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I didn’t have a response to this, because he was the principal for a school full of teen troublemakers. I didn’t envy his job. How could I explain Academy protocol? “I’m back now,” I said.
“Any leads on Mr. McCoy?” he asked.
I shook my head. I hadn’t heard one bit about him. I thought it was a good thing, even if he had ordered me to find him. “I asked around about him a few times but haven’t gotten any information.”
Mr. Hendricks tapped his fingers on his desk as if considering what else he could ask me. “Why do you look like you’ve been through a hurricane?” he asked.
“I couldn’t sleep last night.”
“Word has it you went out.”
Mr. Morris must have reported that. I fingered the arm of the chair. “It was for my birthday,” I said quietly.
The corner of Mr. Hendricks’s mouth lifted. “How cute. Happy birthday.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling awkward about his attempt at being courteous.
He sat back, sighing. “So no ID on Mr. Blackbourne’s bomber? He told me he’d dropped that investigation.”
“He hasn’t told me the details, but he mentioned he had some dead ends. I think the last one was the random phone call I got. They couldn’t figure out who it came from and thought it might be connected.”
“Where’s your phone?” he asked.
“They took it,” I said.
He drummed his fingers on the desk. “Where’s Mr. Morgan today, by the way?”
I blinked at him, unsure how to answer. “Last I heard, he was at home.”
He nodded and opened his mouth, about to ask what I assumed was another question, when there was a gentle knock at the door.
“Principal Hendricks,” called a male voice.
I turned in my seat, startled to see Mr. Morris, and Greg, who stood beside him, Mr. Morris’s grip on his arm left him little choice.
Greg’s dark eyes took one look at me, and his face lit up like a spider who thought he’d finally trapped a butterfly.
Mr. Hendricks addressed Mr. Morris. “I thought you were tailing Blackbourne.”
Mr. Morris nudged Greg’s shoulder, partially shaking him as he spoke. “I was just on my way out to see him. The other administrators are busy. I just caught this one stealing from one of the upstairs lockers.”
“It was already open,” Greg said. “I wasn’t the one who took anything.”
“I let you back into my school and you break into lockers?” Mr. Hendricks asked, though in a tone that suggested he didn’t really want an answer.
Greg shrugged.
Mr. Hendricks released a frustrating sigh. “Take him down to one of the conference rooms. I’ll see you in a second.”
Mr. Morris glanced once at me and started dragging Greg out of the room. Greg rolled his eyes, forced to leave.
Mr. Hendricks rubbed a palm over the side of his head. He whispered to himself, but I picked up part of it. “One more year ...”
I stared off at his desk, trying not to let him know I’d overheard his comment. One more year? For Greg to be in school? What did it mean? I didn’t understand, and I was sure whatever listening device was in place, North or anyone listening in probably didn’t hear it.
But I did. And the comment struck me funny. It sounded very similar to when the guys muttered they only had a few months to deal with Ashley Waters.
I thought at first maybe he meant he only had to deal with Mr. Blackbourne taking over part of the security, and for the Academy boys to be out. This didn’t seem right. He seemed to fully intend to get the boys kicked out sooner than that.
And he was having Mr. Morris follow Mr. Blackbourne around now. I wanted to warn him.
Mr. Hendricks angled his head at me. “All right, Miss Sang. Here’s your job right now. I want your phone, the one with the message on it. I want to hear it for myself. If Mr. Blackbourne thought it was from the bomber, I want to hear it.”
“I thought you wanted him to deal with that.”
“I want to know anything he’s interested in,” he said. “He’s taken to this anonymous bomber more than anything else. I’ve explained to him they do this all the time, but something has him very interested in this. Whatever he is interested in, I’m interested in.” He stood up, opening his desk drawer. “Now sorry to shorten this meeting. I need you to pay attention to Mr. Blackbourne.” He pulled a small black camera from the drawer.
As he stood, he dropped the camera into his back pocket. He started to turn away and walk out of the room but the phone on his desk started to ring. I had stood up, intending to leave, but Mr. Hendricks cut me off as he came back to answer it.
“What is it?” he asked into the phone.
He was half bent over the desk. My eyes fell on the camera in his back pocket. The edge of the wrist cord was hanging out. All I had to do was tug it lightly.
My fingers inched forward. Maybe I should have thought about how I was stealing a camera from the principal, but my mind was foggy from lack of sleep. All I knew was he was interested in it. Anything he was interested in, I was interested in.
My fingers curled around the cord. I lifted it, testing a gentle tug. His pocket was wide open. It’d only take a moment.
A soft clearing of a throat emanated from the hallway, distracting me from my mad mission. I released the cord, turning around just as Mr. Hendricks hung up the phone.
Karen stood in the doorway. Her eyes focused on Mr. Hendricks as he turned around. “I’m sorry to pop in,” she said in a soft voice.
My cheeks radiated, and my heart pounded. Did she see what I was doing? I wanted to press my hand over my heart to control the pounding. What was I just about to do? That was a crazy move. Where was my brain today?
Mr. Hendricks waved his hand in the air. “Not now, Miss Karen. You’ll have to go back to class. I’ve got other students to deal with.” He turned, looking at me as if he’d forgotten why I was there. “You’
re dismissed,” he said.
I nodded, stepping back. He went for the door, angling around Karen and out into the hallway.
Karen quickly blocked the door the moment the principal stepped out. She kept her hands behind her back. “What are you doing?” she asked me in a stage whisper. “Are you crazy?”
She did see. I had no excuse for myself. “I ... he ...” It was horrible. She probably thought I was the thief now.
She sliced her hand through the air over her throat. “Not now,” she said. She lunged after me, taking my hand and yanked me out of the office.
I was stunned. My immediate urge was to pull my hand back. She hung on to me, darting down the hallway, dragging me back to the lobby. She slowed just before the lobby and turned on me.
“Don’t do things like that in his office,” she said. “He’s watching.”
I blinked after her. “What do you mean he’s watching?”
“You don’t think he’d leave his door open like that if he wasn’t exactly sure who was coming in and out, do you?”
This stunned me. Not too long ago, I took things from his desk, and snapped pictures of his office. I knew Mr. Blackbourne was watching. Did Hendricks also have hidden cameras?
“Besides, you were doing it wrong.” She patted herself on the hip, close to her back pocket. “If you’re going to pull something out of a pocket, you have to ... I don’t know. You have to make it feel like you just bumped into him. Like swing your hip into his on accident. You were making it way too obvious.” She waved her hand through the air. “Don’t try it. You’re not a thief, anyway.”
“I didn’t mean to. I’m just really tired of this.”
Karen pressed a palm to her forehead. “I know the feeling. We should get to class. I can fill you in later.”
“I have to go ... um,” I said.
Karen squinted her eyes at me but seemed to understand that I needed to go in another direction. “Uh huh,” she said. “Good luck with it.” She darted into the lobby.
I waited until she had enough time to leave and then made my way into the lobby, intending to collect my book bag. There were more students than before. I kept my head down, hoping Greg was still preoccupied. I wanted to collect my things and get back to North. I was tempted to tell him I wanted to go home. Now that I’d talked with Mr. Hendricks, I thought maybe I could get away without being noticed. I felt guilty about taking another day off school, but homework and tests just seemed too far out of reach for my tired brain.
