The Nightingale Files : The Rook and Queen

by Megan Meredith

  “Yeah, but I was already skipping class, so I need a valid excuse for later.”

  She shook her head and laughed. “You’re good, but I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that.”

  I smirked. “Can I ask you some questions?”

  “Hypothetically?”

  “Yes.”

  “For an article?”

  “Hypothetically.” I shrugged.

  “Shoot.”

  I got my notebook out to make notes. “Hypothetically, have you had any students in here with legal problems?”

  “First of all, you know I can’t answer that. Second, this is high school, Avery. What do you mean ‘legal problems’?”

  “Okay, I’ll reword. But, for the record, this is an affluent school; people sue their parents and whatnot all the time.”

  She looked at me skeptically. “Maybe, but this is a Christian school.”

  “I think you and I both know that doesn’t mean much,” I mumbled, “but that’s for another time. Have you had any students having problems with teachers?”

  “Students always have problems with teachers.” She laughed. “This is high school. And you know I can’t really answer that.”

  I pursed my lips. This would be tricky. “Okay, how about I come at this from a different angle.” I tapped my pen on the notebook and thought until it came to me. “Hypothetically, if you heard from a student that a teacher was engaging in something inappropriate or illegal, what would be your required action?”

  Ms. Midler’s eyes widened, and she leaned over her desk and folded her arms. She wasn’t upset, but she was serious. “Avery, I don’t know what you’ve heard or gotten yourself into, but those kinds of accusations can cause a lot of uproar.”

  “I am not accusing anyone. I simply asked a hypothetical question.”

  “Okay, okay. Hypothetically, if I had heard this from a student, I would be forced to report it to the proper authorities. I don’t think I have to tell you this, Avery, but in any school, inappropriate behavior on behalf of a teacher or illegal dealings are taken very seriously and can cause a lot of damage to whomever is involved.” She hung on the word “whomever,” implying it damage teachers and students involved as well.

  “Message received.”

  She put her glasses back on. “And you know I have to make note of this conversation in your chart.”

  “That’s fine. A paper trail may be helpful at some point,” I said fairly snarkily.

  She scribbled on a note and shoved it across the desk. “Run along now, get back to class. But keep me in the loop. I can help—okay?”

  I nodded and headed down the east hall only to practically run into Ace, who was coming out the science lab.

  “Watch yourself, Nightingale!” he gruffed but quickly changed his tone and taunted me further. “Can’t outrun me. Can’t get enough, eh, Nightingale?”

  I just glared at him and continued on down the hall. I could hear the scuffle of his feet coming after me. My heart beat faster as I felt him catching up with me.

  I could hear the sneer in his voice as he whispered in my ear and grabbed my arm, just like he had at the dance. “You’re always getting in over your head and getting yourself hurt. Aren’t you, Avery Brave?! May not want to go too many places alone anymore.” He let go of my arm with a shove. “But hey, if something were to happen, maybe you could prove it this time.”

  He let the low blow slice through the air and hit me right where it hurt. But he wasn’t done.

  “Speaking of proving it, maybe you should ask your little reporter friend about what he’s hiding. Tell him I can prove it’s his.”

  He shoved me as hard as he could, and his verbal jab knocked the wind out of me. I landed on the cold, hard tile floor, my notebook sliding at least five feet away from me. All I could hear was the sound of Ace laughing cruelly and jogging away. I sat up and realized I had tears sliding down my face, and it registered how ironic it was that I had faked a crisis not thirty minutes ago only to be having a real one now.

  “Avery?!” Nate’s voice echoed in the hallway as he crutched toward me.

  Fabulous. “It’s ‘Avery Brave’,” I muttered angrily.

  “Are you okay? What happened?” he said, dropping his crutches and balancing on one foot to lean over toward me.

  I shook my head. I didn’t want him to be the one that found my helpless on the floor, crying.

  “Avery. Come on, let me help you up,” he said, taking my arm, which I snatched back from him harshly.

  “I don’t need your help.”

  “Is this about the note that you found? Is someone after you?”

  Felix! I could kill you! Why does he keep telling Nate stuff? I glared at Nate as I stood up on my own and walked over to retrieve my notebook. He followed, even though I was treating him terribly.

  “I just bumped into Ace. And I fell.” I brushed myself off, feeling dirty from the floor or shameful from the lie. “I’m fine.” Somehow, in that moment, I was reverting back to old habits.

  Nate studied me as if he didn’t believe me. I knew that he’d heard that story before, because I’d told it several times before concerning Ace—not to Nate directly, but I was sure he’d heard some version last year. And whether I said it so he would know or whether I thought I’d really get the lie past him, I wasn’t sure.

  Nate motioned for me to follow him, and I shook my head. He motioned again, crutching toward the supply closet. I am not about to go in a supply closet with Nate Reinhart. What was this, a teen sitcom?!

  I shook my head again at which point he grabbed my hand gently and pulled me over to the door.

  “I need to tell you something. Just trust me.”

  “I’m not going in there with you. Do you think I’m an idiot?”

  “Avery. I need to talk to you.”

  “We’re alone in the hallway, Nate. Talk.”

  “Avery, please…” He looked desperate. Maybe I was about to get a confession out of him. Whether it was curiosity or stupidity, it didn’t matter. I let him pull me into the supply closet. It was dark for a moment, and I had a sudden flash of being pushed up against the wall the night of the dance with his hand over my mouth, hearing his heart beat fast. My face flushed, and I rethought my decision to be in here with him and tried to push past him.

  “No. I shouldn’t be—I have to go,” I said, trying to feel my way past him in the dark. He tried to get me to stop with a hand on my stomach just as he also found the light switch. We stood toe to toe with his hand on my stomach, and I knew that, if I looked up, his face would be entirely too close to mine. I scrambled away from him and folded my arms.

  “Aright, you’ve got me in here. Now what?”

  “I need to tell you something.”

  “That you’re the one who sent the note?” I accused fiercely.

  “What? No!” he protested defensively. “But…I know what part of this is about.”

  I took a step back. Even though I’d considered him a suspect, I still felt betrayed. “Which part? How long have you known?”

  “I know what Ace is threatening Sylvie about.”

  “Do tell before the bell rings and we’re stuck in here all of lunch.”

  “Last year, when you and Ace broke up…”

  I already didn’t like where this was going. I shook my head and headed for the door again, but Nate held up a hand to stop me.

  “Just hear me out. I know you walked in on Ace with someone. Right?”

  I nodded painfully.

  “It was Sylvie. They’ve been on again, off again since you guys were together. I didn’t know until—well, that’s why we broke up at the beginning of the year.”

  “Fine. It was Sylvie. What does this have to do with Mr. Hickham?”

  “I don’t know yet. But there’s more to Ace and Sylvie.”

  And it was then that Ace’s voice echoed in my mind—my little reporter friend was hiding something.

  “Ace made Sylvie have an abor
tion.”

  I gasped. That’s was he was hiding? Sylvie was pregnant? Ace had said he could prove it was “his”. Who was “he”? The baby was Nate’s? And before I could stop the second accusation from flying out of my mouth, it escaped: “It was your baby, wasn’t it?”

  He looked as though the crutches might give out on him and that I was purple and red spotted with green teeth or something. “No! Why would you think that—we never—I never—Why would you think it’s mine?”

  Trying to push past the vulnerability he’d just admitted to me in the supply closet, I stumbled over my words just as much as he had. “Ace said—I just assumed… I’m sorry.”

  “Ace is trying to make Sylvie say that it was mine. But it’s not even possible.”

  Okay! Enough indirect virginity talk. “Why would he say it’s yours if it’s not? How do you know all of that? Why does he need to blame you anyway?”

  “He’s Ace. He likes to brag. He has a way of dodging the consequences of his actions.”

  Nate looked at me in a way that made me feel like I was translucent, and he could see inside of me. He had known that I was lying.

  “When you lied to me out in the hall, I knew that what I’d always suspected about the rumors from last year were true. Ace told very different versions of what happened and what you were like. But the blindfold was ripped off when I learned about him and Sylvie. He’s a dangerous liar.”

  I looked at my feet, feeling the heat from my embarrassment and shame rise from my stomach and spread to the ends of every hair.

  “And so, what’s true?” I mumbled, too afraid to look at him.

  “That’s there’s much more to the story than what everyone knows. You’ve been through a lot.”

  I shook my head as hot tears spilled out of my eyes. I am in a supply closet crying in front of Nate Reinhart. Could anything be more humiliating?

  “I didn’t mean to upset you. I was trying to tell you that I can see now that Ace was lying last year.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said flatly.

  “You don’t have to.” He crutched a little closer to me. I was already against the shelves with the toilet paper rolls and couldn’t scoot any further from him. “Just know that, if you ever do, I’ll believe you.”

  I forced a cruel scoff. “Why would I tell you? You’re friends with him. I see the way you guys make fun of me in keyboarding and in the hallway. Just because we have to work together doesn’t mean that I trust you. Any more than him.”

  “Why do you think I was hanging around him? He was threatening me that he’d tell the whole school and my parents that Sylvie had aborted my baby.”

  I sniffed and relaxed slightly. “How long has he been threatening you? Why did you pretend not to know what was going on?” I narrowed my eyes. “And what does all this have to do with Mr. Hickham?”

  “I can’t figure that out yet. All I can figure is that the abortion is the leverage that Ace is threatening Sylvie with if she doesn’t come clean about whatever else they’re hiding. He threatening to go to the paper about the pregnancy if she doesn’t go to the paper first with the other story.”

  “What are we, Beverly Hills? Nobody cares. And wouldn’t that expose their little secret? Why would they risk doing that for another secret?”

  “Well, don’t forget, he was forcing Sylvie to tell everyone it was mine. So, unless she comes clean about something else, he’s threatening to ruin her reputation and probably her college career—and mine too. Neither of us would get into the schools we want with a scandal like this. Our parents would most likely believe it and then cut us off or disown us from the shame it would bring on the family.”

  “I guess I see why you didn’t tell me at first.”

  “Sin is like buckshot; it’s got a wide radius.”

  “Buckshot? Good analogy,” I said, distant and distracted as I tried to think of a way to find out what else Ace and Sylvie were hiding.

  “Thanks.”

  We stood there, facing each other—sort of staring at one another, though we were both thinking and not directly looking into each other’s eyes. I had no idea what time it was or how long we’d been in the closet. Had we missed lunch or the bell ringing?

  “I’ll try to keep my ear to the ground in the locker room and see if I can come up with any leads,” Nate offered, which surprised me.

  “I thought you didn’t want me to pursue this.”

  “No, I don’t. I didn’t want you to find out about all this. But it seems to be coming to you, so I want to help. I’ve got the locker room access to Coach; we’ll see if that leads anywhere. Maybe keep your head down for a while. If Ace is the one who wrote the note, then make him think that he got to you and that you’re letting it go.”

  “What will that do?”

  “Make him or them slip up. If he thinks he’s bested you, he’s bound to betray himself at some point. He can’t help but boast about himself and what he gets away with.”

  I didn’t even want to know what he’d boasted about last year. Ace Wentworth was a weasel and bully, and, as much as I wanted to punch him in the face, I’d be glad to steer clear of him.

  “I just can’t understand why you were in the supply closet with him, Avery. I just don’t think that looks good at all,” Mom said, concerned, as she past the cobbler to Dad. I had told them the entire story of that day at school.

  Dad took the cobbler from Mom and set it down, not taking any. I looked at Mom, who made an “eek” sort of face. Dad was still stuck on the part where Ace had shoved me, I knew.

  “Dad, I know we could make a thing over Ace shoving me and harassing me really, verbally, but if he’s involved in this the way that Nate says, then, if we let things play out and blow up in his face—”

  “Avery!” Mom exclaimed.

  “Fine, maybe he got off because his father paid the judge off last time, but maybe he couldn’t escape this. Maybe we could finally take him down.”

  Dad took a long and controlled breath before he spoke. “Avery, as much as I’m having to hold myself back from storming the Wentworths’ front gate, I don’t want you to get into this revenge game. I know that’s not what God wants us to do. We have to figure out how to forgive them.”

  That was not what I thought was going to come out of his mouth. I had anticipated having to talk him down from showing up at the school and pinning Ace against the lockers. I thought he was furious, and I suppose he was, but he was more concerned about my heart and what God wanted for me than he was about Ace getting what he deserved.

  And I guess my face showed my surprise, because he continued, “I know that’s not how we handled things last year, but we’ve all grown from that. Right?”

  I nodded.

  “And I won’t ever let you feel like I don’t want to charge the field, knock someone’s block off, or grab my gun on your behalf…but I want to honor God with how I handle sin committed against us.”

  I smiled. While no one else I knew said “knock someone’s block off,” it was comforting to know that he would want to knock Ace’s block off. But it was more of a comfort to me that my Father was a man of integrity.

  I couldn’t help also thinking about proof. We needed proof. And lots of it.

  “Thanks, Dad. I do need to work on forgiving him,” I said with half-hearted resolve.

  “And that’s not to say that you shouldn’t still stand up for a student if a teacher is doing something inappropriate or unfair. It’s appalling to think that could actually be happening at All Saints, and I hope that is not the case. But you follow your discernment. But do it cautiously.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And the minute you need our help, you let us know. We’ll back you up anytime you need.”

  “Thanks, Dad. Mom, you too. You guys are the best.”

  While I knew what Mother wanted was a group hug, I opted for a kiss for both of them on their cheeks as I cleared my plate and headed up to my room to study and finish the a
rticle Nate and I were working on regarding the service projects that the student government clubs were doing.

  Felix had said that he’d call later. I hadn’t ridden home with him since my birthday, and we needed to catch up. So, when my phone rang, I answered expecting it to be him. “Hey, Felix.”

  “It’s Nate.”

  “Oh!” I pulled the phone from my ear to check the caller ID.

  “Sorry to disappoint” he laughed.

  “No, I just was expecting a call from Felix.”

  “I gathered.”

  “What’s up?” I asked, hoping there wouldn’t be an awkward lull in the conversation and still feeling slightly embarrassed from all the vulnerability in the supply closet.

  “Just wanted to see where you were on our next piece. I heard that the student body president was doing something at the soup kitchen over on fourteenth if you wanted to go cover that together tomorrow?”

  “I’m working on it now, actually.”

  “I’m sure you love how cutting-edge it is.”

  Was he really calling to check on the article, or was there something more?

  “Do you need any help?” he asked. “You could come over, or we could meet somewhere?”

  “Um, thanks. That’s team player of you and all, but, after today, my parents are keeping an eagle’s eye on me and probably wouldn’t want me going anywhere.”

  “Oh…you told them about today?” he questioned with a twinge of concern on his voice.

  “Yeah. I kinda tell them everything,” I stated.

  “Were they mad?” he asked after a long pause.

  “At which part?” I laughed.

  “Don’t make me guess. Are they?”

  “Well, Mom got pretty hung up on the supply closet with a boy scenario, and Dad was fired up over any parts that involved Ace.”

  “Ahh” was his only response, which was anticlimactic considering how worried he’d seemed about their reactions.

  I changed the subject. “Did you hear anything new at practice?”

  “Actually, yeah,” he said.

  “Why didn’t you lead with that?” I laughed through my nose. “Way to bury the lead,” I joked, not entirely sure he would get that reference.