Snitch (5 page)

“What
are
you like?” Mom asked, she and Dad forming that united-force,
parental
wall of inquisition I dread so much.

“I’m honest. I’m good. I’m smart and
I’m
aware I have a future. I’m not going to blow it because some kid asks me to drink or
whatever.”

“You’re honest, but you told a
half-truth
to Mr. Perkins about who did what to the sub. You’re good, but you made fun of a poor, inexperienced teacher who was trying to do her job. You’re smart, but you put yourself in the middle of a bunch of mean kids in order to
bully the substitute
.”

Dad paused, waiting for my explanation.

And w
hen he put it like that, I didn’t have one.

“We taught you better,” Mom reasoned. “And I never thought of you as a
bully
.” Her look of disappointment in me was worse than any punishment they were about to hand out. “Was this just another one of your stupid, immature pranks? Aren’t you getting a little too old for that?”

“You let your team and school down. You let your
m
om and me down, and worst of all you let yourself down.”

Dad’s voice was hushed, which made me feel horribly guilty. At this point, yelling would have been better.

“I hope you realize how many of your own moral codes you say you have
were
violated when you decided to become part of that group of kids.”

Mom didn’t speak. She just nodded her head slowly, her ashamed, disappointed eyes saying it all.

“As for your punishment: a week of house arrest. No phone. No computer. You might want to check with your mom every night after school to see if she has any chores she needs help with. I hear hard work is good for the soul.
I
t gives one time to think.”

I shook my head as I pulled my phone from my pocket and laid it on Dad’s desk. They were right. I was wrong.

I hate it when they’re right.

“Andy-O, sit here
.
”
Sizzle patted the
cafeteria
table and moved his lunch bag over to make room for mine. “We’re making us a plan. Seth is just getting pizza.”

“What’s the plan about?” I asked, throwing my lunch on the table. I jumped over the back of the chair and tried to make a bigger space for myself.

“Move, Wes,” I said, slapping him on the shoulder and pushing against him. But Wes was a wall of muscle. He didn’t budge an inch; he just looked at me and smiled.

At lunch we are only supposed to have eight people to a table, but there were at least fifteen of us trying to crowd around our spot. My best buds, Johnny-boy, Sizzle, Wes, Ben, Charlie
,
and I were in the center with the rest of the team pulled in, snagging a piece of the table or just settling to sit behind us and stick their heads in for conversation. Of course, a few of the finest ladies from the cheerleading squad graced us with their presence.
Tammera
was chatting
with
Johnny, and
Chrissy
was, as always, trying to get Charlie’s attention. I loved lunch.

“Move over
,
boys!” Seth announced
,
throwing something that resembled pizza onto the table. He opened his chocolate milk and downed it in one long swig. “We have the matter of payback to discuss.”

The boys leaned in.

“Somebody told, and somebody’s
gonna
pay.”

I let out a chuckle
,
hoping it didn’t sound nervous.

“This is your first day back, Seth. Don’t you think you should be more careful here?” Eying our table crowd, it was easy to see some unnecessary ears were becoming interested in what we were saying.

Seth stopped chewing. “True. But right now, what
I
really
need is information.” He elbowed Johnny, stood up
,
and announced to the crowd. “I’m getting something else to drink. Anybody need anything?”

“Get me
a water
,”
Tammera
yelled.

“Give me a buck,” Seth countered, knowing she didn’t have one.

Johnny waited for Seth’s exit before addressing the crowd, almost on cue. “So, who do you hear snitched on Seth?”

“Could be anybody,” Charlie said.

“Anybody stupid,” someone agreed.

“Who
in our class would tell?”
Chrissy
asked. “I mean, it would have to be some perfect, all
-
A suck-up who obviously doesn’t have a life outside of school.”

“Yeah, somebody who didn’t appreciate our humor,” Johnny said, winking at
Chrissy
.

“Somebody who really likes math,” Wes reasoned, shaking his head.

“Somebody who needs their butt kicked,” Charlie said, meaning it.
Chrissy
giggled.

“We
gotta
find out
who
,” Johnny said, leaning into the table. “Getting Seth in trouble wasn’t cool.”

The crowd around the table agreed with Johnny, nodding while sneaking looks around the cafeteria for possible suspects.

This was weird. Why was Johnny getting so involved in Seth’s business? It was almost as if Seth
had
planned to leave so Johnny could carry out his orders or something.

I could only wonder where all this was going, but even if Johnny wanted to get involved, I didn’t. We had been wrong, and payback was one
“
bridge
”
I wasn’t going to jump off.
I got up from the table.

“Where are you going?” Johnny asked, batting my arm.

“Bathroom,” I lied. I was going to make my escape and hope the whole payback thing went away.

But Johnny put a damper on that. “Hurry back. We got plans to make.”

I escaped, passing a table I hoped no one had pegged. Liz chewed her sandwich while patiently showing Kate how to do some math. She wore a pretty burgundy top and a piece of her soft red hair, which was brushed out long and silky, fell against her paper. Liz
,
lifting her hand to push it back
,
surprised me by looking up so I smiled at her. Her green eyes did what they always did to let me know how much she hated me.

***

The rest of the week sucked about as much as the first part. Besides having no social life, my grade in math was so low after my botched quiz, I was going to have to work doubly hard to bring it up by next progress report time or I wouldn’t be able to play basketball. In science I was going to be assigned a partner for our next project instead of being able to pick my own, and at practice I turned my ankle trying to go one on one with Wes. It was too swollen to walk on, so that meant I would probably be sitting Thursday’s game out.

Seth bragged he was back in the game because his father visited the superintendent and made a big enough fuss, so our team was still a threat. Even though we ended up winning the game Thursday night, I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or not. I mean, having your team win is great
,
but having it win without the benefit of your skills doesn’t feel that good. So when Friday rolled around, I was ready for the week to be over.

“I’ll call you tonight,” Seth said, leaning over my shoulder as I emptied my
locker into my backpack
before last period.

“You can’t. I’m still under house arrest.” I wondered uneasily why Seth would want to call me.

“House arrest?
What is that? Your parents are too
all over you!”

I agreed with Seth, even though I knew how strict
his
father was. Seth forgot we shared the locker room, and I had seen the belt marks across his legs and back. I figured a while ago that probably Seth had inherited his temper from his father. My father had never used anything more than his hand on my backside, and he hadn’t done that in years.

But I explained
,
“It’s what my parents call taking away my phone and computer and everything else. They got really pissed off when Perkins called. I’m going to be cleaning the garage all weekend.”

“That sucks
.
” Seth thought for a minute. “Can you talk Sunday night?”

“Maybe,” I said. “Why? What’s the big deal?”

“Plans,” Seth said smiling. “We think we know who told on us.”

My stomach did a flip. “I thought that was all over.”

“Oh, no.
It’s not over. I’m just starting to play.” Seth gave me an all knowing smile and motioned for me to turn around and look over my shoulder. “There’s our target,” he said, his eyes hardening.

Kate
DuP
rey
stood at her locker arranging her books.

“
Chrissy
heard from someone it was Kate who told. Kate
DuPrey
.” Seth put his hand on my shoulder. “This is going to be fun,” he said, his eyes predatory.

“No way
it was
her,” I said. “She doesn’t talk.”

“She did this time,” Seth whispered, still glaring.

“Are you coming to Science or not?” Mrs. Mason asked. “I’m shutting my door.”

“He’s in!” Seth pushed me towards her. “See you later!”

I took my seat, and while Mrs. Mason called roll and went into detail about our next project, I thought about what Seth said.

Kate had been in at least one of my classes for the past five years, yet I
barely knew
her last name. She was the quiet, shy one who never said anything, and when she did
,
her voice was so soft and so unsure it was hard to hear her from across the room. Her hair, more white than blonde, and her eyes only moving to dart quickly away helped her fade into the back wall she preferred to sit next to. She
was
one of those people who always seemed to be in school, always had her homework, and always
passed the class
but mostly took up space. She was a ghost
girl—there
but not there. Kate hardly seemed like a person who would snitch.

And she certainly didn’t seem like a person who could stand up to Seth’s anger.

Suddenly the class was up and moving. I had no idea what was going on, because I hadn’t heard a thing Mrs. Mason had said.

“Hey, I don’t like it either,” a voice said. “But we may as well make the best of it ‘cause it is what it is.”

I looked up. The green eyes I had been thinking about
way
too often these days looked back at me.

“We’re partners.
For the project.”
Liz’s green eyes rolled, accentuated by a spray of fine freckles sprinkled across her nose and
cheeks
.
I’m a sucker for freckles like that on girls. “Do you even know what I’m talking about?”

I straightened up in my chair and did some quick thinking so I didn’t look totally lame. “We’re partners,” I repeated.
“For the project.”

“And we have to watch the special this weekend. Do you have cable or satellite?”

“Satellite.”

“Then we watch it at your house. I’ll need your address and phone number.” She scribbled something down on her notebook and tore out the paper. “
Here’s
mine.”

I scribbled down my info and watched her load it on her phone, not believing how easily I had gotten her phone number. My luck wasn’t usually that good.

“When is the special on again?”

“You really weren’t listening, were you?
”
She pointed to the handout Mrs. Mason had put on everyone’s desks.
“Sunday, 6:30.
Discovery Channel.
‘The
Rainforest
’.
”

I smiled.
“The
Rainforest
.
Cool.” She didn’t smile back. “It’ll be okay. I don’t bite.”

Liz’s raised one eyebrow and looked at the ceiling. “I never said you did.”

“It’s just that sometimes…
well
,
I catch you looking at me like I’m stupid or something. What did I ever do to you?”

Liz sat down
wearing one of those
“
tell me more
”
looks girls challenge guys with.

“You do that little slit thing
with your eyes.” I made my eyes look the way hers usually looked at me.

Liz sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s not you. It’s some of the guys you hang with. They’re like little spoiled boys who don’t know when to shut up or be nice.”