Moonlight Secrets (6 page)

I guess she had a really hard time all day. I heard kids oinking and making hog sounds and calling, “Slutt Slutt Slutt!” all day.

Shark was very pleased with himself. “Everyone saw it on the Web site,” he told me, his eyes flashing happily. “It's, like, that's how she'll always be remembered. Maybe they'll even put it in the yearbook.” He laughed and slapped me a hard high five.

But I didn't really feel like laughing. I mean, it was pretty funny. But was it worth it?

As it turned out—no.

It all boiled over the next day.

“Shut up! That's totally mean!”
Nikki declared.

“It was a riot,” Shark insisted.

Nikki shook her head. “But that poor girl—”

“She deserved it,” Shark said. He took a long pull on his bottle of beer. “Hey, Nate—did she deserve it or what?”

I shrugged.

I kinda agreed with Nikki. I couldn't believe it myself—but I was starting to feel a little sorry for Candy. Well . . . maybe not
sorry.

I guess I just didn't want the whole thing to explode in our faces. I didn't want our whole senior year wrecked because of a stupid prank.

Shark's hog photo had been a joke. But this morning, Candy had been humiliated in front of everyone at Shadyside High.

And now it was late that night, about two in the morning. Shark, Nikki, and I were sitting in our back booth at Nights and talking about what had gone down in the auditorium.

You see, there had been an assembly this morning instead of first period. Some guy from the Green Party came to speak about how he wanted to save the trees in the Fear Street Woods. The woods started at the end of Fear Street and stretched for miles.

But a lot of trees had been torn down when they built the Fear Street Acres shopping center. And this guy wanted to make sure the rest of the woods were left alone.

Well, wouldn't you know it? Mr. Gonzalez chose Candy to introduce the speaker. I guess because Candy had circulated some kind of petition about saving the trees when school started in September.

So Candy was sitting onstage with Mr. Gonzalez and the speaker, who was young and kinda cool looking. He was dressed all in black and had a shiny earring in one ear and
tattoos of birds on the backs of both hands.

Gonzalez said a few things and told us to be a good audience and to show that Shadyside High really cares. You know. He was really telling us to shut up and pretend to listen to this guy.

Then he introduced Candy. And Candy got up from her chair. She had a speech all prepared. I saw she was holding it in one hand.

Shark and I were sitting with our friend Galen on an aisle near the back of the auditorium. Lewis and Jamie sat in front of us. I knew that Lewis was really into saving the woods because he and his family go camping there a lot. At least they did before his accident.

Candy stepped up to the podium and cleared her throat. And Galen started to oink really loudly.

That got a pretty good laugh.

Candy looked kinda flustered. She just stood there.

Then some other guys at the side of the auditorium oinked. And someone went “Runnk runnnk” and really sounded like a hog. And now everyone was laughing.

Almost immediately, more guys started oinking. I mean, the hog sounds were, like, echoing off the auditorium walls.

Shark touched knuckles with Galen and me, and he joined in, oinking at the top of his lungs.

Mr. Gonzalez jumped to his feet. I saw the angry expression on his face. He started to the podium. But that didn't stop the oinking and hog sounds. They got even louder.

And then someone tossed a pink stuffed pig onto the stage. It bounced off the podium and landed at Candy's feet. The place went wild, everyone oinking and laughing and busting a gut.

Even from the back of the auditorium, I could see that Candy's face was bright red. Her hands were balled into tight fists at her sides.

She let out a furious cry that boomed through the loudspeakers. She began to sob. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She spun away from the podium and ran off the stage, howling and sobbing.

The laughter stopped. The oinking stopped with it. A hush fell over the auditorium. Mr.
Gonzalez stood at the podium facing the guest speaker. Neither one of them moved.

I turned to Shark. “She's going to get us,” I whispered. “It went too far. She's going to get us.”

Oinkapalooza
.

That's what Shark called it. I thought that was pretty funny. But I couldn't laugh at it.

The next day I still had a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach, a feeling that we had gone too far.

And I was right.

Mr. Grant, the new vice principal, was waiting for me outside the lunchroom that afternoon. He was a tiny, short man with slicked-back brown hair and square, rimless glasses. He wore the same gray suit to school every day.

He put a hand on my shoulder to stop me. “Nate, could you come with me to Mr. Gonzalez's office?” He had a grim expression on his face, and his tiny, gray eyes behind
the square glasses stared at me intently.

He kept his hand on my shoulder the whole way to Gonzalez's office. Like maybe he thought I'd try to escape or something.

When I stepped into the principal's office, I couldn't help it—I gasped. Candy sat there with her hands clasped tightly in her lap. Her parents sat on folding chairs beside her. They all glared at me coldly.

An older man in a brown suit stood near the window. He had a writing pad in one hand. He glanced at me quickly, then scribbled something on his pad.

Mr. Gonzalez stood up and motioned me to the empty armchair beside the desk. “Nate, that's Mr. Ambrose,” he said. “He's the Shutt family's attorney.”

“Attorney?” My voice cracked. Totally embarrassing. My heart started to pound. “What's going on?” I asked, trying to sound calm and innocent.

Mr. Gonzalez motioned again for me to sit down. So I lowered myself into the big, green leather chair. My hands were suddenly shaking. I gripped the chair arms to cover it up.

“Nate, I'm sure you know why we're
here,” Gonzalez said softly, his eyes locked on me. “The hog photo—it was traced to your computer.”

I swallowed. “But—,” I started.

My mouth suddenly felt dry. My stomach rolled over. I thought I might heave.

I'd started to say that it was my computer, but Shark did the photo.

But I couldn't do that. I couldn't rat out Shark.

I stared at the glittering pendant around Candy's neck. Thinking hard. Trying to decide what to do. Should I try to deny the whole thing?

“I . . . don't understand that,” I said in a trembling voice. I knew they could see my hands shaking. I'm such a bad liar.

“There's no mistake,” Gonzalez said. “It was traced to your computer.”

“But—”

“Candy and her parents are very upset, as you can see,” Gonzalez said. “They feel that you have slandered Candy and embarrassed her in a cruel and humiliating way. They are prepared to take legal action, Nate.”

“But—I . . .”

I couldn't speak. A hush fell over the room. They were waiting for me to say something.

To my surprise, Candy broke the silence. “I didn't think it was you,” she said. “I don't understand, Nate. Were you just showing off for Shark? Did he put you up to it?”

“N-no,” I stammered. I could feel my face burning.

I'm going to have to take the heat, I decided. I can't squeal on Shark. I let him do it on my computer. I'm partly to blame anyway.

“Maybe we should call your mother,” Gonzalez said.

“No. Please,” I begged. “I'm really sorry. It was just a joke. It wasn't supposed to go that far. I'm really sorry. Please don't call my mother. If there's anything I can do . . .”

“You've ruined my life, Nate!” Candy screamed.

Her dad grabbed her shoulder. “Your life isn't ruined,” he said. “It was a cruel joke, Candy. But everyone will forget it in a day or two.”

Candy scowled at me. She fingered the jeweled pendant.

The lawyer leaned against the window ledge and scribbled on his pad.

“My wife and I don't want to make a big deal of this,” Mr. Shutt told Gonzalez. “We came in because Candy is very upset. But she'll calm down.”

“No, I won't!” Candy cried, glaring at me. “I won't! You don't care what happens to me. You don't care at all!”

“We know Nate's mother,” Mr. Shutt continued. “We know she's gone through a hard time. We don't want Nate suspended or anything. We really want to end this and forget about it.”

I let out a sigh. I couldn't believe Candy's dad was being so cool about this.

“Maybe if Nate apologizes to Candy,” Mr. Shutt said. “In front of the whole school . . . ?”

“That's not enough!” Candy snapped.

“I appreciate your suggestion,” Gonzalez told Mr. Shutt. “And I appreciate your thoughtfulness toward Nate.” He turned to me. “Your joke was cruel and obscene, Nate.”

I hung my head. “I know. I'm very sorry,” I said.

But I felt really good. I was getting off the
hook. I wasn't going to be suspended. My mom wouldn't have to know.

“Yes, Nate will apologize to Candy over the loudspeaker to the entire school,” Gonzalez told her parents. “Nate, I want you to write a long and sincere apology.”

Candy gripped her pendant and scowled furiously at me. “That's not enough!” she shrieked again. “Not enough! Not enough!”

I stood next to the
table, leaned in, and shouted over the jukebox. “So Mr. Shutt was this totally cool guy. He got me off the hook with Gonzalez. It was unbelievable.”

Jamie shook her head. Lewis's eyes were wide with shock. “I can't believe he did that,” he said. “We all thought you were dead meat.”

I glanced to the back booth. Shark was there with Nikki and Galen. “I can't believe he did it either,” I said. “How did such a good guy get such a loser for a daughter?”

Lewis took a long slug of his Coors. “Now what?”

I grinned. “Shark owes me big time. He can't believe I took the heat for him. Now Candy hates
me
as much as she hates Shark.”

I glanced to the front. Ryland sat on a stool
watching an old Frankenstein movie on the TV above the bar.

What a long day! When I got out of Gonzalez's office, I was drenched with sweat and shaking all over. I knew I should be home asleep. But I was too wired to sleep. As soon as I knew my mom was tucked in bed, I slipped out of my bedroom window and hurried to Nights.

I gave Jamie and Lewis a wave and started back to Shark's table. Nikki was holding her wrist up to Galen, showing off a gold bracelet. I guessed it was the bracelet she'd found at the Fear Mansion.

It suddenly got noisy in the bar. Ryland's TV was blaring, and Shark and Galen and Nikki burst out laughing about something. I didn't hear Candy come into the bar.

But when I started to drop into the booth next to Galen, I saw her kiss the plaque on the wall, then come storming toward us, black hair bobbing on her head, fists swinging at her sides.

“Nate!” She shouted my name as if it was a dirty word.

My heart stopped beating for a moment. I realized I was holding my breath.

I crossed my arms in front of me and
watched Candy approach. She wore a bright red turtleneck pulled down over low-riding gray slacks. The silver pendant on a chain over her sweater caught the light, the blue jewels glowing brightly.

She strode up to the table, her eyes narrowed at me. She bumped the table hard and opened her mouth as if to speak. But she didn't say anything. Just glared at me. Too angry to speak, I guess.

“Hey, Candy. How's it going?” Shark broke the silence.

But Candy ignored him and kept her eyes on me.

Finally I found my voice. “Uh . . . sorry. You know. You accept my apology, right?” I tried to keep a straight face. She knew I wasn't too sincere.

Candy didn't answer. She stood there breathing hard, holding her fists at her sides. I think she wanted me to know that she was still furious at me. Finally she turned and started to walk away.

I expected her to leave the bar. But instead she dropped into a booth against the wall, propped her elbows on the table, rested her
head in her hands, and called for Ryland to bring her a Coors Light.

The four of us tried to talk and hang out as usual. But it was hard with Candy sitting so close, glaring at us the whole time.

Shark called for another round of beers for everyone. Lewis waved good night and headed out of the bar. Jamie joined us in the back booth. She started talking about a college she'd visited in Ohio.

I kept glancing over Jamie's shoulder. Candy didn't move. Even when she sipped her beer, she had her eyes locked on me. And she was muttering, moving her lips. Like she was putting a hex on me or something.

Ryland brought the beers and a couple of bowls of beer nuts. I grabbed a handful and tossed them into my mouth. Shark started talking about the trouble he's been having with Ms. Harvey, our government teacher.

But I uttered a loud gasp, interrupting him. “Something funny about this beer nut,” I said. I reached into my mouth and pulled it off my tongue.

“Whoa!” I watched it wriggle between my fingers.

A cockroach.

“Yuck.” I tossed it to the floor. I grabbed my beer bottle and took a long slug.

I examined the bowl of beer nuts. Nothing moving in there.

“That was totally gross,” I said. “I can still feel it crawling on my tongue.”

Galen laughed. “Dude—was it crunchy?”

I started to answer, then stopped. My tongue prickled. I reached into my mouth again—and pulled out another cockroach.

The insect dropped from my fingers and scrabbled across the table.