“I’m okay,” I answer staring into his wide brown eyes.
He grabs my hand and almost drags me over to our seats. Sophie’s smiling at us, and she looks like she’s got a secret she’s busting to tell us. “You alright, Sophie?” Reece asks.
“I am. Wanna know what I heard?”
“What?” I ask, pushing my food away because now I’ve lost the little interest I did have. I fold my arms in front of me, waiting for Sophie to speak. “Well?”
“Lindsey was standing close to me, and when Levi walked away, I heard her say, ‘it’s so cute how Reece is so protective of Dakota.’ He told her to shut up and stop being a bitch. Then he walked away. She ran behind him saying how sorry she was.”
“I’ve come to the conclusion that Lindsey is not the smartest of people,” Reece says joining his hands and steepling his fingers to tap on his lips. “Not smart at all.”
“She’s still a nasty piece of work,” Sophie pipes up and says. “Real nasty.”
The bell sounds for the end of lunch and we all head to the last few classes of the day.
Mrs. Walker’s English class is the last of the day. As I head there, Aaron and Jordan cross paths with me in the hallway. I decide to be the bigger person here and say hello to Jordan. “Hi,” I say as I pass her. She looks me up and down, and she ignores me. “I’m well, thanks,” I sarcastically add while she’s beside me.
“I didn’t ask,” she snaps bitchily.
“I was talking to someone who actually has a heart, clearly that isn’t you.” I flip my hair and walk away from her. I wouldn’t normally be horrible like this, but she deserves it.
I head into Mrs. Walker’s class, and Reece is sitting at the back, with a spare seat beside him. He smiles at me the moment he sees me, and he winks.
And my heart jumps.
“Sam, want to walk this morning?” I ask as we have breakfast. Last night’s counseling session went really well. I didn’t break down, and surprisingly I didn’t cry. It feels like that’s all I’ve been doing lately, is crying.
“Yeah, let’s walk,” Sam eagerly answers.
Mom hears us and smiles.
“Be ready in ten. Okay?” I quickly finish my breakfast and go to brush my teeth and grab my bag. I’m not so nervous about school today, I handled the events of yesterday better than I’d thought I would and I know each day will get easier.
There were a few slurs, murmurs and even-name calling, but I know what the truth is, so it didn’t bother me as much as I’d expected.
“Ready?” Sam calls from the front door.
I grab my bag and head out. “Bye, Mom,” both Sam and I yell out at the same time. We start walking toward school and Sam says to me, “A few of the kids were talking about that group yesterday. They asked me if I knew about it.”
“What did you say?” I kick a small pebble down the road and watch it go skittering across the asphalt.
“Told them I hope when they pee it feels like razor blades.”
“Oh my God, you didn’t really say that, did you?”
“Hell yeah, I did! They stopped asking when I told them I was going to flush their heads down the toilet and see how they like walking through school with pee on their head.” She smiles at me triumphantly, and adds a swagger to her walk.
“You’re one of a kind. Never change, Sam, never.”
“I’ve got sparkle, and if you’re lucky, I may share it with you.”
We round the corner to get to school and a white car slows down and drives beside us. “Who the hell is that?” I ask, pushing Sam off the sidewalk and further away from the white car.
When I duck to see who it is, they take off down the street do a U-turn. On the way back, I see it’s Mr. C, and the hair on my body stands to attention as he slows again, looking at us.
“What the hell is that about?” I ask.
“Creepy, there’s something seriously wrong with this. Come on, let’s go.” She starts toward school at a faster pace.
I head over to my locker the period before lunch to grab my math book. Mr. C’s class. Cringe. Thank God both Reece and Sophie are in this class, and I don’t have to sit there on my own.
Reluctantly, I head to class, and when I get there, I spot Mr. C is sitting on the edge of his desk. He has his phone in his hands and he’s looking down at the screen. Reece isn’t here yet, but Sophie is, and she’s got her head down in a book, reading. “Hey,” I whisper as I walk past Mr. C and shudder as I feel his beady eyes flick over my body.
“Mr. C’s class.” She gives me a wicked smile, hiding the truth of how we both feel about him.
Everyone filters in slowly, and Mr. C watches as we all take our seats. He looks agitated, like something’s wrong. He gazes down at his phone, types something, then looks around the class again. Standing, he heads over to the door and closes it, but not before he steps out to the hall looking to see if anyone else is coming.
“What’s going on with Mr. C?” Reece asks me and Sophie.
“No idea. He’s acting weird, though. This morning he drove past me and Sam on our walk to school, then turned around and came back again. Now he’s been sitting on his desk, probably playing Candy Crush on his phone. He looked up, then went out there.”
The door slams shut and Mr. C re-enters the classroom. “I trust you all had a good vacation?” he asks us all.
Excited murmurs and whispers burst forth from the class. Then the door swings open, and Levi strolls in like he thinks he’s a goddamn king. His eyes flick to me and he winks. Sleaze.
I know why he’s acting like this. It’s obvious he’s seen those pictures and he thinks I cheated on him. I get it, really I do. I’d be beyond hurt and humiliated to think that someone had cheated on me. and I hope once the police’s solid lead pans out, he’ll understand what really happened. Hopefully, we can at least be civil. I don’t ever expect an apology for him acting like an idiot; I just don’t want to be on the receiving end of his hurtful comments.
I look up at the front of class, and Mr. C is still on his phone. “I’ll be with you in a minute, class; I’ve got to send this urgent text message,” he says.
“He’s so weird,” I whisper to Sophie.
“Tell me about it.”
The class starts and we’ve already begun working on calculus. We’re half-way through the lesson, with Mr. C showing examples and breaking them down, when suddenly everything changes.
The door opens, and two uniformed police officers walk into the room. Mr. C steps back, then quickly regroups and steps forward toward the police.
Students are moving, scraping their chairs, and a lot of gasping noises as these police officers invade our room. They take a moment to look through the room, and walk toward the back . . . toward Levi.
“Levi Matthews, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent . . .”
Levi is pulled up from his desk by one of the police officers. He turns Levi around and quickly handcuffs him.
“What . . . ?” I whisper as I watch this incredibly intense exchange happen in a matter of seconds. The police are in our room, and out before anyone has a chance to get their head around what’s happening.
The two burly officers leave with each holding one of Levi’s arms, still reading him his rights.
I look around the class. Some girls crying, some guys’ mouths are hanging open. “What just happened?” Sophie asks loudly.
We all look to Mr. C, who’s standing at the front of the class, looking as disconcerted as we all are. Our principal appears and stands at the front of the class. “Mr. Collins, I’ll take the class. Go grab a coffee.”
Mr. C slowly nods his head, apparently still in shock. He grabs his phone and his briefcase and leaves the room.
We’re all looking around us, still trying to figure out what happened.
“Class.” Mr. Preston, our principal claps his hands twice to get our attention.
Sophie puts her hand up.
“Yes.” He poin
ts to her.
“What just happened?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss it. Now, where did Mr. Collins leave off in your lesson?” Sophie sticks her hand up again. “Yes?”
“Two police officers just disrupted our class, handcuffed Levi, and read him his Miranda Rights. And you can’t tell us what’s going on?”
“That’s correct. Where are we up to?” Sophie is tenacious. “Yes,” he says with a frustrated sigh.
“You can’t expect us to concentrate on work, when Levi was just handcuffed.”
“Miss . . .” He waits for her last name.
“Sophie Masters.”
“Ah, yes, Miss Masters. That’s exactly what I expect of you. To concentrate on your work.”
Sophie rolls her eyes and mumbles something under her breath. She looks at me and mouths, ‘What happened?’
“I don’t know,” I whisper in response.
The class goes by quickly, everyone itching to know what happened. By the time the bell sounds, the corridors are filled with people and the only thing anyone can talk about is how Levi got arrested. We head to the cafeteria and people are stopping Reece, Sophie, and me, asking us what we know.
When we head to our table, Sam and Taylor are already here, huddled together talking in a hushed tone. They see us approach and look straight at us. “What happened?” Sam pounces the moment we sit.
“No idea. Seriously, we were sitting there and the next thing two cops come in, grab Levi, handcuff him, and take him out. It happened so fast. Mr. C tried to ask them what was going on, but they had Levi so quick. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Reece says.
“Was it like those movies where they come in and extract someone and everyone’s left stunned?” Taylor asks Reece.
“That’s exactly how it was. Mr. Preston showed up and told Mr. C to go. Man, I have no idea what the hell happened,” Reece replies.
Sam leans over to me, Reece and Taylor leaning back, talking to each other. “Did anything weird happen in class?” she questions me.
“Nope. Did you see anything weird in class, Sophie?” I ask her.
“Nothing. We were half way through when they came in. They were huge, too.”
Lunch is spent not eating, but listening to what everyone’s saying. When the bell sounds, Reece and I walk to our lockers so we can get our English books out.
I feel a tap on my shoulder, and turn to see Lindsey who’s clearly been crying. “What happened, Dakota?” she asks through her tears.
I almost feel sorry for her. Her boyfriend’s been dragged out of class, and no one knows what’s going on. “I don’t know, Lindsey.”
“Did you do this?”
I frown at her and shake my head. “Me? People can’t be arrested for being assholes, or you’d be right there with him.”
Her shoulders slump and she looks down at her feet, embarrassed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that. I’m really upset because I can’t get any answers from anyone.”
“I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll be sorted out.”
She gives me the first hint of friendliness she has in a long time. She half smiles at me, her eyes soft with hurt. “Thank you. If you hear anything, will you let me know?”
“Um.” I bring my shoulders up in a shrug. “Sure.”
“Thank you.”
She walks away and Reece stares at me, completely surprised. “You could’ve told her to piss off.”
“I’m not like that.”
“I know, and I really love that about you.” He gives me a small kiss on the cheek.
He said love.
I smile. And do a little internal dance.
As we walk to English, Jordan, Aaron, and Mariah all stop us. They’re asking the same question as everyone else: do we know what happened. Our replies are the same, and by the time the end of the day gets here, Sophie, Reece, and I are glad we’re on our way home.
“God, I don’t think I can deal with any more surprises. That’s it! I declare this month to be ‘no more surprise’ month. I’m really not sure I can handle any more,” I say with a sigh.
“Come on, doll, I’ll take you home. Grab Sam and I’ll wait for you by the car. Need a lift Sophie?”
“No, Mom’s waiting. See you guys tomorrow.”
“See ya.”
I may have declared this month is surprise free, but something is telling me, there’s more to come.
“It’s all anyone is talking about,” Sam says.
“I know, I can’t believe it myself. I wonder what happened,” Dad says. “Pass the potato salad please, Sam.” Sam hands him the bowl.
I look down at my plate and pick at my dinner. I lean an elbow on the table, not really concentrating on anything. My head’s fuzzy with the day’s events. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” Mom asks.
“Yeah, I’m good. I’ve never seen anything like that scene today. It literally happened in less than two minutes. But it felt like it was forever. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
“And pray to God you never experience it again,” Dad says. “When I was a young man, probably about twenty or so, I had a job in a small convenience store to help put me through college. I had the night shift, working until about midnight, before the next guy came to replace me. Anyway, one particular night had been so busy, it was Christmas Eve. We were getting hammered. I had help until about nine, then the guy who was helping me had to leave as his mom had been involved in a car accident. So there I was, twenty years old, weighed maybe a hundred and twenty pounds and getting swamped with the volume of people coming in to stock up on things like milk and bread, that kind of stuff. Anyway, when it got to eleven, and the store finally slowed down. I had a lot of money in the till, but because it had been so busy, I hadn’t had a chance to deposit any in the safe.”
“I don’t like where this is going, Dad.” Sam’s stressed. She’s tapping her fingers on the table, while her eyes are wide as she leaning in listening to Dad.
“This guy came in, fired a shot over my head, made me open the till, and took all the money. Then he ran.”
“Oh.” I gasp, shocked and terrified at the same time. “What happened?” I ask.
“He was in and out in under thirty seconds. The store had surveillance and recorded him. It was under thirty seconds, but to me everything stopped. I was terrified. I had no idea what happened, my heart rate shot up through the ceiling, I swear I thought he was going to kill me.”
“You could’ve died, Dad,” Sam says, big fat tears forming in her eyes and spilling over.
“Aw, pumpkin, he didn’t want me dead, he just wanted whatever was in the till.” He stands and goes straight to Sam, comforting her.
“What do you think about that, Mom?” I ask.
“Your father told me that story soon after we met. He told me because I was working in a gas station and he told me he didn’t want me doing that anymore because of what happened to him. He told me he’d feel better if he knew the love of his life was doing something safer.”
“Did you really say that?” I ask Dad.
The tops of his ears are red, and the same color is spreading across his cheeks. “I may have said something similar. I don’t recall the exact words.” He tries to play it down.
“I remember, Owen. And those are the words you used.”
“Thank you, darling.” He leaves Sam who’s smiling now and goes back to his seat, giving Mom a chaste kiss on her lips.
“My point is . . .” A knock on the door interrupts him before we get find out what the point was. Dad looks around the table at us. “Is anyone expecting guests?” he asks us. We all shake our heads and peer toward the door. “Okay, stay here. I’ll see who it is.”
Dad goes to the door and we’re all quiet, trying to listen to his conversation, but we can’t hear anything clearly. Dad’s footsteps come into the family room and I hear at least two more sets of feet following him.
“Um, Dakota?” I turn around to see Tracey, Andrea, and Mr.
C all standing in my living room.
“What’s he doing here?” I demand, pointing at Mr. C, suspicious and appalled that he has the audacity to come to my home. Abruptly, I stand and move as far away as possible from him. With my back against the wall, I carefully watch him.
“Dakota, we need to talk to you,” Tracey says.
Dad comes to me, and protectively slings his arm around my shoulders. My eyes are focused on Mr. C. His beady eyes are watching me and I can’t help but bury myself into Dad’s side. I want to be brave, but I can’t when he’s in my home and I can’t avoid him.
“Come sit, Dakota,” Andrea says and pats the sofa beside her. I opt to stay opposite her, where I can keep an eye on my math teacher.
“Dad,” I whisper.
“I promise you, everything’s okay.”
We all sit, and I hold my breath waiting for the words Andrea or Tracey are going to speak, but I’m also cautious of Mr. C.
“We have some news to tell you,” Tracey starts. “This is Detective Gary Pearce. He’s been undercover at your school since last year.”
“You’re a cop?” I ask incredulously.
“Yes, Dakota, I am.” He holds his badge out for me to look at.
“I don’t get it. Why were you at our school?” I look to Sam, and her mouth is wide open, her eyes popping out of her head. I’m fairly certain she’s as stunned by this as I am. “But you’re creepy. You’d always show up where we were, checking us out.”
“It’s my job.”
“This doesn’t make sense. None of it does.”
“About eighteen months ago, three girls came into the police station and reported they’d had their drinks spiked and had subsequently been raped. All separate occasions, all within a few weeks of each other, all in exactly the same circumstances.”
“Okay,” I skeptically say.
“We built a task force to try and find who this person was. With all the information we had, we were able to narrow it down to one of three schools. We put an undercover police officer in each of the schools, posing as a teacher to keep an eye on what was happening.”
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