THE NEXT DAY I looked forward to Mrs. Billard’s class and another chance to see Aja. I arrived early but Aja didn’t come in until a few seconds before the bell, sitting in the same chair as the previous day, on the far side of the room. She had on a simple red dress and looked fantastic. Only she didn’t look at me. Oh well . . .
Billard started fast, handing out a quiz on yesterday’s discussion, the thirteen colonies’ difficulties with the king of England, chapter three in our textbook. Billard was known for her pop quizzes, but from the groans that surrounded me, I could tell the majority of the class hadn’t read the chapter. I was lucky, I’d awakened early and studied it thoroughly. I knew I’d ace the quiz. I never considered myself particularly smart but I had a knack for taking tests.
As Billard had promised, she gave Aja her own special quiz. “This is on the first two chapters, all forty-eight pages. You did read them, didn’t you?” she asked as she handed Aja three sheets of paper.
“Yes,” Aja said.
“Good,” Billard said. “If you have time, you can take today’s quiz as well.”
“Thank you,” Aja said.
“Don’t thank me,” Billard replied. “All my tests are closed book. Put your textbook under your seat and leave it there. If I catch you cheating I’ll flunk you before you begin. Understand?”
Aja nodded but said nothing. I wondered at Billard’s harshness. Aja had just arrived in town; there was no reason for Billard to snap at her. To even be in an AP class, Aja must have scored high on the placement tests that were given to all foreign students. For all Billard knew, Aja might have been Ivy League material.
Yet I wondered if Aja had Billard flustered. The teacher was used to intimidating students and it was as if Aja’s calm demeanor, her penetrating gaze, made Billard feel like she was somehow no longer in control . . .
It was just a thought.
The quiz turned out to be harder than I’d anticipated. First off it was not all multiple choice; there were essay questions. Billard not only wanted to know who had started the Boston Tea Party, she wanted to know why they had started it. I was lucky I’d read a biography on Benjamin Franklin over the summer—a tome my mother had insisted I digest—and was up on my Revolutionary history. While taking the test, I was able to expand upon what was in the textbook, which I had a feeling would please Billard.
I finished the test early but didn’t immediately hand it in. The last thing I wanted to do was show up my classmates. Yet, a half hour into the period, I was surprised to see Aja stand and hand in the test sheets Billard had given her. Billard, who was engrossed in a book about the Civil War, looked up in surprise.
“What’s the problem?” she demanded.
“No problem,” Aja said, giving her the tests. She returned to her seat, leaving Billard with a frown on her face. Ordinarily Billard graded her quizzes after class but today she quickly scanned Aja’s work. I don’t know why that disturbed me but it did; and it didn’t take long before her frown changed into an expression of outright anger. Clenching Aja’s quizzes in her hand, Billard stood from behind her desk.
“Class, put down your tests and listen for a moment,” she said. “I want to read something that I think you’ll find enlightening. As a few of you might remember from two weeks ago, on the fourth question of your first quiz, I asked how the town of Raleigh and subsequent colony of Carolina was founded. Now Aja Smith answered this question by writing, and I quote, ‘During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Walter Raleigh, a pirate well known for raiding Spanish ships crossing the Atlantic to and from the New World, came to the attention of the queen when he introduced the English court to tobacco, which he had discovered while exploring what was later to be known as Virginia. It was this discovery, along with his handsome face and flirtatious nature, which made him a favorite of the queen and inspired her to grant him a royal patent to further explore Virginia and pave the way for future English settlements. Unfortunately for Raleigh, in 1591, before he could return to the New World, he fell in love with and married Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of the Queen’s ladies in waiting, without the queen’s permission, for which he and his wife were imprisoned in the Tower of London. Yet he was released during the attack of the Spanish Armada and distinguished himself in the main battle off the coast of Dover, which led to him being knighted by Queen Elizabeth . . .’ ” Billard stopped and spoke in a sarcastic tone. “Need I go on?”
No one responded, least of all Aja, who sat as motionless as a statue. Billard scanned the rest of us before shaking her head in disgust. “This is not an answer to the question I asked. This is the answer. It is word for word exactly what is written in your textbooks, for any of you bright enough to recall.” She turned her blazing eyes on Aja. “Which can only mean that you copied the answer directly out of your book, or else from cheat sheets you slipped up your sleeves. Tell me, Aja Smith, which was it?”
Aja sat calmly. “Neither.”
Billard ripped Aja’s test papers in half and threw them in the air. “Don’t act innocent with me! I want to know how you cheated!”
“I read the chapters you told me to read. I remembered what the book said about Walter Raleigh and wrote down what it said on the papers you gave me. Bart told me that was the best way to answer test questions in high school.”
Billard looked as confused as she did angry. “Who the hell is Bart?”
“Bart is Bart. He works for my aunt Clara.”
Aja’s reply was virtually identical to the answer she had given me. At the same time I thought it was a pretty straightforward answer but if I was hoping it would calm Billard down I was mistaken.
“You still haven’t explained how you cheated,” Billard said. “Did you peek at your book or do you have cheat sheets hiding up the sleeves of that pretty red dress of yours?”
Aja didn’t respond but Ted Weldon, the football jock who’d given Aja her textbook yesterday, spoke. “Mrs. Billard, I think I can help here. I was watching Aja the whole time and I swear she never looked at her book or copped a cheat sheet from any part of her mighty fine body.”
Billard didn’t welcome the interruption but was forced to respond to him. “Like you’re an expert when it comes to cheating,” she said.
Ted was so dumb he smiled; he thought he was being complimented. “Yes, ma’am, I suppose I am.”
“Tell me, Mr. Weldon, how was it you happened to be watching Aja this whole time when you were supposed to be working on your own quiz?”
Ted’s grin swelled into a smirk as he glanced around for support. He liked attention. “Well, it’s true I have a ways to go on this test. But as far as watching Aja, let’s just say she’s awfully easy on the eyes. If you know what I mean, ma’am.”
Billard nodded with exaggerated patience. “Thank you, Ted, for your astute observations. But now . . .” Her gaze shifted back to Aja as she added in a deadly tone, “Now I want you to either admit that you cheated on your test or else I’ll have you expelled from this class.”
“I can do that,” Aja said calmly.
Billard hesitated. “You admit you did cheat on the test?”
“Yes.”
Billard pointed toward the door. “Report to Principal Levitt’s office immediately. I’ll be along in a few minutes. Go!”
Aja collected her books and left the class.
“Macy, pick up all the quizzes and put them on my desk,” Billard ordered as she collected the pieces of Aja’s tests she’d ripped in half, along with a copy of our textbook. “The rest of you, start reading chapter four. There’s to be no discussion on this matter while I’m gone.” She headed for the door. “I’ll be back shortly.”
I stood quickly. “Mrs. Billard, may I have a moment, please?”
“No, Fred, you may not. Sit down and do as you’ve been told.”
Naturally, the moment Billard was out of sight the room exploded. Half the class jumped Ted, the other half me—and it wasn’t just because I’d tried to talk to Billard before she’d split. Elder High was like any school—the gossip highway was well paved. Yesterday, everyone had watched me having lunch with Aja. Now they wanted to know how I’d planned to defend her before I’d been told to sit down and shut up.
Naturally I didn’t know. But the fact that Aja knew several languages made me suspect she had an excellent memory. I tried telling the class that but they latched on to the idea that Aja had a “photographic memory” and ran with it.
“Let’s not go overboard,” I said. “Billard only quoted a few lines. It’s not like she read all of Aja’s answers. It’s possible Aja just happened to remember that particular paragraph word for word and wrote it down. If you ask me, Billard’s overreacting.”
“I don’t buy it,” Macy Barnes spoke up from two rows over. Besides being a cheerleader and the student body president, Macy was a brilliant student. She was in fact Janet’s main competition to be class valedictorian. She studied for hours every night, never suspecting for a moment that Janet had no desire to graduate number one. Macy was also extremely religious. She headed a Bible-reading club on campus.
Macy added, “I think Aja cheated. I mean, she quoted the book word for word. Who the heck can do that?”
“She didn’t cheat,” Ted said. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I had an eye on her the whole time. Anyway, she was writing fast, real fast, like she didn’t have to stop and think. If you ask me she’s some kind of savant.”
“Why didn’t you tell Billard that?” I said.
“Like she gave me a chance. You saw how pissed off she was. I tried to defend Aja, I did.”
“I know,” I muttered. “Sorry.”
Ted grinned. “Hey, it’s cool. A guy’s gotta stand up for his babe.”
I snorted. “She’s not my babe. I had lunch with her, that’s it.”
“One thing’s for sure,” Macy said. “If all of Aja’s answers are right out of the textbook, Billard’s going to roast her in front of Levitt. I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets expelled.”
“She just moved here,” Ted said. “No way that’s going to happen.”
I stayed silent. I knew Principal Levitt better than most. Had Elder had a local KKK chapter, he would have been washing and ironing their sheets. My dad played poker with a group of guys every month at Levitt’s house and when our beloved principal got a few beers in him he inevitably ended up talking about the country’s southern border—he’d grown up in the South—and how a wall was the only way to keep the “Goddamn Mexicans” out of America. My dad only went to his house because he was a hard-core poker player and it was the only game in town. But he couldn’t stand the bastard.
I couldn’t count how many times Levitt had tried to bust Mike for bringing a joint to school. The guy was always checking his locker. Mike was too smart for him and usually stashed his dope in Dale’s locker, or in mine.
Billard wasn’t back by the time the bell rang and so I left for lunch not knowing Aja’s fate. It worried me I couldn’t find her anywhere on the courtyard. Eventually I caught up with Janet, who had sources no one knew about.
She told me that Aja had been expelled.
“No way!” I cried.
“Calm down, it’s temporary,” Janet said. “She might be back in class tomorrow, nothing’s been decided yet.”
“Then why did you use the word ‘expelled’?”
“Because that’s the word Wendy Hawkins used and she’s the only honest counselor we’ve got. She overheard Billard’s whole tirade in Levitt’s office. Now, don’t get upset but it does sound like Aja copied everything she wrote right out of the book. And—”
I interrupted. “Ted swears she didn’t even open her textbook.”
“I know that, I know everything. But look, as far as I can tell, Aja admitted that she cheated. She said it right in front of your class.”
I shook my head. “That’s not the way it went down. Billard gave her a twisted ultimatum that gave her no choice but to admit she cheated. She told Aja she’d be expelled unless she confessed.”
Janet considered. “That might explain some of what Mrs. Hawkins told me.”
“What did she say?”
“That Aja kept contradicting herself. First, Aja said she didn’t look at the book while taking the test. Then she admitted that she’d cheated. She just wouldn’t say how.”
“She couldn’t explain how because she didn’t do it!”
“Fred, I know you like her but . . .”
“No, listen. Billard’s got something against her, I don’t know why. I saw it on day one. Billard went ballistic when she thought Aja might have cheated. And Aja saw that—she saw how upset she was. That’s why she told her she cheated. Aja was just trying to calm Billard down.”
Janet frowned. “That wasn’t smart. Not for a smart girl.”
“What’s the bottom line?”
“Levitt’s going to talk to her family.”
“She doesn’t have any family,” I said.
“Well, her guardians, then, that Aunt Clara and Bart you told me about. They’re supposed to come in tomorrow and have a meeting with Billard and Levitt.”
“Ted should be at that meeting.”
“Do you really want Aja’s future depending on Ted Weldon?”
“Where’s Aja now?” I asked.
“Hawkins told me a black man came and picked her up.”
“That was probably Bart.”
“Yeah.” Janet squeezed my arm. “Relax. Aja’s new here, she’s from another country. Levitt’s a racist pig but he can’t let the town know it. He’s got to at least pretend to be fair and take Aja’s background into account. He can’t keep her from getting an education. It’s against the law.”
I shook my head. “I just hate to see her treated so badly.”
“Cheer up. From what Hawkins told me, Aja sounded like the coolest one in the principal’s office. I don’t think anything upsets that girl.”
I continued to mope. “The bastards.”
Janet’s touch went from my arm to my hand. She continued to eye me closely. “Are you sure you’re not falling in . . . ?”
I quickly raised my hand, shaking off hers. “Don’t even start with that,” I interrupted.
Janet smiled. “Yes, sir.”