“If this works it’ll stop all of the rumors and lies that are bring spread around.” Karla told Dominic and Chase.
“And if it doesn’t the rumors won’t matter because we won’t be allowed back to that school anyway.” Chase told them with a grin. “Sounds fun. I’m in.”
“I knew I could count on you babe.” Callie said and hugged him.
“Anything for you Calliebug.” He said and she punched him. She hated that nickname and he knew it.
“What about you Dominic? Are you in?” Rylee asked him.
“Oh yeah. I’m in. I can’t wait to put that douchebag in his place. He has no business being around decent people.”
“Okay so here’s what we’re going to do.” Karla said and told them what she’d worked out in her head during the night.
“I only have one problem with that. Mr. Johnson is never going to buy that I need his help with choosing classes for next year. He knows I’ve had my schedule planned out since seventh grade.” Rylee told them.
“I have to be visible in the halls. Everyone needs to think that Conner and I have split up because of that picture. Any suggestions?”
“I have an idea.” Conner said and grinned. He pulled out his phone and sent a text. A few minutes later Kevin’s car pulled into the driveway.
“Con said y’all needed my help with something. What’s up?”
“Conner you’re a genius.” Karla beamed at him and kissed his cheek.
“Guess the rumors about you two breaking up aren’t true.” Kevin said with a grin. He’d seen the picture, but he knew his brother and knew he’d never do anything like that to hurt Karla.
“That’s what we need your help with.” Karla said and told him their plan.
“Oh I am so in. I have been wanting to knock James down to size since he hurt you Karla. This sounds like my kind of fun.”
“Awesome. We’ll start everything Monday morning as soon as we get to school.” Karla said and they all nodded. “Now who’s hungry?”
They all laughed and walked into the kitchen. Leslie looked up at them as they walked in and smiled. “I just took a lasagna out of the oven. You all must have food radar.”
“You know we do Mrs. Peterson. That smells delicious.” Conner said and grabbed them all a Coke from the fridge. “I hope it’s alright that I asked Kevin to come over. He was helping us with something.”
“Yes, that’s fine. How are you Kevin?”
“I’m doing alright Mrs. Peterson. How are you?”
“I’m good Kevin. Karla, plates, Callie, forks, Rylee, salad please.” She said and the girls instantly stood up and grabbed what she needed. Without being asked Conner grabbed the salad dressing out of the fridge, Dominic grabbed a stack of napkins off the bar and Chase grabbed glasses for them all.
“Wow.” Kevin said in awe. “You have them trained well Mrs. Peterson.”
She laughed as she sat the lasagna in the middle of the table. “They know if they eat over here they help somehow. They’ll all help clean up too. It’s just how we do it here.”
Kevin didn’t say anything else as they all dished up lasagna and salad onto their plates. They were just starting to eat when Andrew came home and joined them. During dinner they talked and ate and laughed together. Not once did Leslie or Andrew question why everyone was there. This was just routine for them now and they loved every minute of it.
****
On Monday morning Karla sat with Callie on the bus and didn’t speak to Conner at all. When they got to their first class Karla sat in her usual seat beside Conner, but she still didn’t talk to him. It was harder than she’d thought it would be, but she only had to get through this one class. They didn’t have their second block class together.
When the bell rang Karla gathered her stuff and walked out. It was show time. “Karla wait. I need to talk to you.”
“I have nothing to say to you, Conner. I saw the picture just like everyone else did. Now leave me alone.” She turned and walked away with him close on her heels.
“All I’m asking for is five minutes. I just need you to hear me out, then if you still decide you want nothing to do with me I’ll understand.” Conner begged. It took everything inside him not to burst out laughing. Karla was a great actress.
“Fine. Five minutes. Now I have to get to class.” She said and walked away.
Conner headed in the other direction and walked into his class just before the tardy bell rang. He was a little nervous about this next part, but he knew that Chase had already hacked into the school’s system and had what they needed. All he had to do was get into Mr. Johnson’s office and play it for everyone to see.
After class Conner walked toward the cafeteria and passed Kevin, who was supposed to lure Mr. Johnson to the guidance office for help with his classes for his senior year. He smiled at his brother and Kevin grinned back. A minute later he passed Chase, who was heading to the front of the building to wait for Kevin and Mr. Johnson to leave Mr. Johnson’s office. Chase held up his hand and indicated that he’d need five minutes. Conner sent a text to Kevin relaying that and Kevin immediately sent a reply letting them know Mr. Johnson was pulling his file and they were about to leave. Conner sent a mass text to everyone letting them know that they had about seven minutes.
When Conner entered the cafeteria Karla, Rylee and Callie were sitting together at a table in the corner. Dominic was walking away from them and heading to the AV room so he could help Chase from there. Conner approached the table and looked at Karla. “Can I have that five minutes now please?”
Karla rolled her eyes and Conner almost cracked up at her. “Yeah. Rylee, Callie, can you excuse me please?”
“We’ll be here when you come back.” Rylee said with a sneer and Callie simply nodded.
“I’ll be right back.” She said and walked to a private corner with Conner.
“Today had been a really long day. I am so glad this is almost over. How are you holding up.?” Conner asked her as soon as they were alone.
“I’m doing okay. The thought of this being over has held me together today. I wish I could hug you right now, but we have to keep this up for a few more minutes.”
“Three to be exact.” Conner said as his and Karla’s cell phones both went off. “Two actually.” He said after he checked the message.
“Chase is ready. He’s waiting on Dominic to connect the AV and it’ll play.”
“Here we go.”
Karla took a deep breath and shouted loudly. “Conner Newberry I don’t know who you think I am, but you’re crazy if you think I’ll forgive you for this! Go jump off a bridge and leave me alone!”
With the precision timing of a multimillion dollar movie, when the last word left her mouth the lights dimmed all over the school and every AV unit came on.
Chapter Eighty
Mr. Johnson’s voice came across the intercom system. Attention students. Please turn your attention to the nearest AV unit and stay tuned for a very important message. Thank you.
As soon as the message finished the security footage of James attacking Karla filled all of the AV screens. Chase had set it on an automatic feed immediately followed by the security footage from the dance when Albert was bad mouthing Karla.
About a minute into the footage Chase and Dominic walked into the cafeteria and sat down with Callie and Rylee. Once both videos played out the AV units clicked off and the lights came back on. Karla walked over to the table she’d been sitting at and sat back down and Conner walked over to Kevin, who had just entered the cafeteria.
“Man, Mr. Johnson is furious. If steam could actually come out of someone’s ears it would have been coming out of his. That was beautiful.” Kevin said with a laugh.
“I just hope it worked.” Conner said and walked away. The lunch bell would be ringing in a minute so he walked out of the cafeteria and headed toward his next class.
Once everyone was in class Mr. Johnson came onto the PA system. Attention students. Due to a b
reech in school security classes are suspended for the rest of the day so I can find out who hacked into the system. You are not, however, dismissed from school. You will wait in your designated classrooms for me or another staff member to question you. Thank you.
Their Spanish teacher looked up from her desk. “If we’re going to be here anyway you all may as well break into groups of six and study. Conner, Karla, Callie, Chase, Rylee and Dominic immediately grouped together and started a whispered conversation.
“Did anyone leave anything behind that can link them to this?” Karla asked everyone.
“Nope and I wiped the security footage from the time class dismissed and programmed the cameras not to come back on until after the video feed ended. He isn’t going to find anything to link it to us.” Chase told them confidently.
“I didn’t touch anything in the AV room except the things I touch every day to play the morning news cast.” Dominic told them. “So even if he has the cops in to dust for prints mine are supposed to be there.”
“Okay. Good. I’d go to him right now and confess to it all before I would let any of you get in trouble.” Karla told them.
“He wouldn’t believe you Karla. You were having a very public discussion with Conner at the time and everyone saw us three together in the cafeteria.” Callie told her.
Before they could say anything else Mr. Johnson walked into their classroom. “Miss Hall, may I speak to you a moment in the hall please?”
“Yes sir.” Karla said with false confidence and rose from her chair.
As soon as they were in the hall Mr. Johnson faced her. “Miss Hall if you or your friends had anything to do with this I will drop it all right now and everything will be forgotten. I know that your life here has been miserable since Mr. Greene attacked you and by publically playing the security footage everyone now knows what really happened.”
“Mr. Johnson are you saying that if I tell you that my friends and I did this then we wouldn’t be in trouble? Hypothetically of course.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying Miss Hall. You and your friends are exemplary students and have never caused any kind of trouble before. I’d do nothing more than give you a warning to not do it again and it’d be over.”
“May I go back inside for a moment? I need them out here with me.”
“Yes you may. I’ll be right here when you get back.”
Karla walked back into the classroom and got them all. Within five minutes Mr. Johnson told them what he’d told her. They looked at her, she shrugged and told Mr. Johnson the whole story starting with what happened Friday after school all the way through what had happened that morning.
“I see. Well why don’t you all get back to class? I have an announcement to make. Oh and Miss Hall. With planning skills like that you’ll go far in life. Have a good day.” He nodded to them all and walked off.
****
The rest of the school year passed quietly. The rumors stopped and Karla enjoyed the last two weeks of school. Finals were over and summer had begun. Everything was going great and life was finally what it should be for Karla.
About a week after school let out Karla and her friends came in after a day at the mall and Leslie and Andrew were sitting in the family room on the couch. Karla was instantly on alert. “What’s wrong?” She asked them when she saw the expressions on their faces.
“Sit down Karla. We have to tell you something.”
“Umm… okay. What’s wrong?”
“Captain McGraw just called us a little while ago to inform us that he got a phone call from a lady named Mary Matthews.” Andrew paused when Karla gasped at the name. “Do you know her?”
“Yes. She was Grams’ best friend back in Texas. What’s going on?”
“You may have a younger brother in Texas.”
“What!?” Karla asked in shock.
“According to Mrs. Matthews, Diane and her son David had a relationship their senior year of high school. It started right after you were born and lasted for a little over two years. It ended when she gave birth to a baby boy. She took off and left him with his dad. David named him Elliot and has raised him alone since then. Three weeks ago David was killed in a tractor accident and Mrs. Matthews has been caring for Elliot since, but her health won’t allow her to continue to take care of him. She tracked Diane here and contacted Captain McGraw.” Andrew explained to her.
“Karla, Andrew and I discussed it and we’d be willing to go to Texas and bring Elliot to live with us if that’s what you want.” Leslie told her.
“I have another brother? This is surreal to me. I want to meet him. I want to go to Texas.”
About The Author
Hello everyone. I’d like to take a minute to tell you a little bit about myself. I am thirty-four years old and have been enjoying the world of books for the last thirty years. Reading is my passion. A little over a year ago I turned that passion into something more when I started editing professionally. Until the idea for A New Beginning popped into my head I had always considered myself a fixer, not a creator. Through the encouragement of some wonderful authors, great friends and a supportive family A New Beginning was born. I hope you enjoy the first book in The Second Chance Series.
A New Beginning (The Second Chance Series Book 1) Page 25