The Nightingale Files : The Rook and Queen

by Megan Meredith

  “I know.”

  “I’m not saying you shouldn’t write the article. What I’m saying is that there’s a difference between covering the story and breaking the story,” Mr. Knight said.

  “Go on.”

  “Typically, reporters and papers are in a race to be the first to report. To be the one who breaks the story. But, in school journalism, you’re not trying to beat anyone to the story. And, if you break the story, then, while you’ve done the right thing and exposed truth, I doubt anyone will trust you or confide in you anymore. And there’s still two years left of high school for you.”

  “So, what, I just wait until it goes down?” I clarified.

  “Not exactly. You have the story. You can make it go down, essentially. And be there to cover it at the right time when it does. With your partner, of course.”

  At just the mention of Nate, I grimaced, which Mr. Knight caught.

  “What’s up with you two, anyway?”

  “Nothing.”

  He lifted one eyebrow and looked down at me.

  “Okay. Not nothing,” I admitted. “But I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Fair enough. Just continue to work together, okay?”

  “Fine,” I huffed.

  Mr. Knight leaned back in his seat. “So, what do you think about what I’ve said?”

  “I think it makes sense. But part of me still wants to break the story. It feels dishonest to pretend I didn’t suspect or know this whole time.”

  “I admire that about you, Avery Brave. You always want to be truthful. Just think about it before you do anything, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  A huge wave of relief washed over me as I left Mr. Knight’s class. It felt good to have an adult know that I was very close to the truth about Mr. Hickham’s list. Especially because several people felt threatened by that fact. I needed someone to vouch for me if, somehow, this all backfired.

  That relief was short-lived. As I rounded the corner, I saw Sylvie, Ace, and Nate talking in a huddle in the middle of the hall. The sight of them made me fume, which Nate saw as he looked up just at the right time to see me glaring at him.

  Felix grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the lockers. “Nothing to see there. Come on. I have something for you.”

  “Didn’t you see him!? There’s no denying it now.”

  “Let it go, or I think you’ll explode.”

  I took a deep breath and tried to imagine punching Nate in the face, which made me feel guilty and, frankly, didn’t help.

  “Whatever you just tried didn’t work. So maybe this will. I just saw one of the student governmentals in Mr. Hickham’s office, and he was handing him a roll of cash.”

  “Don’t joke. This isn’t a drug deal.”

  “What if it is?”

  I started to laugh and jab him, but then I realized he was serious. Drug deals? Cash? Or… What if they were paying him off for whatever inappropriate material he had on their phones?

  “Felix, you’re a genius!”

  I turned to dart away down the hall. Felix grabbed my arm.

  “Aren’t you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

  “Can’t. I’m on the cusp. This is huge. I need you to be my eyes and ear but have plausible deniability when it all goes down.”

  “Hey, you did that right!”

  “Thanks. I gotta go. Want to come over tonight?”

  “Can’t. Family dinner to discuss treatment.”

  “Is that still a thing?”

  “Yep.”

  I turned back to face him. “I’m sorry. I wish I could make them see what I see.”

  “Which is what?”

  “You’re funny, smart, loyal, and honest. You’re good looking and outrageously tall. You’re not a culture clone, you’re sensitive, protective, and, above all, a superb friend.”

  “Thanks,” he said, blushing. “I’ll come over after dinner, if I can.”

  “Okay. Gotta run!” I said, jogging off toward my next destination.

  I grabbed my notebook and scribbled questions as fast as I could. I was curled up on the last toilet in the bathroom. I needed for more intel, and this seemed to be the place to get it.

  DID THEY ALL WITNESS SOMETHING TOGETHER? I wrote.

  DID THEY ALL PARTICIPATE IN SOMETHING TOGETHER?

  IS THE CONTENT ON ALL THE PHONES RELATED?

  WHAT’S WORTH PAYING HICKHAM FOR?

  I heard Sylvie come in with someone else whose voice I didn’t recognize. They didn’t go into a stall but stood at the counter.

  “How much are you paying him now?” the new voice asked in a quiet tone.

  “One hundred for the pictures and a hundred for Ace’s video.”

  Okay, so Sylvie had questionable photos on her phone and a questionable video. Ew. And she was paying Hickham two hundred dollars a month? Wowza. Talk about bank roll. No need to be a drug dealer; just blackmail the Saints for their indiscretions. Perfect. And ironic. He was a stellar human being.

  “How about you?”

  “One seventy-five. It really gets me. Can’t we just turn in Ace’s video and blow this whole thing up in both their faces?”

  “No,” Sylvie insisted. “If I turn in the video, he’ll tell the whole world about the baby. He’ll ruin me.”

  “I thought he wanted you to come forward about the blackmail.”

  “He did until he realized that it would ruin him too. Just by association. The only way to bring down Hickham is to tell the truth. So, he changed his mind.”

  “You’re in a tight spot.”

  “Yep. I wish the police could just find the videos but not release what is on them.”

  “That doesn’t sound like something they can do. The public has a right to know, right? Plus, it’s a Christian teacher at a Christian school. You know the vultures will eat that up.”

  “I know. It’s just wrong that he keeps them in his briefcase everywhere he goes. What a sicko!”

  “Ugh. I know. I don’t want to talk about him anymore. Let’s talk about Nate. He is looking really good lately.”

  “Yeah. He is.”

  They both cackled.

  “Don’t let Ace hear you say that.”

  “He probably wouldn’t even care. He’s still in love with Avery. Can you believe that? I wish I’d never cheated on Nate with Ace. Now, I’m with one who’s still in love with her, and I still love one who’s falling in love with her. I hate that girl.”

  Nate is not falling for me! I thought irately. Are you kidding me? We can’t even speak to each other right now!

  “Let’s go. We’re going to be late.”

  And they exited the bathroom.

  I had to find out what the video was. Not that I wanted to watch it, but I needed to find someone who knew. Whatever the video was, those two girls were both being blackmailed for it, and Ace didn’t want it out. I had been out of school for several months and couldn’t think of anything that I had heard that fit this seriousness. Felix wouldn’t know because he hadn’t been at All Saints long enough. I had no desire to talk to Nate, and I knew Mr. Knight couldn’t tell me if he knew. The only person who might know…was Carol!

  I hurried home after school to see if I could Facetime with Carol and ask her what she knew. Her brown hair was pinned back away from her face and was at least three inches shorter than the last time I’d seen her.

  She bobbed into view on the screen.

  “You cut your hair!” I exclaimed excitedly.

  “Yeah, you like?”

  “Yes! It’s cute!”

  We caught up on school and friends and what life was like without each other before I asked about Mr. Hickham. I heard her mom call her from downstairs. Dinner would be ready in fifteen minutes.

  “Okay, I had to see you because I wanted to ask if you remember anything happening at the end of the year, after I left, that involved Ace, a video, Mr. Hickham, and Sylvie? Possibly others?”

  I asked my question, then waited pe
nsively. Carol bit her lip while she thought. She looked around her room absently, and then, as if the idea had come in through her ear, she hit her temple and said, “Duh!”

  I leaned forward and tapped my fingers on the desk.

  “This may not be it,” she continued, “but I remember rumors floating around about some big party that happened at the end of the year. I heard it was at Hickham’s house…totally not appropriate. But soon after, the rumors got squashed and fizzled out. What if something happened at the party, and it got documented on phones? Maybe Hickham found out that there was proof, and he’s is trying to cover it up by blackmailing all the students who may have proof on their phones.”

  “The theory fits. It’s awful, but it fits. But Ace is the wild card. No pun intended. Wouldn’t you think he would just pretend like he had no part in any of it?”

  “Yeah, but there’s video evidence…Neither he nor his dad can out-spin that.”

  “True,” I said. Then I started thinking about how to get the evidence. I would need to get the phones. But then, I remembered what the girls had said in the bathroom: “I wish the police could just find the videos but not release what is on them.”

  “I think I might have a plan.”

  “Does is involve duct tape, a burner phone, and a passport to some remote island?”

  “No…I’m not MacGyver. Mr. Knight doesn’t want me to break the story, and my mom and dad want me to play it safe and let them be involved, so I have to think this through. But I think I have a plan that just might work.”

  “What does Nate think?”

  I paused, thinking about what I’d said to Nate on the phone and the way I’d looked at him in the hall when I’d seen him huddled up with Sylvie and Ace. “We’re not on speaking terms at the moment?”

  “What happened?”

  I let out an angry breath. “He’s the one who told Sylvie I’d seen the list. And just today, he was scheming with Ace and Sylvie. I’m pretty sure this whole thing was a charade.”

  “He’s a football player. I don’t think they do charades.”

  “Carol, be serious.”

  “Sorry.” Her joking smile faded, and she looked at me solemnly. “I can tell you’re hurt. I’m sorry. I know you were starting to like him. Which is a big deal.”

  “Yeah,” I said flatly, pushing my bitterness further down into my stomach only to realize I was hungry. I didn’t want to talk about Nate. Talking about him only made me think about him, and thinking about him only made me wish…. Never mind. It didn’t matter now anyway. “I gotta go. I need to go help with dinner and talk to my parents about my plan.”

  “Okay.” We both looked sad. “Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  I hurried downstairs to find my dad at the table reading a book while Mother worked on dinner over the stove.

  “How’s Carol?” Mother asked cheerfully without turning around.

  “She’s good. She cut her hair.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. Can I help with dinner?”

  “Thanks, sweetie, but I’m almost done. Why don’t you sit with your father and tell us how things are going at school?”

  I pulled my usual chair out and slid down into it. “That’s actually why I came down. I think I have a plan about Mr. Hickham. I wanted to run it by you.”

  My father put his book down and slid his glasses down further on his nose so he could look at me over them. His thick, graying hair and his bifocal reading glasses made him look much older than he was.

  I told them what Carol and I had talked about and explained what I’d heard in the bathroom from Sylvie. My father rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and Mother had stopped stirring the sauce and looked worriedly at me, holding the wooden spoon and dripping sauce on her apron. They hadn’t quite believed my hypothesis the first time we’d talked about Mr. Hickham, but their faces told me that they believed me now. I told them my plan to go about exposing Mr. Hickham, the phones, and the blackmail—being there to witness and report on it but keeping the contents of the phones classified.

  “Don’t you think it will take more than a tip to launch an investigation?” my mother said, finally laying down the spoon and wiping off the dribbles of sauce that were now running down her apron.

  “Well, yes and no. But you leave that to me. I’ll work out the details if you all agree that this is the way to go.”

  My father was stoic for several minutes. The kitchen was silent except for the clock on the wall that marched on and the soft simmering sauce on the stove that would bubble up and burst on the surface. He shook his head slightly, and I slumped a little, thinking that I’d have to defend my plan or that we’d argue. But instead, the serious lines around his mouth faded and softened into a smile.

  “You know, Avery Brave, no high school student should have to face this. But we named you Avery Brave for a reason, and I won’t keep you from living up to it. You astound me with your perception and insight, though it borders on suspicion….” He paused and winked at me, knowing he was being gracious with the word “bordered”—we both knew that I was suspicious most of the time. “And your sense of justice is probably unrivaled among your peers. I commend you for your pursuit of truth even when it is somewhat dangerous, and, most of all, I commend you for including us. You have become such a champion after all that you have been through. We will help you, protect you, stand up for you, and applaud you in any way that we can.”

  I was stunned. I had anticipated fear and protest from his demeanor, but instead, he was just dumbfounded. And not only did he agree with my plan, he wanted to help.

  Mother took off her apron and brought the pasta bowl to the table. “And with that, let’s eat.”

  “Just be at my house at seven. Don’t ask any more questions,” I whispered to Felix as we stood alone by our lockers.

  He lifted one eyebrow at me. “Fine.”

  “I have to go; I’ve been late or skipped too much lately,” I said as I hurried off to class.

  It turned out that I hadn’t needed to hurry that fast, because we were only watching selected approved scenes of Saving Private Ryan in history class. I asked to be excused to go to the bathroom about halfway through the period. I took my time on the way to the bathroom until I heard Nate’s voice calling out from behind me at the end of the hall. I jogged toward the bathroom; it was childish, but it felt satisfying to duck him. Until the door closed behind me, and I saw Sylvie. I boiled inside, glared at her, and slammed my stall door. Which was also childish but also semi-satisfying.

  “Avery?” Sylvie said in a vulnerable voice that I’d never heard before.

  “My name is Avery Brave,” I retorted.

  She paused. “Really? I have to say the whole thing every time?”

  “Yes,” I answered flatly. Why am I so upset with her? Just because they were talking in the hall? Am I worried they’ll get back together? Focus, AB!

  “What do you want, Sylvie?”

  “I’m ready.”

  My mind darted back to that day in the supply closet. Then, I had to try very hard not to think about the day when Nate and I were in the supply closet.

  I had told her to let me know when she was ready.

  “Oh?” I tested her, not sure that she wasn’t somehow in cahoots with Nate and Ace. Then, I laughed to myself for thinking the word “cahoots” and knew that Felix would laugh at me.

  “I’m done being under everyone’s thumb. Can you come out and talk?”

  I smirked at her from behind the stall door. “No. It’s not safe to talk in here.”

  “It’s a bathroom,” she sneered.

  I opened the door and gave her a snide look. “You never know who’s listening in a bathroom.” I winked at her, and she looked baffled. “Come to my house at seven.” And I left.

  Either Sylvie was on board or she was in for a sour surprise tonight. Only time would tell.

  “What are you so pleased with yourself about?” Nate laughed. “It looks pretty funny, y
ou coming out of the bathroom with that kind of smile on your face.”

  My smile dropped right off my lips. Nate was standing by the water fountain, waiting on me to come out. He no longer had a cast on, just a black boot velcroed on the outside of his jeans. He still had his crutches tucked under his arms.

  “Leave me alone, Nate.” I turned back toward my classroom, trying to walk briskly away and hoping he couldn’t keep up. But I guess, now that he could put some pressure on his boot, he could go much faster. He caught up with me, surprisingly, and grabbed my elbow, which sent a shock down my forearm. I snatched my arm back and spun toward him. “What do you want?”

  “Why are you avoiding me?”

  “You know why! You told Sylvie.”

  “I thought we were friends. I can’t believe you would think I would do that.”

  “I don’t know what we were, but we’re not anymore,” I said coldly.

  “Well, I didn’t tell Sylvie.”

  “Do you think I’m an idiot?”

  “No!” He raised his voice, which made me feel like I was fuming out of my ears.

  “You are the only person who knew about that. I thought I could trust you!” I shouted back at him.

  “Ms. Nightingale!” Ms. Midler scolded as she scurried toward us. “Stop shouting in the hallway.”

  “Look what you did,” I hissed at Nate. “Now, we’re going to get detention.”

  His face reddened, and his eyes filled with some expression that was a mixture of shame and fury.

  “You two leave me no choice to but to give you afternoon detention. You’re supposed to be in class, not out here in the hallway. And certainly not yelling at each other. These are not character traits of a Saint.”

  “You’re right, Ms. Midler. Please forgive me,” I said stiltedly.

  “Actually,” she said, “I need to see you in my office before detention, Avery Brave.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She handed us each a detention slip, and we both took a walk of shame back to our classroom. I felt myself huff everywhere I went the rest of the day. I was annoyed that Sylvie was either toying with me or actually turning out to be a decent person. I felt angry that Nate would betray my trust and still try to get close to me, and, what was more, he’d gotten me into detention. And I was anxious about tonight.