Pulse

gossip, opening and shutting lockers, going through the normal motions of a day.
    “It’s sad, kind of. Don’t you think?” Faith asked as they quickened their pace up the long hallway. “There used to be so many people in here. Now it’s just empty. It feels lonely.”
    “I don’t know; to me it’s a reminder of how stupid our parents were. They were dead wrong about a billion things. I don’t know why they make us come here at all. I mean, seriously, what’s the point? We get everything we need from the Tablets. World-class education, all the help we need. This place is a reminder of what doesn’t work; that’s all it is.”
    Faith didn’t quite agree, though she saw his point.
    “I think it would have been a lot of fun to walk these halls with hundreds of other people. You’re a glass half-empty kind of person. I’m going to cure you of that.”
    Wade laughed at Faith’s determination to see the bright side of a plan that had been doomed from the start, and it was all he could do not to keep up the debate.
    They’d come close enough to the far end of the hall for Faith to see something sitting on the floor in the murky light. She couldn’t tell what it was until they’d arrived right next to it.
    “Where’d you get that thing?”
    “I built it!” Wade said, sounding more excited than Faith had ever heard him before.
    “Why?” Faith asked.
    Wade pointed down the endless hallway.
    “Because I wanted to put this exceptionally empty hall to some good use.”
    A four-wheeled contraption that could be laughingly called a go-cart sat on the floor. There were wheels and axles and two makeshift seats to sit on, one behind the other. The steering wheel was two sizes too big for the rest of the cart and looked like it had been pulled off a 1950s pickup truck. There was clearly nothing to propel the object down the hall. No engine or pedals. As silly as this thing was, Faith was oddly excited to get inside and ride.
    “How many girls have you brought in here to ride in your jalopy?”
    Wade presented her with his most smoldering look, and before he could answer, Faith was laughing. The truth was, she didn’t really want him to address the question. “You push; I’ll go first,” she said, hoping her willingness to play along would impress him. Maybe he had brought other girls here; but for this one moment, he was all hers, and she was determined to make the most of it.
    “Hang on a second; I need to prepare it for launch.”
    “Launch?”
    Wade didn’t answer, but as he went to work, Faith began to realize how the cart really worked. She watched as Wade attached two long bungee cords, one to each side. The other ends of the cords were tied to doorknobs on either side of the hallway.
    “You can’t be serious.”
    “Done it a hundred times and only crashed twice,” Wade said as he pulled off his shoes and threw them in a metal box welded to the frame. He took out a set of tennis shoes and quickly slipped them on, then began pushing the cart from the front end.
    “Glued Velcro to the bottom of these babies. Pretty cool, right?”
    Faith was thinking that if Liz were here, they’d both be debating who was the bigger geek: Hawk or Wade. He’d installed a strip of Velcro tape down the middle of the floor so he wouldn’t slide around, and with each step he took, Faith could hear his shoes ripping away. She was terrified he’d let go and the cart would careen out of control, running her over and killing her in the process. There was nowhere to hide, so instead she ran and jumped over the cord on one side and watched as she stood pinned against the back of the hallway.
    “Wade, I don’t think I’m going to do this. I just don’t see it happening.”
    He was getting close to the wall, and Faith was having a hard time not focusing on how powerful he was. He was really leaning into the effort, the muscles in his legs and arms tightening with every step he took. When he reached the wall, there was a clicking sound, and he let go.
    “Don’t!” Faith yelled as he stood there, hands on his hips, catching his breath. She expected the cart to blow right over him and break his legs; but it stayed firm, the cords at its sides as tight as a high wire. Wade leaned down and plucked the cord like a guitar string, and a murky, echoing sound filled the hall.
    “No worries, she’s locked and loaded.”
    “You’re crazy if you think I’m getting in that thing.”
    “Suit yourself. But you don’t