Snitch (12 page)

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“That
Chrissy
chick.
She just got pulled into Perkin
s
’
office for her little sign trick.” Nick shook his head. “I hear they pulled Seth and Charlie in too. Did that Kate girl really snitch on him? That’s what everyone’s saying.”

I took a breath and a stand that might not be too popular with the rest of the team. “She didn’t.”

“You sure?”

I nodded slowly, squaring myself straight with Nick’s eyes so he would
know
I was sure.

“Then why is it all over
F
acebook?”

My breath hitched again
.
“What?!
It’s on
F
ace
book?”

“Yep.
That Kate girl has her own page all about how she told on Seth and how much she hates him and everything. You wired to the net?”

I nodded.

“Then get to the bathroom and turn your phone on. You
gotta
read the page. Some of the comments are pretty funny.
Oh, and check your Twitter account.
”

“I don’t tweet,” I said.

Nick laughed. “You should. It’s all about that Kate chick.”

Three minutes later I was hiding in a stall in the boy’s bathroom reading Kate’s F
B
page. Of course it wasn’t really Kate’s page, but some
troll
had set it up as if it were.

The bell had rung a few minutes earlier, but I didn’t care. Even though I wanted to know what was going to happen in advisory, I needed to know what the page said.

“Kate
Sninch
DuPrey
” was her online name. Her status was
a real hater
. Favorite pastimes were sucking up to teachers, reporting on friends, being a
“fun”
date, and studying suicide. “Kate’s” last post read
: I know I shouldn’t have told on anyone, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to tell since we all know this boy is so hot and won’t ever go out with skanks like me
.

Even as I read it, more and more comments appeared each time I updated the page. The nicer ones said things like:
“
You are a real loser
,”
or
“
How does it feel to be hated by everyone?
”

The nastier ones were sexual
,
which I expected, but the most disturbing said things like
“
Suicide is a good option
.”
or
“
Need any help with that suicide thing?
”

There was even a URL posted for
“
100 Ways to Kill Yourself
.”

Nick had been wrong about on
e thing: nowhere was this page
funny
. I knew what this would do to someone like Kate
DuPrey
.

Hopelessly late, I kept reading. The page had obviously been up for a while since I had to load several sets of older posts. The number of hits
proved most of the school knew about it
,
so how could I have been so clueless? Even more important
ly
, who had set up this page?

I refreshed the page one more time. Yep, three new postings showed up. Finally I decided I had seen enough. I didn’t want to be counted truant on top of all the rest of this, so I returned to history class only to find everyone had been called to assembly in the
theater.

Ducking in, I ran straight into Mr. Jones and had to tell another half
-
lie. I pushed thoughts of my parents out of my brain as I said, “Sorry I’m late. I’ve been in the bathroom.” I moved close to him and confided to him in a half
-
whisper. “I’m not feeling too well this morning.” That part was true. This whole thing was getting to my stomach.

Maybe I’m getting to be a better liar or maybe my face was still pale from shock, but Mr. Jones looked me over for a second and then asked, “Do you need a nurse’s pass?”

I shook my head no. “I think I’m okay now. Just let me sit for a minute and see how I feel.”

I sat, peering over a sea of heads, trying to eyeball Liz or Johnny or any of the boys. Finally, I located Seth and Charlie to my right, near the front, and Wes, Johnny and Ben a little behind them. The cheerleaders
were sitting in the front,
Chrissy
obviously missing. Liz’s beautiful, red hair was nowhere to be found.

Mrs. Johnson, the nin
th grade counselor, was onstage
finishing a talk about every student’s right to be safe and happy. Then Mr. Pe
rkin
s took the microphone.

“Students, y
ou all know we had a very unfortunate incident happen here yesterday. However, we also know incidents like that
occur
other times
,
which
go unreported. We don’t want that to happen.” Mr. Perkins’ voice gave strength to his small, slim statu
r
e.

I noticed that everyone was listening pretty closely to what he was saying.

“So if you know anything about what happened yesterday, or what is happening that we are yet unaware of, consider it your duty to yourself and your
own
school to report it. We want to make Jameson a good place to be
for all of you.

“
We want to take this time to remind all of you about the rules we have regarding phones. They should be off during school hours unless they’re being used specifically for studies during class. Plea
se be sure you are following those
rules.” Mr. Perkins adjusted his microphone and nodded towards some of the teachers.

“We are going to release you in a minute. Please think about what we’ve discussed as you return to your classes.
”

Some of the kids applauded. Some of the kids smirked. I hoped some of the kids felt guilty, but after reading the
Kate’s fake
page, I knew they didn’t.

We were excused to first period where Johnny caught up with me.

“Where were you, Andy? I looked everywhere for you.”

“In the bathroom.
Have you seen the
FB page
?”

“Oh yeah.
This is crazy, isn’t it?
My phone’s burning up with tweets!
”

“Who’s doing this?”

Johnny shrugged. “Don’t know for sure.
But if I had to guess, Seth and Charlie.
Of course,
Chrissy’s
gonna
take the fall for it. That girl would do anything for Charlie, and she’s in so deep now
,
nobody
would believe she didn’t do it
even if she said she didn’t. This isn’t funny anymore.”

“Have you seen Liz?”

“I don’t think she’s here. I figured she was with Kate. How’s
she
doing?”

“She’s a mess.”

Johnny shook his head. “This whole
thing’s
messed up
.
”

I thought he was going to say more, but
Tammera
p
assed us in the hallway.
“
Gotta
go!
See you in math!”
he called over his shoulder.

I nodded, thinking. One part of me was glad Johnny had nothing to do with it. The other part dreaded what I had to do next; I was going to have to make another quick trip to the bathroom to text Liz about checking
Facebook
.

I made it all the way to the end of the day before a little
yellow
slip called for me. It had taken most of the morning to interview the entire cheerleading squad
.
Johnny had been pulled at lunch, Ben in fifth period, and Wes in sixth.

When I arrived in the office, I took my place on a faded, green chair next to Charlie.

“How’s it going, man?” I asked.

Charlie scowled at me. “What are you doing talking to me? You’re half the reason this is happ
ening.
You and your little girl
friends.”

Part of me couldn’t believe what I heard, the other part expected it. Suddenly,
my
shoulders tightened in anger. “What are you talking about?”

Charlie disregarded me for a moment; then he squared his face to mine to glare at me. “Tell your girl to shut up. Tell her, she needs to
think
before she talks.”

I stood up. “Are you crazy? No one told in the first place.”

“She told. And now she can’t take the conse
quences.”
Charlie’s
voice grew low
.
“And if you don’t steer clear, you’ll take them too.”

“Are you threatening me?”

Charlie stood up and faced me, his breath loud and ragged. “I’m tellin
g you.
” He glanced at the secretary who, sensing something was wrong, hustled down the hall back towards us. “For now, I’m just telling you.” His voice eased as he fought to control it. “Now, sit down and be nice.”

“Boys!” the secretary called shrilly from down the hall
.
“Is there a problem?”

Charlie looked at me coldly, motioning with his eyes for me to answer her.

“No, ma’am,
” I said, my eyes refusing to leave Charlie’s. “It’s all good.”

Suddenly the room exploded in noise.

Mr. Perkins threw his door open, his voice ripping through the quiet of the office
.
“Cheryl! Get the officer in here!”

Something heavy, maybe a chair, scraped across the floor and hit a wall. Another voice shouted, “Shut that door! I want to talk about this like
men! What kind of a man calls the damn cops every time there’s a problem
?
You were always a weasel when we were kids, and you still are one!”

This was interesting. Both Charlie and I forgot one another and focused on t
he chaos coming from Mr. Perkin
s
’
office.

“Wayne, I mean, Mr. Biggman
, i
f you want to speak to me, you will do so in a civil tone. I will not be subjected to your bullying! Not anymore.”

“Bullying!
I’m trying to stop a paid little power
-
hungry jerk
who
spent most of his high school career cowering in the back of the lunch room, from paying me back by bullying my son who has done NOTHING wrong except lead a wimpy, losing basketball team to contention for the district championships.”

Suddenly Mr. Perkins backed out of his office, towered over by Seth’s angry father. “Instead of concentrating on his game, my son has to deal with some whiny little girl and her parents who are trying to blame all
of
her social problems on someone else!”

Mr. Perkins stood as tall as he could, but he was hopelessly overshadowed by the angry form of Seth’s dad. “If you don’t sit down and calm down, I
will
have you arrested.”

“Arrested!
Can’t you do any better than that?!” He laughed harshly. “I guess not. Why would I think anything else? But you better ask yourself one question,
Dick
: Do you think for one minute I’m going to let you pin the blame on my son,” Mr.
Biggman’s
finger stabbed at Perkins’ chest
,
emphasizing every word, “instead of finding out who the real problem is? What about that little cheerleader? I heard she has quite the reputation
.
What about her?”

The shadow retreated as another
bang
,
louder
than the last one
,
sounded from the opposite side of wall in front of us.

Still backed up against the wall across from his door, Mr. Perkins yelled, “Cheryl! Call Officer Grant!
Now!”

“No need to call the law,
Dick
!” Seth’s father emphasized Mr. Perkins name the way I’m sure he had years ago
,
proving to me Seth had learned his bullying techniques from the master.

“I’m leaving. I’m going right over to administration
,
and I’m going to have your ass fired! I’ll have your crappy little job taken away from you faster than you can blink! My son
will
play the last games of the season, without
harassment
, or you will hear from my lawyer!”