"Yeah."
Just then, someone pounded on the door again. It stopped after someone hissed, "Bryce and Sheldon are in there. Ssshh!"
Bryce chuckled in amusement, but he shook his head a moment later.
There weren't any more interruptions, but a discreet knock sounded at the door. Mr. Sayword murmured, "Uh…Mr. Scout and Sheldon, the principal requests your presence in his office. Please finish your developing as soon as possible."
Bryce cracked a grin as I laughed. "We're alm
ost done, Mr. Sayword."
Before we got to the main office, we saw Corrigan in the hallway, hunched over an open locker.
"Seriously, dude." Bryce clapped a hand on his shoulder.
Corrigan jumped around, eyes wide, and nudged the locker shut with his heel. When he saw it was us, he relaxed.
"Jeez. Don't do that!" he hissed and opened the locker again. He was on a mission.
"Don't you ever go to class?" I asked.
"Not if I can help it," Corrigan muttered.
"Whose locker?" Bryce reached inside and plucked a book out. He opened the cover and read, "Theodore Campbell."
Theodore Campbell? "That's Teddy. He's in my art class."
"Yeah, well, he's going down," Corrigan mumbled as he looked through Teddy's bag.
"What are you doing?"
"He spray-painted 'Greco' on my car. The douche is going down. I'm looking for his keys."
"Greco? What does that mean?"
"I don't know, but it's on my car," he growled. Corrigan never growls. In fact, a serious Corrigan was a rare event.
"What are you going to do?"
"Steal his car and give it to Hoodum."
"Isn't that excessive?"
Hoodum ran the local gang that specialized in the economics of refurbished cars. They stripped cars, stolen or 'legitimately' donated.
"He spray-painted my car. No one does that and gets away with it."
Fair enough.
"How do you know it was Teddy?"
"Chet saw him do it. He did it when we left school." Then a set of keys was produced and he took off down the hallway.
Before we could follow, our names were shouted down the hallway. "Mr. Scout and Miss Jeneve!" The principal's secretary, Mrs. Walker, was irate as she pointed at us. "If you do not get your butts in this office within thirty seconds, you are both expelled from this school."
I grinned. I liked to see an irate Mrs. Walker.
Chad Yerling grinned when he saw us walk in. He leaned back in one of the waiting chairs, his arm rested over two more, and had kicked up his shoes on another pair of chairs. Three students were forced to squish together in the remaining two chairs across the waiting room.
"What are you guys doing here?" he asked as he moved his legs. Bryce and I sat down while Chad rearranged himself to lay sprawled over three other chairs.
Mrs. Walker harrumphed as she sent a withering glare our way before she walked into the employee's lounge.
Chad beamed and folded his hands underneath his head. "I got caught getting a blowjob in the boiler room."
"By who?"
Chad shrugged. "Just some girl."
I narrowed my eyes and studied him. He was lying, but whatever. I saw that the other students were frozen at his words. Chad's coolness rose another level.
He nodded in our direction again. "So what are you guys doing here?"
I shrugged and Bryce replied, "Mouthing off? I don't know."
Chad smirked. "Did you guys go to the library in second? Word is that you took off." And had sex.
He hadn't said the words, but they were still there.
"We skipped to eat with Corrigan."
The sneer disappeared from Chad's face as the office door burst open and a student sprinted inside. He panted as he doubled over for breath, "Corrigan Raimler is—"
We shared a look. Oh shit. Bryce moved in a flash and dragged the kid outside.
Chad glanced to me. "What was that about?"
I shrugged and moved to follow. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that Mrs. Walker was still absent—she was. Chad moved to follow too, but I shook my head. "You cover for us. Tell them I got sick."
He could've come, but I didn't like Chad—never had. He gave me the creeps.
"Okay." Chad nodded, but watched through the window as I darted around the hallway.
Bryce had dragged the kid outside and was already interrogating him by the time I got there. "So what were you going to say?" He prodded the kid with a finger in his shoulder.
He trembled when Bryce towered over him. "I…I…" he stammered and glanced up at me.
"Just tell us what you were going to say."
"I…Corrigan…" He took a deep breath and rushed out, "Corrigan Raimler stole one of my friends' cars. I know it wasn't his because it's Teddy's."
Bryce and I shared a look.
"You were going to tell the staff that Corrigan stole your buddy's car?"
He paled when Bryce repeated his words.
"No…nnnnoo. I wasn't. I was just…"
"Corrigan is my best friend."
The kid shrunk back against the wall.
"He's my best friend too," Bryce murmured. He heard the lethal promise in that voice.
"Um…"
"What's your name?" I asked as I shifted closer to him.
His eyes widened further and he stuttered, "D-d-Darrell."
"Darrell? And you're friends with Teddy?"
"Yeah."
I nodded and brushed against him. Bryce shifted backwards to give me space and I crooned into Darrell's ear, "When you hear that Teddy's car is gone, you're going to not remember anything about it. Okay?"
He nodded quickly and swallowed.
I ran a hand down his arm and murmured, "And the reason you're not going to remember anything is because my friend could get into a lot of trouble. I don't want that. Bryce doesn't want that." I moved back and stared him in the face. "You don’t want that either. If we hear that Corrigan's name was slipped by anyone, you're the one that we're coming after. Got it?"
He jerked his head up and down. His hands covered the front of his pants as I stepped back. Then he rushed past us, back inside.
I cursed as I realized what had almost happened. Dammit, Corrigan. Bryce shared my sentiment and yanked his phone out of his pocket. It wasn’t long until I heard him bark, "You idiot! You were seen by a kid. Do you know what would've happened if the kid had told?"
I breathed in relief as I fell back against the bricked wall of our school and sat down.