by Susan Shreve
“What’s up?” Andrew asked. “I thought you were his best friend in the world.”
“Not anymore,” Joshua said. “Not since he told my mother about that letter to Mr. Barnes.”
They walked across Thirty-fourth Street and into the yard of Mirch Elementary just as Sean was crossing by the flagpole and going around to the back of the school.
“He’s probably been asked to meet the NOs at the shed, too,” Joshua said.
“Let’s check.”
“I don’t want to check,” Joshua said. “Tommy will see me, and I told him I wasn’t going to come to school until I finished my homework.”
“We’ll check from the library window.”
“I don’t want Mr. Barnes to see me, either.” Joshua wasn’t the kind of boy to panic, but he was beginning to feel funny inside. He had to do something, and fast. “I know. I’ll send Mr. Barnes a note telling him I’m sick with something contagious.” But for the time being, until the bell rang for the beginning of school, he was going to go to the boys’ room and hide. Unless, of course, Tommy Wilhelm arrived. And then what?
He couldn’t decide what to do.
“We’ll go up the back steps and look out the window on that side of the building,” Andrew said.
From the window they could see the shed. W.V. and Jell-O sat on the roof. They could also see Sean O’Malley walking across the playground with Billy Nickel and Tommy Wilhelm.
“Brother,” Joshua said. “It looks like the beginning of another wonderful day.”
chapter ten
SEAN O’MALLEY was not in homeroom.
“Does anyone know if Sean is all right?” Mrs. Wooden asked.
No one answered. Joshua and Andrew had seen Sean twice that morning already, but they didn’t raise their hands. Tommy and Billy Nickel had walked across the playground with him, and certainly some of the other fifth graders had seen him then, but no one spoke.
“Yesterday, as some of you know, Sean fell off the roof trying to get his lunchbox, which someone had put there as a joke,” Mrs. Wooden said. “Is there anyone who might know how that lunchbox got there? Joshua, you were with him most of the day. Do you know anything?”
“No,” Joshua said. “I mean, not really.”
Mary Sellers raised her hand.
“I thought I saw him on the playground,” she said.
“Did anyone else see him?” Mrs. Wooden asked.
There was no answer.
“Well, maybe it wasn’t him,” Mary Sellers said quietly. “Maybe it was another red-haired boy.”
Sean wasn’t in math class either.
Joshua passed a note to Tommy Wilhelm: WHAT DID YOU DO TO SEAN?
BEATS ME, Tommy wrote back. The note was signed NOS FOREVER.
Halfway through math class Mr. Barnes came into the room and told Joshua Bates to please come to his office.
“Best of luck,” Tommy whispered as Joshua left. “I hope you’re not going to be suspended.”
“Who cares?” Joshua said. “I’m moving to Africa tomorrow.”
He followed Mr. Barnes down the corridor to his office. Mr. Barnes told him to sit down, then closed the door. Joshua’s heart was beating like a hammer on a drum.
Joshua had never seen Mr. Barnes look so grim.
“Sean O’Malley has disappeared,” Mr. Barnes said.
“I guess he is absent,” Joshua suggested.
“He’s not absent!” Mr. Barnes snapped. “He has disappeared.”
“Oh,” Joshua mumbled. His throat was so dry he could hardly swallow.
“Joshua, I’m asking you again what is going on with Sean O’Malley. We’re trying to get in touch with his father, to see if he drove Sean to school this morning. But you were with him all day yesterday, and I expect you may have some idea what might have happened to Sean.”
Joshua knew he was going to have to say something.
“Well, Joshua,” Mr. Barnes said in a pressing tone. “What can you tell me?”
“I know,” he said in a low voice.
“You know?”
“I saw him,” Joshua said.
“Where?”
“I saw him walking to school up Albermarle and then later walking across the playground.”
“Was he alone?” Mr. Barnes asked.
Joshua hesitated. “Yes,” he said finally. “He was alone.”
“And that’s all you know?”
“Yes.”
“You have no idea what is going on. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Joshua said.
Mr. Barnes stood up from his desk and opened the door to his office for Joshua to leave.
“I want you to know, Joshua, that I don’t believe you,” he said quietly.
Joshua didn’t know what to say. Of course Mr. Barnes didn’t believe him. He wasn’t telling the whole truth. He walked out the door, past the nurse’s office, the thirdgrade classrooms, the library, and back to math class.
While Miss Lacey was putting the homework on the board, Tommy Wilhelm passed another note.
I HOPE YOU’RE SMARTER THAN YOU USED TO BE WHEN YOU FLUNKED THIRD GRADE AND KNOW WHEN TO SHUT UP, the note said.
“Don’t worry,” Joshua said when the bell for next period rang. “I’m smart enough to make my own decisions.”
Mr. Barnes came into Mr. Webb’s class at the start of art with an announcement that the fifth and sixth grades were to meet in the auditorium for a special assembly. His voice was very grim.
Joshua looked around the classroom. Tommy Wilhelm seemed to be working hard on his bird feeder, his head down. Billy Nickel whispered something in Tommy’s ear, but he didn’t look up. Andrew Porter gave Joshua a look that said trouble, and Jell-O Hayes kept trying to get Tommy’s attention.
Joshua took out a piece of paper and pretended to rework his design, but actually he was thinking what in the world he was going to do. He could feel the tension in the class. Everyone knew that something was wrong and probably most everyone—at least all of the boys—knew the NOs were up to no good.
Maybe, Joshua was thinking, he could pretend to be sick. Then he’d go to the nurse and the nurse would call his mother. But Mr. Barnes would probably guess that he was not actually sick. Perhaps he should tell. Go to Mr. Barnes and say that he was very sorry not to have mentioned it earlier, but there was a group in the fifth grade called the NOs, which stood for Nerds Out, and they had been responsible for the persecution of other boys and might very well be responsible for the disappearance of Sean O’Malley. Just the thought of it made Joshua feel sick. Taking charge was very difficult.
He was about to raise his hand to ask to be excused for the boys’ room when Tommy Wilhelm raised his hand and told Mr. Webb that he felt sick and needed to be excused.
“Me too,” Joshua said.
“You’re sick too?” Mr. Webb asked, disbelieving.
“Not exactly.”
Mr. Webb frowned. “What do you mean ‘not exactly’?”
“I mean ‘no,’ ” Joshua said.
“I thought so.”
“But I do have to go to the bathroom,” Joshua said.
“Later,” Mr. Webb said. “After the meeting.”
When the bell rang for the special assembly, Joshua ran out of art class to the boys’ room without waiting for Andrew. Just as he passed the library, Tommy Wilhelm, who was standing by his locker, stopped him.
“If you say anything,” Tommy said, his voice cocky, “you’ll be sorry.”
By the time Joshua got to the boys’ room a group of fifth graders were huddled in a corner discussing the special assembly.
“It’s about the new kid,” Adam Speth said. “Someone said he was here this morning and now he’s gone.”
A couple of boys waved when he walked in, but Joshua didn’t wave back. He found an empty stall, closed the door, sat down, and tried to think. What would Tommy really do if he did tell? Joshua wondered. He wouldn’t actually kill him, of course. But he might come close. He h
ad a lot of friends to help, like Billy and W.V., and who knew who else? It wasn’t like in third grade, Joshua realized. Somehow this was more serious.
He heard the bathroom door swing open and recognized the voice of Billy Nickel.
“Hello, girls,” Billy said cheerfully. The boys muttered some hellos. Joshua peeked through a crack in the door of the stall. Billy was at the mirror, combing his hair so it stood up in a peak on his broad forehead. He slipped his comb into his back pocket.
Billy stood with his hands on his hips. He looked from one boy to another. “I hope all of you are smart enough to know when to keep your mouths shut?” The boys shrugged and nodded. “Good,” Billy said. “Because nobody likes a nerd. Especially a red-haired midget nerd from New Jersey.”
“I don’t know, Billy,” one of the boys said, “the new kid doesn’t seem that bad.” It was Jim Gray.
“Not that bad!” Billy spun and shot a hard look at Jim Gray. “He’s the worst nerd ever. And if you don’t think so,” warned Billy, “then maybe you’ll end up getting the same treatment.”
The boys mumbled in nervous agreement. Billy smiled. “And remember, nobody knows anything about what happened to the new kid. Right?”
“Right, Billy.”
“Sure.”
“Absolutely.”
Joshua waited until he was certain all the boys had left, then stood up and swung open the stall door. Someone was staring back at him from the mirror. Joshua sighed.
He didn’t recognize his own face.
Tommy was outside the boys’ bathroom leaning against the cement wall with a lollipop in his mouth.
“So what do you think the assembly is about, Joshua?”
“What do you think?” Joshua said sarcastically. “The Fourth of July?”
Tommy shrugged.
“Where is he?” Joshua asked.
“Eaten by bears,” Tommy said. “Where do you think?”
“I think he’s in the shed tied up,” Joshua said.
“You’re a smart kid, Bates, if you shut up.”
Joshua folded his arms across his chest.
“Are you going to tell?” Tommy asked.
“I didn’t say what I was going to do.”
“Tell and you’re chicken stew,” Tommy said, and there was a strange expression on his face.
ANDREW CAUGHT UP with Joshua outside the auditorium.
“What did Mr. Barnes want?” Andrew asked.
“He wanted to know what I knew about Sean.”
Even Andrew seemed nervous. “And?”
“And I told him I saw him twice this morning but haven’t seen him since.”
“Which is the truth, right?”
Joshua wasn’t exactly sure if it was the truth or not. Andrew was troubled.
“What do you think happened to him?” he asked Joshua.
“I think he’s locked in the shed.”
Andrew seemed surprised. “You know that for sure?”
“I have a feeling,” Joshua said. They walked on in silence.
When Joshua and Andrew filed into the auditorium, Tommy Wilhelm, Billy Nickel, and a few other boys were already sitting in the bleachers, talking and joking in the back rows. Joshua walked to the front and sat down. The door near the front of the room suddenly swung open and Mr. Barnes walked in. He crossed the stage and stopped at the podium. He looked very unpleasant. Even from this far away, Joshua had a hard time looking Mr. Barnes in the eye. Joshua stared at his shoes instead. Mr. Barnes grabbed the edge of the podium with both hands and stared out over the room. A few kids coughed. One kid even giggled.
“On Monday of this week,” Mr. Barnes said, “a new boy from New Jersey joined the fifth grade. His name is Sean O’Malley.” He looked around the room and, spotting Joshua, nodded. Joshua felt sick to his stomach.
“On Tuesday some extremely unpleasant things began happening to Sean. Malicious and cruel things.” He stopped and folded his arms across his chest. “And I’m sorry to say that not one of his fellow students even bothered to help or to stop these things from happening. But what is much more serious at the moment is that Sean is missing.”
Joshua sneaked a sidelong look. Most of the kids had their heads lowered. We all look guilty, Joshua thought.
“We know from his father that Sean left for school this morning. In fact, some students even admit to having seen him on the playground.”
Mr. Barnes inhaled deeply, as if to control his anger. He looked coldly at the kids on the bleachers.
“I want to know where Sean is.”
There was whispering back and forth. But no one raised a hand, and the whispering died out.
“We’re not leaving this room until I get an answer,” Mr. Barnes warned. “No one knows anything?” he asked, surveying the room. His eyes swept back and forth, until they settled on Joshua T. Bates.
“Joshua,” Mr. Barnes said, his voice less angry now than disappointed. “Isn’t there something, anything, you’d like to say?”
And Joshua knew just then what he had to do. Not for Mr. Barnes. Not for Andrew or Jim Gray or any of the other kids. Not even for Sean. But for Joshua T. Bates.
Joshua stood up in front of the entire assembly.
“I know what happened.”
“Then come with me to my office,” Mr. Barnes said.
“No,” Joshua said. “I’ll go get Sean and bring him back.” And he stepped over Andrew and walked up the aisle of the auditorium, past Tommy Wilhelm and Billy Nickel and W.V., although he did not look at them. He didn’t stop at his locker but went down the steps by the library, out the back door into the gray cold of the winter morning, across the asphalt of the playground, the frozen grass of the baseball field, to the shed at the back of the property of Mirch Elementary School. His breath was thin. The shed door was held fast with a stick through the bolt. He pulled out the stick, opened the door, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the shed he saw Sean O’Malley, just as he expected, over in the corner next to the basketballs and baseball bats and bases, his eyes covered with a bandanna, his mouth stuffed with a handkerchief, his outstretched legs tied at the ankles, his hands tied behind his back. First he untied the bandanna and took the old handkerchief out of Sean’s mouth. But Sean didn’t talk.
Joshua didn’t know what to say.
He untied the slender rope securing Sean’s hands behind his back. When they were free, Sean rubbed his wrists, reached in his pocket, and took out his mittens.
“You must be freezing,” Joshua said, untying the rope at Sean’s ankles. “I know you’re really mad at me. My mother said you were. And I know you think I’ve been involved with Tommy Wilhelm.”
Sean didn’t reply but kept his eyes on Joshua, watching him untie the rope.
“Mr. Barnes called a special assembly,” Joshua said. “He knows you’re missing. Your father said you came to school, and some people, like me, saw you this morning.” He stood up. “There,” he said. “You’re untied now.”
Slowly Sean got to his feet. He picked up his lunchbox, which was sitting in the middle of the sports equipment, put on his cap, and rubbed his runny nose with the back of his mitten.
“He asked did anyone know where you were,” Joshua said. “So I said I did. I guessed in the first place and then Tommy Wilhelm admitted that you were in the shed.” He walked out of the shed, keeping pace with Sean, who walked fast, facing straight ahead. “I told Mr. Barnes I would go get you,” Joshua said, following Sean up the back steps into the school.
For a moment Joshua thought that Sean was going to bolt, but he didn’t. He walked right beside Joshua, down the corridor, past the fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms, past the administration offices, down the steps, and through the double doors into the auditorium.
A great hush fell over the room as Sean O’Malley, followed by Joshua right behind, walked past the rows of students to the stage, and up the steps to Mr. Barnes, who hugged Sean, lifting him off his feet.
“There is a
n organization in the fifth grade called the NOs, which means Nerds Out,” Joshua began quietly, his voice shaking as he spoke. “The head of the group is Tommy Wilhelm, and a lot of the boys in the fifth grade belong. They persecute kids they don’t like, and that’s what’s been happening to Sean O’Malley.”
“How long have you known about this group?” Mr. Barnes asked.
“For quite a long time,” Joshua said.
“Why didn’t you let me know?” Mr. Barnes said.
“I was afraid,” Joshua said.
“And what did they do to you?” Mr. Barnes asked Sean.
“They tied me up in the shed,” Sean said, too quietly for anyone but Joshua and Mr. Barnes to hear.
“Tommy Wilhelm?” Mr. Barnes said. “Will you stand up?”
No one turned around to look, but out of the corner of his eye Joshua could see Tommy Wilhelm stand up very slowly in the back of the auditorium. “I will meet you in my office, Tommy,” Mr. Barnes said. “And I strongly suggest that anyone who has had anything to do with this march himself to my office immediately. Don’t think you can hide. I assure you I will find out who you are.”
JOSHUA WAS HARDLY aware of what came next. It had all happened so quickly. He didn’t even know how he felt exactly. All he knew was it was over.
After Mr. Barnes dismissed the assembly and ordered everyone back to class, and when the groans died down, Joshua followed Mr. Barnes and Sean up the aisle toward the auditorium exit. Suddenly Joshua became aware of a strange commotion—first from one side of the room, and then from the other, then from all sides of the room, front and back. Kids were clapping, and smiling, and yelling “Way to go!” and “All right!”
Even Mr. Barnes and Sean were clapping.
Joshua couldn’t believe it. They were clapping for him!
JOSHUA WALKED HOME ALONE. Andrew had flute practice, so Joshua took his books for homework, his heavy jacket, and his cap and walked home through a light snow, feeling wonderful for the first time in a very long time.
Inside the blue house on Lowell Street there was a note from his mother saying that she had gone to the market with Georgie, that Amanda was at basketball practice, and that there was a snack in the fridge. He picked up Marmalade and went into the living room with the comics. He didn’t even hear anyone at the front door while he was reading, but when he heard his mother’s car in the driveway, he went to the door and there on the porch was a note, DEAR JOSHUA, the note said. MAYBE WHEN YOU GET TO SCHOOL TOMORROW WE CAN BE FRIENDS. SINCERELY, SEAN PATRICK O’MALLEY.
