Ask Me Anything

by Molly E. Lee

  There. I’d included myself. Not a direct lie.

  I wanted to tell him.

  But I didn’t want him involved if shit hit the fan and I was somehow uncovered.

  Plus, it was the challenge rules to keep it a secret.

  Didn’t matter, guilt still ate at my insides. I hoped my answer would satisfy his random curiosity and he’d soon forget he even wondered about it.

  “Oh,” Hannah said. “I bet it’s Monroe.”

  “Why?” Dean asked instantly.

  “She’s quiet, keeps to herself. Don’t all the good hackers tend to do that?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You always group us. Truth is, no two act the same.”

  “Truth,” Dean agreed.

  “Anyway,” I said, trying like hell to steer the subject somewhere else. “Speaking of coding…shouldn’t we be going?”

  “Yeah,” Dean said, but something churned behind his eyes. Gears constantly turning.

  Jake unwound himself from Hannah, stepping closer to Dean. “You’re being good to Amber, right?”

  My jaw practically came unhinged. What the hell was with today?

  “Jake!” Hannah and I snapped at the same time.

  “What?” Jake asked innocently, crossing his arms over his chest while he sized Dean up. “I meant in this club.”

  He so didn’t. Anyone could tell that. And if it wasn’t so damn embarrassing, I might’ve appreciated his protectiveness. As it was, I’d already mortified myself enough in front of Dean. I didn’t need Jake adding to it.

  “It’s okay,” Dean said, his voice calm. He looked Jake in the eye, never losing his gaze. “Of course I am,” he said. “I’m not like…” He narrowed his eyes. “Like assholes not to be named. I actually give a damn about her.”

  Jake tipped his chin, scanning Dean’s face for a few moments before he nodded. “Good. Because she’s important to me. And I already let one jerk hurt her.” He spared me a glance full of regret. “I’ll never let that happen again.”

  Dean shook his head. “I’d never hurt her. And I’m glad she has friends like you.”

  I gaped at them both before stomping my foot. “Her is standing right exactly here! And she’s doing just fine taking care of herself.” I rolled my eyes, waving off Hannah as I bolted into the coding room, leaving them to as much of their macho-protective-whatever talk they wanted.

  My skin still blazed by the time Dean scooted into his seat across from me. He opened his gear with a smirk on his face, like earning Jake’s approval had meant something to him.

  I dutifully ignored him, electing instead to draw up a practice run of CTF, since Mr. Griffin had decided to work later than normal. Usually he left us to our devices on Code Club days, but some kind of performance reports kept him in the room with us today—which meant I couldn’t possibly work on the website. Normally, I’d use this time to re-assure the firewalls around the site and read more comments to get an idea for the next blog post.

  The idea of Mr. Griffin catching me was enough to stop that urge dead in its tracks.

  After an hour, I’d successfully completed a crypto CTF challenge—this one more math based than I liked, making it ten times harder to crack.

  “You two make me look bad,” Griffin said, and both Dean and I had to blink a few times to register his presence. “Work harder than I do,” he continued, his bag over his shoulder.

  “Code Club is no joking matter, Mr. Griffin,” Dean said, barely holding back a laugh. “I’ve had to change the font on the school’s website for the third time this month. Tanner thinks Times is outdated.”

  “Totally,” I said. “And Code Club takes long hours and dedication and…” I never made it any further, submitting to the fit of giggles as Mr. Griffin nodded his head back and forth.

  “Ha, ha,” he said. “I get it. You’re forced to be here.” He glanced at me. “Well, Dean is, not you. And yet here you are.”

  “You know your class is my favorite,” I said.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Regardless of the reasons this club was formed, you two push each other. It’s good. The friendly competition. Makes you stronger.” He nodded. “Be good. Don’t stay too late and all the usual,” he said, heading toward the door.

  “Will do,” I replied.

  “See you, Mr. Griffin,” Dean called as Griffin left the room, leaving the door wide open behind him. Dean turned his focus back on me. “What were you doing?”

  “CTF. You?”

  “Besides slaying font changes?” He chuckled. “Practice penetration. Password cracking. Among other things…” His eyes drifted to his screen, a flash of anger that made me tilt my head. A blink and it was gone.

  “Better than me,” I said, wondering if I had imagined the look in the first place. Maybe I was working too hard.

  “Different.” He grinned. “I have to take the time I can to get ready for the TOC.”

  I ran my fingers over the edges of my opened laptop. “Is our challenge getting in the way of that?”

  He furrowed his brow. “No.”

  I tilted my head.

  “It’s not. I’ve got this whole balance thing happening.” He stretched his arms over his head, the motion hiking his shirt up enough for me to see his chiseled abs.

  Sweet Loki’s helmet, when does the boy have time to work out?

  I knew his brother loved to live at the gym when he wasn’t hacking, but was it the same for Dean?

  Sure looked like it. I swallowed hard, trying to remember how to breathe.

  “Are you worried?” he asked, and I blinked out of my red-hot haze.

  “Huh?”

  “About me and the TOC?”

  I straightened in my seat, having somehow melted partially in the last five seconds. “No. I know you’ll slay it. We’ll both get our acceptance letters, too. I just want to make sure I’m not getting in the way. We can call it off, if that’s the case.”

  Dean scooted out of his chair and came around to lean against my table. “Are you wanting to call it off?”

  The thought had crossed my mind. As the questions continued to pile up and my daily posts became a daily reminder that I wasn’t exactly qualified to handle each problem presented.

  “No,” I finally said.

  “You took a while to get that one out.”

  I shrugged. “Big hack. Big thoughts.”

  “Touché.”

  He stared down at me, easy, patient, but with something behind his eyes. A question.

  I looked right back at him, thinking about our non-date, about how much I wished I could re-do the end of the night.

  “Do you think you might want to help me find—”

  “You don’t have a choice,” Principal Tanner’s voice from the hallway cut off whatever Dean almost asked me.

  We glanced at each other, confused by the hushed but harsh tone in Tanner’s voice. Then, in some silent agreement, we stood up and moved closer toward the door. A stealthy peek revealed a student in Tessa’s class, a redheaded girl I couldn’t remember the name of, as she stood at her opened locker.

  “I didn’t copy anything, Principal Tanner. I swear,” she said, staring up at him where he stood with his hands in his pockets.

  “The matching papers say otherwise.”

  “Have you talked to Todd?” she asked. “Because maybe we used the same sources? Mr. Coldwell gave us all a list of preferred sites he wanted us to use for research.”

  Tanner shook his head, sharp like a razor. “No. What you and Mr. Langwater did was unacceptable. I have grounds to expel you.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and I glanced at Dean.

  Should we say something? Should we leave?

  Dean shook his head, returning focus to the scene happening just outside.

  Did Tanner forget we had the club today
? Or did he assume we were locked in?

  The girl shook her head. “Please,” she said. “My parents would kill me. And I swear I didn’t copy.”

  “Then perhaps Mr. Langwater did.”

  The girl sagged in relief.

  “However,” Tanner continued, and she tensed again. “You are as culpable as he is.”

  “What do you want me to do?” she asked. “I’ll re-write the paper. On a different topic this time—”

  “That won’t be necessary,” he said. “You focus on your current schoolwork. Don’t let your grades dip a fraction.” She nodded enthusiastically. “And,” he said, placing his hands behind his back. “If I need you to tutor some struggling students, you will. It would also be beneficial if you mentioned to your father how I’m letting you off easy…dare say, scot-free, after such an infraction.”

  The girl froze, confusion transforming her face.

  That made three of us by the look Dean and I shared.

  “You want me to tell my dad about this?” she asked.

  “He’s on our academic board, is he not?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Then if you want to keep this incident a secret, you could perhaps simply mention how you have an understanding principal. One who cares about what happens in your future. One who doesn’t immediately punish despite there being grounds to do so.”

  Her lips parted, to argue or merely respond, I wasn’t sure, but she clamped them shut.

  “I wouldn’t want to see your record marred for the sake of formalities.” He straightened his tie. “Do we understand each other?”

  “Yes, sir.” She lowered her head, completely defeated.

  Anger roared in my gut. Without thinking, I took a step toward the hallway, ready to flip him off and give the girl a fucking hug.

  Dean’s long arm shot out to stop me, ushering me backward into the coding room. He quietly shut the door. “What are you thinking?” he asked, his tone sharp. “Do you want Tanner to know you saw that? Do you know what he could do to you?”

  “Are you?” I snapped, pointing toward the closed door. I’d never seen Dean upset before…but he was clearly more upset about me being willing to go help the girl despite the risks than over what we just witnessed. “You heard and saw the same thing I did!”

  He raised his hands in an attempt to get me to lower my voice. “I did.”

  “Then how can you stop me from going to talk to her?”

  He stopped before me. “Because I did see what you saw. He blackmailed her.”

  “Right!” I flung my arms up. “So why are we standing here doing a whole lot of nothing?”

  “Because,” he said. “We have to be smarter than that. If he knew we knew what just went down…” He raked his fingers through his hair, and a calculative look flashed behind his eyes. He was somewhere else, working on multiple problems at once.

  My shoulders dropped. “I can’t do nothing.”

  “I know,” he said. “I know. But I can’t have you in trouble t—” He sighed, cutting off his words. “I can’t, either. Just give me a minute to think.”

  He paced the small space before me, the intensity far more than I would’ve guessed for the situation. Was he hiding something? No, he was more open than anyone I’d ever met. I took a deep breath. Watching his mind work was like a shot of clarity and calm to my own brain. Tanner was pushing things too far—the board threatening his job had to be the culprit, but it didn’t excuse this intense personal vendetta he seemed to have.

  “I know what to do,” I said, brushing past him. I stopped with my hand on the knob. “You can stay here, if you want. Not be an accomplice or whatever you want to call it.”

  He stalked toward me, his hand covering mine on the knob. “DC, remember?”

  Something warm and strong pulsed in the center of my chest.

  “What’s the plan?” he asked.

  I motioned for him to follow me then led him into the now-empty hallway. I made the twists and turns, carefully opening the doors to the principal’s office. Tanner’s door was closed; either he’d left or he was in there and wanting privacy. He wasn’t my objective.

  The door to his left was.

  Ms. Howard was behind her desk, working late, totally absorbed in her computer screen as she clicked away. Dean followed me inside and shut the door, the soft click causing Ms. Howard to jump.

  “Holy sh—” She cleared her throat, laying her palms flat on her desk. “You two scared me.”

  “Sorry,” we said at the same time.

  “I need to talk to you,” I said, leaning against her desk, too much adrenaline to sit in the chairs before it.

  “Okay,” she said, eyeing Dean and then back to me.

  I took a deep breath, the image of her immediately running and telling Tanner what we saw, how we were ratting him out, icy clear and terrifying in my mind. The anger for that girl outweighed my fear, and I opened my mouth.

  Ms. Howard listened to me recount exactly what we’d heard and seen only minutes ago. Nodding and pinching the bridge of her nose as the story ended. My chest rose and fell when I finished as if I’d run a 5k.

  She parted her lips, but a knock on her door jolted each of us.

  “I’m heading home,” Principal Tanner said, opening the door without an invitation. “Do you need me to walk you to your car—” He spotted us standing there. Dean gave a little wave, whereas I stood frozen solid. “Oh,” he said. “I didn’t realize you had students here.”

  Ms. Howard smiled. “I asked them here,” she said, and Tanner tilted his head.

  “After hours?”

  “After Code Club,” she said, and I was immediately shocked. She deserved so many props for covering for us. “I wanted an update on their progress. See if they needed any help recruiting new members. It’s a great idea you’ve had,” she said, grinning at Tanner. He actually smiled slightly. “They’ve both taught each other things I think they didn’t even know they needed to learn. And the academy’s website has never looked or worked better.” She glanced at us and we both nodded.

  “For sure,” Dean said.

  “Absolutely,” I added.

  “Wonderful,” Tanner said. “You’ll be working a little later, then?”

  “Yes,” she said, motioning to her desk. “I’ve got some things to wrap up here. I’ll be all right on my own, though. Thank you for the offer.”

  He nodded, then eyed Dean and me. “Keep up the good work.”

  I smiled, and Dean nodded. Then we all took one damn deep breath when Tanner closed the door behind him.

  Too close.

  What had I been thinking?

  That Tanner was using his power for evil.

  Oh right, that. Okay, so maybe not totally evil, but clearly he was immersed in his personal vendetta.

  Anger returned. I refocused on Ms. Howard, who had stepped around her desk, her ear pressed to the door. After a few moments of silence, she sighed.

  “I hate that you two were put in this position,” she said, her green eyes sincere. “But I’m also honored that you trusted me enough to come to me with it.” She held her hands over her chest, her pink sweater complementing her lavender nails. “Unfortunately,” she continued, “this isn’t the first time I’ve heard something like this happening this year.”

  “You’re not serious,” I said, glaring at the door like I could mentally punch Tanner in his throat. I glanced at Dean, my eyes narrowing at his complete lack of shock.

  “Wait,” Dean said finally. “Why hasn’t something been done?”

  Ms. Howard swallowed hard, her voice almost a whisper. “I took the firsthand account to the board myself. The student, naturally, was too afraid to speak for himself. With the way Wilmont students are awarded scholarships and grants…” She sighed. “There is so much at stake if they mak
e the wrong move here.” She shook her head. “The board said I didn’t have enough evidence to merit disciplinary action toward their highest-ranking school official.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Dean snapped, then raised his hands. “Sorry.”

  She waved him off. “It certainly is.”

  “I thought the board was pushing for change? Pushing for Tanner’s removal.”

  Her eyes widened. “I’m not sure how you know that, Amber, but…” She straightened. “There are pieces moving. It’s not as easy as snapping our fingers. We have to have a collective vote, and the state board gets involved, too.” She glanced between us both. “Trust me, I’m trying…several of us are trying to create a change. If I had more proof of the recent transgressions,” she said, “something that his word wouldn’t crush? I would use it.” She shrugged. “But I don’t.”

  I huffed, crossing my arms. “So he just gets to keep doing this to students? All in the name of keeping his job?”

  Ms. Howard tensed, as if contemplating if she should say anything or not. “Wilmont is one of the top private schools in the nation. A majority of its students go on to get full-ride scholarships to top-five colleges. The better Wilmont’s students perform, the more grants, funds, awards, and raises its principal receives.” She eyed us, the point clearly, terribly sinking in. “That, plus his family’s lineage with Wilmont… It gives him a very big platform from which to dictate his own personal views.”

  I ground my jaw. “Selfish bastard.” I glanced at her. “Sorry not sorry.”

  She tugged at the bottom of her pink sweater. “I’ve been trying my best to counteract this behavior. Being here for students to talk to without judgment is a start, but I’ve also tried to go out of my way to be there for the students he…collects.”

  “Collects?” Dean asked.

  She tilted her head back and forth. “The ones he takes a particular interest in. Ones who have something to offer him. Or those he wants to keep an eye on.” She motioned to Dean. “An incredibly skilled hacker whose brother assisted him years ago. A student whose mother makes generous donations to the school but has a profession Tanner deems unacceptable.”