by Gina Ciocca
“Hi, I’m here to see Mrs. Pace,” I said.
“And you are?”
“I’m a friend of her son’s. He asked me to drop this off to her.” I held up the manila envelope stuffed with blank paper that I’d brought.
She propped her elbow up on the desk and opened her hand. “I’ll put it in her mailbox.”
Uh-oh.
“Um, I’d like to see her if that’s okay. She’s a friend of the family and Jordan made it sound important.” I indicated the envelope again.
She picked up the phone like it weighed a thousand pounds and hit a button with the pen she’d been seesawing against the desk. “Mrs. Pace to the front office, please. You have a visitor.”
Right on cue, Mindy walked past the glass frame of the office, spotted me, and doubled back, waving. She opened the door and poked her head inside. “Oh hey! You’re the one looking for Mrs. Pace, right?” She turned to the woman at the desk. “She’s talking to someone at the end of the hall, Judy. I’ll escort her down if you want.”
Judy made a twirling motion with her finger. “Follow Miss Kishore, please.”
Phew. So far so good. I gave Mindy a thumbs-up near my abdomen as the office door closed behind me. Mrs. Pace wasn’t really standing at the end of the hall, of course. That had been a ploy to make sure Judy didn’t cancel the page. Now, if everything went the way it was supposed to, Jordan’s mother should be on her way to the office while Mindy took me in the opposite direction to her classroom.
“Oh my God, Marisa, I’m seriously peeing myself. Do you really think you can do this without getting caught?”
I blew out a nervous breath and scanned the hall. At that point, I would’ve rather run head-on into Mrs. Pace than to happen upon Kendall. Only because I couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t finish what I started at TJ’s farm.
At which point, I did run into someone. Or he ran into me. I couldn’t tell. I only knew that my shoulder jostled and a second later, a guy was apologizing to me.
“I’m so sor—” He tilted his head in puzzlement. “Marisa?”
“Eli. Um, hi.”
“What are you—?”
“Get back under your toadstool, Jasper,” Mindy spat. I was shocked to hear the venom in her voice.
“—doing here?” he asked, ignoring her.
“Marisa doesn’t have all morning, and neither do I.” Mindy folded her arms across her chest.
Eli’s body tensed, like he was willing himself to keep cool in the face of Mindy’s rudeness. She’d heckled him at the football game, but I thought that had been for Jason’s benefit. In all honesty, she was embarrassing me.
“Long story.” I made my expression as apologetic as I could. “I’m sure you’ll hear about it later.”
He nodded. “Cool.” With an icy glance at Mindy, he started away. “Catch you later.”
“Mindy!” I said when there was some distance between us and Eli. “Why were you so rude to him?”
“He’s a shady little toad, Marisa. Do you know how many times he’s been caught lurking outside the girls’ locker room? Because it’s more than once. Don’t tell him anything about what we’re doing. He’ll probably muck it all up with his creep slime.”
“Geez, Greggie-George really buried that poor guy’s reputation, didn’t he?” It made me seriously reconsider whether or not it was wise to have Jason on our team. Although I supposed it was too late now.
“Who the hell is Greggie-George?”
“Never mind.” I took her arm and started down the hall again. “If I can get my hands on Mrs. Pace’s grade chart, that’ll point me in the direction of the cheaters. I know I can figure out who’s behind this.”
I didn’t dare tell her who I suspected. The fewer people who knew all the details, the better.
We stopped at the end of a long hall. It was quiet, save for the handful of early arrivals gathering books at their lockers. In another fifteen minutes or so, the school would be swarmed.
“Okay,” Mindy said. “Her room is 302. I’ll walk by and make sure it’s empty, and then I’ll give you the signal.”
“And you’ll text me if you see anyone coming?”
“You know the service here sucks. I’ll do it, but you might be staring that bitch in the face by the time you get it.”
I shrugged. “If that happens, I’ll wing it. I’ve always thought I might be able to talk some sense into her anyway.”
Mindy nodded. “All right. Good luck.” She sauntered down the hall, slowing in front of room 302. After a quick scan, she glanced at me and gave a slight nod.
I hurried inside the classroom. It looked like any other chem class, with a whiteboard at the front and a tall desk that doubled as a podium. Oversized storage closets were on the side wall, windows at the back, and desks in between. I zeroed in on the podium.
Jackpot.
You’d think someone who’d had information stolen from her laptop wouldn’t leave it sitting out in an empty classroom, but she had. It made me even angrier that she’d accuse Charlie of hacking it. If she did this regularly, anyone could come in and help themselves. Especially since the computer hadn’t been idle long enough for the screen to go dark.
A pile of papers sat next to the computer, and a flicker of hope swelled in my chest. If she’d been entering grades before we interrupted then maybe…I maximized a tab at the bottom of the screen. A huge smile spread across my face. Right there before my eyes was the very information I’d been looking for: a spreadsheet of assignments labeled CHEM I PERIOD TWO and the grades each student had received. I whipped out my phone and took a picture, then skimmed the list for Charlie’s name. It wasn’t there. I tried the tab labeled PERIOD THREE and, finding nothing, moved on to PERIOD FIVE.
Zilch.
Crap, crap, crap. This wasn’t Charlie’s class. Precious minutes were slipping away and all I had were names of students from a course Charlie didn’t even take. I minimized the page and hope sparked again when I saw another spreadsheet on the desktop labeled CHEM II. I clicked on it. And groaned when a box popped up asking me for a password. Unfortunately, Mrs. Pace was smarter than I gave her credit for.
I thought about typing in Jordan and saying a Hail Mary, but I didn’t have time. My phone vibrated and I heard voices approaching, voices I recognized. I froze, then frantically looked around for somewhere to hide. The first storage cabinet I tried was locked.
Shit!
I yanked at the next one and found it not only unlocked, but with enough empty space to squeeze and contort my way inside. My body bent at angles that no one except a Cirque du Soleil performer should ever attempt, something hard and unyielding dug into my shin, and a nasty chemical smell went straight to my brain, but I managed to conceal myself behind the mostly closed door. I heard the classroom door slam shut.
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at school?” Kendall’s voice asked. From my hiding place, I saw a paper-thin slice of her profile.
“How am I supposed to go to school?” Jordan answered. “You put my picture all over your goddamn website and made me look like an idiot, and now you won’t return my calls or texts. What did I ever do to you?”
“Ask your girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend? Who? Marisa?”
Kendall bristled and even from my hiding place, I felt the tension crackling in the pause that followed. “No,” she growled. “Sara. Or who knows? Maybe it is Marisa. Sara obviously thought so when she sent you those pictures.”
“First of all, one of those pictures is fucking ancient, and second, how do you know about Sara?” I couldn’t see Jordan, but the increasing volume of his voice told me he might lose his grip any second.
“You should know better than to leave your phone unattended, Jordan, especially if there’s evidence on it.”
“Evidence? It’s called my goddamn life! A
nd you know what, Kendall? I don’t have a girlfriend at all, thanks to you. Marisa and I broke up months ago, the minute I knew I wanted to be with you.”
I gasped. And then clamped my hand over my mouth and squeezed my eyes shut, praying they hadn’t heard. I couldn’t believe my ears. Jordan had left me for Kendall. She was the girl who’d broken his heart?
“I told you I loved you, and not only did you pick that toolbox over me, but now you’re ruining my chances with anyone else!” Jordan continued.
“All I did was go through your phone because it was there, because you were stupid enough to leave it in my room. And what do I find but all these texts from Sara, some girl you never even told me about, accusing you of cheating with my best friend and sending you pictures to back it up.”
I almost retched hearing Kendall call me her best friend. What a liar. But now I understood why Sara hadn’t known about the pictures on the Busted website—Kendall had stolen them from Jordan’s phone.
“I don’t have to tell you about anyone!” Jordan’s voice was shaking, and I knew the veins in his temple must’ve been bulging the way they did when he got angry. “You led me on, and you used me! Fucking used me! Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t go to the—”
My phone vibrated with an audible buzz and I shrank even deeper into the closet.
God, Mindy, not now!
Kendall’s head whipped toward the closet. The classroom door opened.
“Jordan? What’s going on here?” Mrs. Pace sounded irritated. “What are you two doing in my classroom with the door shut?”
“Sorry, Mom. I had to talk to Kendall.”
“Your father and I pay enough for your cell phone plan. How about using it? Kendall, would you excuse us, please?”
“Sure, Mrs. Pace.”
Kendall didn’t look back at the cabinet before skulking out of the room. A few seconds later, Mrs. Pace spoke again. “Jordan, would you care to explain why I got called down to the office to meet someone who claimed to be dropping off something for you, only to find there’s no one there and my son is hiding in my classroom with one of my students when he’s supposed to be at school?”
“It’s senior skip day, Mom. I don’t have to go in.”
“Senior skip day in the middle of winter? Do you forget I teach high school? What did I tell you about getting involved with my students?”
“Kendall and I aren’t involved, Mom. We’re friends.”
I heard clicking, followed by, “This isn’t what I was working on. Why were you trying to get into my period one spreadsheet? Jordan, tell me what’s going on here.”
Oh crap. I hadn’t closed out of the password-protected screen. Even if TJ was wrong and Jordan hadn’t been involved with the cheating scandal, I’d just made things look very bad for him.
“Nothing’s going on, Mom. I lied, okay? Kendall and I dated, but we’re not anymore. We broke up. Happy now?”
Mrs. Pace sighed. “It’s for the best, honey. You have plenty of girls to choose from at your own school.”
I stifled a snort. Something about Jordan’s mother wanting him to do his dirt on his own turf struck me as hilarious.
“Yeah, but…” Jordan mumbled. “I really liked her.”
Oh vom. Pathetic.
Mrs. Pace laughed a little. “There are plenty of fish in the sea. Right now you need to worry about getting to school, buddy. Come on. I’ll walk you out.”
Their voices trailed off and I burst out of the closet, then out the door, nearly knocking over a pair of girls who were trying to come inside. Mindy appeared out of nowhere.
“Oh my God, Marisa,” she said, wringing her hands. “Did they see you? I tried to warn you but it happened so fast!”
“I don’t think they saw me, but I didn’t find much. Get me out of here, Mindy.”
I had to move fast. Wherever Jordan went next, I wanted to be right on his tail.
34
Mindy ushered me to the closest exit, which, unfortunately, was nowhere near the main exit, where Mrs. Pace had taken Jordan. By the time I made it back to my car, I knew I’d lost him. Not that it was going to stop me.
I turned on my car and pulled out my phone to call him.
“Jordan,” I said when he picked up. “Where are you?”
“At school.”
“Don’t bother lying. I saw you. Where are you going?”
He let out an annoyed sigh. “To school. What do you want, Marisa?”
“The truth. Meet me in the woods outside the bio wing when you get there. We need to talk.”
With that, I hung up and drove off.
• • •
Jordan was leaning against his car when I got to the parking lot. Scratches scarred his driver’s-side door handle, what I assumed to be evidence of the break-in he’d been so upset about. Part of me, a huge part, actually, was shocked that he’d waited. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d gone inside and blown me off, but when I pulled into a space and got out of my car, Jordan nodded wordlessly toward the woods, and I followed him.
We started down the trail used by the bio and geology classes for nature walks and plant and rock identification—and by kids cutting class for various acts of debauchery. Today it provided the perfect backdrop for confronting Jordan.
He brushed the remains of snow off a rock and sat down while I leaned against a tree.
“So tell me about Kendall,” I said.
“You first.”
“There’s not much to tell. She’s an old friend who moved away and came back.”
Jordan cocked his head. “I’m not coming clean if you don’t.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. She told me TJ might’ve been cheating on her, so she asked me to find out. In the process, he and I kind of…” I trailed off, not sure how to end that sentence. Had we fallen for each other?
Jordan snorted. “She thought he was cheating on her?” He shook his head and smiled humorlessly.
“And that’s funny because—she was cheating on him?” I prompted. When his stare fixed somewhere around my feet and he didn’t answer, I added, “With you?”
A few more seconds of silence followed. Then Jordan sighed. “I met her last year. I was helping my mom pack up her classroom for the summer, and Kendall was in the office trying to work out some issues with her schedule before she switched from regular to honors classes. She was slated to be in my mom’s class, so the secretary introduced her. We all started talking, but my mom had some things to finish up, so I showed Kendall around the honors wing.”
“Be still my freaking heart.”
“Look, I didn’t mean for it to happen, okay? I started thinking about her all the time and we exchanged numbers and she was the one who asked me to hang out first. She said she was seeing someone, but she made it sound like things were crap with TJ and it wasn’t going to work out. The last time I fell that hard for someone, it was you.”
He looked me in the eye when he said it, and his sincerity softened me a little. “Did she know about me?”
“Not specifically. She knew I had a girlfriend, but that was it. I had no idea you two knew each other until I saw that video on Charlie’s phone.”
“So you broke up with me, but Kendall still wanted to be with TJ,” I said.
Jordan nodded.
“Then Sara thought you were still hung up on me, so she stalked us and sent you pictures accusing you of cheating with me.” He nodded again. “And when Kendall found them, she got jealous and posted them on her website.” Another affirmation. “Boy, what a tangled web we weave.”
He scoffed. “Tell me about it.”
I took a breath and perched next to him on the rock. “I need you to be honest with me, Jordan. Did you give Kendall the data from your mother’s laptop?”
His mouth dropped open. “W-what—where did
you get that idea?” he finally stuttered.
“You said she used you.”
“No, I didn’t.”
Oh crap. He’d said it, but to Kendall in his mother’s classroom this morning, not to me. I’d just given myself away, but I didn’t have time to worry about covering.
“Please, tell me. The only way to clear Charlie’s name is to figure out who’s really behind all this. If it’s you, then I need you to help us.”
Jordan shot to his feet. At the same time, the sound of voices met my ears and the ground crunched under footfalls that weren’t mine or Jordan’s. I swore under my breath and stood up as Mr. Leroche and his bundled-up bio class headed right for us.
But of course, it wasn’t just any bio class. It was TJ’s bio class.
He stood at the front of the group, hands deep in the pockets of his Paul Bunyan coat, dark curls framing his temples, and a look in his eyes like his worst suspicions had been confirmed. Like he’d been betrayed.
Damn it! How did this keep happening? I’d been alone with Jordan exactly twice in the past six months, and TJ had caught me both of those times. It was like he had radar or something.
“Mr. Pace, Ms. Palmera,” Mr. Leroche called out. “Shouldn’t you two be in class?”
“Shouldn’t you be inside?” Jordan answered. “It’s two degrees out here.”
“Perfect weather for experiments on the effects of snow on plants.” He flashed a smile. “Now get back to your lessons, or we’ll be forced to experiment on the effects of escorting two class-skippers to the principal’s office.”
“Ha-ha-ha,” Jordan deadpanned amid calls of “ooh!” and “burn!” from the bio class.
We shouldered our way through and I squeezed TJ’s arm as I passed him. “We need to talk later.”