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“And you’ll move out?” she asked.
“I’ll try,” I said. “I’ll need to ask the others. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll work on it.”
She breathed in deeply enough to draw back her shoulders, and then hunched forward a little as she released the air. “So how do I get Mr. Hendricks off my back?”
“Leave him to me. I’ll negotiate with him.”
“Am I going to end up in detention?”
“If things go okay,” I said, looking back at the expanse of Mr. Hendricks’s desk, trying to avoid searching for cameras that might be placed around the area. I didn’t want him to know I knew about those. “You may not ever see him again.”
We sat in silence for a long time after that. I think we’d come to an understanding, even though I felt like I was promising the moon. Move out? My heart was in my throat thinking of the promise. I had no place to go. Mr. Blackbourne had said I couldn’t move into an apartment with Nathan. This didn’t even involve just myself anymore, because with Nathan’s dad at home, neither of us could go back there. We couldn’t live with Kota. I couldn’t imagine asking Mr. Blackbourne or Dr. Green to allow us to move in.
I had nothing else to offer my sister, who seemed to be happy with the idea of me never being around anymore. I hadn’t realized all the problems I was facing were coming down on her, too. And the one thing that she’d asked of me, the one possibly redeeming thing I may have been able to provide for her, she didn’t get. And it was so simple. She wanted to know where her mother was and to talk to her.
She didn’t tell me anything. Not her feelings and not what was going on. If only she’d told me sooner. Maybe I could have prevented a lot of this.
Suddenly I knew how frustrated Mr. Blackbourne felt when I didn’t talk to him. I imagined that’s how the boys felt sometimes when I didn’t tell them what I was thinking.
I tried to swallow up all those fears and questions, because right now I had to face off with Mr. Hendricks. I needed to focus.
???
He was gone for over fifteen minutes. If he’d been listening in, I guessed he was waiting for us to say something else, but my sister and I were used to long silences together in the same room. We lived together in a house without talking to each other for days on end.
When he returned, he had his eyebrows lifted in curiosity as he entered. “Everything okay?”
“Just fine,” I said. “Although if you don’t mind, I’d like a chance to talk with you alone.” I thought I should get to the point.
His eyes widened in surprise. “If you wish. Marie, you can go back to class.”
Marie took one more look at me and headed out the door.
When we were alone, Mr. Hendricks crossed the room again, lowering himself into his chair. He rocked back and forth as he stared at me. “Go on.”
“I’ll tell you what you want to know,” I said. “But you need to keep my sister and parents out of this,” I said.
“You’re not exactly in a position to negotiate,” Mr. Hendricks said.
“You can threaten me with suspensions or changing my grades. Dragging my sister into this will only make more problems for both of us.”
“Do you think I’d have to do any of that if you were telling me everything?”
We weren’t getting anywhere like this. I wasn’t even sure what he wanted from me.
If you’re not sure what he wants to know, ask him.
“What do you think I’m not telling you?”
He paused, leaning back in his chair, his graying eyebrows arching. “Where were you yesterday?”
“When?” I asked.
“When you weren’t in class,” he said. “From the class right before lunch, your geography class, on through the rest of the day.”
Mr. Morris’s class was probably the only one I couldn’t get away with being absent and him not finding out. I couldn’t lie. “I was following Mr. Blackbourne.”
He nodded like he could have figured this part. “Where?”
Did he know? I thought about his question. Noon onward was a long expanse of time. Since he wasn’t specific, I only had to mention the parts I wanted. “He had me go with him to the library.”
“Which one?”
“Downtown. Charleston.”
There was an incline of his head, a tug at his lips and I got the impression that this was new information. He’d suspected something, but wasn’t expecting this. “What did he do there?”
“He plopped a medical journal in front of my face and told me to read from it and not move until someone came to collect me.” It wasn’t the full truth, but everything I’d said was true. I was getting the hang of this.
He sat forward, interested. “Sounds like he was testing you.”
Or I was grounded. I only nodded, not willing to relay any information unless I had to. “If you want me to tell you things,” I said, “you need to ask me. Not my sister. But don’t ask my sister again about these things, or I won’t mention anything else. I can promise you, whatever she’s telling you anyway, she’ll say whatever she thinks will get me in trouble. She doesn’t really have a clue what’s going on.”
“No kidding,” he said. He frowned. He plopped a notepad onto his desk and then selected a pen from a cup. He started jotting down notes. “Who came to get you yesterday?”
I swallowed. I went this far, but I wasn’t really sure I was willing to tell him about Dr. Green and staying at his house. Could I tell him about spying on Rocky? Did he know about the drugs? “I...”
My thoughts were cut off by the alarm blaring over our heads. I jumped in my chair at the shocking sound. Now?
Mr. Hendricks rolled his eyes and sat back, before standing up. “Goddamn it,” he said. “If it’s another cardboard box with gun powder dust, the next time I might just rig one up myself to show this kid how it’s done.” He moved to the door and opened it, and pointed me to the hallway. “We’re not finished,” he said.
I nodded and jumped up. I made a dash, thankful for the temporary reprieve.
There was a commotion in the waiting room of the office. Some were evacuating while others were trying to direct phone calls and telling stragglers where to go. I lost Mr. Hendricks in the shuffle.
I was propelled out amid the pack of people flowing out into the hallway. I lingered, yanking out my cell phone, trying to locate someone.
I stopped when I spotted Mr. Blackbourne in the hallway. Amid the chaos, he was there in the gray suit, maroon tie, steel eyes sharp as he issued commands. Perfection.
My first instinct was to run to him. To tell him everything that had happened. My heart was tearing itself up because I wasn’t sure if I’d done the right thing.
I was dying to fix everything I’d broken.
So I started toward him. He was directing people. The command in his voice telling teachers to go this way or that, or for students to straighten up and head out the door.
When our eyes met, I almost ran to him because I needed something and I didn’t understand what. I just knew he could help me figure it out.
He stilled for a moment, the steel unrelenting. He took a few steps forward. Then I started to hurry because I thought that’s what he wanted.
He stopped midstride and then held out a hand, palm open. Stop.
I did instantly. Why?
There was a slight shake of his head, and his eyes changed. I couldn’t now. Not here. Not in front of everyone. I understood it, but it was hard, because I thought for sure I needed him and that he was the only one who could fix the mess I’d just made.
He glanced around then, and with a flick of his hand, he started pointed deeper into the hallway.
I followed where he was directing me and spotted Silas amid the flow of people. The boys were looking for me.
When I met with Mr. Blackbourne’s eyes again, we both understood I had to get to Silas and to follow the boys out, without saying a word out loud.
I was sad to leave him.
/> The tiny squint to his eyes told me I wasn’t leaving him, that he’d come find me.
I nodded, understanding and dove into the crowd, seeking out Silas.
CORNERED
The alarm cut short and before Silas and I finished crossing the parking lot or found anyone else, the teachers were calling people back inside. False alarm.
“Is it true,” I asked Silas. “False alarm? Or is it another empty box?”
“I’ve got a feeling it’s an empty box,” Silas said. He squeezed my hand and we waited for the crowd to figure out where it wanted to go. “Or not so empty.”
“Mr. Hendricks said there was gun powder residue in the first one.”
“It was in the second one,” Silas said.
I paused in the hallway, and Silas stopped, looking at me. “What second one?” I asked.
A dark eyebrow went up. “There was some sort of school dance the night of Victor’s concert. Another bomb threat, another empty box, but that time there was residue inside like from a gun. We thought it was planted to make it react to a bomb detector.”
“I didn’t know,” I said.
Silas frowned, his thick lips pursing. He tugged at my hand. “We should bring you in for more family meetings.”
“We have family meetings?”
He grunted. “You’ll be at the next one.”
I couldn’t ask more now. With so many people around, I wasn’t sure we should be talking about it so openly. “It’s still first period?” I asked.
“Second,” he said
I stopped amid the crowd, trying to think of where second period class was. I was still feeling off from the heavy sleep. “Will Mr. Hendricks just call me out anyway?”
