When Jay proposed for us to go through the open window at Jacob's house, I nearly had a seizure.

I let out a nervous laugh. "Ha. You're funny."

By the time I managed to say that Jay was already halfway through the window.

"What the hell..." I said under my breath. I ran up to him and grabbed him foot, pulling him down. He landed on the grass next to Jacob's house. It was one story, and the fall wasn't that big, yet Jay acted like I'd just pushed him off the roof.

"What the hell was that for!?" He said, rising to his feet.

"We are not going into their house!" I hissed. "What is wrong with you?"

"If God didn't want us to go in, that window would not be open." He said. "I'm going in and you can't stop me."

"You do realize if his parents come home they'll call the police on you?"

"It's two oclock. Most people don't come back from work until, like, six." He retaliated, crossing his arms and bearing the smug expression of being right.

I bit my lip. "Jacob will call the police."

"No he fucking won't. I have so much dirt on him and I can guarantee he has some weird shit that will get him in more trouble than we'd be in for entering through an open window. Besides, he probab;y won't be home for a while. And his parents definitely won't be home in a while." Jay said. "Don't be a chicken, Alina."

"I'm not a chicken." I said. "I just-"

"Chickennn." Jay cut me off. "Bok bok bok!" He started making chicken noises. I was on the urge of facepalming. "Alina's a chickennn."

"Fine!" I shouted. "Fine. You can go and I'll stay here and keep an eye out."

Jay tilted his head. He looked beyond cute. His dark hair had grown out and now fell out of the hairstyle and over his eyes. "That's it. You're not coming in?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Alright then. Be like that." With that, he jumped up to the windowsill and crawled in with ease.

I heard him land on the ground and move further into the house. I stood closer next to the window and leaned against Jacob's houuse as I waited.

I tapped my foot as I stood beneath the window. I was growing impatient- it was hot and I was incredibly bored and my phone was dead. Jay had to hurry up.

"Jay!" I called through the window. I waited a few moments. No reply. "Jay!" I tried again.

Either he was messing with me, like he often tended to do, or he didn't hear me.

Or Jacob got to him first I thought gravely. I was being paranoid and I knew Jacob wouldn't and couldn't do anything to Jay, but it was still an alarming thought.

I took a deep breath and hoisted myself up on the windowsill. With a bit of a struggle, I crawled through the window and landed on the floor in a heap.

"Ow!" I muttered.

I got up and brushed the imaginary dirt off of my clothes. I then proceeded to call Jay's name. His silence was really scaring me.

"Jay!"

Silence.

"What?!" I finally heard him yell. I followed the sound into the livingroom, and breathed w sigh of relief when I saw him sifting through papers on the table.

"Oh my god." I said. "Why didn't you answer me before?"

"Oops." Jay said, and looked up for a moment and grinned goofily at me.

I rolled my eyes. "What if they were back?"

He scoffed. "I knew they weren't. It's been five minutes, Ali. I knew you were being dramatic."

He was so annoying. I walked over to where he was. "That's not anything useful. These are his parents' taxes."

"Relax." He gently grabbed my hand and placed it away from the papers. "Anyways, let's go to his room. I was just stalling."

I followed Jay throughout the house. It was dark and clammy. There was stuff everywhere--papers on surfaces and on the floor, old furniture and trinkets, and like three cats who scampered into corners when they heard us walk around. There was a musty smell , as the house probably hadn't been cleaned in forever.

Jay stopped in front of a door, and I assumed that it was Jacob's room.

"Open it." I urged.

Jay turned around. "Why don't you open it then? Ladies first." He smirked.

"Fine." I quickly grabbed the doorknob and opened the door.

The room was packed full with everything you could imagine. The curtains were drawn and the only illumination was the thin stream of sunlight that made its way in through the small crack between the curtains.

"Oh my god." I cringed. Jay nodded in agreement.

We searched the room. It felt weird, and wrong, to go through someone's stuff like this and invade their privacy. To break into their house.

We found nothing except for some old cameras, but none had memory cards.

"Let's go to the basement." Jay said as he stood up and brushed his hands against his shorts.

"What?" I said.

"Come on."

I reluctantly followed Jay as he opened each room to look for the basement stairs. I saw that he had found it when he reached forward and pulled the cord for the lights.

I peered over Jay's shoulder. A wooden staircase lead into the basement. It gave me the heebie jeebies. I didn't feel like I was about to get murdered or something, but it still felt weird going down there.

Jay didn't hesitate as he made his way downstairs. He didn't even try to be subtle, and his loud footsteps made the stairs freak.

I looked around the basement. It looked fairly normal, except there was more stuff than there would be in an average basement.

"There's nothing here." I said.

Right as I said that, I heard the upstairs door creak open. My eyes widened, but Jay didn't hear.

"Come on!" I whispered. "Someone's here."

Jay ignored me and continued peering into opened boxes.

"Jay!" I said. "Did you not hear me?" My heart began to race. That could be Jacob's parents and they would definitely call the police on us.

"What'd you say?"

"Someone is here!"

His eyes widened. "Fuck." He closed the box he was looking through and scanned for a way out. There was a small window, but too small for us to even put our heads through.

"Fuck fuck fuck." He said.

I heard footsteps advance down the hall and closer towards the basement.

I wiped my sweaty hands on my shirts. I was so scared. "Why did we come here? Why-"

Jay pulled me into a side room, and clamped a hand over my mouth. "Stop panicking!" He whispered.

I took a few deep breaths and managed to calm down.

Jay and I stepped back a bit.

"What the hell?" I heard him say.

"What?" I asked.

"Put on your phone flashlight."

"Won't they see us if there's a light coming from beneath the door?"

"Just do it, Alina."

I sighed and withdrew my phone from my pocket. I fumbled with it, as my hands were shaky. I finally managed to get the flashlight on, and pointed it behind me.

"That was right in my eyes!"

"Sorry!"

"What the hell-" Jay said, his jaw wide open when he saw what my flashlight had landed on. My heart dropped.