Second period bell cut him off. Blossom took his elbow and hurried him toward English.
“That’s a short-term solution at best,” she whispered, as Wippet commenced her lecture. “You can’t hide forever.”
“If I’m not there, they can’t get me,” he whispered back.
“You’re not getting it,” Blossom whispered. “You miss a beating one day, you’ll just get it the next. Believe me. It’s not going away.”
“It’s a pretty elaborate plan they’ve made,” said Sully. “My bet is that if they can’t find me, they save face by picking someone else.”
“And I think you’re delusional. There’s nothing random about any of this. I like you, Sully, but you’ve made yourself the perfect target for this prank. I wish it weren’t the case, but this isn’t going away.”
“I’m going to review the last few weeks in preparation for your term test this Thursday,” said Wippet. “And mind that I’m fully aware that Homecoming festivities start after lunch on that day and that some of you may be tempted to skip. May I remind you that unless you have a doctor’s note, failure to write this test will earn you a grade of zero, which will make it virtually impossible for some of you to pass this course.”
Wait, what, Sully thought? This is like Morton’s fork or whatever Blossom called it. Except, he reflected, his fork had three prongs: fail English or face Tank or cut his hair.
Sully pulled his hair in front of his face and imagined his features bared for all the school to see. Could he really hide in plain sight as Blossom suggested?
“Hey, Sally.” Dodger placed one of the flyers on Sully’s desk at the end of class. “If you’re going to win, you’ll definitely need more exposure than this.”
CHAPTER 48
“The best defense is a good offense,” said Blossom on the way to school the next morning.
The vines on her face overtook the wilted flowers now. Hand-painted drops of blood sprouted where the thorns seemed to actually press against her skin.
“Wow.” Morsixx brought a hand up to her face. His finger hovered close to a spot of blood. “It all looks so real.”
Blossom turned her cheek away from his finger. Her eyes were shiny as she opened them wide and took a breath.
Morsixx took a step back and reddened. The black around his eyes accentuated his horrified expression. “I wasn’t trying to come on to—”
“Don’t be silly.” She grabbed his hand in both of hers. “It’s not that. You’re perfectly lovely.”
“Did you just call Morsixx lovely?” Sully felt suddenly like the proverbial third wheel. “Wow,” he said. “Do I feel stupid. I just got a nasty image thinking what your kids would look like. Like dead gardens.”
“Just shut up, Dude.”
“No, no,” Sully said. “I’m not judging. That’s cool. I’m about to be humiliated in front of the entire school, but you guys go about your little romance. Don’t worry about me.”
“No idea why you were singled out for the Black Spot, Dude. You’re so likeable and all.”
“Never mind, Morsixx.” Blossom’s brow furrowed over her flat eyes. “It’s fine. Sully’s right. We do need to focus on him. Now, as I was saying, the best defense is a good offense.”
“I was out of line,” said Sully. “The stress is making me such a jerk. I’m sorry.”
“Just listen,” said Blossom. “I have this worked out. Tank is expecting you to run. He’s counting on it. But what if you turned the tables on him?”
“Like how?”
“Yesterday I said the whole Homecoming Queen thing was to make sure you showed up at the pep rally,” she said. “But that’s wrong. He’s counting on you not showing up.”
“But I have to come tomorrow. You heard what Wippet said.”
“Yes, and Dodger will know that, of course,” Blossom said. “My bet is he’s expecting you to ditch either before or after the decorating. Assuming they manage to grab you, they’ll keep you hidden for a while, and Tank has a perfect alibi since he’ll be playing football. By the time the crowning ceremony starts, everyone will be in costume and it will be dark, and while everyone’s focused on which girl is crowned Queen, Ox and Dodger will be stringing you up on the end post in preparation for the lighting of their stupid full moon. Except that the full moon will be your—”
“I got it, Blossom,” said Sully.
“Sorry,” said Blossom. “Anyway, the point is that since everyone will be in costume . . . except you, who, theoretically, would have no clothes on at—”
“I said, I got it, Blossom.”
“Well,” she said. “Since everyone else will be in disguise, no one will be able to say for sure who did it.”
“I won’t let them take him,” said Morsixx. “I don’t pick fights, but if I need to defend something, I can and will. I’m a Bearheart. My ancestors know a thing or two about struggle.”
“I have a lot of faith in you, Morsixx,” Blossom said, “but think about it. They’ll be anticipating that. You could stop one or two of them, but what if there are more than that?”
“You think there will be more of them?” said Sully.
“I don’t think we can rule it out,” said Blossom. “But the thing is, I think we have to take it from them. Outsmart them.”
“Like how?” asked Sully.
“If you were on the battlefield, and your enemy had a knife to your throat, wouldn’t you rather kill yourself?” she said.
“What? I’m not going to kill myself!”
“It’s just an analogy,” said Blossom. “My point is that your enemy is bent on exposing you in the most humiliating way possible. The best way for you to escape that is to do the exposing yourself. Put yourself in control.”
“I’m hoping you just mean my hair,” said Sully, “because I’m not—”
“Yes, your hair,” said Blossom. “You see, the whole Homecoming Queen thing gave me an idea. The stupid decorations will only take us an hour. I’m going to use the last half-hour to transform you into the most beautiful Homecoming Queen candidate this school has ever seen.”
“Cool,” said Morsixx. “So, when we leave the gym at the end of lunch, we’ll be able to walk right out of there and get him to safety. It will be like the Dude vanished.”
“Exactly,” said Blossom. “Except we’re not going anywhere. You’re going to stand up on that stage with all the other Queen candidates, where there’s no way they’ll be able to nab you.”
“But didn’t you say they’d just get me another day if I dodge the first bullet?”
“Yes, I did,” said Blossom. “Which is why, when you get your opportunity to give your candidate speech, you’re going to expose the whole deal in front of the entire school, administration included. You’ll tell them you’ve been singled out. You’ll tell them about the past attacks and name the antagonists. Morsixx and I will help you. We’ll be right beside you. I’ve already started work on your speech that will sway the crowd to your side, and make it impossible for Tank to lay a finger on you ever again, because everyone will now know it was him.”
“If it’s really that simple,” said Morsixx, “why don’t we just go to the office and tell them all this now?”
“Because Sully has tried that,” she said. “No. We need the mentality of a crowd to make this work.”
“I don’t know,” said Sully. “Let me sleep on it.”
Morsixx cocked his head and peered at Sully through a picture frame he made of his fingers. “You’re going to make one ugly Queen, Dude.”
CHAPTER 49
Wippet’s back was to the students as Blossom drifted into class on Wednesday. With her arms folded across her stomach, Blossom stared straight ahead, zombie-like, and then eased carefully into her seat.
“Where were you this morning?” Sully whispered.
“Sorry,”
she said, without looking at him.
“Well, where were you? If I’m going to put my life in your hands, the least you could do is show up.”
“I overslept,” said Blossom. “I’m sorry.”
“Well, you better not do that tomorrow,” he said. “As terrifying as it is, I’m going to go along with your plan. I’m trusting you.”
“I said I was sorry.” She turned to face him.
“What have you done to yourself now?” He shrank back.
Apparently not content with photo-realism, she’d carved a depression in her lower lip to accentuate a thorn she’d drawn creeping out of her mouth.
“It’s a story,” she said. “Haven’t you been following?”
“Not one I want to read.”
“I’m not writing it for you.”
“Seriously,” said Sully. “You’re overdoing the whole dead garden thing. What’s next? Spring again?”
“Something like that.”
As Wippet turned to face the class, Blossom shifted sideways away from Sully and opened her notebook. Bent low over the pages, she began making notes before the lecture even started.
“Earth to Blossom,” Sully said at lunch.
“Human bones, Dude, remember?” said Morsixx, but Sully saw the concerned glance he gave Blossom as she stared into space while she feathered her little finger over the crevice on her lip.
“Everything cool, Blossom?” Morsixx said.
“To be honest,” she said, “I’m not feeling great.”
“As in sick?” Sully’s voice did the octave thing again.
“Yes,” she said. “As in sick. My stomach hurts and my head hurts.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be here,” said Morsixx. “I’ll walk you home now if you like.”
“And leave me here alone?” said Sully.
“You can come,” said Morsixx. “We’ll both walk you home, Blossom.”
“No, it’s okay,” she said. “I don’t want to go home. I can handle it.”
“But you are going to be there tomorrow, right?” said Sully. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but—”
“I know,” she said. “It just keeps happening by accident, right?”
“No, it’s just that—”
“It’s okay, Sully,” she said. “I’ll do my best.”
“It’s just tomorrow, and then you can rest all weekend, right?” said Sully. “I feel like a jerk, asking you when you’re not feeling well, but it’s not like you’re on your deathbed or anything. Can’t you just take some aspirin or something?”
“I might just do that,” said Blossom. “Don’t worry. I’m sure by tomorrow the pain will be a distant memory.”
CHAPTER 50
Staring at his test paper on Thursday morning, Sully’s pen hovered between four equally plausible multiple-choice answers. He frowned at the empty doorway for the hundredth time. Surely Blossom would come floating in any minute. The essay questions on page three might as well have been in some medieval dialect.
Blossom didn’t come floating in.
With one eye on Dodger, he slipped his test into his backpack. Maybe he could convince Wippet after the fact that she’d lost his test, giving him a chance to rewrite it.
The hallway stretched like a minefield. Where was Morsixx? Had they both bailed on him? The best place to be now was out in the open, but eventually all the students would migrate outside to the football field and, within the noisy crowd, he’d be as good as dead.
With one hand on the railing, he moved his foot forward to take a step down the main stairway, when he felt the hot breath of a whisper on his neck. His eyes leapfrogged over each other to get a look at who was there. He bent his knees to brace himself and gripped the railing with both hands, determined not to surrender meekly.
“Where is she, Dude?”
Sully sank to sitting, with his heart hammering.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“She didn’t show up for the exam?”
“What does it look like?” said Sully. “How could she do this to me?”
“Just a thought, Dude, but maybe it has nothing to do with you.”
“How sick can she really be, Morsixx? Couldn’t she just take some aspirin or something?”
“I’m kind of worried about her,” said Morsixx. “This isn’t like Blossom at all. But we’ll figure it out.”
“How exactly are we going to figure it out, Morsixx? Blossom was kind of important to the plan.”
“If she can’t come to us, we’ll go to her, Dude.”
“Okay,” said Sully. “Okay, you’re right. Sorry. I know Blossom wouldn’t abandon me. She’s got to be really sick not to show up today.”
“So, let’s go to her place and figure out what to do next.”
“You mean just waltz out the front door? Just like they expect?”
“Not like they expect,” said Morsixx. “We’re going to the gym first.”
“What’s that going to accomplish? They’ll just be waiting for us when we’re done. And, besides, I don’t have a clue what we’re supposed to build.”
“They won’t see you leaving, Dude.”
“How are we going to manage that?”
“I have used scissors before, Dude.”
CHAPTER 51
“I can’t do it.” Sully backed away from the blades in Morsixx’s hand. “Having you butcher my hair would run a close second to the Niner itself.”
“It’s hard to help you, Dude.”
“Would you let me cut your hair?”
“Again . . . not the point, Dude. Tell me what you want to do?”
“Well, I can’t stay here.”
“So, put on some of that stuff. We’ll reinvent you.”
“What are you waiting for?” Rebecca poked her head in the door. “You guys better not screw this up. Where’s the tattoo girl?”
“She didn’t—” Sully began.
“ . . . want to leave it to the last minute,” said Morsixx. “She prepped some of it at home, and is just getting it from her locker.”
“That’s not—” Sully said.
“ . . . the way we planned it,” said Morsixx. “But Blossom assured us it would be better that way.”
“Whatever,” said Rebecca. “I trust her way more than you two, anyway. But I’m warning you. It better be perfect and it better be ready. And don’t leave any mess behind.”
“It won’t even look like we were here,” said Morsixx. “Just chill.”
“Don’t you chill me,” said Rebecca. “I’m going to be back to check up on you in, like, half an hour.”
“I repeat, Dude,” said Morsixx after Rebecca closed the door. “It’s hard to help you. You think that would have made things easier, to tell them Blossom didn’t show?”
“I’m an idiot.” Sully looked around the room. “Thanks for the save. I just feel so messed up these days.” He took a deep breath. “Okay. So, we’ve got five or ten minutes max to come up with something and get out of here.”
“Look over there,” said Morsixx. “Somebody’s uniform.”
“There’s got to be another way,” Sully said, as Morsixx sized him up.
“Good thing you’re short, Dude. I think we can make this work.”
“It’s freezing,” said Sully as they ducked out the side door a few minutes later. “How do they wear something this short in this weather?”
“You really should have shaved your legs, Dude. You’re hurting my eyes.”
“Shut up.” Sully held one of the pompoms at the top of his legs from the front. The other covered his butt. The high ponytail, created to camouflage his distinguishing mop of curls, flipped in the whipping wind, as Sully’s lips side-swiped his eyes and swerved down his face to lodge in the crevice of the ear tha
t hung onto the right side of his chin.
“Go on ahead, Dude,” said Morsixx. “I’ll keep you in sight.”
“Bella? Bella! You look beautiful. Sort of.”
“Winston, shhh,” said Morsixx. “It’s a secret, okay?”
“A secret?” said Winston.
“Like, how a bride doesn’t want anyone to see her before she walks down the aisle,” said Morsixx. “Like that kind of secret.”
“That’s not a wedding dress, Bella. Are you trying to trick me?”
“Well, it is kind of a game, Winston,” said Morsixx. “Look, can you help us out? I want you to pretend you never saw us, okay? Especially Bella. Can you do that?”
“I’m good at secrets,” said Winston. “I never even told Blossom’s secret.”
“That’s great, Winston,” said Sully. “We gotta go now, okay.”
“What was Blossom’s secret?” said Morsixx.
“About her shadow sickness.” Winston clamped a hand over his mouth. “Oh! I didn’t say that.”
“Her shadow sickness?” said Morsixx.
“It’s just a reference to something from our English class,” said Sully. “You know how dramatic Blossom can be. Winston, we have to go. We’ll see you later, okay?”
Winston’s eyes were wide until Morsixx put an arm around his shoulder.
“It’s okay, Winston.” He drew an imaginary zipper across his lips and then gave him a thumbs up. “I won’t tell on you. Just go have fun.”
Taking a block’s lead, Sully navigated a roundabout route to Blossom’s. Drizzle oozed from the gray October sky. The landscape flattened perspective, as if the clock had leapt a few hours ahead, allowing dusk to step on noon’s toes. It was the kind of sky where you saw things that weren’t there, and didn’t see things that were.
Surrounded by forest as it was, Despereaux Court was darker still. Standing at the foot of Blossom’s driveway, Sully jumped as the screen door slammed against the side of the house. He jumped again as Morsixx caught up with him and laid a hand on his shoulder.
Sully Messed Up Page 15
