by Tina Chan
Troop switched his electro-slate into sleep mode, not wanting to continue the pointless argument with Jennifer. Once she set her mind on something, nothing could change her mindset. With no annoying instafications to bother him, Troop’s thoughts wandered to the topic of the upcoming VicDay.
VicDay—short for Victim Day—was a day of entertainment for some. For others, it was a day of humiliation. Troop had established VicDay a few years ago to secure his position on the social ladder. Once a month, members in Troop’s circle would cast names of students who had in one way or another crossed paths unfavorably with them to be their next target. The purpose of VicDay was simple: to send a clear message to everyone warning them not to upset Troop and his crew.
Richie Honston was last month’s victim. He had been caught kissing Darrel’s girlfriend. As a result, Troop had sent Jack, the school’s chief hacker, to hijack Richie’s electro-slate. All the answers of the test Richie submitted for the next three days were misordered, thanks to the virus Jack had implanted. Richie was expelled from Ludus High due to the five F’s he received on his test. A Perfect failing a test was frowned upon. A Perfect failing five tests in the matter of three days was unacceptable.
“Maya,” Tompkins said. “That’s the name of the girl who I think should be the next VicDay target.”
Troop completed a double-handed 360 on his snowboard then replied, “Did Jennifer set you up with this?”
“Yeah. How did you know?” Tompkins cleared a wide gap jump, catching a lot of air as he did so and obtaining a smattering applause from his peers.
Not to be outdone, Troop flawlessly completed the same jump with a midair corkscrew. Darrel let loose a wolf whistle and shouted, “I rate that a ten out of ten.”
“So?” Tompkins said.
“Jennifer has a grudge against Maya,” said Troop.
“For what?”
“Jealousy.”
Tompkins’s eyes boggled and he almost swerved into another snowboarder. He veered away just in time.
“Jealousy? What does Maya have for Jennifer to be jealous of?”
“Long story short: Jenn thinks I’m into Maya.”
“But you’re not, right?”
“Right.” Troop’s eyes scanned the area, searching for his guys.
They skidded to a stop, sending a wave of powdery snow spraying before them. Troop unfastened his feet from the snowboard and ambled over to join the rest of the gang, ignoring the sycophants trying to impress him with their measly tricks.
“Alright, does anyone want to have one last go on their boards or are we ready to choose our VicDay target?” said Troop.
No one answered so he took that as a sign the guys were done snowboarding for the day.
“Names?” said Troop.
“Elise Lighters,” suggested Parker. “He wouldn’t let me copy his homework.”
“Samson Tuckerson,” said Charles. “Because he took my lab partner on Wednesday.”
“Timothy Garcia,” said Bruno. He carelessly blew a spitball into the back of an unsuspecting passerby. “Just because I hate his face.”
Troop inwardly frowned. Personally, he disliked Bruno but kept him around for two reasons: 1) he helped maintain Troop’s reputation and 2) more than once, Bruno had hooked Troop up to useful connections. Bruno’s father owned Ludus High.
“Maya Abels,” said Tompkins. “Because Jennifer said so.”
Some of the guys shot each other knowing looks. The fact wasn’t lost on them Jennifer was one of the prettiest girls in school and winning some favors from her wouldn’t cause any harm.
“Jay Allgood. She didn’t turn off the lights in the study lab and Mr. Marlin blamed it on me. Got an after school detention.” The corner of Mason’s mouth twitched, the standard of Mason’s grin forming. Mason rarely smiled outright. He paused, then said, “Actually, Jay’s pretty cute. Maybe I can convince her to date me—I heard she just broke up with that slug, Gary Whitman.”
“So, do you want Jay to be a VicDay candidate or not?” asked Troop.
“No. I withdraw her name,” said Mason.
“Any other nominees? No? Alright, send me your votes.”
Troop waited for a minute then checked his instafication. Scrolling through his inbox, he ignored the fifteen instafications from Jennifer and opened up the instafications containing the votes.
Maya
Maya
Samson
Maya
Elise
Timothy
Maya
Maya
Elise
chapter six
[ Kristi ]