Expelled(26)

Palmieri doesn’t even blink. “Circumstantial evidence is all we needed, Mr. Foster. The only reasonable conclusion, supported by the circumstantial evidence, was that you and your friend were guilty.”

“But we didn’t get the chance to prove we weren’t!”

“You had a hearing,” he points out.

“Did you want us to get expelled?” I practically yell. “Were you hoping to make an example of us?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Palmieri says, trying to step around Felix to get to his car.

“Or maybe your problem’s not with us but with Dekum,” I say, desperate to keep Palmieri talking. “I’ve heard that his new discipline policy isn’t so popular. And if people don’t like him anymore, what does that mean for you? Do you want to get your boss fired—is that it? Then maybe you can take his place?”

Palmieri shakes his head in disgust. He holds up his hand, like he can block the sound of my voice.

“Or maybe the problem’s just with you! You think we’re a bunch of degenerates, just because we’re not jocks like you used to be?”

He unlocks the door of his stupid Mustang and opens it. But I can’t let him go without some kind of reaction.

“Do you like the sense of power that ruining people’s lives gives you?” I yell.

Palmieri takes a step toward me, and I suddenly realize how big he is. He’s like Parker-size, and he’s hella pissed. “You should be doing something productive with your time,” he says, his voice cold and nasty. “Not playing like you’re Vice magazine reporters with your hipster T-shirts and stupid little microphones. Not sniveling around crying ‘Unfair!’ And definitely not accusing me of a crime when you’re clearly the guilty ones. Don’t make things any worse for yourselves, boys. And don’t make it worse for other people, either.” He looks again at Felix. “Choose your friends wisely, Mr. Goodwin. Their habits tend to rub off on you.”

Felix starts to back away, but he’s still holding the camera up.

“Now get off school property before I call the police.” Palmieri gets into his car and shuts the door.

I turn away in defeat. What had I hoped to accomplish? Suddenly I don’t even know anymore.

“I guess we’d better go,” Jude says quietly.

I’m trudging back to Zelda when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around—it’s Palmieri.

“Look,” he says gruffly. “I’m not out to get you kids, and I never was. Like I said, the evidence was against you. That’s not going to change, and I’m sorry. For everything that happened.” He shakes his head then, like he’s actually almost sad about it, and he starts to walk away. But a second later, he turns back. “And remember what I said to Felix about choosing friends?” he adds. “The same applies to you, Theo. Be careful around Sasha Ellis.”





24


“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I ask after Palmieri drives away.

“I don’t care what it means,” Felix says, tucking his camera inside its case. “All I care about is not following y’all down Delinquent Road.”

“Being expelled’s not so bad,” Jude says unconvincingly.

Felix snorts. “Expelled? That’s nothing. I’d be dead, because my mom would’ve killed me.”

“Your mom’s on the PTA,” Jude says. “She hardly seems like a killer.”

Felix says, “Looks can be deceiving. Sorry, man, I just don’t think this is my fight.”

“We’re not asking you to be on our side,” I say. “We’re asking you to film our side. It’s different.”

“It doesn’t feel different when Palmieri glares at me like that,” Felix says. “Look, you can borrow the minicam. But I don’t think I can help you. I’ve got to get back to my area of expertise. Have you seen the video where the guy tries a parkour flip off a gravestone and then just bites it? It’s a complete face-plant—he must have knocked out every single tooth in his mouth.”

“But Felix—”

“I saw a fake headstone at Boom-Boom’s Balloons. Five bucks. It’d be so easy.”

I try again. “Felix, we need—”

“Or I could put on a wig and be that chick who was twerking on a moving car. Did you see that? Spoiler alert: she fell the hell off,” Felix says.

“The possibilities are endless,” Jude agrees glumly.

While Felix goes on listing all the other videos he wants to make, I think about Palmieri and what he said about the evidence against us. I hate to admit that we do look pretty guilty.

I also hate to admit that maybe he isn’t as big of a dick as I thought he was. I mean, he apologized.

So apparently Palmieri’s not my enemy. And it doesn’t seem like Jere7my is, either. So who, exactly, was out to get poor Theo Foster?

And then, all of a sudden, I wonder how I could’ve been so stupid. So focused on myself. The only expelled person who was truly and inarguably guilty? Parker Harris.

I grab Jude’s arm. “You guys,” I say. “We’ve been going about this all wrong.”

“That’s what I’m telling you,” Felix says. “Theo, you just gotta write a nice op-ed for the school newspaper explaining the truth. You have a real way with words. You don’t need me. You don’t need a documentary movie.”