Part 1:

Disclaimer: This story is entirely fictional. All names of students and teachers have been changed.

I dropped my lunch box and water bottle on the table and sat down next to Wyatt. “Someone stole our table, again,” I commented.

It was 12:07, and we were right outside the KLS building, eating lunch. Our normal seating position was the table underneath the redwood trees, which was currently being occupied by some other students.

Wyatt nodded in their direction, “That wasn’t very nice of them.”

I grinned, “They probably think it’s their table and get annoyed at us for stealing it every  time.”

We were joined by Sam, who dropped his lunch box onto the table and sat down.

“Hi Kate, hi Wyatt. Zoey stole my water bottle.”

“Classic Zoey moment,” I commented, watching Zoey walk over with Sam’s water bottle in one hand and a book in the other.

“Zoey, give me my water bottle back or I’ll…” he paused as he tried to come up with a suitable threat, “attack you with a fork.”

“You have a plastic fork, it wouldn’t be effective,” I said.

“And Zoey has a metal water bottle,” Wyatt added, grinning.

“This is completely worth it just for your reaction,” Zoey said, placing the water bottle on the opposite side of the table from Sam.

“Zoey…” Sam pleaded.

“Nope.”

“Fine, whatever,” Sam turned back to his lunch.

“Anyways,” I said, “have any of you noticed the key hole next to the elevator?”

“It could be a secret entrance to a hidden world. Maybe it leads to Narnia,” Zoey said excitedly.

“Or it leads to the basement,” Sam said, raising his eyebrows.

“Who knows what’s in the basement? There could be Frankenstein monsters and vampires. Or maybe ghosts?”

While Zoey was talking, I carefully moved Sam’s water bottle to the other side of the table, so that it was next to him. Sam noticed, giving me a secret thumbs up.

Wyatt rolled his eyes, “The key hole is actually for firefighters, so that they can reset the elevator from any floor.”

“Wait, so they can call the elevator to any floor if they have the key?” I clarified.

“Something like that,” Wyatt nodded.

“So, theoretically, it could still lead to the basement….”

“Hey! Why does Sam have his water bottle back?” Zoey had just noticed that I had given Sam his water bottle.

Sam, Wyatt, and I burst out laughing.

Later that day, I examined the elevator to see the keyhole. It was surrounded by a red outline that in retrospect did seem like the firefighter color. I would have examined the key hole for longer if I hadn’t noticed the arrows next to it. I was currently on the first floor of the building and there was…a downward arrow.

I told Sam, Wyatt, and Zoey about my discovery during break, the next day. They all were extremely surprised, and we considered asking the teachers about it. We were unsure and  decided to wait till lunch.

However, the class before lunch changed everything. Zoey, Sam, and I have goal time, a time to work on homework, together, so we decided to go exploring.

“This is an extremely bad idea,” I said. In reality, I shouldn’t have been worried. We had already decided that we weren’t going to enter the elevator because that would have definitely been against the rules, so we were just watching the elevator, which was technically allowed.

“It’s a great idea!” Zoey said, grinning.

“It’s Zoey approved,” Sam commented.

When you enter KLS through the front door, you are in the Lobby. In front of you will be the front desk with Irma sitting at the computer. If you go past that, to the right of you, you will see the elevator.

This was our first obstacle. If we wanted to look at the elevator, Irma would notice. We decided that our best course of action was to watch from the room next to the Lobby, Collective. Collective had a window-door that you could see through, so our job was pretty simple. Sit still and watch an inanimate object. I know, fun.

About ten minutes into us watching, Leonardo, the director, walked up to the elevator. He greeted Irma, before clicking the downward arrow on the elevator and strolling in.