The Perfect Escape

The next Friday, after the escape room shuts down for a plumbing emergency, Kate goes over to Nate’s house and reimburses him half the entry fee for the survivalist competition. Nate’s mom brings them snacks and makes corny jokes, which Kate finds amusing. Kate admires Nate’s many trophies for sports and extracurricular activities. He watches as she snoops through a box of old technology that he plans to sell on eBay. In his closet, she is startled to find a large cardboard cutout of her father, Robbie Anderson-Steele. Nate doesn’t know that his “entrepreneurial idol” (74), the CEO of Digitools, is Kate’s father. Nate shares more of his financial ambitions with Kate; she makes him promise to try to also aim for happiness, which he sees as being less important. They go to the army surplus store to stock up on survivalist supplies for Zombiegeddon.

On the way back from the store, Kate nervously deals with her growing crush on Nate, which causes sweaty palms and slight flareups of her eczema. At home, Kate’s butler robot, Jeeves, conducts a bioscan, which her father has programmed to occur multiple times a month. Her father is sleeping in his room after returning from his work trip.