by Stuart Gibbs
I tried to pull free of him. I may have been a lot smaller than Vance, but I was having a major adrenaline rush. Vance tried to keep his grip on me, but his feet slipped on the wet floor and he pitched forward. I leaped out of the way—and as I did, I saw the look on Vance’s bloodied face shift from anger to terror.
He pitched past me, straight into stall five—and landed face-first in the Toilet of Doom.
I didn’t actually see him do it. Even though Vance had made my life miserable every chance he got, I couldn’t bring myself to watch and averted my eyes. The sound was disgusting enough. There was a sickening wet slap as his face plunged in, then a brief moment of silence—and then the sound of Vance pulling himself back out and screaming in horror.
He lurched out of the stall, wild-eyed, wet toilet paper and things I didn’t even want to think about dangling from his hair. He’d immediately forgotten all about me. Now he only wanted to be clean. He raced to the sink, only to find that, as usual, the taps weren’t working. “No!” he moaned, and then bolted from the bathroom, racing right past Ethan, Dashiell, and TimJim in search of clean water. It almost sounded as though he was crying as he ran down the hall.
Ethan and Dashiell turned to me—and then burst into laughter.
“That was awesome!” Ethan cried.
“Classic,” Dashiell agreed. “Students here are gonna be talking about this for years.”
“Thanks for saving me,” I told them.
“You should thank your pal Xavier,” Ethan said. “He’s the one who came and got us.”
“Are you all right?” Dashiell asked me.
I realized my heart was still hammering in my chest, the result of the adrenaline. My whole body felt numb. I had to check the mirror to make sure I wasn’t hurt. “I’m fine,” I said.
“C’mon,” Ethan told me. “Let’s get some lunch.”
After witnessing—and smelling—everything that had just transpired, I wasn’t the slightest bit hungry. But I’d learned some rules of middle school, and one of the major ones was, when the varsity football players invite you to lunch, you eat with them.
“Sure,” I said, and we headed for the cafeteria, leaving TimJim sprawled on the bathroom floor behind us.
THE ROYALS
For the first time in either of our lives, Xavier and I ate lunch with the popular kids. Dash and Ethan invited us to sit with the Royals in the center of the cafeteria.
It wasn’t as amazing as I’d expected. Everyone had regarded the Royals so highly; I had figured they’d all be fascinating. Instead they were surprisingly normal. They were just like everyone else—except maybe a bit more attractive and better at sports. They hadn’t ignored me—and most everyone else—out of spite. They were simply sticking to their own clique of friends, the way pretty much everyone else did.
Now that they had a reason to be introduced to Xavier and me, however, the Royals were all welcoming and friendly. No one seemed upset that we were suddenly at their table—although they weren’t really paying that much attention to us. Instead they were riveted to Dash and Ethan, who were recounting the story of Vance and TimJim’s defeat in sickening detail.
If the Royals weren’t focused on us, however, everyone else in the cafeteria seemed to be. As I ate my lunch, I could feel the eyes of the entire school on me, hundreds of fellow students watching my every move with curiosity and jealousy, already spreading rumors about what I had done to gain access to the exalted center table.
Meanwhile, Xavier was beside himself. “How cool is this?” he whispered to me as he dug into his food. “We’re eating with the cheerleaders!”
I faked an enthusiastic smile, then glanced toward a gaggle of the Royal girls. They were all laughing at Dash and Ethan, who were recounting Vance’s face-plant into the Toilet of Doom—except one.
Violet Grace, the head cheerleader, was looking at me. But the moment I caught her at it, she turned away and pretended as though she hadn’t been. The same way I’d noticed plenty of other kids doing that day.
I began to get the feeling that something was going on at school. Something everyone else knew about that somehow I didn’t.
Ethan and Dash wrapped up their story, and the Royals cheered with approval.
Violet looked back toward me. This time, however, she didn’t turn away again. Instead she asked, “So you’re really the kid in the koala video?”
I was thrown for a moment. If our school had royalty, Violet was the queen. She was the quintessential Texas cheerleader: beautiful, brunette, and green-eyed, and a fountain of energy and enthusiasm. While the other cheerleaders were cute, Violet was so attractive it was intimidating. My immediate thought was that she had to be talking to someone else besides me.
“Er . . . what video?” I asked.
Now Violet seemed thrown. “On YouTube,” she clarified. “The one with a million hits.”
“I don’t know what video that is,” I said.
“You don’t?” Violet turned to her fellow cheerleaders and said, “He doesn’t even know!”
The cheerleaders all giggled in response.
I felt my ears and neck get hot. I must have been turning red in embarrassment.
Violet noticed. “Oh!” she cried. “Don’t be upset. It’s cool. I just figured you knew. Everybody’s seen it.”
So that was why everyone had been stealing glances at me all day. “I haven’t seen it,” I said.
“Hold on.” Violet quickly dug her phone out of her purse and brought up YouTube on it. She slid next to me so we could both watch, and several of the Royals crowded around us to see it again. I was now so close to Violet I could smell her. She smelled surprisingly good—like the rain forest in bloom—and I suddenly worried what I smelled like. Hopefully not the zoo—or worse, the Toilet of Doom.
I caught Xavier staring at Violet nestled against my side. He didn’t seem excited to be with the Royals anymore. Instead he looked jealous of me.
I quickly turned my attention to the video on Violet’s phone. It was one of the many that had been posted showing Marge and Bubba smashing into the koala exhibit the day before. However, this one was from a better angle than the others I’d seen in Tracey’s office. And unlike many of those, it was shot from close by, in focus.
It started on the stuffed koala. Whoever was filming was right at the glass trying to get a decent shot of it, thinking it was really Kazoo. “He’s just sleeping,” someone off camera said disappointedly. “C’mon. Let’s go see something interesting.”
There was a sudden commotion by the exit door. The camera swung that way in time to see Dad and me push through and then get cornered by Bubba and Marge against the glass. The guy filming was right next to us, though I hadn’t even noticed him in the heat of the moment.
“That’s you, right?” Violet asked.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I admitted.
A murmur of excitement went through the Royals.
“Everyone stand back!” Marge ordered on the video. “This kid is dangerous!”
“Are you?” Violet asked.
I looked up from the video to find she and everyone else were now watching me. “Am I what?”
“Dangerous,” Violet said.
“Vance Jessup certainly thinks so,” Dash said, and everyone laughed.
“No,” I told them all. “I’m not dangerous.”
“Then why did that security lady say you were?” Violet asked. Her green eyes were fixed tightly on me.
“She thinks I stole Kazoo,” I said.
A lot of the Royals went “oooh” in response.
“Hey!” Ethan called. “This is the best part!”
Everyone returned their attention to the video in time to see Marge and Bubba crash through the glass. Only whoever had filmed it had slowed it down. Instead of happening in a few seconds, the chaos now played out leisurely. Even on the tiny phone screen I could see the panic on Marge’s face as she tumbled into the exhibit, then Bubba’s surprise as he sailed in after he
r, followed by the looks of horror on the spectators as they watched the koala get crushed flat.
The Royals were laughing hysterically, even though they’d seen it many times over. “That must have been wild, being there,” Dash said, and everyone echoed agreement.
The video resumed normal speed, zooming in on the pancaked body of what everyone thought was Kazoo. “Oh my,” the person recording it said. “That doesn’t look good.”
“I didn’t steal him,” I said.
Everyone looked up from the video again and back at me.
“In case you were wondering,” I explained. “Marge—the guard who just squashed Kazoo—is wrong about me.”
Violet stared into my eyes for a moment, then nodded. “Cool,” she said. “I believe you.”
The Royals around us nodded in agreement. I wasn’t sure if I’d sounded convincing or if they were all merely following Violet’s lead, but it was reassuring to see.
“Is that why you’ve got the ankle bracelet?” Ethan asked.
Most of the Royals, including Violet, looked at him curiously, not knowing what he meant. Ethan kept his gaze locked on me, though.
“I saw it in the bathroom,” he told me. “Go ahead and show everyone. It’s pretty sweet.”
I pushed my chair back from the table and hiked my jeans up, revealing the monitor cinched around my leg.
I’d expected that my fellow students would be put off by the hardware, lumping me in with future criminals like Vance Jessup. Instead everyone seemed impressed.
“What’s that for?” Violet asked.
“It tracks me,” I said. “So the cops know where I am.”
“Can I touch it?” Violet asked.
“Uh, sure. I guess.” I propped my leg up on a chair.
Violet tentatively touched the monitor, like it might explode. “Excellent,” she said.
The other Royals crowded in to examine the bracelet as well. I had to lean back to give them all room.
As I did, I caught a glimpse of the video, still playing on Violet’s phone. The camera was now panning back and forth between Pete Thwacker and the people trying to extricate the stuffed koala from beneath Bubba and Marge. As it did, it repeatedly caught a man in the background. He was dressed like all the other tourists, but something seemed strange about him.
“Can you pause that?” I asked Violet.
She did. “Do you not want to watch it anymore?”
“Actually, I want to take a closer look,” I said. “Can I borrow your phone?”
“Sure.” Violet handed the phone to me, intrigued.
I rewound to the man. He was thickset and muscular, like a wrestler, wearing jeans, a winter jacket, and an orange Houston Astros baseball cap. While everyone around him seemed to be either disgusted or saddened, he was watching the whole scene stoically, his mouth a flat, emotionless line. That was understandable, however. Not everyone reacted to tragedy the same way. There was something else about him that had caught my attention.
“Do you know that guy?” Xavier asked.
“No,” I said. “I’ve never seen him before.”
“Then why are you so interested in him?” Dashiell asked.
“He’s wearing sunglasses,” I said.
“So?” Xavier asked. “Lots of people wear sunglasses.”
“He’s inside,” I said. “Plus, it’s pretty dark inside the koala exhibit. And it was cloudy yesterday. Not the kind of day anyone would be wearing sunglasses outside.”
Now everyone’s attention had shifted from the bracelet back to me again.
“Suspicious,” Ethan said. “You think he stole Kazoo?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe.” In truth I knew the sunglasses weren’t that suspicious. Wearing them inside on a cloudy day wasn’t much evidence against someone. But something still struck me about the man in the Astros cap. I suddenly had the feeling that maybe I had seen him before, only I couldn’t recall where. It was hard to get a good idea of what he looked like on the tiny screen.
I handed the phone back to Violet. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” she said. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Word is, you live at FunJungle, right?”
I swallowed, surprised Violet knew that about me—or anything about me, for that matter. “Yes. Both my parents work there.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Dashiell put in, and a lot of the Royals echoed agreement. “So you get to hang out there after the park closes?”
“Sometimes,” I said.
This was met with murmurs of excitement from the group.
I couldn’t help but smile. I’d always figured that living at a zoo would be considered weird by the Royals. Instead they were all intrigued.
“Do you ever get to play with any of the animals?” Ethan asked.
“Well, that’s not really good for the animals,” I said. “But I’ve been in with the gorillas a few times.”
This produced even more excitement.
“Ooh! I love gorillas!” one of the cheerleaders squealed. “Could you ever get me in there?”
“Maybe,” I said. In truth the answer was no, but I wasn’t about to shoot down a cheerleader right then and there.
“That’s not what I wanted to ask about . . . ,” Violet began.
Before she could finish her thought, however, a football player called out, “How about the tigers? Have you ever been in with the tigers?”
“No,” I said. “But I was right there when the tiger escaped at that big party last year.”
That really got everyone’s attention. Now I was being peppered with too many questions to answer. Some kids wanted to know about the tiger escape. Others wanted to know what other animals I’d been able to interact with. Most wanted to know if I could get them free tickets.
Violet kept trying to get a word in edgewise, but the others drowned her out. Finally she snapped. “Hey! Let me speak!”
Everyone fell silent deferentially. They seemed almost embarrassed that the queen had been forced to raise her voice.
Violet returned her attention to me. “There’s a rumor going around about you,” she began. “I just want to know if it’s true.”
“Shoot,” I said, wondering what it could be. The fact that I’d grown up in the Congo? Or that I’d helped solve the mystery of Henry’s death last summer? Or that I’d been responsible for the debacle at Henry’s funeral?
“Are you friends with Summer McCracken?” Violet asked.
I hadn’t expected that, although I realized I should have. Sometimes I forgot Summer was just as famous as FunJungle. As the daughter of one of the richest men in America, she routinely ended up on the Internet or the covers of tabloid magazines.
“He is,” Xavier said proudly. “In fact, he talked to her last night!”
This provoked the most excitement so far. The Royals immediately forgot about everything else.
“What’s she like?” Violet asked, and everyone else quickly seconded the question.
I took my time answering. I didn’t mind milking my life at FunJungle to get in with the Royals, but it seemed wrong to use my friendship with Summer the same way. I’d always thought the major reason Summer liked me at all was because I had never taken advantage of our relationship. Now, I was afraid that the moment I said anything revealing about her, it would spread like wildfire through the school.
So I went with the blandest thing I could think of. “She’s nice.”
“I knew it!” Violet said triumphantly. “She always seems nice on TV.”
The others jumped in, bombarding me with questions.
“Have you ever been to her house?”
“How often do you talk to her?”
“Does she dye her hair?”
Violet, however, was front and center, commanding the most attention. She put her hand on my knee and got face-to-face with me. “Next time she’s in town, could you introduce us?”
“I don’t think sh
e’s going to be in town for a while,” I said, trying to duck the question.
Before Violet could follow up, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. All around the cafeteria, students snapped to their feet and hurried off for their next class—although the Royals took their time, less concerned about getting tardies. However, the bell gave me an excuse to break away from them. As much as I’d enjoyed getting to spend time with the popular kids, I didn’t want to have to share any more about Summer. “It was really nice meeting all of you,” I said, then turned to Ethan and Dashiell. “Thanks again for saving me.”
“Get Summer McCracken to go to the school dance with me and we’re even,” Ethan said, and everyone laughed.
“Don’t listen to this moron,” Dashiell told me with a grin. “It was no big deal.”
I smiled back and turned for the door.
Xavier was right on my heels. “That was crazy,” he said. “In my whole life, I never thought I’d get to sit with the Royals. . . .”
“They’re just kids,” I told him. “They’re no different from us.”
“They’re way different from us,” Xavier corrected. “They’re popular. And now you could be popular too. Did you see their faces when they heard you knew Summer? The cheerleaders flipped. You ought to ask Summer to the school dance. If she came with you, you’d be the coolest kid in the history of this school. Maybe the history of Texas.”
I started to tell Xavier I would never use Summer like that, but before I could, someone tapped my shoulder.
I spun around to find Violet there. For once she wasn’t surrounded by her fellow cheerleaders. They were all heading out the door. Violet checked to see if they were watching her, then handed me a scrap of paper. “This is my cell number,” she said. “Call me.”
I was so surprised, all I could think to say was “okay.”
“Great!” Violet flashed a quick, surprisingly shy smile, then ducked away before anyone noticed she’d been talking to me.
Xavier’s jaw dropped in astonishment. “Whoa,” he gasped. “Violet Grace gave you her digits! That’s incredible!”