by Marty Chan
“You might get blood on your shirt.”
“Do it!”
“NO!”
I kicked him. Hard, in the shin.
The crowd let out a loud “ooo.”
“Ow! What did you do that for?”
“So you’ll hit me.”
“Well that’s kind of stupid. Now I do have to hit you.”
“Finally.” Nathan said, nearly drowned out by the impatient kids whose “ooo’s” now turned to “boos.”
I closed my eyes.
“Open your eyes, Marty. I don’t hit guys in the back or people who close their eyes. It’s got to be fair.”
“Fair is Nathan doing his own dirty work,” I said. “But he’s too much of a chicken to do that.”
Nathan yelled. “You want the letter or not, Boudreau? Just do this one last thing. It’s not that hard.”
My eyes popped wide open. There was Nathan’s fatal flaw and my opening. “He’ll never hold up his end of the deal, Remi. He makes promises he’ll never keep. Isn’t that right, Kennedy?” I turned and squinted toward the general area where I thought he was standing.
“Um, he’s over there,” Remi said as he nudged me a few degrees to the right.
“Tell everyone what Nathan made you do,” I said as I put my glasses back on.
“Keep your mouth shut, Anderson,” Nathan barked.
Kennedy seemed to shrivel in the crowd.
“I saw you begging Nathan to teach you karate, but he never did teach you, did he? All he did was take a belt from his dad’s dojo and give it to you. It wasn’t even a black belt. I bet he said you had to earn the black belt with more favours, right?”
Kennedy glared at Nathan, but said nothing. Instead, my words seemed to have an effect on my friend.
Remi turned to the karate master. “You were never going to get me the reference letter, were you?”
“I’ll keep my promise this time, Boudreau.”
“Be honest,” I said.
“Shut up, Chan!”
“Don’t talk to my friend like that,” Remi defended me.
“That’s how it’s going to be, eh Boudreau. Okay, well it doesn’t matter. Chan’s still on the hook for the video he shot.”
“I didn’t send it,” I said.
“It came from your email address,” Nathan said.
“Someone hacked into my account.”
He laughed. “Leaves me out. I can’t even get into my own email.”
I smiled. “Yeah, I know, and so will The Rake when he investigates. If you’re in the clear, who do you think The Rake will go after for the video? Especially after I show him the messages that were sent to me, Samantha, and Ida. He’s going to figure out the same person is behind the emails and the video. Who do you think that’s going to be?”
“It ain’t going to be me, Chan.”
I turned to Kennedy. “It’s going to lead to you.”
He stiffened, his eyes wide with fear.
“And do you know what The Rake will do?”
Remi turned to the quivering boy. “I bet it’ll be three strikes all in one. Maybe the cyber bully will get suspended or even expelled.”
Kennedy looked like he was going to burst into tears.
Nathan laughed. “The kid’s not going to help you, Chan”
“And I’m pretty sure Nathan isn’t going to help you, Kennedy. All that grief for a green belt,” I said. “Was it worth it?”
The crowd fell silent as Kennedy glanced from me to Nathan, wrestling with his fear, guilt, and anger. His face contorted into a grimace and his right eye developed a weird tic. Finally, he turned to the other kids.
“Forget that!” he blurted. “Nathan came up with — ”
“Don’t you say another thing or else you’ll never get the black belt,” Nathan warned.
Remi cut him off. “You’ll never get the black belt, Kennedy. At least not from him.”
“They don’t know what they’re talking about. I gave you a green belt. You have to earn the black belt. And that means shutting your fat mouth right now.”
“I’m not sure he even knows karate,” I said. “The video proves that much.”
“I was messing around,” Nathan yelled.
Kennedy turned to the crowd. “He made me do it. He made me shoot the video and send it from Marty’s email account. Marty, he wanted to frame you when he learned you were trying to track down the cyber bully.”
“You fat piece of lard. You’re the one who knows about people’s passwords. I can’t even start a computer.”
“You said you’d teach me karate if I helped you get revenge on Samantha for snitching on you about the nunchuks you brought to school.”
“No way, fatty. You were the one who wanted to get back at Ida because she turned you down when you asked her out.”
Some of the boys chuckled.
Kennedy’s face turned bright pink. “Nathan told me he got kicked out of his last school for bullying. He was making me send the messages so he wouldn’t get in trouble here.”
“Shut up, tubbo!” Nathan screamed.
He pushed Kennedy down. I jumped in front of Nathan, but he shoved me to the ground as well.
“Chan’s trying to frame me,” Nathan explained to the kids.
“I know you did it, Nathan,” I said.
“You sent that embarrassing video of me, and the evidence is going to point to you and Trina. The teddy bear spy was in your girlfriend’s locker.”
Kennedy replied, “Nathan probably planted the teddy bear in Trina’s locker to frame her.”
“I never heard of the Stuffy Spy,” Nathan said.
“Liar,” I accused. “You said Remi told you about it.”
Remi shook his head. “I didn’t tell him anything. The only way he could know about it is if he stole it from us.”
Nathan fell silent, but Kennedy wasn’t done talking. “Nathan made me send the video from his dad’s dojo. The evidence is on the computer. Go and check.”
“You are dead, fat boy!”
“I don’t think so,” boomed The Rake. He stood at the back of the crowd with Trina. The kids parted like the Red Sea for Moses as he approached Nathan. “Mr. Black. Mr. Anderson. My office!”
The Rake led the boys away. The kids converged on each other after they left and chattered about what had just happened. Ida and Samantha ran up to Trina and me and slapped our backs in congratulations.
Mikayla walked up and gave me a peck on the cheek. “Thank you for not telling everyone about what Nathan did to me. You’re just like the Shogun Kid in my novel, but so much nobler. And cuter, too.”
I blushed. “Um, thanks. Can you excuse me for a second?”
I moved away from the adoring Mikayla and headed to Remi who stood off to the side, looking out of place during the celebration. He smiled when he saw me.
“Were you really willing to let me hit you?” he asked.
“If it meant you could get into the sports school, yes.”
Remi shook his head. “You’re nuts.”
I nodded. “I’m sorry I ratted you out. It’s just that I didn’t want . . . well, I didn’t want you to . . . it’s complicated. Anyway, I’m sorry.”
He clapped his hand on my shoulder. “Yeah, I know.”
“I’ll talk to The Rake and tell him I started the backpack fight.”
“You could get suspended for it,” he said.
“If it gets you in the sports school, it’s worth it.”
He cracked a giant grin and punched me in the arm. I smiled back.
Nathan and Kennedy were suspended from school. Kennedy got one week, while Nathan was out for two weeks at least. Rumour had it that he had to see a counsellor to deal with his anger issues and once he was cleared he could come back. Mikayla said she heard Nathan’s parents yelling at him for three straight nights. She thought she might have also heard Nathan crying, but she couldn’t be sure.
A few days after the incident, Principal Henday gave a le
cture at a special school assembly about cyber bullying. As the kids listened in the gym, I saw a lot of kids nodding. They might not have been Nathan’s and Kennedy’s victims, but they were victims of some kind of cyber bully. After the lecture, I told Mr. Henday about the backpack fight and why I started it. Instead of a suspension, he gave me one week’s detention.
“That’s because you flushed out the cyber bully,” he said. “But next time, report it to me and let me take care of it.”
“Yes, sir. What about Remi’s reference letter? Will you write it for him now?”
“Already done. It’s on its way to the junior high school principal,” Principal Henday said. “I just hope Remi remembers that when he gets to the NHL.”
“Thanks, Mr. Henday.”
“No more trouble, Marty. At least not until you graduate. Deal?” He held out his hand to shake. I grabbed it and sealed the deal.
It was official. Remi was going to go to a different school next year. Things were going to change between us. For some reason, that thought didn’t make me feel that bad any more. I served my first day’s detention and then headed to the store, fully expecting Dad to yell at me and Mom to make me rub her feet. Instead, I found Remi and Trina outside the store.
“Took you long enough,” Trina joked.
“Take it easy on the guy,” Remi said. “He’s probably going to get an earful once he gets in the store.”
“Congratulations, Remi,” I said. “The Rake told me you’re going to get in the school.”
“Yeah, thanks to you.”
Trina said, “I guess that means we won’t be seeing that much of you next year.”
“I’ll come back for visits,” he said. “Someone has to protect Marty from you.”
“Hel-lo, you’d be crying for your mommy.”
Remi laughed.
“Maybe we can go out and see your hockey games,” I said.
He nodded. “I’ll send you the schedule. But if you can’t get to Edmonton, it’s okay too.”
“We’ll be there,” I said.
“I’m just saying I’d understand if I didn’t see you at all the games.”
Trina sighed. “No point in worrying about next year. We still have some of this school year left. Who knows? Maybe we’ll have another case to solve before the summer. You guys up for another one?”
“Yeah,” Remi and I said at the same time. “Jinx.”
“Double jinx,” Trina said. She punched us both in the arm.
“Ow,” I said.
“Good shot.”
“See you boys tomorrow,” she said. She walked away.
Remi stayed back. “Need help in the store?”
“My mom might have a new job for you,” I said.
“What is it?”
“She needs someone to rub her feet.”
He scrunched his face like he had sucked a lime. “No way. You’re on your own, Marty.”
We laughed until a rap on the store window got our attention. Mom was standing on the other side. She lifted her foot and pointed to it with her pickle.
Remi gasped. “Gross. I thought you were kidding. So nasty.”
“I should get going,” I said.
“Sure. Hey, Marty, you might want this.” Remi reached in his pockets and pulled out his walkie-talkie. “You can have mine. For the next case.”
I smiled and reached in to my pocket to pull out my walkie-talkie. “I have mine. You keep yours so we can stay in touch.”
“Um, the range isn’t . . . ” he started.
“It’ll give us a reason to get together.”
Remi smiled. “Okay.”
He put his walkie-talkie back in his pocket and walked away. I looked at the walkie-talkie in my hand and pictured my best friend at the other end. I wouldn’t know what he was saying, but I didn’t care.
I just liked the idea that he would always be at the other end.
Suddenly, the walkie-talkie squawked to life. “Momma Bear, come in. Over.”
I smiled and pressed the talk button. “Yes, Alph . . . Baby Bear, I hear you. Over.”
“Do you really have to rub your mom’s feet? Over.”
“Unfortunately, yes, I do. Over.”
“Gross. See you tomorrow? Over.”
“Definitely,” I said. “Over.”
MARTY CHAN is a nationally-known dramatist, screenwriter, and author. His juvenile novel, The Mystery of the Frozen Brains, won the Edmonton Book Prize, and was also listed as one of the Best Books of 2004 for grades three to six by Resource Links magazine. The second book in the Chan Mystery Series, The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul, won the 2008 SYRCA Young Readers’ Choice Diamond Willow Award, and was shortlisted for the 2007 Golden Eagle Children’s Choice Book Award, and the 2007 Arthur Ellis Crime Writers of Canada Award in the Best Juvenile category., and the 2008 R. Ross Annett Alberta Literary Award for Children’s Literature. The fourth book in the series, The Mystery of the Cyber Bully was a finalist for the 2011 John Spray Mystery Award. Marty Chan lives in Edmonton, Alberta.