"Aren't you two done yet?" Rory hissed in a whisper so loud he might as well have shouted it.
"No!" Amy hissed. Then, turning back to her friend, she whispered more quietly, "What's taking so long?"
"I dunno," Mels replied without looking up. "It should..." She bent down, listening closely for a minute as she jiggled the two small bits of metal again, "No. Still not getting it. Read that bit again...?"
Amy glanced down at the paper in her hand and read from the instructions. Mels tried to follow them... but without results.
Finally fed up, Amy pushed her away. "Here, let me have a go."
"I..." Mels started to protest, then clearly thinking better of it, stepped back and grabbed the instructions from her friend. "Fine. You-"
But Rory's sudden loud whisper from around the corner interrupted her. "Someone's coming!"
They'd just managed to straighten up and turn around as Mr. Perkins, the History teacher, stepped into the corridor. He stopped when he saw them. "Hello, girls. A bit late, isn't it? Shouldn't you be headed home by now?"
"Uhm... Yeah. Right. Just headed that way," Amy answered.
Mels gestured to Amy's rucksack. "She forgot her bag. We had to come back for it."
"Ah. Very well. You girls have a good evening then," Mr. Perkins replied as, with a wave, he continued down the hall.
Amy turned to Mels as soon as he had gone out of sight. "That was close!"
"Too right!"
Both girls turned as Rory ran up to join them. "You okay? He didn't catch you, did he?"
"No worries," Mels replied.
"Good. Neither of you can afford to get into trouble. Again."
"You worry too much," Mels said, rolling her eyes.
"Somebody's got to!" Rory replied. Then, gesturing to the locked door behind them, he asked, "Why'd you want to get into the cleaning cupboard anyway? What's in there?"
"Cleaning supplies, stupid?" Amy suggested.
Rory sighed. "Yes. I know that. I mean... What else?"
"Who cares?" Amy answered with a shrug. "Boring school stuff?"
"Then why...?"
Mels held up the instructions and lockpicks she'd been hiding behind her back. "How else are we going to practice?"
Rory blinked twice and opened his mouth to say something before closing it quickly. A few seconds later he muttered under his breath, "Girls."
"What?" Amy asked, with just a bit of warning.
"Nothing," Rory sighed. "Now, can we please leave before Mr. Perkins comes back and we really will be in trouble?" He waited for the girls to nod before turning and heading toward the exit.
As he took off down the corridor, Amy rolled her eyes to Mels, "Boys."
"Rory," Mels corrected her, looking after Rory with that funny smile she got whenever she'd say something that really didn't make any sense at all.
"What?" Amy asked, but Mels didn't hear. She was already hurrying forward to catch up to their friend.