Drop of Doubt

by C. L. Stone

  “Would you please send Miss Sorenson to the main office?”

  I’d started collecting my book bag before the lady had finished her question. I’d known this was coming. Part of me was glad it was so soon. I felt like I was going to fall over where I stood and wasn’t sure I’d be at all coherent if he called me later in the day .

  Nathan flicked his eyes to me. North stood, collecting my book bag and his own. I shook my head just an inch. We couldn’t break protocol now. I was only going in to talk. I couldn’t risk letting them go with me.

  But North wouldn’t submit to my quiet request. When the teacher asked where he was going, he said he had an appointment to see someone in the main office, and the message had reminded him. The teacher looked like she wanted to argue this point, but North turned and stalked out of the room.

  “North,” I called to him after following him out to the hallway. “You can’t tag along.”

  “You don’t have a phone,” he said. His dark eyes met mine as he walked beside me. “You’re on lockdown. There’s a crazy guy in a mask out there and Greg’s back. You can’t walk the hallways by yourself. Not right now.”

  I wondered if this was an order from Mr. Blackbourne I might have missed. I sighed, walking quietly down the hall next to him.

  He reached for my hand, holding it in his. His fingernails caught my attention, with the black on his pinkies, and with the tiny heart on one. I gazed at it, and then at my own fingernails, at least four different colors. We probably looked crazy. I was too happy to see the heart still on his finger to care. He didn’t wash it off. That meant something.

  And now that I thought of it, I’d seen Silas had his fingers still painted, as did the others I’d done it to. None of them had removed it. Why hadn’t I noticed before? I was probably too distraught and tired. The fact that I knew now left me feeling a little lighter, a little braver going forward.

  The main office was busy. North diverted from the lobby, and instead headed down a quiet side hallway. I followed him to the unmarked door.

  The office was empty. The lights were shut off. North stopped just inside, flicked the light switch, and gazed around the room. He went to Mr. Blackbourne’s desk, opening the drawers.

  This alone alarmed me. He was going through Mr. Blackbourne’s things? “What are we doing?” I asked quietly.

  “I need one of the laptops,” he said. “I don’t have a phone to watch you with.”

  My eyes widened. “You can use a laptop to listen in on me?”

  He found what he wanted in one of the drawers. He pulled out a black laptop, placing it on the desk. “Yeah. Why?”

  I guess I hadn’t realized they had back up apps for cameras and other things in more places than the phones. Then I remembered Dr. Green had once loaded my phone with apps using his laptop. Since I didn’t have one, I guess I didn’t think about them. I fingered the edge of the jeans I was wearing. “Can you check on Victor?”

  North’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Check on him?”

  “He didn’t show up today,” I said. “And he was gone yesterday. And I ...” I didn’t know how to express it, but I’d been worried ever since Volto basically told me he’d been watching me. “I haven’t heard from him since before we learned the new phones were intercepted. You don’t have to bug him. I just want to make sure he’s okay.” If anyone understood, he would. He sometimes peeked on me while I slept and I’d told him it was fine. He got worried, too. All I needed was to see Victor’s face to know he was fine. I could live without talking to him as long as he wasn’t in trouble.

  North’s mouth dipped into a frown. “I guess I can. I’ll do it after you get back from seeing Mr. Hendricks.”

  I nodded, glad he was willing to. I turned to the door, wanting to end the meeting with Mr. Hendricks quickly so I could get back and see about Victor.

  “Sang,” North said as I started to open the door.

  I stopped, turning to him with my hand on the handle. “North?”

  North only gazed at me. I thought maybe there was something wrong. I was about to ask him. He stepped forward, around the desk, putting his hand on the door that had been partially open. He closed it again, leaving his hand above my head. His other hand rose, his body completely surrounding me as he planted it on the door on the other side of my head. He was close enough that I could smell his soft musk. He gazed down at me. “I didn’t mean to not tell you about my birthday. Things were happening pretty quickly back then and I forgot about it. It wasn’t important to me at the moment.”

  I nodded, not understanding why he was talking about this now. “It’s okay,” I said. “I forget things, too.”

  His lips tightened. “And I’m okay with Luke taking you out,” he said. “Next time though, I don’t think I want you going where you have to break into a house.”

  “You’d let your brother, but not me?” I asked. The question was so forward that it startled me that I’d asked. Mr. Blackbourne was affecting me more than I realized.

  North jerked his head back. “He’s had more experience.”

  “And he thought I could do it,” I said. “Don’t you trust him? Is it not okay for him to do the things he does?”

  His lips moved but words didn’t form. He raked his fingers through his hair. “Baby ...” He grunted. “Just ... not right now, okay? Maybe I should trust him on that, but there’s a lot going on with you with the masked fuck-head and here at school. I’m having a hard time not just stealing you myself and taking you somewhere safer.”

  “You can’t—”

  His fingers dropped against my lips, preventing me from finishing.

  “I know,” he said. “I can’t keep you locked in a closet or anything like that. I’m not going to. But I’m reaching my breaking point, Baby.”

  “Breaking point?” I asked.

  “We all have one,” he said. “Maybe your parents aren’t here to abuse you anymore, and McCoy isn’t here. There’s still a lot of shit going on. I feel like if I see one more nasty note or one more text message, I might end up throwing punches.”

  I wanted to respond but stopped short. I realized maybe we were all on edge. Kota may have been angry with me about the night before, but if I hadn’t been on lockdown, and he hadn’t been so worried about me, would Luke’s little outing have bothered him as much? Or was it because it was on top of everything else? Maybe North was right.

  “I’ll try to avoid adding any more trouble,” I said quietly. “I didn’t realize last night what we were doing.”

  He nodded. “It’s okay. He mentioned it was a surprise to you. I’ll tell him later that I understand what he did. Can you at least avoid any more of that for right now? Can you promise me you’ll stay close to us?”

  What about Victor? And Gabriel? And the others? We should all stick together. I bit back my thoughts. “I’ll do my best.”

  This seemed to relax him. He released the door and stepped back. “Get to Mr. Hendricks. I’ll be watching.”

  I slipped back down the hallway. My heart thundering for what I was about to do, and for wondering how close to the edge North was at this moment. How close were they all?

  When would we break?

  SANG IS NOT A THIEF

  Back in the lobby, I addressed the secretary at the counter. She asked me to sit down and wait my turn.

  I was just about to sit on a chair at the furthest edge when I caught a whisper.

  “Pssst. Sang,” said a female voice.

  My eyes scanned the room, stopping short on a pixie-haired girl. Karen curled her fingers at me, indicating the empty seat next to her.

  My eyes widened. I flitted across the room, dropping down next to her. “What are you doing here?” I whispered.

  “I could ask you the same. Weren’t you here already this week?”

  “I just ...” I didn’t know how to explain it. “It’s ...”

  Her eyes darted over my face, as if trying to pick up my thoughts. “Are you ...”
<
br />   Before she could finish, Mr. Hendricks appeared from the administration hallway doorway. He scanned the people until he met my eyes. He nodded, jerking his head back to let me know I should follow.

  I glanced once more at Karen. Her attention was where Mr. Hendricks had been only a moment before. Her face was scrunched as if she were afraid of him. I could sympathize. I released my book bag next to her, remembering I couldn’t take it with me. I sighed, following Mr. Hendricks down the corridor.

  Mr. Hendricks left his door open as he moved to his desk. Since he left his door open, I left it open behind me. It was almost a comfort. Maybe if something happened, North could come in and save me. I sat in the orange chair.

  “How are you doing?” Mr. Hendricks asked. His bald head reflected the lights above. His hollow cheeks and dour expression told me he had little patience today. Rough morning?

  “Fine,” I said in a quiet voice. I did a quick glance around the room. The desk was cleared off, no papers to look at. The room felt emptier than I remembered it. Stacks of paperwork was piled neatly in trays. It was odd to know he had time to organize when there was so much going wrong at this school.

  Mr. Hendricks cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t look fine. Want to tell me what happened to you yesterday? Why did you skip school yesterday and the day before?”

  My mind worked over what I could tell him. “I got a strange phone call,” I said. “A message that was like a threat.”

  “Do you know who it is?”

  I shook my head. That was honest. “The guys took me out of school until they could figure it out, but when they thought it was the same person as who called about the bomb, Mr. Blackbourne took over. He said you’d called him to let him know I should return to school, so I came back today.”

  Mr. Hendricks smirked at me. “Are you telling me he yanked you out of school because someone made a threatening phone call? That’s ridiculous. If I did that, I’d never be at work. Half of the kids here could probably be excused, with the way they threaten each other.”

  I didn’t have a response to this, because he was the principal for a school full of teen troublemakers. I didn’t envy his job. How could I explain Academy protocol? “I’m back now,” I said.

  “Any leads on Mr. McCoy?” he asked.

  I shook my head. I hadn’t heard one bit about him. I thought it was a good thing, even if he had ordered me to find him. “I asked around about him a few times but haven’t gotten any information.”

  Mr. Hendricks tapped his fingers on his desk as if considering what else he could ask me. “Why do you look like you’ve been through a hurricane?” he asked.

  “I couldn’t sleep last night.”

  “Word has it you went out.”

  Mr. Morris must have reported that. I fingered the arm of the chair. “It was for my birthday,” I said quietly.

  The corner of Mr. Hendricks’s mouth lifted. “How cute. Happy birthday.”

  “Thank you,” I said, feeling awkward about his attempt at being courteous.

  He sat back, sighing. “So no ID on Mr. Blackbourne’s bomber? He told me he’d dropped that investigation.”

  “He hasn’t told me the details, but he mentioned he had some dead ends. I think the last one was the random phone call I got. They couldn’t figure out who it came from and thought it might be connected.”

  “Where’s your phone?” he asked.

  “They took it,” I said.

  He drummed his fingers on the desk. “Where’s Mr. Morgan today, by the way?”

  I blinked at him, unsure how to answer. “Last I heard, he was at home.”

  He nodded and opened his mouth, about to ask what I assumed was another question, when there was a gentle knock at the door.

  “Principal Hendricks,” called a male voice.

  I turned in my seat, startled to see Mr. Morris, and Greg, who stood beside him, Mr. Morris’s grip on his arm left him little choice.

  Greg’s dark eyes took one look at me, and his face lit up like a spider who thought he’d finally trapped a butterfly.

  Mr. Hendricks addressed Mr. Morris. “I thought you were tailing Blackbourne.”

  Mr. Morris nudged Greg’s shoulder, partially shaking him as he spoke. “I was just on my way out to see him. The other administrators are busy. I just caught this one stealing from one of the upstairs lockers.”

  “It was already open,” Greg said. “I wasn’t the one who took anything.”

  “I let you back into my school and you break into lockers?” Mr. Hendricks asked, though in a tone that suggested he didn’t really want an answer.

  Greg shrugged.

  Mr. Hendricks released a frustrating sigh. “Take him down to one of the conference rooms. I’ll see you in a second.”

  Mr. Morris glanced once at me and started dragging Greg out of the room. Greg rolled his eyes, forced to leave.

  Mr. Hendricks rubbed a palm over the side of his head. He whispered to himself, but I picked up part of it. “One more year ...”

  I stared off at his desk, trying not to let him know I’d overheard his comment. One more year? For Greg to be in school? What did it mean? I didn’t understand, and I was sure whatever listening device was in place, North or anyone listening in probably didn’t hear it.

  But I did. And the comment struck me funny. It sounded very similar to when the guys muttered they only had a few months to deal with Ashley Waters.

  I thought at first maybe he meant he only had to deal with Mr. Blackbourne taking over part of the security, and for the Academy boys to be out. This didn’t seem right. He seemed to fully intend to get the boys kicked out sooner than that.

  And he was having Mr. Morris follow Mr. Blackbourne around now. I wanted to warn him.

  Mr. Hendricks angled his head at me. “All right, Miss Sang. Here’s your job right now. I want your phone, the one with the message on it. I want to hear it for myself. If Mr. Blackbourne thought it was from the bomber, I want to hear it.”

  “I thought you wanted him to deal with that.”

  “I want to know anything he’s interested in,” he said. “He’s taken to this anonymous bomber more than anything else. I’ve explained to him they do this all the time, but something has him very interested in this. Whatever he is interested in, I’m interested in.” He stood up, opening his desk drawer. “Now sorry to shorten this meeting. I need you to pay attention to Mr. Blackbourne.” He pulled a small black camera from the drawer.

  As he stood, he dropped the camera into his back pocket. He started to turn away and walk out of the room but the phone on his desk started to ring. I had stood up, intending to leave, but Mr. Hendricks cut me off as he came back to answer it.

  “What is it?” he asked into the phone.

  He was half bent over the desk. My eyes fell on the camera in his back pocket. The edge of the wrist cord was hanging out. All I had to do was tug it lightly.

  My fingers inched forward. Maybe I should have thought about how I was stealing a camera from the principal, but my mind was foggy from lack of sleep. All I knew was he was interested in it. Anything he was interested in, I was interested in.

  My fingers curled around the cord. I lifted it, testing a gentle tug. His pocket was wide open. It’d only take a moment.

  A soft clearing of a throat emanated from the hallway, distracting me from my mad mission. I released the cord, turning around just as Mr. Hendricks hung up the phone.

  Karen stood in the doorway. Her eyes focused on Mr. Hendricks as he turned around. “I’m sorry to pop in,” she said in a soft voice.

  My cheeks radiated, and my heart pounded. Did she see what I was doing? I wanted to press my hand over my heart to control the pounding. What was I just about to do? That was a crazy move. Where was my brain today?

  Mr. Hendricks waved his hand in the air. “Not now, Miss Karen. You’ll have to go back to class. I’ve got other students to deal with.” He turned, looking at me as if he’d forgotten why I was there. “You’
re dismissed,” he said.

  I nodded, stepping back. He went for the door, angling around Karen and out into the hallway.

  Karen quickly blocked the door the moment the principal stepped out. She kept her hands behind her back. “What are you doing?” she asked me in a stage whisper. “Are you crazy?”

  She did see. I had no excuse for myself. “I ... he ...” It was horrible. She probably thought I was the thief now.

  She sliced her hand through the air over her throat. “Not now,” she said. She lunged after me, taking my hand and yanked me out of the office.

  I was stunned. My immediate urge was to pull my hand back. She hung on to me, darting down the hallway, dragging me back to the lobby. She slowed just before the lobby and turned on me.

  “Don’t do things like that in his office,” she said. “He’s watching.”

  I blinked after her. “What do you mean he’s watching?”

  “You don’t think he’d leave his door open like that if he wasn’t exactly sure who was coming in and out, do you?”

  This stunned me. Not too long ago, I took things from his desk, and snapped pictures of his office. I knew Mr. Blackbourne was watching. Did Hendricks also have hidden cameras?

  “Besides, you were doing it wrong.” She patted herself on the hip, close to her back pocket. “If you’re going to pull something out of a pocket, you have to ... I don’t know. You have to make it feel like you just bumped into him. Like swing your hip into his on accident. You were making it way too obvious.” She waved her hand through the air. “Don’t try it. You’re not a thief, anyway.”

  “I didn’t mean to. I’m just really tired of this.”

  Karen pressed a palm to her forehead. “I know the feeling. We should get to class. I can fill you in later.”

  “I have to go ... um,” I said.

  Karen squinted her eyes at me but seemed to understand that I needed to go in another direction. “Uh huh,” she said. “Good luck with it.” She darted into the lobby.

  I waited until she had enough time to leave and then made my way into the lobby, intending to collect my book bag. There were more students than before. I kept my head down, hoping Greg was still preoccupied. I wanted to collect my things and get back to North. I was tempted to tell him I wanted to go home. Now that I’d talked with Mr. Hendricks, I thought maybe I could get away without being noticed. I felt guilty about taking another day off school, but homework and tests just seemed too far out of reach for my tired brain.