by Kieran Scott
Tugging my coat close to my body against the frigid December air, I jogged over to the school parking lot and walked up the hill to the new annex, my shoes crunching on the leftover salt from the last ice storm. My heart pounded with excitement, and I told myself it was because I was doing something borderline bad. It had nothing to do with Jake Graydon. Nothing at all.
Maybe, after the party, I actually should go visit David.
There were no cars in the parking lot, but I wasn’t surprised. Chloe was the only one with a license and a car, and they’d probably parked on a side street to avoid suspicion. I walked up to the double metal doors and pulled on the handles. Nothing. They must have found another way in. All the top windows of the annex were open. I crept slowly around the side of the building, looking for some clue as to how to get inside. There, pasted to a new green Dumpster, was a big red arrow pointing up. There was another taped to the top, and a third pointing up at the window above.
I paused, my pulse skipping around in trepidation. Chloe and Faith had scaled a Dumpster and climbed through a window two inches from the ceiling? Somehow, I didn’t see it. But then, Hammond had probably let Chloe climb up his back and step on his head to get through.
I laughed at the visual. Well, it was either go up or go home. I’d never been one to back down from a dare, so I decided to risk it. I grabbed the hinge on the lid of the Dumpster and scrambled on top. The noise reverberated for miles, scaring the crap out of me. I caught my breath, looked up at the window over my head, said a quick prayer, and jumped. My hands grasped the cold, sharp and unforgiving window ledge. I gritted my teeth and pulled myself up. My blood rushed in my ears, and I strained with all my strength.
Worth it. This was all going to be totally worth it.
I hoisted myself up and twisted sideways to get through the window. On the other side were the bleachers. I eased myself onto the top row and lay there for a moment, breathing in the thick scent of chlorine. I’d made it. I was okay. When my breathing finally started to slow, though, I realized something was very wrong. The place was dead silent.
I sat up. The pool was open but dark, its clear water so still I could read the depth measurements painted on the wall on the far side. The only light in the place came from the glowing, red emergency exit signs over the doors, and through the windows from the parking lot lights. It was freezing. Even colder than it was outside.
“Hello?”
My voice echoed throughout the room. No response.
Fear tickled my veins. They were screwing with me. Any second they were all going to come bursting out from under the bleachers and frighten me. Great. Was this going to be our new relationship? They’d let me back in but make me the butt of every joke for the rest of my life, just to remind me of my place?
“Ha ha. Very funny, you guys.” I stood up and walked down the bleachers, looking around carefully. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
There was a scraping noise behind me. I whirled around, my heart in my throat, and saw Jake Graydon fumbling through the window.
“Omigod. You scared me,” I said.
He dropped onto all fours on the bleachers and sprang up as if singed. His face was sweaty and red, and his eyes darted around the room fretfully.
“Come on,” he said, his steps heavy on the bleachers. “We have to get out of here.”
He grabbed my hand as he passed me by, but I didn’t move.
“What do you mean? Where is everybody?” I asked.
Jake sighed. “They’re not coming. Let’s go!”
He tugged on my hand. A cold trickle of dread sliced down my spine. “What do you mean, they’re not coming?”
“We don’t have time for this,” Jake said tersely. “I swear I’ll explain everything once we—”
Suddenly the door swung open, and a flashlight beam hit me dead in the face.
“What the hell do you two kids think you’re doing in here?”
Two cops stood in the doorway, along with our principal, Mr. Lawrence, who was holding a jam-packed key ring. At that moment, three things occurred to me. First, I was in serious trouble. Second, the Cresties had set me up. And third, Jake was still holding my hand.
jake
“I thought this was supposed to be my day off,” Principal Lawrence joked.
It was the first day of winter break. Orchard Hill High was deserted, except for the janitors. They already had the entire place reeking of ammonia. The principal lowered himself into his huge leather chair and laced his fingers together on the desk. I glanced at my mother’s foot. It was bouncing up and down like crazy. My dad sat next to her in a button-down, tie, and houndstooth jacket—his casual weekend gear. I couldn’t even look at Ally, even though she was sitting right next to me. She was probably so pissed she could kill me with one glance.
“Mr. Lawrence, Ally has something she’d like to say,” Mrs. Ryan stated.
Ally shifted in her chair. “I’m very sorry for breaking into the pool. I know it was stupid and dangerous, and I’ll accept whatever punishment you think is right.”
“Thank you, Miss Ryan,” Principal Lawrence said. He looked at me. “And Mr. Graydon? Do you have anything to add?’
I looked at my parents. They had told me not to say anything. I couldn’t have anyway. My guilt was lodged in my throat like I’d swallowed Shaquille O’Neal’s shoe. My dad nodded at me. What was that supposed to mean? “Um . . . I’m sorry, too?”
Ally’s mother snorted. My face burned. Was that wrong? I hated this. Every minute of it. Hated not knowing what I was supposed to do.
“Mr. Lawrence, it’s Christmas vacation,” my dad said, leaning forward. “None of us wants to be here right now. These are two good kids who didn’t damage any school property and who have wholeheartedly apologized. Don’t you think we can just end this with a warning and move on with our lives?”
Sounded good to me.
“I’m sure we could make it worth your while,” my mom added. “A donation to the library, perhaps.” She slid a glance at Mrs. Ryan, and I knew exactly what she was thinking—don’t worry, poor person, we’ll take care of this with our big, fat checkbook. Maybe not in those words, but that was the idea. My face burned brighter.
Mr. Lawrence’s eyebrows rose with interest. He took a breath. I could tell he was going to take the money and run. This was it. We were out of there.
“No,” Mrs. Ryan snapped.
“What?” my mother said.
“What?” Ally repeated.
“No,” Mrs. Ryan said, even more firmly this time. “If there’s one thing I’ve always taught my daughter, it’s that actions have consequences. Unlike some parents, I’d like her to grow up with some sense of responsibility for her own conduct.”
Oh, just kill me. Kill me now.
“So, Mr. Lawrence, I would appreciate it if you would not grant her any special treatment,” Mrs. Ryan continued. “Whatever the normal punishment is for breaking into school property after hours, that’s what I’d like her to receive.”
Mr. Lawrence frowned. I think he was impressed.
“Fine. Two weeks of school beautification duty,” he said. “The work will commence when school reopens. You’ll be responsible for two hours a day, which can be served directly before or after school.”
“Both of them?” my mother blurted.
As if Ally deserved to be punished and I didn’t. It wasn’t her fault. It was mine. My stupid friends had tricked her into it, and I’d been too dense to realize what they were doing. I felt hot all around the collar of my sweater and under my arms.
My father scoffed. “But, Mr. Lawrence, surely you don’t expect Jake to miss swim practice.”
My fingers curled into fists on the chair’s armrests.
“He can’t—”
“I’ll do it,” I blurted.
“What?” my parents said in unison. Everyone was staring at me. Including Ally.
“You said I can do it before school, right?” I asked. �
��So I don’t miss swim?”
“But, Jake, that would mean getting here at . . . five thirty every day!” my mother said.
“I can do the math,” I said to her through my teeth. Her mouth snapped closed. I was in trouble for that one, but I didn’t care. I’d already been grounded twice. A third time couldn’t hurt that much. Especially since I was too pissed at my friends to care about not being able to hang out with them. I looked at the principal. “So. Can I? Can we? Ally has basketball, too.”
“Well . . . yes, Jake. I think that would be just fine,” Mr. Lawrence said. He smiled at me, looking almost proud. “Does that work for you, Ally?”
“Yes, sir,” Ally said.
“All right, then. We have a deal,” Mr. Lawrence said, standing. “Now, as you mentioned, none of us really wants to be here, so unless anyone has any further questions . . .” He offered my dad his hand, but Dad ignored it. Dad buttoned his jacket and grabbed his trench coat from the hook by the door.
“Jake. Let’s go,” he snapped.
I got up to follow him, letting my mother walk out ahead of me. As I slipped sideways through the door I glanced over my shoulder at Ally. I couldn’t help myself. I had to know if she was mad at me for letting her get set up. But she was barely containing a smile. Stunned, I automatically smiled back.
“Jake! Now!” my father snapped from the hallway.
I yanked my varsity jacket on and let the door swing closed behind me. It wasn’t until we were in the car, my parents giving me the silent treatment, that I realized that I maybe knew why Ally was smiling. We had just been sentenced to twenty hours of school service. The two of us. Together. Alone. For twenty hours.
Sweet.
january
Did you hear? Jake Graydon got busted for breaking into the pool annex over break.
Yeah. But did you hear who he was with?
Who?
Ally Ryan.
No way. What the hell were they doing together?
Apparently our playboy has a new girl to play with.
Isn’t she with David Drake?
Like that matters.
Oh, please. Jake and Ally? No way. The Cresties would freak.
Yeah. Those two cannot get together.
Nothing around here would ever be the same.
jake
“You got arrested!?”
Shannen stomped into my room, leaving wet boot prints in the thick carpet, and flung herself onto my bed facedown, arms splayed. There was snow in her hair and on the shoulders of her black pea coat. I paused my game of NBA 2K10, which I’d been playing a lot more often since Ally had whipped my ass in the driveway back in October. Like I could really learn new moves from a video game.
“Who let you in?” I asked.
It sounded more pissed than I intended. But then, I was pissed. I hadn’t talked to any of my friends since the night of the going away party. Hammond had called twice. Shannen, every day. Plus texts. But I hadn’t wanted to talk to any of them after what they’d pulled. My family had stayed local for the holidays while everyone else had flown somewhere. Kinda sucked, but made it easier to avoid them.
She lifted her head and blew her bangs out of her face. She’d gotten tan in Florida. “Like anyone lets me in. Your door is always unlocked.”
She was right, of course. Shannen was always just walking into my house without ringing the bell. She practically lived here. And at Chloe’s and Faith’s. Even Hammond’s and the twins’. Anywhere to get away from her father. I guess I just figured, considering I was still grounded, someone might have intercepted her.
I went back to my game, leaning against the foot of my bed.
“What’s the matter? Are you pissed at me or something?” she asked. She came to the end of the bed, swinging her legs around so they were next to my right cheek.
“Why would I be mad? You almost got me thrown in jail, but no, I’m not mad.”
“Oh, come on. Like it’s somehow my fault.” She shoved my shoulder. I ignored her and kept playing. “What were you thinking? Why did you have to go all Batman on us?”
“Batman?”
She slid down to sit on the floor next to me and rolled her eyes. “You know . . . running off to save the damsel in distress?”
“I wouldn’t’ve had to if you guys hadn’t pulled that stupid-ass prank,” I replied. I paused the game again and flung the controller down. “What were you thinking?”
Shannen shrugged. She tossed her bangs out of her face again, but they fell right back into place. “I don’t know. I thought it would be funny.”
“Funny?” I blurted. “Shannen, I could have gotten a record!”
“But you weren’t supposed to be there!” she said, leaning back on her hands.
“That’s not the point. Why did you do that to Ally? I thought you guys were, like, getting along at basketball and stuff. Did you really want her to get in that much trouble?” I asked.
“Whatever. I heard they dismissed the charges,” she said, looking at the TV.
I pushed myself to my feet and stood over her, so angry that I had to move to keep from exploding. “They did, but you didn’t know that was going to happen. Why would you do that to her?”
“Okay, first of all? It wasn’t my idea, it was Faith’s,” she said, shoving herself to her feet as well. “And second of all, why do you care so effing much what happens to Ally Ryan?”
“I . . . I don’t,” I said. “I just . . . I don’t get what she did that was so fucking awful that you guys need to keep screwing with her. What’s the point?”
Shannen rolled her eyes, sat down on the bed, and held her head in her hands. “I don’t believe this,” she said to the floor.
“What? Just tell me. What the hell is going on?” I asked.
Shannen glared up at me, her eyes on fire. “Fine, you want to know what Ally did that was so bad? She fooled around with Hammond. While he was going out with Chloe.”
My stomach turned, and bile rose up in my throat. Ally and Hammond? Hammond had fooled around with Ally?
“What does that mean, exactly, ‘fooled around’?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I never asked for the details,” she spat. “Does it matter? The girl’s a backstabbing whore.”
My knees were too weak to stand. I couldn’t believe that Hammond had been with Ally. A million flesh-heavy visuals shot through my mind rapid-fire, and I closed my eyes. Hammond and Ally. Hammond and Ally. I was starting to sweat.
“Does Chloe know?” I asked, because it seemed like the right thing to ask.
“No. I’ve never told her. No one knows that I know.”
“Not even Ally?” I asked.
She looked me in the eye. “Not even Ally.” She blew out a sigh and turned away. “The thing is, I think Hammond still likes her,” Shannen said, lacing her fingers together and kneading her knuckles.
“Hammond? No, he—” But then, the day after I met her hadn’t he grilled me about how she looked? Hadn’t he been the one telling me to stay away from her all along? He’d told the Idiot Twins to shut up about her at Sunday dinner, and the night of the lawn jockey incident, he’d hesitated, too. He hadn’t wanted to be there any more than I had. Was it for the same reason as me? Because he liked her?
“He always liked her. Since, like, fourth grade. And Chloe always liked him. It was like our very own Degrassi-style love triangle,” Shannen said, lifting a hand and letting it fall at her side. “Finally in ninth, Hammond asked out Ally and she turned him down cold, so he asked out Chloe. They’ve been together ever since.”
“So you think that all this time, Hammond never stopped liking Ally?” I said.
“I don’t know. I mean, I know he cares about Chloe, but . . .” She paused and shook her head. “All I know for sure is, we cannot let that girl back in,” she said firmly. “If Hammond cheats on Chloe and she finds out about it, it’ll break her heart. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we need someone like her in our group. S
omeone none of us can trust.”
I swallowed back the bile in my throat. I couldn’t say what I was thinking. Because she would kill me. The thing was, I didn’t think it was that big a deal that Hammond and Ally had hooked up. Everyone hooked up behind their boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s back. It happened all the time. It wasn’t the cheating or the so-called backstabbing that threw me.
It was that Hammond had kissed Ally Ryan. And maybe more. I liked a girl who’d been with one of my best friends. He’d gotten to her first. I took a breath and clenched my jaw.
“So . . . you’re not in trouble, right? I mean, with the police?” Shannen asked, chewing on her lip.
“No.” I leaned forward with my elbows on my thighs. “But Principal Lawrence gave us two weeks’ janitor duty.”
“Janitor duty?”
“Yeah.”
I felt a thrill in my heart area every time I thought about it. Me and Ally alone together every morning for two weeks. But then . . . Hammond and Ally. Ugh. Why did she have to tell me this?
“Oh my God! That’s classic! Do you have to wear the coveralls and everything? I’m so filming this for YouTube,” Shannen said, laughing as she got up and shed her coat. That was Shannen for you, all serious one second, all jokes the next.
“No. I don’t know.”
“So, just tell me the truth,” she said, standing in front of me. “There’s nothing between you and Ally Ryan?”
I looked up at her. She was my best friend, but I couldn’t tell her. Because there was nothing to tell. And clearly, even if there was something to tell, that something would totally piss her off.
