Knack (Benjamin Brown Book 1)

by Tom Twitchel

  “Sir?”

  “You. The backpack move qualifies as self-defense. Munger was standing over you and it could reasonably be assumed that he was going to attempt to do more than just trip you. But the shot to the jaw,” he looked at me and pointed a long bony finger at my nose, “That was not necessary. So you also need to be disciplined and it needs to be clear to everyone, including the superintendent of schools, exactly what that is.”

  Now I was unhappy. Yeah. Maybe it had been technically unnecessary but I had felt justified. I could tell Mr. Conroy thought so too.

  “That doesn’t seem fair sir.” Five whole words in one sentence. I was really working it now.

  He frowned. “No, it doesn’t. Does it? But because that video has been circulated on the Internet and the news has run a little piece on it, I need to demonstrate fair and equal treatment as the public would see it. The news and the viewing public don’t attend school with Coby. They have no background.”

  Unfortunately, I could begin to see how that made sense.

  He rubbed his chin and shook his finger at me again. “So, Mr. Brown, what do you think we should do?”

  “Detention for me sir? ‘Cause you know, I am on the honor roll.” This token punishment had occurred to me the night before as well.

  Smiling, he shook his head and continued to waggle that finger at me. “You’ve given this some thought. So have I. That ought to just about do it.”

  I tried a small smile on for size myself.

  “BUT! You are going to have to help me here. I need you to appear to be very unhappy with any punishment at all. I, on the other hand, will produce a written announcement through the PR department that will announce that this school has a zero tolerance policy on physical violence and that all students’ welfare is at issue when considering discipline. What do you think of that Mr. Brown?”

  “I think that you are a beacon of justice and discipline sir.” He didn’t laugh, but he did crack another smile.

  “Get out of my office and stay out of trouble.”

  So, that was my morning.

  The rest of the day wasn’t boring either.

  ***********

  Homeroom period was almost over by the time I got to class. When I walked in Mrs. Sayles gave me the strangest look, a I-know-something-you-don’t-know look. Typical rustlings and whispers stopped as the door shut behind me.

  Then I looked at my desk.

  My standard issue plastic and metal desk had been transformed. It had been completely wrapped in green and blue crepe paper, even the seat. A huge cluster of balloons floated over it and a large, carefully lettered sign hung from them: “Come Fly With Me To Homecoming.”

  Oh, geeeeezz.

  Giggling, snickering and the random “oohs” echoed through the class and then I looked at Justine. She was facing straight ahead, her cheeks flushed and looking at me out of the corner of her eye. She had been dealing with the attention of the class the whole time I had been in Mr. Conroy’s office. Several different emotions rumbled around through my chest; excitement, surprise, embarrassment and a little bit of fear. I couldn’t ignore Justine’s situation and I didn’t want to leave her hanging. It really put me on the spot, but I felt like I didn’t have any real choice.

  My act in the parks had helped me conquer any fears I’d ever had about speaking in front of a group, even if it was a bunch of kids my age, so I sort of clicked into weekend entertainment mode. Glancing at Mrs. Sayles, who like everyone in the class was looking at me, I walked over to the chalkboard, picked up a piece of chalk and wrote one huge word on it, blocking everyone’s view with my body. I spun on my good leg and stepped aside so they could see what I’d written: “YES!”

  A little ripple of applause traveled around the room. Several girls giggled and I heard one guy say “Nice.” I bowed to Justine as deeply as my bad leg would allow, my eyes on her. She blushed even harder, all the way down to her neck. She sat straight with her hands folded on her desk, but she had a huge smile on her face.

  Thankfully, the bell rang a few minutes later and people filed out, girls smiling and whispering and guys either rolling their eyes or giving me a thumbs up. Justine and I unwrapped my desk and chair and threw away the paper under Mrs. Sayles watchful gaze. Justine gave me a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before she hurried out of the room into the hall where a couple of her girlfriends were excitedly waiting for her. I grabbed my books and started to leave when Mrs. Sayles made a small noise. She was looking at the balloons.

  “Oh. You’ll be taking those with you, Benjamin,” she said with a smirk.

  “Could I please leave them here until the end of the day?” I pleaded.

  She looked at the balloons, at me, then to the blackboard and what I’d written.

  She smiled wide and nodded. “Just make sure you come get them at the end of the day.”

  The rest of the day had been eventful as well. Lunch was awkward. Baffle had eaten with Munger’s crew and they had frequently looked in my direction, but none of them had been dumb enough to do more than that. Baffle, though, hadn’t looked my way once and it wasn’t because he didn’t know where I was sitting. I sat in the same dang spot every day. Justine and her girlfriends sat at the same table with me, but we didn’t sit next to each other. They were all busy whispering about my accepting the invitation.

  All of my other classes were a mixture of knowing glances and smirks, even the teachers. Everybody needed to get a life as far as I was concerned. Gathering the balloons at the end of the day and getting home had just been plain embarrassing. Nobody interfered with me in the parking lot, but there were plenty of prying questions on the bus by complete strangers. The driver had just shaken her head when I got on. I got about a dozen texts from Justine while I was on the bus. I’d really done it now. She was one happy camper. Meanwhile, I had this increasing feeling of dread, knowing what I had put in motion and where it was headed.

  When I finally got home and inside my apartment, I was tired and feeling put out. Why couldn’t people just mind their own flipping business? I let go of the balloons and they drifted into a corner by the windows. Flopping onto the couch, I stared up at the ceiling. I was forgetting something, something important, and I couldn’t remember what it was.

  Then someone knocked on the door and suddenly my memory kicked in.

  Maddy.

  And my unresolved feeling of impending doom came rushing home.

  Maddy.

  Chivalrous or not my caving in and agreeing to go to Homecoming with Justine was not going to go over well with Maddy. It was one thing to engage in a little harmless flirting, but the yearbook fiasco screamed and chattered in the back of my mind. I ran and slid into the windows in my rush to corral the balloons. Running into my mom’s room, I dragged them in there and shut the door. The knocking came again and I stumbled up to the door and peeked to see who it was.

  Maddy.

  Opening the door with a nervous jangling going on in my head, I took a deep breath—and then let it out in a whoosh.

  “Hi, Mad Mac….” I said, “You look…amazing.”

  Because she did.

  Her usual Maddy McIntyre uniform had been exchanged for a pair of designer jeans and a tight-fitting dark blue shirt that showed a lot of skinhat had rhinestones sewn into it in a swirling abstract design. But that wasn’t anything compared to the rest of her. Her hair was cut short into what I think girls called a pixie cut and she had on makeup that made her eyes look more…more something. She had on lipstick too, not a lot, but it stood out because I had never seen her wear it before. The temperature in the hallway seemed to have gotten warmer. I felt uncomfortably sweaty.

  Her smile lit up the hall. “Aww, you’re gonna turn my head!”

  I stood there gaping at her, caught up in the changes in her appearance. Looking up at me, she titled her head, her shiny black hair gracefully following the movement. “Well, are you going to invite me in?”

  I stood back so she could com
e in and closed the door behind us.

  “There’s been a bunch of wild crap going on. That’s why I wanted you to come over. I needed to talk to somebody who knows me and that I trust.”

  “Well, that’s why I’m here.” She smoothly stepped up to me and gave me a long hug. She smelled good too.

  Taking my hand, she led me over to the couch and we sat down. She faced me, the light from the windows hitting her hair and making her eyes shine. She tucked her legs up under herself.

  “So what’s going on?”

  Starting with my meeting with Mr. Conroy and the developments with Baffle, I also told her about Witkowski getting expelled from his new school, my punishment and having to watch my back, literally, wherever I went. Then I got into what had happened over the weekend with Miss Hoch, Oso and Mr. Goodturn. She had questions and reacted with some surprise when I laid out the secrets Mr. Goodturn had shared with me.

  “So, that guy who tried to hold him up, Miss Hoch what…found him and turned him into a vegetable?” she asked.

  “Sort of. Mr. Goodturn figures that she hires people, you know, like bounty hunters, that have small knacks, intuition, and uses them to seek out people with bigger knacks so she can take them. From what he said and what Miss Hoch said, she knows there are some people in the area with knacks and her…hunters are supposed to grab them and bring them to her like…food. If her hunters fail, she tracks them down and takes their small knacks to keep them quiet and cover her tracks. I guess once she’s done her thing the person can still move around, but they’re…like a zombie. Not the flesh-eating kind…just mindless.”

  I decided to leave out what Miss Hoch had said about smelling something on Maddy. I didn’t want to freak her out more than I already had.

  “So Mr. Goodturn is like…like Obi Wan Kenobi? Hunters. Zombies.” She shook her head. “And this Oso person, he’s the guy that gave me that big tip to give you when we were at the park, ‘good magic’?”

  I nodded.

  Hugging her shoulders, she shivered. “And he’s basically saved your life…like twice?”

  “Yeah, but he’s a legit gangster, scary. I googled the gang he’s affiliated with, the thirteens. They’re serious business.”

  “I agree with you, that’s serious business. You shouldn’t let him get close to you again. And Miss Hoch? I can’t believe that I was in your apartment with her. Holy…so, you all left her in the alley? Do you even know where she is now?” Maddy asked.

  “Probably. But I’m not sure exactly what Mr. Goodturn did when he…knacked her. She might be living or working somewhere else again. I don’t know. I’ve thought about checking. You know, going to that neighborhood and seeing if I can find her,” I replied

  Frowning, she looked at me with an arched eyebrow. “Nooo-wuh! That would be beyond stupid. Why didn’t you call me when all of this happened? I would have been over here in like a second.”

  Whoops. “I was pretty messed up on Sunday. Kind of dealing with getting banged around and still feeling hung over from the drugs.”

  She leaned forward and placed a hand on my leg. “Next time, call me as soon as you can. I want to be here for you.”

  “Thanks. So what do you think about Mr. Goodturn? What do you think he meant by saying he wanted to give Miss Hoch ‘peace’?”

  She thought about that for a second, leaving her hand on my knee. I tried not to focus on it.

  “I think you should trust him like he said. All the stuff you just told me, wow. I mean, Breno being the way he is, that whacky beezy being Mr. G’s wife. Mr. Goodturn being some grand master at…all the stuff you do. Your own personal gangster bodyguard, and you should have really shared that with me before too. It’s a lot to take in.” She squeezed my knee; her eyes slit just a little.

  “I didn’t want you to be…in danger. What if…what if you were trying to help me and you got hurt? But then, I figured that you had to know to be safe and I really needed to talk to you about it. Mr. Goodturn has been so good to me, but you’re my best friend and I felt like I needed to stop hiding things from the people I lo…care about.” Quite the speech. I felt vulnerable, as if I was starting a slow walk out on a limb.

  Smiling, she shook the hair out of her eyes. “Yeah. That’s a good idea. So…is today the day?”

  Billy. My big secret. My shame. Me being too selfish, and too afraid to rescue him, and then letting his face fade in and out of my mind like an old half-forgotten movie.

  My throat felt tight, and she could tell I was struggling. She gently rubbed my knee, letting me get to it on my own without her saying anything.

  “Yeah. I think so. But before I do there’s something else I need to tell you.” A worm of fear began crawling around in my stomach. I had no idea how she would react.

  “You can tell me anything.” She looked at me, her lips parted and her eyes wide.

  “Justine Winters asked me to Homecoming.” That probably could have come out a little better.

  It took her a second to digest that. “She…what?” Her hand slipped off my knee and her mouth closed tight.

  “She asked me to the dance.” The worm started doing corkscrews and my heart began a speedy drum solo.

  Leaning back, away from me, she narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t smiling. “And you said…?”

  Yeah, this was definitely not heading in a good direction. Insanely, I wished that I could take everything I had just said and stuff it all back in my mouth. Wouldn’t that be the knack to end all knacks?

  “Look…she first kind of backed me into a corner on the phone…but the thing I wasn’t ready for…she like, decorated my desk in homeroom…when I was talking to the vice-principal…and when I got to class, she was just sitting there. Everyone was looking at her.… She was embarrassed. I felt like, if I said “No” she would be humiliated.”

  One of her eyes was almost completely shut, as if she was trying to conduct a lie detector test with it. “And you just felt sorry for her. Is that it? You took pity on her?”

  My mother’s voice whispered “…and all your chickens will come home to roost eventually. And then what will you do?” Really helpful.

  “No. Yes.… I mean, you should have seen her. Well, maybe not…but she was just sitting there looking…really uncomfortable.”

  “Uh huh. And you said…?”

  “I said ‘Yes.’” That debate about peeling a Band-Aid slowly versus ripping it off to get the pain over with? Sometimes it’s messed up no matter how you do it.

  Maddy’s mouth puckered in an unhappy way. “You said ‘Yes.’ You said… ‘Yes.’”

  Seemed like a good time to stop talking. I just sat there.

  Cracking her neck by twisting her head from one side to the other she put both hands on her knees and frowned at me. I was waiting for her to just up and leave and offer her patented opinion on the intelligence of the adolescent male population.

  Yeah. I really don’t understand girls.

  “Well, I think you should definitely go. In fact, I have a really great idea.” Her pert nose was elevated just slightly and her eyes glittered.

  “Maddy, I…”

  “I think we should double date.”

  My little worm of worry turned into a lead weight and dropped into my stomach. My heart, not wanting to be left out, skipped a beat or two.

  “Double…what?” I stuttered.

  A scary smirk creased her lips. “Yes. I think we should all go out together. I got a text from Baffle today. He asked me to go. I was trying to figure out how to let him down easy because of all the stuff he’s been going through. But now…we can make him look good in front of the little snot that waxed him and you can take poor Miss Justine and we’ll all have the best time.”

  Yeah.… That sounded just peachy.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  When the dance finally drew close enough, I began to sweat and freak a little. Justine hadn’t been thrilled with the double date idea, but I had insisted. Her ish had been Baffle and his
recent inclusion in Munger’s posse. She didn’t know Maddy and I figured that might be a good thing. Details that I had never had to worry about before became way too big a part of my life in the week leading up to the dance. Theme clothing, corsage, new shoes and finding a place to eat before the dance weighed on my mind. Under different circumstances, I would have asked for help from Maddy but I was pretty sure that would be a truly stupid idea. I let the girls do all the planning.

  Baffle drove since Justine’s Prius was too tight a fit. We ended up having dinner at a popular chain restaurant that was packed with dozens of kids that had the same idea. There were eight of us at dinner because two of Justine’s friends and their dates joined us.

  The theme was “Come Fly With Me.” Justine had dressed like a vintage flight attendant, including a little cap pinned at an angle in her blond hair that she had swept up, exposing her long, graceful neck, while Maddy wore a tight fitting old-school airman uniform that definitely did not make her look like a boy. She looked beautiful, her black hair shining and her green eyes bright. My costume was khakis, a plain blue shirt, a bomber pilot’s jacket and a leather cap. Baffle wore a flashy airline pilot’s uniform that was at least one size too big. His red hair stood out harshly against the navy blue suit. He looked uncomfortable throughout dinner.

  We sat at a large table with the four of us on two angles at one end. Maddy was next to Justine with Baffle on her right. Justine was very handsy and touchy during dinner, which surprised me because she wasn’t the aggressive type. She either had her arm around me or had her hand on my shoulder. Maddy sat straight in her chair and firmly repositioned Baffle’s hand every time he tried to put it anywhere near her. He definitely kept her busy. He and I spoke as little as possible, our fallout at school creating awkwardness between us that made an already weird evening even stranger. On top of that, I felt myself getting irritated while I watched the two of them eating together.