Operation Tenley (16 page)

Holden shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. They already have some hologram stuff. I mean, like they have dead people coming back to sing on stage, which is kind of weird I guess, but whatever.” At the entrance, Holden held the door for her. “Hey, wanna practice boarding again after school?”

“I can’t,” Pennie said.

“Tomorrow then?”

“Maybe.” The back of Pennie’s knees started to sweat from the lie.

“Cool.”

Inside the school, it seemed like half the kids were staring at them.

“Why is everyone looking at us?” Holden whispered. “Did someone start a rumor about us going out or something?”

Pennie looked over at him. He was blushing.

Down the hall, another group of girls stood pointing at them. An entire fleet of Fair Force was less intimidating than a group of middle-school girls, Pennie thought.

Holden stopped in front of a door. “I think this is your homeroom.”

Inside the classroom, a group of girls, including Tenley, turned to look at them.

“Anyway,” Pennie continued. “Let’s say that hologram that appeared at
seven forty-five
tonight in
every single house
in Hadley Beach read, ‘
Vote for Me, Tenley T, America’s Next Most Inspirational Teen!’
Don’t you think that would be pretty amazing? Wouldn’t it be the best final thing someone could ever do for their client?”

Holden wasn’t following. “I gotta go.”

“Tenley might even win the nomination!” Pennie called after him.

“I think there’s a better chance I’ll wake up six-foot-two one morning.” Holden waved, turning down the hall.

1:20:00

Hadley Beach

“Settle down, people. Our buses
leave
at zero-seven-hundred,” Mr. Mingby, standing at the blackboard, warned everyone. “That’s in twenty minutes. And when I say leave, I mean leave
you
if you’re not on board. I didn’t get up at the crack of dawn to be late. So I hope you all got your permission slips in.” Mr. Mingby was a big burly man with surprisingly elegant glasses, which he pushed up to read the list in his hands. “If not, you’ll be in homework club for the day. No exceptions.”

The students went to their desks and Pennie found an empty seat in the back.

“But Mr. Mingby, what if we don’t have one and it’s not our fault?”

Mr. Mingby crossed his arms and looked over his glasses. “You’re teenagers now. Future leaders. You, and only you, were responsible for getting a parent signature. So today, you’ll be staying here, Trevor. Which leaves a space open for our new student.” Mr. Mingby motioned toward Pennie in the back row. “As long as you have your permission slip?”

“I’ve got three hundred new likes!” Tenley squealed from her desk.

“Yes, Mr. Mingby.” Pennie waved the permission slip to distract his frown away from Tenley. “I’ve got it right here.”

“Very good. See, kids. When one door closes, another one opens. That’s life in a nutshell. Now. You, as seventh graders, earned this end-of-the-year field trip. Don’t disappoint. Everyone but Trevor, let’s go.”

Tenley shrieked again. “Three hundred and
seven
.”

This time, Mr. Mingby glared at her. “Excited for the theme park, are we, Ms. Tylwyth? All right, everyone, let’s go!”

Outside, two yellow buses were parked along the school’s curb. Tenley grabbed Pennie’s elbow.

“I’m
trending
.”

“Pennie One!” Holden poked Pennie’s shoulder from behind. “Wanna sit with me?”

“Sure,” Pennie answered.

Tenley grinned at her phone and walked away.

Students looked sleep-deprived while they waited to be told which bus they were on. A growing group of them was staring at Pennie now.

“Have you ever been to Adventures, Inc.? I’ve heard it’s got, like, three different parks inside of it. One’s all VR. Just opened,” Holden said.

“VR?”

“Virtual Reality.”

“Like a 3
^rd
i,” Pennie nodded, distracted by how many students were staring at her. Holden didn’t answer. Pennie looked back at him quickly. “Third eye.” She poked her forehead. “Virtual Reality’s like a third eye, right?”

Holden shrugged. “I guess.”

Mr. Mingby called off Tenley’s name. She straightened her new sash and disappeared into the bus parked behind him.

After a few more names, Mr. Mingby called off Holden’s name and pointed down to the second bus. Instead of heading toward it, Holden leaned into Pennie and whispered, “I’m just gonna wait here.”

When the last of the names were called off, Pennie and a handful of other girls remained stranded on the grass. Mr. Mingby looked up from his clipboard.

“Any names I left off, you can get on this bus behind me.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Mingby?” Holden approached him. “Would you mind if I went on this one too? Just cuz, you know, Pennie’s new. And I’m assigned to show her around.” He nodded toward Pennie.

Mr. Mingby skimmed through his papers, flustered. “Sure, get on, Wonderbolt.”

Holden thanked him and climbed on the bus after Pennie.

The bus was packed. In the back row, Tenley was looking down at an iPad with a group of students hovering around her.

“We got the Fairy!” a girl yelled, pointing up at Pennie.

Pennie felt her cheeks drain.

“What did she say?” Holden asked.

Pennie didn’t answer.

Every student was staring at her now. “Hey Fairy!” a few shouted.

“What’s going on?” Holden asked.

Tenley ran down the aisle. “It must have accidentally uploaded to the Internet last night when you were telling me all that stuff!” She held out the iPad for Pennie. There was a frozen image of her standing in Tenley’s room wearing the tennis outfit. “Someone’s made a remix and put it on YouTube. I’m really sorry.”

“You recorded everything I told you?”

“By mistake. I didn’t even think our Internet was working, remember?”

“
Everything
I told you?” Pennie’s voice shrilled.

“Not everything. Just this.”

Tenley pressed play.

A rap montage with Pennie’s image on the screen began:

“I’m not who you think I am.

A gin—gin—gin—ginger?

One of you.

Popular?

From Earth.

As in
this
Ear—ear—ear—ear—earth, the one I’m standing on?

(A huge Pennie is suddenly slipping off planet Earth)

I’m sorry, it’s the gra—gra—gra—gra—gravity.

Right. The gra—gra—gra—gra—gravity.

I’m a Fair One.

A fair
one
?

You’d know us as Fai—fai—fai—fai—fai—fai—fairies.
What we were before.

You’re a fairy?

(Pennie grows huge animated wings behind her)

I don’t want your mom to know. Or anyone else. I can get into a lot of trou—

ou—ou—ou—ou—ou—ouble.

Where are your wings?

We don’t use them anymore.

(The animated wings behind Pennie get crossed out and crumble off)

How do you get around?

Propellers.

Like helicopters?

(Animated propellers appear over Pennie)

Exactly.

So where are they?

I didn’t bring them to Earth.

(the propellers crumble like sand and disappear)

For rea—lsies?

Yes. For rea—rea—rea—rea—rea—rea—realsies. I swear.

(A giant animated spaceship engulfs them and takes them away)

A lacrosse boy started singing the rap, egging on the rest of the bus.

“Tenley, how could you?” Pennie whispered.

Tenley looked miserable.

“Fairy-licious, show us your propellers,” a student called up to her. Other students began videoing Pennie with their phones.

Until Mr. Mingby walked up the stairs.

“Quiet down now.”

No one did.

“Students, please. Quiet down now.” Mr. Mingby waved his hands for emphasis. “Miss Tylwyth, Mr. Wonderbolt, new girl, find your seats.”

Tenley turned to the back of the bus. Holden and Pennie slid into the first row, the last two empty seats together. But the noise level remained the same.

“Quiet!” Mr. Mingby yelled. A few of the silent kids glanced up before dropping their heads down to their phones again.

Red-faced, Mr. Mingby opened his mouth to yell when a large woman in a uniform appeared next to him.

She popped her thumb and forefinger into her mouth and whistled.

The bus fell silent.

“My name is Ms. Shareen and
this
”—she pointed to the floor—“is
my
bus. I take things
very personally
on my bus. That means no eating, no gum, no graffiti, no drinking, no littering, and no profanity. You do any of these things.” She wagged her finger and pointed toward the window. “I drop you off out there. I pull my baby over and you’re out. Questions?”

There were a few rumblings, but no one raised a hand.

“I got eyes right here.” She pointed to her rearview mirror. “They see it all. I can see what color lip-gloss y’all have on.” A boy laughed, but Ms. Shareen’s glare shut him down. “Mr. Teacher, you got anything else to say?” She turned to Mr. Mingby with her hands on her generous hips.

Mr. Mingby, looking mesmerized by her, broke his stare and nodded to the group. “Be respectful, students. We’ll be off school premises so if you do something you
shouldn’t
, you’ll get arrested and we’ll all just stand there and watch.” Mr. Mingby looked back to Ms. Shareen for approval. She nodded affirmatively.

“All right then. ETA is seven-thirty, give or take. Let’s get you to Adventures, Inc.!” She clapped once and squeezed into the driver’s throne. Mr. Mingby sat in the single seat catty-corner from her.

Pennie felt a heaviness worse than gravity fill her chest. Tenley had exposed her identity with the video, which meant if the Fair Force deemed it necessary, they would have to erase the memory of every single person who saw it. That wouldn’t go over well with the Fairships.

“Why did you tell Tenley all those weird things?” Holden asked.

“I didn’t, I mean, the thing is, I was in a play. At my old school. And I was saying my lines, you know, acting them out with her.”

“Oh.” Holden chuckled. He stood and turned to the back of the bus. “It was a
play
, morons. She was
acting out
her lines in a
pla
y.” Only a few kids looked like they’d heard him, but already those few kids were telling a few of the other kids.

Pennie exhaled quietly.

Holden sat again and held his phone up to her.

“What are you doing?”

“Documenting the first time I sat next to you on a bus.”

Something hit Holden in the back of his head. He looked up into Ms. Shareen’s rearview mirror, but she’d missed it.

“Holden, you have something in your hair,” Pennie said.

“What is it?” He ripped out a chunk along with a wad of gum. When he saw what it was, he shifted around to see who’d thrown it. No one made eye contact.

“I hate it here,” Holden said, turning back and throwing the wad of hair and gum on the floor before remembering Ms. Shareen and her mirror. But she’d missed this too.

“Where?” Pennie asked.

“Here. School.”

“It will get better, Holden,” Pennie said softly.

“Sit your butt down back there!” Ms. Shareen yelled. A boy stood frozen in the middle of the aisle.

“Lost my paperclip.” The boy smirked, holding up a paperclip to prove it and then scurried back to his seat.

“If I were
that
guy, I’d probably love it here,” Holden said.

“That guy?” Pennie asked. “What does he have that you don’t?”

“Let’s see. That guy rules the school. So, respect, for one thing. He can do whatever he wants.” Holden snorted lightly. “Like that lacrosse jerk. Same thing. They were just born lucky.” He glanced down at his cast. “Not like me.”

“Someday, Holden, you’re going to find out just how lucky you are.”

Holden snorted again.

“It might not seem like it now,” Pennie said. “But you’re a special guy, Holden Wonderbolt. And you’re going to do great things. Try to remember that.”

“Would you go out with me?” he asked quietly. Then he turned to her with his cheeks flushed. “I mean like
would
you. Not would
you
?”

“Yes,” Pennie said. “If I were a girl in your class, I would.”

“You are a girl in my class.”

The bus started to move, and quickly screeched to a stop. Mr. Mingby’s paperwork flew off his lap and into the aisle. While Ms. Shareen honked at the squirrel in the middle of the road, Holden leaned over and gathered everything up for Mr. Mingby.

“Thank you, Mr. Wonderbolt.”

“No problem, Mr. Mingby.”

Pennie smiled proudly. And hoped Laraby was too.

Something buzzed.

“I think your dinosaur alarm just went off,” Holden said.

Pennie looked at her wrist.
01:00:00
. The one-hour mark. The Fair Force were on their way.

“I love that you wear a dinosaur watch,” Holden said. “What’s it counting down?”

Pennie looked back at Tenley.

“How long I have left on Earth with Tenley.”

“You wish.” Holden laughed.

00:20:00

Adventures, Inc.

Forty minutes later, Ms. Shareen jerked the bus into park. “Adventures, Inc., people!” she announced, as if the gigantic, three-story neon
Adventures, Inc
. sign wasn’t visible enough.

The students rushed into the aisle, including Pennie. She had twenty minutes to get Tenley as far away from everyone else as possible.

Before anyone reached the doors, Ms. Shareen whistled again.

“Children, you are going to leave my bus in an
orderly manner
. No pushin’, shovin’, textin’.
I
see any funny business,
you
stay on the bus. I could use a smarty pants to help me with my Sudoku.” She elbowed Mr. Mingby standing next to her. “Picking up what I’m laying down, Mr. Teacher Man?”

Apparently, Mr. Mingby was. He nodded and said, “Remember, students. We cannot be responsible for lost items such as cell phones, iPads, iPods, you-hoo’s. So we suggest you leave them on the bus.” He waited for Ms. Shareen to laugh but really, it was a fail of a joke, so she turned back to the students who were stepping all over each other waiting to get off.