Expelled(25)

I hit the nail one last time; the head’s now flush and the board’s in place. “Look,” I say, hooking the claw of the hammer into one of my belt loops and letting it hang there. “The movie will work out, okay? In fact, this afternoon we’re going to interview our next person of interest.”

“Who?”

“Palmieri.”

Jude gasps. “Are you crazy? He practically tackled us at the baseball game. I do not want to go have a little chat with him after that near-death experience.”

“It was dark, Jude, and he could barely see us. He could never prove we were there. All he can say is that he chased three kids off school property. We could have been anyone. For all he knows, we were kids from the other school, trying to sabotage team spirit from below.”

Jude considers this. “Plausible deniability,” he says eventually. “Okay. Maybe. But the guy scares the shit out of me. His biceps are as big as grapefruits.”

“We’re not going to fight him,” I counter. “We’re going to ask him a few questions. Like why he assumed we were guilty and never actually investigated the case.”

“And how many biceps curls he does every morning,” Jude adds.

“Very funny.” I grab another nail and get ready to pound it in. “Do you really think Sasha’s okay?”

“No, I don’t,” Jude says. “She’s not ‘okay,’ remember? She thinks okay is stupid and boring. But I promise you that she’s fine. She slept in her canopy bed all weekend, dreaming the dreams of the brilliant and half insane.”

I nod. “Yeah, you’re right. Nothing bad could’ve happened to her in six blocks. Especially since you and me are still the town’s most wanted men.”

“Damn straight,” Jude says proudly.

“But you don’t think we should go to her house?” I ask.

“I’d actually rather face Palmieri than Professor Ellis,” Jude says. “‘Oh, are you boys criminals? Isn’t that just darling. Let me sip my Scottish whiskey while I eviscerate you with my rapier wit and my cold, hard eyes, you sniveling, pathetic excuses for adolescent Homo sapiens.’”

I can’t help but laugh. “Sasha came by her scorn naturally, I guess,” I say.

“But what about the crazy?” Jude asks drily.

“Yeah, where did that come from?”

Jude shakes his head. “Who knows? Like I’ve said a thousand times, Sasha Ellis is a mystery you may never solve.”

I want to, though. I want to know Sasha’s secrets almost as much as I want to know who set us up and got us expelled.





23


School ended an hour ago, but the grounds are still crawling with kids: the baseball team’s practicing bunts on the field while the JV softball girls jog the perimeter, ponytails swinging. Even the drama club’s outside for some reason, rehearsing a number from Annie Get Your Gun in the parking lot.

Jude, Felix, and I are across the street, watching all the action, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel left out—even if I’d rather hand-wash Parker’s Jockey shorts than play a sport or sing in a school musical. I just really miss being part of things.

“What’d Harper lecture about in English today?” I ask Felix.

He shrugs. “That’s my napping period.”

“Really?” I say, disappointed. “But that’s your easy A.”

“It’s right after lunch,” Felix explains. “Digestion is hard work.”

“Guys,” Jude says. “Can we just get this over with?” He looks jittery and over-caffeinated, not to mention highly reluctant to be here.

And right then I see Palmieri coming out of the school. “Okay, let’s go! Felix, is the camera on?”

“Yeah,” Felix says, “but who—”

“Come on, hurry,” I say, crossing the street and motioning for them to follow. I hadn’t told Felix who we’d be interviewing. If I had, there’s no way he would’ve come. “Mr. Palmieri! Mr. Palmieri!”

“Oh, shit,” I hear Felix say. “Dude, this is not cool.”

Palmieri turns at the sound of his name, and when he sees us, his face darkens. “If you don’t get off school property immediately, we’re going to have a very big problem,” he says.

“I just need to ask you a few questions,” I say. My words come out in a tumbling rush. My heart’s thudding in my chest, and really, I just want to run away from him again. But I make myself stand my ground. “Why did you unfairly expel us? That’s my first one.”

Palmieri doesn’t look remotely remorseful. “Principal Dekum established a zero tolerance discipline policy this year, and you boys knew that. You were hardly the first to be expelled.” Then he looks right at Felix and adds, “And for all I know, you won’t be the last, either.”

I can hear Felix mutter something under his breath, but he keeps on filming.

“Andy Marcus was caught defecating on the bathroom floor,” I say. “So I’m pretty sure he deserved to be expelled. And Terry Raines had his little bowie knife show-and-tell in the cafeteria, so that was an obvious call, too. But Jude and I here—you didn’t have hard evidence against us!”