Deviant (14 page)

At lunch they had fish. Danny was a little surprised. It didn't occur to him that you could get fish miles from the sea in the middle of the mountains, but of course you could. After lunch he walked on the playground, kicking at snow piles. He could see that Tom and Cooper Reid were trying to text him, but he wasn't that interested and kept the pager turned off.

He was alone by the fence, isolated, when he saw Hector, Todd, and Charlie approaching him. He walked in the direction of Mr. Glass, who was the break teacher, but their plan was well orchestrated. Peggy Carson slipped on the ice near the frozen faucet, fell, hurt herself, and began to yell. While Mr. Glass ran to help, Todd grabbed Danny, pulled his arm behind his back, and dragged him over to the bike sheds.

“Not again,” Danny said. “Don't you guys have any originality?”

Todd hadn't hurt him this time, and Danny had a feeling that he had been told not to hurt him.

“You're making a big mistake, Lopez,” Charlie said.

“Oh yeah? What's the mistake?”

“Associating with Tom Sloane,” Todd said.

“That's a big word for you, well done,” Danny replied.

Todd twisted his arm a little harder in response.

“What did they promise you? The tests a day early? An inside track?” Hector asked.

“Nothing like that. Tom's just a hell of a lot sharper than you, that's all,” Danny said.

“Sharp? Just because he's class prefect? It doesn't mean anything,” Hector said.

“Class what?” Danny wondered.

“Come on, think about it, Lopez. You think he got that because he's a brainiac? It's because his dad's the lieutenant governor. He and Lebkuchen go back. Everybody knows that,” Hector went on.

“Yeah, if he's so smart, how come he's in 9B with the rest of us?” Charlie said.

“And Tony? She's only where she is because her dad's on the school board. Tom's crew are all losers,” Hector said.

Danny smiled. “I don't get it. You're trying to turn me against Tom and Tony, the only kids who've been half decent to me in the whole school?”

“Join us,” Hector said.

Danny looked at the three boys in amazement. This was a sales pitch? They wanted him to leave “Tom's Crew” and join the SSU or whatever they were called?

“What have you got to offer?” Danny asked.

“The real inside track,” Hector said.

“What do you mean?” Danny asked.

Hector looked at Charlie and they both looked at Todd. “Give us a minute, will you there, Toddy?” Hector said.

“Sure,” Todd said, and walked a little distance away.

“Lebkuchen,” Hector said in a whisper.

“The principal?”

“Yeah, Principal Lebkuchen. That big enough for you?”

“How?” Danny asked.

“That's for us to know,” Hector said, his eyes narrowing.

“And you to find out,” Charlie finished.

“You don't beat a guy up and ask him to join your gang,” Danny said, more bemused than anything now.

Hector nodded. Danny had a point. His eyes lost their hostile squint and assumed a more neutral expression. “Look, we're pretty impressed with you,” Hector said.

“We've been watching you,” Charlie agreed.

“Digging a little. Las Vegas, the casino, your father working up at the prison. It's pretty cool. You seem all right.”

Danny was complimented but also spooked.

“So what do you guys do in your group? Isn't it called the Secret Scripture Union or something?” Danny asked, contempt coating every syllable.

“Again, that's for us to know,” Charlie said.

“I can guess, though: You sit around and read the Bible and talk about God all the time, is that it?”

“Some of us do,” Charlie said defensively.

Danny laughed. “Man, you got me wrong if you think that's my thing.”

“Why? What do you want to do?” Hector asked.

“I don't know … find out who's been killing cats, for one thing.”

Hector and Charlie exchanged another look.

“Where did you hear about that?” Hector asked.

“The newspaper.”

“Look, you want an easy life, Lopez?” Charlie asked.

“No, not really,” Danny said cheerfully.

“Keep your nose out of other people's business. We run this school. This is our turf. Join us or don't get in our way,” Charlie said, and all three of them began walking back to the main playground.

“Jeez, guys, first the threat, now the invitation, now another threat … This isn't how you run a gang. I've hung with the East L.A. homeboys; you guys suck. Jesus, you want some tips on intimidation, you come to me.”

Charlie and Hector looked annoyed.

“You've been warned,” Charlie said, turning around and pointing a finger at him.

“Leave him alone!” Tony said, appearing on the far side of the bike sheds.

“Ah, the Seventh Cavalry, here to save you,” Hector said, and winked at Danny as if he knew how wearying it must be to be constantly rescued by a girl.

Danny chest-bumped Hector and got right in his face. “What did you say, holmes?” Danny snarled.

Hector took a step back and lowered his voice. “Look, bro, if you wanna know what's going on, meet me at the Starbucks on South Cascade at four o'clock on Friday,” he whispered.

“So you and your pals can jump me again?” Danny said.

“No, just you and me. I'll buy you a caramel frap to show there's no hard feelings. Don't tell Tony or Tom. I'll wait till four thirty and then I'm gone.”

Hector sprinted back to the main playground just as Cooper and Tom appeared.

“What was he saying to you?” Tony asked suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Danny said.

“He must have said something,” Tom insisted.

“The usual threats, no big deal,” Danny said.

Tom looked satisfied. “You gotta be more careful; it's a jungle out here,” he said.

“Yeah, stick with us, we'll look after you,” Tony said cheerfully.

“Sure,” Danny said, and walked back with the others to the creepy, silent playground.

Tony had a dance class after school, so Danny walked home by himself, and the evening was long without books, TV, or CDs.

He was so fed up, he actually went out to the Volvo to listen to the radio. The clearest station was the Colorado Springs Focus on the Family Network, but he got bored with the news bulletins about President Obama's Muslim
agenda, Communist China's plans to colonize the moon, and how Satan was spreading his influence into every corner of every American home. He was just about to turn it off when one of the DJs mentioned the cat killings, speculating that the local Wiccans were to blame and wondering if a new Salem Witch Trial was what was needed to set the country back on the right track.

Danny turned it off and went to bed.

He left the window open, and by morning the glass of water next to his bed had frozen solid.

His throat was scratchy and he begged his mom to allow him to stay home.

A three-way struggle followed. Walt sided with Danny, and Juanita finally caved. After his parents had left, Danny dug his long board, Black Shadow, from one of the crates, skated downhill to Colorado Springs, found a comic-book shop, bought
Superman: Red Son
by Mark Millar, and caught the bus home.

Skating past the school with his hoodie pulled up and watching the poor saps going to class was delicious.

He read
Superman
all day and ate Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup.

He finally had some good alone time with Jeff, too. Jeff had explored the outside world and taken against this nightmarish white stuff. Danny's bedroom was his preferred locale, at least during the day.

• • •

The next morning, Danny was “feeling better,” and he and Tony walked to school after she had politely inquired about his health.

“I'm doing great,” Danny told her.

It was Friday, so there was an outdoor assembly, where Mr. Lebkuchen told the shivering teachers and children about the progress of the gym, the school's latest test scores, and an upcoming visit from the US secretary of education.

No one grabbed him at lunch, and Danny pretended to be fascinated as Olivia, Tom, and Tony texted one another about whether they should go see
The Lion King
when it came to Denver.

Through his mom, of course, Danny had seen every musical that had come to the Glynn casino on the Strip in the last five years, so
The Lion King
was old news.

Hector looked at him a few times during school and Danny nodded. He remembered about their meeting, and he would be there.

After school, Danny ran home, got Sunflower, and skated downhill to the Springs.

Although he got to Starbucks early, Hector was there ahead of him.

He had taken an armchair next to the fireplace in which three huge smoldering gray logs were generating enormous heat.

The Starbucks only had half a dozen other customers, but Hector had kept his word: There was no sign at all of Charlie or Todd.

“Take a seat and I'll get that frap,” Hector said.

“You don't need to get me anything.”

“My treat,” Hector insisted.

He brought the drink and Danny lifted the plastic lid and sipped. It was hot and sweet and good. If it was coffee, it didn't taste like any coffee he'd had before. It was almost as good as Tom's hot chocolate.

Hector looked at Sunflower. “You skateboarded here in this weather? Aren't you freezing?” he asked.

“It was OK,” Danny said.

“Colder than normal this time of year. Have you been to the woods yet? I go there all the time, and when you get up to eight thousand feet, it's incredible.”

Danny wasn't in the mood for small talk. “So what do you want to tell me?” he asked curtly.

Hector winced. “OK, business is it? I can do business.”

“Do it,” Danny muttered.

“What do you want to know?”

Hmm. This was Danny's chance to hit him with all the questions he was too embarrassed to ask Tony or Tom.

“OK. Start with the school, the dope on that, and then the SSU—all that stuff.”

Hector leaned back in his chair and the leather squeaked beneath him. “You don't even know about the school?”

“Listen, if you're going to be a jerk, I'm out of here,” Danny said, getting up.

“Sit down, sit down, sorry. OK, the school, well, it's only been going for two years. It used to be Nikola Tesla
Elementary. Heard of him? Famous scientist, lived around here about a hundred years ago. Did a lot of his experiments on electricity in Colorado Springs. Had a lab up here in Cobalt. He was a pioneer in radio, early TV, electric generation. Some of his ideas even predated Einstein, you know? Never really got the credit he deserved. He's coming back now, though. Heard of the Tesla sports car?”

“Yeah, we got one.”

“What?”

“Doesn't matter. Go on.”

“Anyway, the school was Tesla Elementary, but it didn't do that well, hard to get good teachers up here. Higher pay in Denver, Boulder … It wasn't exactly a failing school, just not a good school. We had all this cool science equipment; most of it's gone now, of course, except for the big Tesla coil in the science lab. Have you seen that? Lebkuchen can't get rid of it because it was a donation from the Ford Foundation or something.”

“What's a Tesla coil?”

“You'll see it next week when the classes merg—um, when the, uh, you'll see it next week.”

“OK.”

“But anyway, if you don't like it here, you can blame your friend Tom for the whole thing.”

“Tom?”

“Oh, didn't he tell you?” Hector said with a malicious grin.

“Tell me what?”

“And I suppose Tony didn't tell you about her father, either?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Tom's dad was the lieutenant governor of Colorado.”

“Yeah, I knew that. What's that got to do with anything?”

Hector leaned over and, irritatingly, tapped Danny on the arm. “His brother was killed in a car accident three years ago. Tom is devoted to his big brother. He loses it, has a sort of breakdown, runs away from home. Flunks out of school. Runs away again. Tom's dad brings in Lebkuchen as a private tutor and is really impressed by him. Tesla Elementary has recently closed because it's basically crap. Everyone's in a tizzy. All the Cobalt kids are having to get bused into the Springs, so Lebkuchen pitches his whole charter school idea to Tom's father and he goes for it. He's lieutenant governor, which is kind of a joke job, but he does have some influence and so he goes to Tony's dad and Arnie Grainger's mom. You know Arnie in grade eight?”

“No.”

“Well, they get half a dozen other parents and they make Jane Close's mom president of the committee. You know Jane? In 8A?”

“No,” Danny said, annoyed. “It's only my first week, you know?”

“Sure. Anyway, so the committee lobbies the school board and that's how the whole thing got started. The
silence, the DI, the gloves. You can blame your friend Tom for getting the ball rolling.”

“Tom doesn't seem to like it,” Danny said.

“Doesn't he? His little gang always spying on us, finding ways to flaunt the rules with his pagers … Are you kidding me? He laps it up, loves it. Gives him something to do.”

Danny wasn't so sure about that. “So what about your ‘little group'?” he mocked.

“We're the real rebels. None of our parents is on the school board or the committee.”

“But what do you do?”

“Well, it's public school, so there's no school prayer or Bible study or religion or anything like that, and we've found ways around that. We formed a Scripture Union. We've got about a dozen kids. We do read the Bible and we do have prayers, but we also do other stuff too, you know?”