It was something about the way he held the camera, like it was guiding him. Trevin swept the camera through the trees, and Aline stood back, confident that he was getting the best shots.

She watched his blonde head pass through the trees, the shoulder-length strands of his hair wafting gently in the breeze. Aline glanced up at the sky, which was growing dark, just like they wanted.

“I’ve got something over here!” Trevin called out, and Aline flew into action.

“What?” she asked, jumping through grasses and flowers, following the sound of his voice.

He tossed his head back when she reached him, successfully flopping his hair out of his eyes. Aline could also see the glimmer of his new earring, which matched perfectly the glimmer in his eye.

“We should do the fire here, really small, and I’ll get up close and it’ll look way bigger than it is!” Trevin spoke with one hand pointing and waving in the air, the other cradling his camera.

He squatted, running a hand through the short grass he’d found. “These tiny flowers, they’ll really sell the effect! And I’ll do some editing in post if I need to.”

Aline stood silently until he looked back up at her. She made a show of thinking about it, leaning left and right to see the flowers he was talking about. “Sounds good,” she finally told him.

Trevin sprang up with a grin, his fingers tightening over his camera. He was always itching to film.

Naturally, she grinned in response. Then, Aline threw back her shoulder, tossing her backpack onto the ground. She dug through it: pad of paper, felt-tip markers, sunglasses, water bottle, extra batteries, and finally, matches. She held the small box up triumphantly.

Trevin was already holding the camera up, focusing on her.

Aline angled away from him saying, “You’re not supposed to be filming me.” Nonetheless, she smiled down at the matches.

She heard his boots crunch as he stepped toward her. “Documentary is just as important as any other part of a project. And, I like filming you.” Instead of responding, Aline made a sound of dismissal. “Behind the scenes with Aline!” he said in a newscaster-type voice.

She laughed lightly. “Ok, back up,” she told him. “I’m only gonna light this once and we’ve got to get a good shot.”

Trevin hummed in agreement, and stepped back.

Aline lit the match and carefully lit a small twig, then threw herself backwards to get out of the shot.

But instead of giving them the small fire they desired, the flames quickly ate up the surrounding grass and dry leaves.

Aline yelped, and Trevin swung the camera on her. “Small fire! I said to set a small fire! This is not small!”

She ran to her backpack. “I didn’t mean to do this!” she shrieked back, fumbling for the water bottle.

Trevin, however, was paying her no mind. He was instead laying on his stomach in the grass, unflinchingly filming the fire eating up the plants.

In the meantime, Aline ran back and doused the fire with the water bottle, then stomped out the remaining flickers of flame. Luckily, the gallon-sized water bottle was packed just for this purpose, so it was enough. A little even remained, sloshing loudly in the bottle as Aline swung it.

“Wow! That was actually awesome footage!” Trevin exclaimed from his position on the ground.

“Awesome? That was almost a forest fire!” Aline said, her heart still beating frantically. How had they not thought that through? “And yeah, it has to be good because we’re not setting any more fires. We’re out of water.”

Trevin pulled the camera away from his eye. “You used all of it?”

Aline smiled at him, tilting the bottle. The remaining water spilled onto his head and neck, but she was careful to avoid the camera.

Trevin yelled in gleeful indignation, and grinned toothily at her. “You’re not gonna want to see these behind the scenes,” he said, clutching his camera and scrambling upright. He lunged toward her, but she had already begun to run, laughing.

I returned from a month long vacation away from the group chat to find it as if someone had let a raging fire storm through and THEN run over it with a steamroller. It was AWFUL.

“Small fire! I said to set a small fire! This is not small! How the hell did you break up with two guys, piss Jacob off again, make Noah hate all of us, let Melody trick Peter into loving her for like the sixth time, AND lose Rachael in the middle of that?!?”

Everything was in pieces.

I swear literally everything had gone to hell since I had left. I understand Jacob’s anger at the very least, he was being a dick, but how did Mari make it THAT bad??

I had agreed to let her state some of her opinions to him. That was all. I knew Mari would most likely get into a fight with him while I wasn’t there to mediate between them, but I didn’t ask her to start a damn wildfire.

No wonder it’s called Discord.

The high school was on fire, and it was entirely my fault.

Okay, not entirely. Let’s give me a little credit. A solid 80-20. Alright, fine, probably 90-10, the 90 being me and the 10 being my best friend Nick – who was conveniently nowhere to be found.

I stood in the parking lot of the school, staring up at the blaze. It was a thing of beauty, really, if you didn’t mind the criminal element of the arson of it all. The intense heat was blistering even from this distance, and tall gold and red flames danced throughout the building, reaching up beyond the roof and into the sky, as if aiming for the stars.

And, of course, it was nice that of all buildings in town, it was the high school. Who hasn’t wanted to burn down their high school at least once? Sure, adults would panic, but I could predict that all the students would be thrilled in the morning when they heard the news that school was canceled because, oh, shit, oops, there is no school. Having just graduated last year, part of me wished someone had thought of this earlier, so that I could’ve been one of the lucky ones who heard the news and blissfully got to go back to bed for another five or six hours.

I was glad Nick had suggested it. He’d always been an interesting kid; we’d been friends since grade school. We’d been at different colleges so far this year, but neither was far, so we’d seen each other around. This week we were both home for fall break, and we spent some time together, and, well, you know how that goes. One minute we’re drinking and watching anime, and the next we’re burning down a building. Classic college freshmen, am I right.

Come to think of it, it was a little surprising Nick had suggested this. I mean, he’d hated high school too. We both did. We didn’t exactly have a lot of friends. And Nick was odd, sure, but more in the I speak Klingon as second language and have already forgotten more about physics than you will ever know kind of way. He was obsessed with quarks and neutrinos and whatever the hell else physics was, and would probably win a Nobel prize someday.

Not if he gets arrested for arson, I thought, and couldn’t help it – I chuckled.

Me, on the other hand? Nah, I was more normal, but somehow I just never attracted people enough to make friends. Now, I’ll be the first to admit, I was a little dark and brooding, and I didn’t talk much, except to talk about death and crime statistics. Serial killer trivia? Sign me up. All the local crime rates and cold cases? I knew every detail. Partially from breaking into the police station when I was eleven, but don’t quote me on that. As far as the cops know, it never happened.

But you know what, goddammit, I was more normal than Nick, no matter what everyone else said. Just because people called you a creep and were scared you’d grow up to be a murderer, didn’t mean they were right. Just that they were idiots.

I mean, okay, they were right about the criminal predictions. I’d stolen a hell of a lot of stuff throughout high school, broken in a few places, might’ve mugged a few people. But what high school kid hasn’t done that? No one ever caught me, anyway, so clearly it can’t have been that bad.

And now they were right about the arson. Oh, well. They’d be grateful. I could picture it now: the crowd of hormone-driven, caffeine-powered teenagers cheering for me, screaming my name, calling out, Oh, Tristan, you saved us! We were wrong about you! You committed arson like we all expected, but it was for the greater good! Thank you, Tristan, thank you! Our hero!

Yes, that’s exactly what they’d say. This was a great idea Nick had. Surely he wouldn’t mind giving me all the credit. It was basically 90-10 me. I was starting to be proud of that now. Nick wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and he might have suggested it, but I’d done all the hard work. Just minutes before, I’d gone through the entire building – a place I’d hoped to never set foot again – and poured gasoline throughout the hallways, classrooms, bathrooms. I’d chosen the best locations for maximum impact and set aflame the gasoline at those places. And now, the fruit of our – mostly my – labor: the high school blazing before my eyes, smoke billowing upwards in great, thick clouds.

I could hear sirens start up in the distance, but they were still several minutes away; the fire station was on the other side of town. I could watch for a bit longer. I smiled as I stared at the flames. Best idea Nick had ever had since I’d met him. And, if I say so myself, even better execution on my part.

Suddenly, Nick appeared, running from the side parking lot by the fields, where we’d agreed to park his Jeep for easier getaway. He was shouting something, looking angry and shocked, but I tuned him out and turned back to the dancing fire. I could predict that the whole building would collapse in a minute, maybe two.

Nick was at my side now. He shook me violently, and I finally looked back at him. “What?” I said, annoyed.

Nick stared back at me incredulously, his eyes even larger than usual behind his glasses. “Small fire! I said to set a small fire! This is not small!” He gestured wildly in the direction of the high school.

I frowned. I could’ve sworn Nick had told me to set a grand fire to destroy the whole building. “No you didn’t,” I said firmly.

“Yes I did! I just wanted you to set a small fire in the physics lab to get rid of my research! I told you, that stupid kid Ryan stole my work and was using it for his semester project to graduate and I just wanted to burn all the stuff he has so he can’t plagiarize me! I told you that! So what the actual hell is this, Tristan!” He gestured vaguely at the school again.

Huh. Come to think of it, he might have said that. I might have been the one to interpret it to mean burn the building. Probably because I’d wanted to burn the whole building. And, if we were being practical, I had done what he’d asked. I’d just done a little extra. Nick should be impressed. It was the first time ever I’d gone above and beyond on any assignment.

I ignored his question. It was about to collapse. “Wait for it,” I said, grinning.

Sure enough, within seconds there was a loud groaning noise, and then sparks flew and flames blossomed as the school caved in. I watched, smiling, and when it was more or less entirely defeated, albeit still smoldering, I turned to Nick and gave a little bow. “A work of art. You’re welcome,” I said.

He stared at me. I’ve never been good at reading people, but even I could see the shock and disgust written clear on his face. He took a step back. “You’re insane, Tristan. People always told me to stop hanging out with you because you were crazy, but I always just thought you were weird in your own way, like me. But they were right! You’re actually insane. Like, ‘belong in an institution or jail’ insane.”

I laughed. “Aw, come on, it’s just a little arson. I’ve been wanting to do this for years. You can’t tell me every high school student doesn’t dream of this at some point!”

He shook his head. “Yeah, maybe, but no one would ever actually do it! And not with such – such – sadistic joy, or whatever this is!”

The sirens were close now. No doubt they’d be bringing the cops too. That was fine. I’d done what I came here to do. And if they caught me, I knew I could escape. I was already imagining what I could do next. This had been so easy. Surely it would be no harder to burn down a university building, or to find someone alone at night and –

Nick was talking again. “You’re sick, Tristan. I said a small fire, and you turned it into full-on arson!”

I grinned. “I know. Extra credit, am I right?”

Sirens were almost here. Nick suddenly looked panicked. “You’re insane. But you know what, I’ve got to get out of here. I’m not being blamed for something you did.”

At his words, fire suddenly raged within me, matching the smoking flames in the ruins of the school. How dare he say that? Of course he wouldn’t be allowed to take credit for something I did. It was my doing. Honestly, the idea had barely even been his, if I thought about it.

Nick was already running away, but I picked up a rock at my feet and threw it at him. It hit him in the shoulder; I saw him buckle, stumble, but then keep running, towards his car. I continued to stand there, watching him leave, watching the flames lick the piles of stone and ash that had once been the high school. In my peripheral vision I saw flashing blue lights.

“Like I’d give you any piece of the credit!” I shouted. He paused at the edge of the parking lot, looking back at me. “It’s 90-10, at most!”

I could have sworn he shook his head, but then he was gone, turning the corner and fleeing to his Jeep.

As cops and firefighters swarmed around me and someone clasped handcuffs around my wrists, I paid little attention. The glow of the fire filled my eyes, dancing crimsons and golds. And I smiled. Couldn’t stop smiling.

Because you know what? I was right the first time. I wanted credit for this. I wanted the recognition. “Small fire,” my ass. Nick didn’t deserve any credit.

The high school was destroyed, and it was entirely my fault. 100-0, in favor of me.

Let’s give a little credit where credit is due.

Little it was supposed to be

Minute even.

Just our children, my best friend and me.

“Let’s burn this wooden furniture seeing as I’m moving out. Let’s have a few drinks. A few hours later we were in full flow. Watch this mimi fire pit while I get us all some more drinks. Make sure it doesn’t get out of control “. She said.

Less than a minute later what should have remained within a half a metre fire pit had gotten out of control. However...

It had been Pimms o’clock for the past four hours so the scorched grass made me laugh uncontrollably.

“Small fire! You said it would be a teeny, tiny fire. This ain’t small love. It’s flaming ablaze” I said before we finally fell to the ground wetting ourselves (not just euphemistically might I add)!

We return to the matter at hand, subduing the flames & adding yet more alcohol to water down our blood.

Some stories should only be told anonymously. But we were out of control. Saying goodbye to our twenties in flagrant style.