I knew it was bad when I went down to the administration offices the next morning after getting called in and saw my parents there. My mom was crying.

If you think this was like last time where I could talk my way out of it, you’re wrong. This time it was official. It was a “done deal,” or so Dickerson said several times during our meeting.

I was hereby expelled from Thomas Edison Elementary and Middle School.

I tried to argue that I hadn’t planted the virus, but Dickerson said it didn’t matter. They were still able to trace it to my school email account, and that was enough since I had already been warned numerous times that year, which, in all honesty, was the truth. The school board had already approved the decision and signed the papers.

The only good news was that I had managed to convince Dickerson to let Vince stay in school. I signed this thing called an affidavit stating that Vince was in no way involved in the email exchange that caused the computer system meltdown.

The school didn’t let me go back to class to get my stuff or even to my locker to get my jacket. They said all of that would be mailed to me later that week. We were escorted out immediately. On the way out I saw Mr. Kjelson, who’d I’d really been looking forward to having as a baseball coach later that school year. And now it would never happen.

He gave me a somber head nod as we passed. I tried to smile, but all I managed was a lip quiver. I forced myself not to cry.

The car ride home was the longest of my life. My parents didn’t even talk to me. Never before had they had absolutely nothing to say to me. Not even last year when I’d confessed to cheating on the SMARTs for the entire school.

When we got home, they still didn’t say anything. My dad just pointed upstairs. We all knew I was going to be grounded forever; that much was obvious.

I went up to my room and lay on my bed. Well, at least one thing had become much clearer now: there’d be no pulling our punches anymore. I was going to eliminate Kinko’s whole operation for good.

My parents had taken my phone from me first thing when we’d left the school that day. But what they didn’t know was that Vince and I kept a pair of long-range walkie-talkies hidden in our rooms for use in just these types of situations.

At 3:45 p.m., when I was sure that he’d be home, I contacted him via our emergency channel. He must have been anticipating it, because he answered right away.

“I can’t believe it” was the first thing he said.

“I know,” I said as quietly as I could.

“I heard about you sparing me,” he said. “You should have let him expel me. Then we could still go to school together wherever you’ll end up.”

“No, you need Kjelson this year. He’s the only coach good enough for you. Besides, there’d be no way to know that we’d end up at the same school.”

I thought he knew I was right because there was a long silence. Then finally he spoke again.

“It’s like my grandma says, ‘This—sucks.’”

There was static on the line and I couldn’t hear the middle word, but I was pretty sure I knew what it was.

For once Grandma had nailed it.

“Anyways, Vince, I was contacting you to tell you to get in touch with Tyrell, Great White, and the Beagle. There’s only one thing left to do, and that’s to get revenge and save the school. This time, it’s war.”

That night we called a secret meeting in my basement after my parents fell asleep. The planning went well, with pretty good contributions from everybody.

“What about you?” Vince said. “How will you get out? I’m sure your parents will be keeping tabs on you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I’ve gotten out while grounded hundreds of times. This will be no different. They’re basically ignoring me, they’re so mad anyway.”

“What about getting to Thief Valley tomorrow? We obviously can’t ask Staples. My brother is away in college now. . . . My mom will be working. We can’t call a cab; it’ll be too suspicious. . . .”

“Vince, I got it covered, pal. Are we all good?”

Great White, Tyrell, and the Beagle all nodded and got up to leave. Vince hung back for a minute after they all walked out.

“Mac, I . . . I just can’t believe you won’t be my catcher this year. I need you back there, man.”

I was getting choked up thinking about it. Seriously.

Vince must have been in the same boat because he simply turned and left and that was that.