Jane was sleeping when someone started shaking her shoulder. "Jane! Janie! Wake up!"
She screamed and punched her attacker squarely in the jaw. They fell to the floor, cursing. "Shit! Ow! God damn it; why'd you do that!?"
Jane squinted through the dark and quickly identified the boy lying on her floor. "Peter!? What the fuck are you doing in my room? It's the middle of the bloody night!"
"A simple 'I'm sorry I tried to punch you out' would suffice." Peter rubbed his jaw. "And I'm here cause it's the twelfth of February. Duh. Why aren't you dressed?"
"What the hell do you mean 'it's the twelfth of February'!?" Jane hissed. "Why would I be dressed for the middle of the night?"
Peter looked confused. "We're stealing Hook's portrait, like we do every year."
"If you do recall, I was not here during previous years." Jane reminded him impatiently.
"Well yeah but have you just not been paying attention for the past week while we were planning this?"
Jane threw up her hands. "Planning this!? We didn't plan anything! Literally all we've been discussing is midterms and whether television shows are as good as movies. Nobody mentioned anything about stealing a portrait in the middle of the night! Have you been listening?"
Peter turned bright red. "Okay, maybe I wasn't totally listening, but I just assumed someone told you. We do pull this off every year, and all the other guys are ready."
Jane already figured Peter hadn't been paying attention during their nightly gatherings. Recently he'd been spending his time staring creepily at Jane for extended periods of time and then pretending he wasn't when she looked over. She didn't really mind it, but that was definitely an issue for another time. Jane sighed. "Alright, how about you just explain what's happening to me while I put on some real clothes. And if I catch you looking at me, I will have you neutered."
"So basically, this is what's happening," Peter told her, eyes closed, facing the wall. "When we were seventh graders, I got sent to Hook's office after the whole dumpster incident, long story, don't ask. But while I was in there I saw he had this hideous painting of himself on the wall. So me and the Lost Boys, then a new found group of allies, decided we would steal it. And we took it, in the middle of the night of February twelfth, the day hook was hired to this school, back in 1985. Hook went insane; there was this huge search to find his 'lost treasure' but by then it was already stowed away down here where he'd never find it. The next year he went out and got himself a new, equally horrible, painting, and we unanimously decided to make a tradition out of this portrait theft. Hook's been increasing security around his precious wall art every year, but the challenge is what makes it fun. Currently, we have four grotesque portraits, and tonight, we go for the fifth! Hey, are you dressed yet? We kind of need to go..."
"Yeah," Jane replied, zipping up her black sweatshirt. "Why don't we round up the rest of the Lost Boys and go through the plan?"
The plan seemed ill-formed, strange, and unlikely to succeed, but the boys spoke with such conviction that it was hard not to get excited. Which is how Jane found herself on the roof of the administration building wondering why she had agreed to do this in the first place.
"On my mark," Nick whispered. Nick was doing the tech work behind the operation. Over the years, Hook had invested in a multitude of high-tech pieces of security equipment, or what the schools budget allowed him to buy. Luckily Nick, head of the programming club, future computer science major, and self taught hacker, had broken into Hook's network. A few hours beforehand, Nick had disabled the motion sensors on the windows and doors, but he left the cameras on, as surely Hook would be checking them constantly on the night of the heist. Currently, Max was working on picking the locks on the window. How the twins learned to be criminal masterminds was beyond Jane, but it was helpful.
With a click, Max unlocked the lock and climbed silently back up to the roof. Nick nodded and pressed a button on his laptop. "Now!"
Peter and Will slid the window open and climbed through into the office. At this point, Jane and Tony climbed down from the roof stood below the window. In about thirty seconds the painting, which was indeed incredibly ugly, poked through the window. Jane and Tony pulled it out and Will and Peter hopped out, both landing lightly on their feet.
And then a light flicked on somewhere in the building.
This is where the plan fell apart, obviously Hook would notice that all of his security was disabled and go try to catch the thieves himself. And all the boys had planned for was "run". Jane, Tony, Peter, and Will broke into a mad dash for the dorm building where they had come from. Bobby and Simon, who were keeping watch, jumped out from behind a bush and joined them in running, and Max and Nick slid off the roof and did the same. The seven of them sprinted toward the dorm as silently as possible, only to come crashing into a shadowy figure in the dark.
"What in gods name are you doing at this hour of the night!" the person hissed. Jane blinked and saw that she had crashed into Mrs. Crock.
"Um sorry miss, we were only... going out for a walk," Jane sputtered.
Mrs. Crock didn't believe her for a moment. She glanced at the huge painting in Jane's arms. "Is that Hook's portrait?"
There was a long pause. "No?"
"It is isn't it?"
Another long silence.
"Huh, I'd always wondered who was taking that. Brilliant idea, by the way."
Nobody moved.
"Now I supposed to report any suspicious behavior, but then again, you kids were just going for a walk, isn't that right?" The seven of them nodded quickly. Mrs. Crock acknowledged them and continued on her way as if nothing had happened at all. "Well then, I'm glad we cleared that up. You might want to hurry up a little on your walk, or Hook might get suspicious, even though you are only out for an innocent midnight stroll. Okay, carry on then."
They watched her walk away, her heels click clacking as she did.
"Uh, we should keep running," Bobby suggested.
"Good plan," Will agreed ad they all picked up the pace.
Jane and the Lost Boys rounded the back of the dorm building and climbed through the window into Jane's basement. When the last boy came through Jane slammed the window shut and flopped onto her bed, catching her breath. When everyone had recovered, Will and Tony pulled out a cardboard box from the bottom of the stack of boxes and removed four other horrible portraits. They lined the pictures up next to each other and admired the hideousness.
"I guess it's official now, Janie," Peter said.
Jane cocked her head. "First off, don't call me that, and second, what's official."
"Well, you're a Lost Boy now," Peter explained. "You have proved yourself worthy."
The rest of the boys clapped and patted Jane on the back affectionately. "Wait, what do you mean I've 'proven myself worthy'."
"You've been hanging out with us for the whole year," Max suggested.
"We think you're cool," Bobby said.
"You're loyal," Nick offered.
"You can drink Peter under the table," Simon laughed.
"You helped us prank Hook," Will said.
"You're a good friend," Tony stated.
Peter grinned. "See Janie? We like you. We think you're ready to be a part of our group."
"You guys aren't serious are you?" Jane said. "I'm already a part of your group. It's nice that you lot accept me as one of your own and what not, but what exactly is going to change by me becoming a member of your little gang."
There was a pause. Peter ran his hand through his hair. "Uh, I guess the title of Lost Boy is more of an honorary thing than it is practical, but it's still pretty cool, right? I mean, you're the first Lost Girl in the history of ever."
Jane laughed. "Fine it's cool. I'm glad you guys have come to terms with the fact that I am your leader. You know what? Let's celebrate. Bring on the festivities."
The boys cheered and Peter stood looking confused. "Wait 'leader'? What do you mean leader?"
"We've decided this celebration was big enough," the boys handed her a tiny cup, "to break out the sake."
"Oh my god, seriously?" Jane laughed. "This is the special occasion you were all waiting for to break out the Japanese alcohol?"
"Apparently!" Tony announced.
The adrenalin and the exercise of the night's activities, coupled with exotic alcohol, pretty much put everyone to sleep after about twenty minutes. The boys were too tired to climb back to their rooms through the ceiling, so Jane agreed to let them camp out on her floor, just this once. Jane distributed the blankets they kept in one of the boxes and the boys fell asleep almost immediately. Peter flopped down next to Jane and passed out, his head resting on her shoulder. She considered shoving him off, but she was so tired and in such a good mood surrounded by all of her best friends. She looked around and saw the sleeping faces of people who liked her for exactly what she was. So instead of moving Peter's head off of her chest, Jane fell asleep.
