but made no move.

Chet had chow duty at the cafeteria that day, as did Kirk. It was a messy and thankless job. But as a general rule, none of the various gang leaders were allowed to exempt themselves from duties assigned to subordinates, the way the senior athletes and cheerleaders did to their underclassmen.

"Do you think we'll ever get out of here?" Chet asked Kirk between work in the hot and sweaty kitchen, not really expecting any sort of answer.

"Maybe." Kirk said vaguely.

"If you found a way out and there was only enough time for one person, would you run away yourself and leave everyone here to die?" Chet asked.

Kirk didn't answer.

"Do you even want to leave? You got everything you want here. Kids inside of this school look up to you. Some of the underclassmen practically think you're their dad. What would you even say once you got out? For all we know, 100 years could have passed outside on the other side of the void, assuming that the world hasn't ended."

Kirk still didn't answer, seeming lost in thought. Chet gave up talking to him, for the time being.

Once the chow runners were finished serving the food, they finally ate before they finished the remaining dishes and closed up the dining hall.

Just as Chet was clocking out, Kirk unexpectedly called him.

"What are you doing tonight?" Kirk asked.

"Nothing. Why?"

"Meet me after curfew at around 10:30 in front of the gym entrance. I want to talk to you." Kirk said, pausing before resuming. "Don't tell anyone else."

That night, Chet snuck out of the classroom after curfew and down to the closed and locked doors to the gym where Kirk waited in front of.

"So, why did you want to see me?" Chet asked.

"I did." Kirk said. "Because I know a way out of this place."

"Wait. What? Seriously?" Chet asked, unsure where Kirk was going.

"Yes. Seriously." Kirk's face betrayed no jest.

"Why are you telling me and not Juliette or Mark or any one of your other friends and supporters?"

Kirk hesitated. "I know this sounds insane, but that's the only way this works."

"What the hell do you mean, that is the only way this works?"

"It's the terms of agreement."

"Terms of agreement?"

"Look, Chet. All you need to know is that I don't want revenge. This is not to say that you are my friend. You are not. I could give a shit less what happens to you and what you do with your life. But I want to get the fuck out of this place, alive. And if it means that escape is only possible if I bring along my worst enemy, so be it."

All this was coming out of nowhere and it didn't even sound like Kirk. For all his popularity, Kirk was incredibly loyal. He wasn't just faithful to Juliette and to Mark, but to the rest of his crew. Now, he was doing a 180 and seemingly pleading with Chet to escape with him and leave everyone behind to rot.

"I don't understand, man."

"I don't either. But I saw things. I saw things as they could have been. I saw things as they were meant to be. More importantly, I saw and now know that all this can be possible. It can be ours. We can both come out this the victors. More than that, in fact. When we cross that proverbial finish line, all that we went through will not even be a distant memory." Kirk grew increasingly animated and excited, a side of him that Chet had never seen before.

"Whoa, man. Just slow down for a second." Chet held up his hands. "What did you see?"

"The Void. It showed me things. It showed me that an escape was possible and within my grasp, within OUR grasp, this whole time!" Kirk exclaimed. "We can get out of this place! Just the two of us!"

"The void showed you things?" Chet asked, barely keeping up. Was this really happening? Was Kirk on some kind of powerful acid trip?

"Yes! I don't know how to explain, but it told me that I needed to bring my worst enemy along as part of the deal. It told me to be reconciled to you and then it will grant us our release. Isn't that worth everything?"

Chet just stared, uncomprehending.

Kirk sighed and momentarily seemed to deflate. "Okay. Let me start from the top. Both of us don't have dads, right."

"Right…." Chet said slowly.

"My dad died in a car accident when I was a kid. Your dad abandoned you and your mother when you were just a baby."

"Yes. And?"

"What if I told you that none of that needed to happen?"

"Huh?"

"What if you got the chance to just erase all of that and start anew? Start living the life you deserved. That we both deserved! What if the two of us didn't fight and become enemies? In fact, what if we never had to meet at all?"

"Are you asking for my opinion as to what I'd do if I could go back in time and change our pasts?"

"I'm asking for more than that. I'm telling you. I'm telling you right now that if you agree to this deal, we can both get out of this okay. More than okay. We never have to worry about meeting each other again. All this will not even be remembered. All I need you to do is to agree."

"Agree to what?"

"Say you agree to the deal."

Chet didn't know why, but the air suddenly felt a lot colder.

"What happens if I say I agree?"

"Just say it! You'll know. We both will!"

Chet looked at the dark hallway behind them.

"Okay, I agree."

For a minute, there was silence. Then the fabric of reality around them seemed to bend and twist in the shape of a whirlpool.

Then a foot, followed by a leg, stepped out of the swirling pool. Then a body and a familiar face. Chet froze.

"You…." Chet said.

"Yes. ME."