Hacker

by Leslie McGill

  “And I still have all my returned tests and assignments,” Luther said, as if he had read Keshawn’s mind. “So I’ve got all the evidence I need.”

  He turned the key and the big car’s engine roared. “So change Chance’s math grade. And get out of my car. You’re stinking it up.”

  Some people wait their whole life to screw up, Keshawn thought to himself. Me? I managed to do it in eleventh grade.

  CHAPTER 6

  Neecy

  Neecy ate a quick lunch and went to the library to meet Charlie. Most of the computer desks were taken. She walked to her favorite spot, the quiet desk in the back of the room. Too late, she realized that Luther Ransome was already sitting there. She turned quickly, but not before he saw her.

  “You want to sit here?” he asked innocently. “No problem. I’m just about done.”

  Neecy walked back toward him, planning to wait till he logged off. But instead, he put his arms around her waist and pulled her down onto his lap. “You can sit right here!” he said. He held her so tightly she couldn’t pull away.

  “Let me go,” she hissed at him, scrambling to get loose. But all he did was laugh and hold her tighter.

  “Let me go!” she said in a louder voice. She was aware that other students were peering around their computers to see what was happening.

  “Here you are,” Charlie Ray said, walking back to where Neecy sat on Luther’s lap. “I saved you a computer up in the front so I could show you that work you missed.”

  He held out his hand, and she took it.

  With all eyes on him, Luther released his grip. The look he flashed Charlie was filled with hate. Neecy stood and walked with Charlie to another bank of computers.

  After logging on, she turned to Charlie. “Thanks, Charlie,” she whispered. “You saved me from that creep.”

  “He’s a piece of work,” Charlie said. “Thinks he’s the next Michael Jordan, Cam Newton, and the rest of the sports world all wrapped up in one package.”

  “He thinks he’s God’s gift to women too,” Neecy said. “But most girls I know can’t stand him. The ones who do like him are pretty skanky.”

  “I’ll bet he’s not too happy with me right now,” Charlie said with a laugh. It was clear he wasn’t worried about it. Charlie was popular with everyone: athletes, science team members, even the drama club. No one could ever be angry with Charlie.

  “Well, you’re my hero,” Neecy said. Her computer booted up. She entered her user name and password and went to the D.C. school system’s website where grades were posted. “Oh, Charlie, I wish I was half as smart as you are,” she said. Her grades were so low, there was no way she was going to maintain a 3.0 when report cards came out.

  “What makes you think I’m so smart?” Charlie asked with an amused smile.

  “Are you kidding? Everyone knows you’re a genius!” Neecy said with a laugh.

  “Actually, everyone just thinks I’m a genius,” Charlie said. “I’m pretty average.”

  “You are not!” she said hotly. “Ask anyone. Ask the teachers. They always call on you.”

  “If I tell you a little secret,” Charlie said, “can you promise not to tell anyone?”

  Neecy nodded, wondering what he was about to say.

  “I’m not as smart as people think I am,” Charlie said. “Not even close to it.”

  “Oh, I don’t believe you!” she said with a laugh. “Your definition of smart and my definition of smart just aren’t the same.”

  “I get decent enough grades,” Charlie said. “But seriously? I’m just okay. Except at baseball. I’m pretty spectacular at baseball.”

  “Hmm,” Neecy said. “I always figured you were smart. I didn’t know you were athletic too.”

  Charlie snickered, startling the students working on the surrounding computers. The librarian shushed him.

  “I’m more than athletic,” he bragged, flexing an arm muscle.

  Neecy put her hands over her face to stifle her laughter.

  “I will probably get a baseball scholarship because I am that good. I have an arm that Superman would like to have. This is not bragging; it’s the truth. But I’m not particularly smart.”

  “Modest much, Charlie? Which arm?” Neecy said.

  “Which arm what?” Charlie responded.

  “Which is the arm that Superman would envy?”

  “The one you’re sitting beside,” Charlie said. “Might be worth a couple million someday,” he added. “So watch it!”

  “So I shouldn’t do this?” Neecy said, punching him softly.

  “What was that?” Charlie asked.

  “A punch.” Neecy laughed.

  “Yeah, a girl punch,” Charlie said. “I don’t think I’ll need rehab.”

  Right then, Mr. Piper, their English teacher, sat down in the seat on Neecy’s other side. He spread out folders, grade books, and other materials and turned on the computer.

  Neecy turned back to her screen and accessed her assignments webpage. Out of the corner of her eye, she was distracted by Mr. Piper shuffling materials around. He had spread his folders and books out in the space between the two computers. “Sorry, Neecy,” he said pleasantly when he saw her looking at the mess. “I’m sort of a slob.”

  He turned on the computer and started hitting keys. Neecy tried concentrating on her computer screen, but he was getting agitated. Finally she looked over at him. His log-in screen was still up with nothing in the password window.

  “Something wrong?” she asked.

  “I can’t remember my new password,” he said. “They make us change them about every two months. And we can’t just use a new number after the same word, like ‘sparky1,’ ‘sparky2,’ and so on. So I can never remember mine. I have it written down here somewhere, but I don’t know where.”

  Neecy looked at the disordered mess of papers overlapping her own work. “What did you have it written on?” she asked.

  “A yellow sticky note,” he said. “So if you find it …”

  Neecy nodded. “Sure,” she said. “You could just change it.”

  “I’ve already changed it about three times in the past month,” he said. “I wish they’d just let me keep the same one. I’m not real tech smart. Am I, Charlie?” he asked, leaning past Neecy to where Charlie Ray was sitting. “Charlie knows. He’s helped me with this stuff before.”

  “Nothing like a smart tech support guy, right, Mr. Piper?” Neecy said innocently.

  Beside her, Charlie laughed.

  “I know, right?” Mr. Piper answered. “Now if he could just tell me my darn password or where I left it.”

  “Were you working on any other computers before this?” Charlie asked. “Teacher’s lounge? Your classroom?”

  “Yes to both,” Mr. Piper said. “So maybe I left it at one of those computers.” He moved too quickly and a pile of papers slid onto the floor. Neecy bent down and helped him pick everything up.

  “I’m a total mess,” Mr. Piper said. “And I don’t feel like going back upstairs to find that sticky. Wish I could remember what password I’m using this week.”

  “Your dog’s name? Your birthday? Your phone number?” Charlie said.

  “Oh, right,” Mr. Piper said, turning back to his screen. He typed in a few letters and the computer came to life. “How’d you know?” Mr. Piper asked with an incredulous shake of his head.

  “Just smart, I guess. Those are the passwords everyone uses,” Charlie whispered to Neecy. “And that’s why people around here think I’m so smart. I’m really just logical.”

  Neecy covered her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

  “Hello, Neecy, Charlie. Hey, Ed.” Mr. Sullivan walked behind them a few minutes before lunch was over and took an empty seat beside Mr. Piper. “Must be lots of things due around here. These are the only computers free in the building.” He logged in to his computer and plugged in his flash drive.

  “Neecy, I hope you’re working on your math,” Mr. Sullivan said. “Th
ere’s not much time between now and when report cards come out. It’s not impossible for you to get your math grade up before then, but you’re going to have to work hard.”

  “I’m actually helping her with her math right now,” Charlie said. Neecy bit back a smile. Since sitting down beside Charlie, she hadn’t done any work at all. But she was grateful that Charlie made it look like she was willing to work.

  “That so, Neecy?” Mr. Sullivan asked. She nodded. “Well, he’s got his work cut out for him. Nothing you can do about your grades so far, of course,” he added. “But maybe you can pull yourself out of the hole you’re in with the next couple of assignments and the unit test. ”

  Neecy looked at the time on her computer screen. The bell indicating the end of lunch was about to ring. No time to get any work done today. Even though it was against the rules, she quickly accessed her e-mail account. No mail. She logged off and gathered up her materials.

  “I saw that,” Charlie said with a chuckle. “Well, don’t tell on me,” Neecy said.

  “I don’t know. You broke the rules,” Charlie said. “I may have to e-mail someone about this.”

  Neecy looked at his computer screen and saw that he too had accessed his e-mail.

  “Busted!” Neecy said with a laugh. “Oh, wait, I forgot. Smart kids never get in trouble here, do they?”

  “Oh, yeah?” Charlie said, shaking his head.

  Neecy stood up to leave. She did a double take when she saw Luther Ransome leaning against the wall near the bank of computers. She hadn’t seen him standing there. His face radiated pure hatred. She looked to see who he was looking at.

  He was staring at Charlie Ray.

  The bell rang and students shut down their computers. Keshawn Connor stood up from the computer across from Mr. Piper. He picked up his books and started for the door of the library.

  As Neecy watched, Luther Ransome grabbed Keshawn’s shoulder roughly. The larger boy bent down to say something, then motioned with his chin in Neecy’s direction. Keshawn nodded and turned back toward the computers.

  Neecy wondered what Luther had said. She simply could not imagine anything that Luther Ransome and Keshawn Connor would have in common to talk about. She also couldn’t imagine anything Luther might have said that would cause Keshawn to return to a computer in the library.

  Keshawn was a nice guy. He blended into the rest of the Cap Central crowd, never standing out in any particular way. He was always friendly. He was nothing like Luther Ransome or his posse of thugs.

  He was certainly not one of the usual Luther Ransome wannabes.

  The whole thing was very mysterious.

  CHAPTER 7

  Keshawn

  Keshawn watched the whole Charlie Ray–Luther Ransome drama with dread. He knew Charlie had just made an enemy of the most evil person at Cap Central.

  Luther was already in a foul mood. He was furious that Keshawn hadn’t stayed in Neecy’s seat in math, the way he’d told him to. Keshawn had tried to explain, but of course it didn’t help. At one point, Luther even pulled out his cell phone.

  As if Keshawn needed to be reminded of the recording Luther had made.

  When the bell rang, Keshawn tried to escape from the library without Luther seeing him. But no such luck.

  “Get their passwords,” he said, gesturing toward Neecy and Charlie.

  By now Keshawn had installed the keystroke-tracking program on all the library computers. That part wasn’t difficult. He was actually amazed that the school didn’t have some sort of protective barriers in place to prevent people from installing programs.

  He had captured a few teachers’ log-in information. It was slow going. The computers were so well used that he had to get to them as soon as a teacher logged off, or there was too much data to wade through.

  He sat down at the computers and quickly captured Charlie’s and then Neecy’s user names and passwords.

  “Keshawn, you’re going to be late for class,” the librarian called.

  “I’m leaving,” he said, pulling out his flash drive.

  As he pushed in his chair, he saw a yellow post-it note on the floor.

  Mr. Piper’s user name and password.

  One more teacher whose records he could access. He didn’t even have to use his spyware for this one.

  CHAPTER 8

  Neecy

  After cheerleading practice, Neecy went home and turned on her computer. She had lots of homework, but first she checked her e-mail.

  She saw that she had messages from Eva, Joss, and other friends. But the message that was most intriguing was from someone named GoodTimeCharlieRay.

  She opened it.

  I really liked talking 2 u 2day. I have liked u 4ever. I know this sounds crazy, but I am 2 shy to talk 2 u about this. If you’re ok with this, give me a sign in school tomorrow? But don’t mention this e-mail, ever. I don’t do stuff like this, and I feel awkward. Charlie

  Neecy read the e-mail several times. It was odd. It didn’t sound at all like Charlie. He seemed more confident in real life than he came across in the e-mail. For most people it was the reverse.

  She had always liked him, but did she like him? The thought made her smile.

  The e-mail was very mysterious. She wasn’t supposed to mention the e-mail—just give him some sort of sign in school. She started thinking about what sort of sign she could give him. She finally decided what she would do. It would leave no doubt as to how she felt about his e-mail. As she fell asleep, she had a funny thought: she never even considered saying no.

  The next morning, Neecy hopped out of bed before her alarm. She took special care to make sure she looked good. She got to school early and stood around the K Street entrance, waiting for Charlie.

  Soon students started arriving. By seven fifteen, the front courtyard was full of kids. Neecy stood on her tiptoes, straining to find him. In the distance, she saw Carlos Garcia and Ferg Ferguson walking up Seventeenth Street toward the school. She watched as Joss White and Eva Morales caught up with them. The two couples walked toward the school, but soon they stopped. All four students turned around. Neecy could see Charlie Ray walking behind them. He joined the others, and soon they got close to where Neecy was standing.

  “Hey, Neecy, great sweater!” Eva said as they approached.

  “Thanks,” Neecy said, distracted. She looked at Charlie, searching for some indication that he liked her as much as his e-mail had indicated. His expression was as friendly as usual. He didn’t look questioning or awkward or conspiratorial. Neecy had to appreciate the effort it must have taken him to have kept his expression neutral.

  “How did you do on that math homework?” Charlie asked.

  Neecy wondered if that was some sort of obscure reference to having sent her an e-mail while she was doing her homework.

  “It was … interesting,” she said. “I struggled with the meaning for a while, but then I figured it out.”

  “Interesting?” Charlie repeated with a laugh. “I don’t know that that’s the word I would have used. But then, I don’t ever find math assignments all that interesting.”

  Assignments! That was it: a very secret reference to his e-mailed request for a sign that she liked him.

  Neecy started to smile, then broke out in a big grin. She stood on her tiptoes, put her hands on either side of his face, and kissed him full on the lips.

  “I like you too, Charlie,” she whispered. Then she turned and walked into school. As the front doors started to shut behind her, she turned around. Joss, Eva, Carlos, and Ferg were frozen in place. They all stared at her with stunned looks on their faces.

  But Charlie? Charlie looked like he’d been hit by a truck. His jaw had dropped, and he didn’t even notice that he’d dropped his backpack.

  “Bye, bye!” She waved and walked off to class.

  CHAPTER 9

  Keshawn

  Keshawn laughed to himself when he saw Neecy kiss Charlie.

  Because this one was on him. />
  Luther hadn’t told him to actually do anything with Neecy’s and Charlie’s e-mails—yet. But Keshawn watched them in the library, and he could see they were starting to like each other. When he saw the murderous look in Luther’s eyes, he decided to speed up the process.

  Keshawn needed to feel good about something. The situation with Luther made him feel like a total screw-up. In his heart, he knew he was a better person than that. So he decided to use his technical power for good to try to balance out the bad.

  He used his keystroke-tracking program to capture Neecy’s and Charlie’s e-mail account names, passwords, and log-in information. That night, he set up a fake e-mail account and called it “GoodTimeCharlieRay.” He figured there was no chance in the world that Charlie would have ever used such a cheesy name.

  Keshawn sent the e-mail from that account to Neecy, asking for “the sign” and telling her not to mention it. He then went into her e-mail account and deleted the e-mail. He also deleted the fake account.

  It worked beautifully. Neecy planted a juicy one on Charlie. Keshawn figured they could take it from there.

  He would have enjoyed knowing how they figured out the GoodTimeCharlieRay e-mail that started the whole thing, but he wasn’t going to read his friends’ e-mails. Although he had no qualms about reading the e-mail of someone who was not a friend.

  Like Luther Ransome.

  He’d been reading Luther’s e-mail for a couple of weeks now. His account name was “HandsomeRansome.” His password was NFL2B.

  Yeah, right, Keshawn thought when he first saw it. DCJail2B is more like it.

  He looked around Luther’s e-mail without leaving any trace. He wanted to be prepared. He knew it might come in handy some day.

  Those church ladies’ voices were echoing in his head again. I run on the road long before I dance under the lights.

  Keshawn just knew that one wasn’t from the scriptures. He looked it up. It was from Mohammed Ali.

  CHAPTER 10