The Scavengers Strike Back

by Marcus Emerson

  Brayden stopped at the front door of the office and turned. His eyes met mine, and he shook his head with barely any movement. It was his ninja way of telling me he didn’t do it. Okay, it wasn’t really a ninja way of telling me, but that just sounded way cooler.

  Principal Davis was the last to walk into the front office, shutting the door behind him. Through the frosted glass windows, I watched as the four blurry figures marched to the back section and disappeared.

  ‘Bummer,’ Slug said. ‘Just when ya think ya know a guy.’

  ‘He didn’t do it,’ I said. ‘He wouldn’t have done something like that. I’ve known him for—’

  ‘A few months,’ Gidget said, interrupting me.

  I paused, nodding. ‘A few months, but that’s more than enough time to get to know a guy, and I know that Brayden would never ever do a thing like this.’

  Some kids walked into the cafeteria from the lobby, already in conversation.

  ‘Someone said they saw it fall out of Brayden’s book bag!’

  ‘He’s so busted, and good thing too, because that’s just wrong – taking the head of a statue like that.’

  ‘Yeah, what’d he think was gonna happen? This’ll go on his permanent record, for sure.’

  Gidget looked up from her phone. ‘It fell out of his book bag?’

  ‘He was set up,’ I said confidently. ‘That’s the only answer that makes sense.’

  ‘I don’t know …’ Gidget said quietly.

  After seeing Brayden disappear into the front office, I had lost my appetite. Slug gladly took the rest of my food and wolfed it down.

  The kids in the cafeteria were in full gossip mode and it was hard to listen. After Slug finished his second lunch, we headed into the lobby to get away from the noise.

  The lobby wasn’t much quieter than the cafeteria. There were students out by the statue, still shocked about the whole thing. I stared at the spot on the statue where James Buchanan’s head should’ve been. Was Brayden the thief? I didn’t see him before school started that morning, so maybe …

  And then I spotted Wyatt nestled away in the corner of the nook by the front entrance of the school. He was on the carpet, with his knees up, chewing on his fingernails. He kept looking back and forth over his shoulder, like he was afraid something was going to jump out and get him.

  Of course Wyatt was out there. He had to have something to do with Brayden and the missing head!

  I marched up to him.

  ‘What’s your game this time?’ I said to Wyatt.

  I’m not sure that Wyatt even noticed me. He was too busy gnawing on his fingers. The nails that I could see had been chewed down so far they were pink and raw. Sick.

  Wyatt looked up at me without turning his head, moving only his eyeballs. When he noticed it was me, he jumped to his feet, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I said—’ but couldn’t finish my sentence because Wyatt’s attention snapped to his left, and then he shuffled away from me, jogging down the hall to the right.

  ‘So that was weird,’ Gidget said behind me. ‘Even for Wyatt.’

  It was only a few days ago that I saw Wyatt talking to Naomi after the Spirit Week assembly. I was so sure that they would join forces to try to destroy me once and for all, but after seeing how distracted Wyatt was that morning, and how he just ran away, I was beginning to doubt they’d teamed up.

  Something was off about Wyatt. Maybe he cracked after Naomi told him about the Scavengers. Maybe he was spooked because he knew they were real now?

  ‘Hasn’t Brayden been framed for something before?’ Slug asked, staring at the buff statue.

  ‘No, not really,’ I said. ‘Back at the beginning of the year, he got caught once trying to help, but ended up getting in trouble for that.’

  ‘So you think you’re gonna look into this prank then?’ Gidget asked, using the same exact words that Zoe had, not even four hours ago.

  This time, I didn’t even need to think about my answer. Brayden was a friend, and he needed my help. ‘Of course I am,’ I said, and then faced Gidget and Slug. ‘I mean, of course we are.’

  The twins smiled at me, ready for an adventure.

  Gidget and Slug went down one of the hallways, waiting for the end of lunch. I took a spot by the corner where Wyatt had been sitting to collect my thoughts.

  When I first arrived to school that morning, the head of the statue was where it belonged. Even after the first bell rang, it was still there.

  It wasn’t until about twenty minutes into the student council meeting that someone pulled the prank – that’s when Jesse burst through the door to tell Principal Davis something was wrong.

  So whatever happened, happened within the first twenty minutes of the school day, when everyone was supposed to be in homeroom. Nobody would’ve been in the cafeteria yet so there wouldn’t have been any witnesses, and since the front office windows were frosted glass, there was no way anyone could’ve seen anything from there.

  I’m not sure where Brayden was that morning, but he should’ve been in homeroom like everyone else.

  Of course there was always Naomi or even Victor to worry about, but if they had anything to do with the prank, they probably would’ve contacted me by now.

  Just then, a paper aeroplane almost poked me in the eye, scaring me enough that I jumped back and let out a tiny screech.

  The aeroplane darted to the floor, landing at my feet.

  I glanced around, but there wasn’t anyone giggling the way the kids did during breakfast when they threw their toast at me.

  I noticed some writing on the inside of the aeroplane.

  ‘Great,’ I sighed, picking up the plane. I was surprised at how perfectly folded the wings were. In my entire life, I’ve never been able to make such a flawless paper aeroplane.

  I unfolded it carefully. On the inside of the plane was a short note.

  Chase Cooper,

  Victor would like to meet with you behind the cafeteria, near the dumpsters.

  —The Scavengers

  ‘Oh, wonderful,’ I muttered sarcastically. ‘More drama!’

  The last time the Scavengers sent me a note, it was on fancy stationery that looked like a wedding invitation. The note I was holding was a flimsy sheet of paper folded into an aeroplane.

  Crumpling the plane up in my hands, I jumped to my feet and shot the ball of paper towards the nearest rubbish bin like I was playing basketball. It was an over-the-top way to throw it away, but I wanted to be sure that whoever delivered it saw I didn’t care. Too bad it missed the basket.

  ‘Aiiiir ball,’ I sang with a high-pitched voice as I picked it up and dropped it into the bin.

  As much as I would’ve loved meeting Victor and dealing with the Scavengers again, which was to say I wouldn’t have loved it, I had more important things to worry about – like saving Brayden from detention, suspension, or even getting expelled.

  The next morning, I had my dad drop me off at school a little earlier than usual. You know I mean serious business when I wake up with enough time to actually eat breakfast at home.

  The cold air was still on my clothes when I stepped through the doors of Buchanan, greeted by the headless statue.

  Gidget and Slug were supposed to meet me in the lobby, but they weren’t there yet. I was pretty sure Brayden would be locked away in detention for the rest of the week, and whenever he gets detention, his parents ground him from his phone, the internet, and anything else people use to communicate with the outside world.

  So I was on my own in the lobby.

  The white powder had been vacuumed up. I knelt closer and ran my finger along the floor, scraping the carpet to see if I could make any dust pop up.

  I looked up at the neck of the statue. The top of the neck was perfectly flat, like the headless mannequins at the mall.

  Leaning over the base of the statue, I reached out and tapped the foot of the bear that was next to Buchanan. The bear i
tself was solid rock, but the platform that held the entire statue was pretty flimsy – not like it was going to fall over, but it rocked back and forth when I nudged it.

  ‘Well, no wonder his head fell off,’ I said aloud. ‘This thing’s a piece of junk.’

  At that moment, the front-office door slammed shut. I spun around, feeling my stomach drop, and expected a lecture from the principal. I wasn’t breaking any rules, but I still felt like I had been caught doing something.

  Instead of Principal Davis, it was Ms Chen-Jung, the school janitor, grumbling as she pulled her cart of cleaning supplies through the door. She spoke to herself with a quick, but soft voice. ‘Just see if it turns up somewhere,’ she said in a mocking tone. ‘Like someone’s just gonna take it and return it like they were borrowing it.’

  She stopped in the middle of the hallway when she noticed I was there.

  For a moment, we both stared at each other.

  Finally, she snapped out of her trance. ‘What?’ she asked, annoyed.

  I laughed nervously, turning my eyes to the floor. ‘Nothing! I just … um, I just … I don’t know.’

  ‘Did you take it?’ Ms Chen-Jung asked, glaring at me.

  ‘The head?’ I asked, pointing at the statue. ‘Never! I’d never—’

  ‘My printer!’ Ms Chen-Jung said, cutting me off. ‘Davis says it’ll have to wait because fixing the statue before the Bash has to come first, but my maintenance closet just got that printer over the weekend, and already it’s been stolen! Already! This school! Seriously, this school!’

  Ms Chen-Jung gripped the handles of her cart and pushed it down the hall. A gust of ice-cold air pushed through me. I turned around to see Gidget and Slug walking through the school doors.

  ‘Find anything?’ Gidget asked.

  Slug still looked half-asleep.

  Gidget nodded her head at him. ‘He’ll be like that until about nine. His body might be awake, but his brain is still trying to switch on.’

  Slug’s mouth dropped open slightly as he moaned, ‘Uh-huh …’

  ‘I only got here a little bit ago,’ I said. ‘There’s really nothing to see. The statue doesn’t have a head. The neck is smooth, so it probably came off pretty easily. And the base of the whole thing rocks back and forth.’

  Gidget pushed against the base with her foot, moving the whole thing. ‘Well, duh. Of course the statue broke where it did. With a shaky bottom and a head that probably wasn’t attached too well, it would be easy to knock that noggin off.’

  Slug grunted a laugh. ‘Shaky bottom,’ he slurred with a little bit of drool collecting at the corners of his mouth.

  Gidget gave her brother an annoyed looked.

  ‘Hey, guys,’ Slug said slowly. ‘Guys, check this out … I had this awesome idea last night …’

  Gidget and I waited for Slug to continue, but he might’ve fallen asleep again.

  Gasping, Slug’s eyes opened wide, and then they fell back into the half-shut position. ‘We’re, like, the ninjas of the school … the good guys, right? So we’re, like, here to avenge kids who are bullied and stuff …’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘We’re not here to avenge kids.’

  But Slug ignored what I said. That, or he didn’t hear me.

  ‘So I was thinking our ninja clan needed a name,’ Slug said, as if he were sleep talking. ‘We’ll call ourselves the School Avengers, but shorten it to the Sc’avengers so it’s easier to say.’

  ‘Dude,’ Gidget said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

  ‘You wanna call us the Sc’avengers.’ I said, flatly. ‘The Sc’avengers … the Scavengers … Sc’avengers. Scavengers. Dude, is this clicking at all?’

  Slug nodded with a dorky smile.

  ‘When he wakes up, he’ll realise,’ Gidget said.

  Slug’s face didn’t change as he swayed back and forth.

  Pulling a small notepad from my book bag, I flipped it open. ‘I wrote a short list of kids who I think might’ve had something to do with this. We’ll start with the obvious ones first, like Wyatt, Jake, Naomi, Sebastian—’

  Gidget interrupted me. ‘Um,’ she hummed. ‘You can’t start with anyone you want to start with. That’s not fair to those kids. You actually shouldn’t start with anyone.’

  ‘What’re you talking about?’ I asked. ‘These are the kids who have caused trouble before and—’

  ‘You’re already looking at them like they’re guilty,’ Gidget explained. ‘That’s not fair to them. Plus, it doesn’t really help our case right now. What if it wasn’t any of those kids? Then you’re just wasting time by looking in the wrong place. I mean, I know Wyatt’s a bad dude, but you can’t just point your finger at him and say that maybe he did it.’

  ‘But …’ I trailed off, surprised. Gidget was totally right.

  And then Gidget buttered some bread of knowledge for me. ‘Some people only act bad because everyone expects them to act that way. What if that’s what’s going on with Wyatt? Like, everyone keeps telling him that he’s the bad guy, so he just keeps acting like it. What if we tried treating him like a normal dude sometime?’

  ‘You’re starting to sound like Zoe,’ I said, smirking.

  ‘She’s a smart kid,’ Gidget said. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

  Ms Chen-Jung poked her head up from behind the statue. Gidget and I jumped at her sudden appearance.

  ‘What’re you kids doing?’ the janitor asked, suspicious.

  Gidget pointed at the statue. ‘Trying to figure out what happened to the head.’

  ‘That Brayden kid took it,’ Ms Chen-Jung said. ‘Everyone knows that already, so I’ll ask again – what are you kids doing out here?’

  ‘We don’t think Brayden took it,’ I said. ‘He’s our friend, and we know that he would never do something like that.’

  Ms Chen-Jung studied us for a moment, and then looked at the statue of James Buchanan.

  ‘I mean, you’re out here a lot, right?’ I asked.

  The janitor nodded.

  ‘Is there anything you saw that might send us in the right direction?’

  Ms Chen-Jung stood silently for a moment, and then said, ‘I only saw the statue after the head was stolen, so I didn’t actually see anyone take it. But … there was a girl out here … watching me clean up the mess from the corner back there. She stayed there for a long time.’

  ‘What’d she look like?’ Gidget asked.

  Ms Chen-Jung shrugged her shoulders. ‘I didn’t see her face, but she had black hair.’

  ‘Great,’ I said. ‘There’s about a billion girls here with black hair.’

  Gidget huffed. ‘I don’t think there’s a billion.’

  ‘You know what I mean,’ I said.

  I turned towards the janitor to ask her more, but she was gone – vanished, like some kind of ninja janitor that travelled between dimensions when she— No wait, she was just down the hall.

  I shut my notepad and stuffed it into my back pocket. I wanted to mention that Naomi had black hair, but after everything Gidget said about not blaming someone before any evidence, I decided not to. ‘Where do we start?’ I asked, stressed that the only plan I had wasn’t much of a plan at all.

  Gidget stretched her arm out. A phone slipped out of the sleeve, landing perfectly in the palm of her hand, like it was just another part of her body that she controlled by flexing different muscles.

  ‘We’ll start with a friend of mine,’ Gidget said, typing. ‘I know a kid who deals with these kinds of things.’

  ‘You have a friend who deals with the lost heads of statues?’ I asked.

  Slug groaned. I think it was a laugh, but his body still hadn’t fully woken up yet so I wasn’t sure.

  ‘No,’ Gidget replied, rolling her eyes. ‘My friend … deals with this a lot. She deals with, like, investigations and stuff.’

  ‘Does she go here?’ I asked.

  Gidget nodded, finishing up her text. I heard the swoosh sound of her message being sent.
/>   ‘Cool,’ I said. ‘Do I know her?’

  ‘Maybe,’ Gidget replied.

  ‘Is she a sixth grader?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Do I have any classes with her?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Gidget paused. ‘Maybe?’

  ‘Is she short?’ I asked.

  ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘No, but is she short?’

  ‘Not really. She’s about our height.’

  ‘Is that who you’re always texting?’

  ‘She’s one of the people I’m always texting, yes.’

  ‘Does she know me?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Really?’ I felt kind of excited. ‘What’s she say about me?’

  ‘Are you serious?’ Gidget asked, putting a hand on her hip. ‘You don’t even know who we’re talking about and you want to know what she says about you?’

  I shrugged. ‘Why not?’

  Gidget’s phone buzzed in her hand.

  ‘Is it her?’ I asked, hopeful. ‘I’ll call her the informant.’

  Gidget read the text on her phone, leaning away from me. ‘You’re starting to creep me out,’ she said. ‘But yes, it’s her, and her name is K-pop. Don’t call her the informant.’

  ‘But I should call her K-pop?’ I asked. ‘Her name is K-pop?’

  ‘She has a thing for Korean pop music,’ Gidget explained, and then she snapped a picture of me with her phone. ‘The music flows through her veins like blood, so people call her K-pop.’

  ‘Are you sending her a picture of me?’ I asked, uncomfortable because I didn’t even get the chance to make a dorky face.

  ‘Mmhmm,’ Gidget hummed.

  ‘You can’t just …’ I trailed off. ‘Is she cute?’

  ‘Guh,’ Gidget groaned, rolling her eyes.

  I gestured towards Gidget’s phone. ‘What’d she say?’

  Gidget raised her phone and read her message again before answering. ‘K-pop said there’s not much she, herself, can do for us, but she messaged Valentine about what’s going on. She’s setting up a meeting between the two of you.’

  ‘Brody?’ I said.

  ‘Yeah, Brody,’ Gidget said. Her phone buzzed again. ‘You need to find him during lunch. He’ll be up on the second floor, in room 801.’