Expelled(16)

“How’s Chase Academy?” Jude asks, blinking up at him. “You like those cravats?”

“Fuck off,” Parker says, but without malice. He sits down next to Sasha. He’s wearing douchebag mirrored sunglasses and the Chase uniform of starched khaki pants and a Wall Street button-down.

Honestly, I feel like driving away in his vile SUV. Maybe running it into a ditch.

“Parker, this is Felix,” Sasha says. “Felix, I’m sure you’ve encountered Parker before.”

“Yo,” Parker says again.

Jude says, “I’m sure he’ll be more eloquent when the camera’s on, Felix.”

Felix grins. “If he isn’t, we can just ask him to crush something. Hulk… SMASH!”

“Hulk not think! Hulk crush!” Jude yells.

“I’m right here, gonads,” Parker says.

And I no longer have any idea how I’m going to make this plan work. What am I supposed to do with these people, half of whom don’t even like one another? I knew that trying to make a movie was kind of crazy, but obviously it was stupid, too. I should just let the world keep on thinking that I’m a fuckup.

I start to head to the gazebo. Maybe there’s a drop of Knob Creek left. Maybe I can send everyone home and have another one-sided conversation with my dead dad.

“Don’t you want to say something, Theo?” Sasha asks.

I turn around and shrug. “I wanted to talk about making a movie that would prove none of us deserved what we got. But the Abominable Bro-man here is not innocent, and that screws up my cast!” Then I stop and hold my breath. Did I just call Parker Harris, star quarterback and the biggest, most jacked junior to ever walk the halls of Arlington, the Abominable Bro-man? To his face? Is today now my last day on earth?

“Uh-oh,” Jude whispers.

Parker starts to stand up, but Sasha holds up a hand and says, “Parker, don’t let him get under your skin.”

Parker nods. “Ignore the dork. I can do that.”

“Except that you have to listen to his idea,” Sasha says.

Parker shoots her a look that says I would sooner rip him limb from limb.

Jude clears his throat, like he’s going to play peacemaker—he was the football team mascot, after all, so he’s put in his suck-up-to-Parker time.

“Actually, Sasha,” I say hurriedly, “why don’t you explain it?”

Sasha’s chilly eyes meet mine. She raises one skeptical, penciled eyebrow. “All right,” she says finally. “Fine.”

She stands up, and everyone’s eyes are instantly on her. She’s not nervous; her voice doesn’t waver. “We got a raw deal, you guys. We all know that. But we are not going to let the Arlington administration determine our fates. We are not going to stand for our unfair punishment any longer. With the help of mighty Felix and his amazing Steadicam, we’re going to track down the true perpetrators of these crimes and be exonerated.”

Felix flushes and ducks his head. I could’ve never convinced him to say yes, but a few words from Sasha and his reluctance crumbles. I watch it happening: his shoulders slump and his posture loosens. He may not want to say yes, but in his mind he already has.

Then Sasha glances down at her notebook before looking back at all of us. “In the immortal words of Simone de Beauvoir, ‘Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself.’ In other words, it doesn’t matter if it is a crazy idea. It doesn’t matter if it works. We are going to do it anyway.”

“But it will work!” I yell. “It has to!”

Everyone turns to stare at me, and I can feel my cheeks go hot. I’m not one for public speaking, but since everything else in my life’s been turned upside down, I might as well give it a shot. “I don’t know about you all,” I say, “but I’m not a delinquent, and I’m not ready to be written off. I want justice. I want to know how that picture got onto my account and why I’m the one who got saddled with Palmieri’s stupid ‘banquet of consequences.’ I will prove my innocence. I will tell my side of the story. And I will make my own goddamn ending!”

No one says anything for a long time. Then Felix says, “Cut!” and puts down the camera I hadn’t even noticed him holding.

“That’ll go in the trailer,” he says. “If you ask me, it’s got Sundance written all over it.”





15


“You’re in for real now,” I say, “aren’t you?” I can’t keep the giddiness from my voice. This crazy idea just might work.

Felix shrugs. “Kinda seems like it.”

“That’s great,” Sasha says. “You’re great. So what’s the next step?”

Felix, all business now, hands her a clip mic. “Put this on. Here, it attaches right to your collar.”

She fumbles with it a bit but gets it in the right place eventually, and then she says, “Okay, now what?”

“Now I go to lacrosse practice,” Parker says, standing up.

Sasha whirls around. “Wait, Parker,” she says. “We need you,” and Parker stops in his tracks like an obedient dog.

I wonder what that’s supposed to mean. Who exactly needs him? I sure don’t. But does she? And as long as I’m questioning Sasha’s pronouncements, does she think Felix is so great for agreeing to help us or great in general?