37

The next morning I woke up and felt like I was going to puke. I sat staring at the toilet and thought: who feels sick in the morning? Pregnant girls.

Shit. I wanted to pretend all the stress was keeping my period away. This was the last thing I needed in my life. I prayed the stress would go away, along with everything else. There was only one kind of blood I wanted to see now.

Dad drove me to school. He was in a better mood. “With Kalvin behind bars, I think this whole thing will crumble now. You just have to stick to the plan and everything will work itself out.”

Jamison was there to meet us. I got the same stares, same comments behind my back. But around 10:15, Jamison came into my class and told me to come with him. Someone hissed, “Busted....”

We ended up in the principal’s office. Evans was dressed in a dark suit like he was on his way to a funeral. He gestured for me to sit, while he just sat there behind his desk, staring out the window. Something was going to happen; I could feel it in the air. “We’re expecting visitors,” he finally said. “I thought it best that you stay here until they finish with their work.”

He didn’t say anything more until I saw four police cars and two black vans pull up quickly in front of the school. They skidded to a stop and the doors burst open. About fifteen cops jumped out, dressed in black riot gear. Half of them went to the middle school; the other half came running into ours.

Evans handed Jamison a list he had handwritten on a piece of paper. He told him to go give it to the cops and to make sure they didn’t cause too much of a commotion.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Taking care of business,” he said, watching. “It’ll be over soon.”

I heard them marching down the hallways. Classroom doors were opened; names were shouted; scuffles followed. After ten minutes, I saw them marching back out with three students, including Prince Rodriguez and a couple other Tokers. They had plastic bands tying their wrists together.

Suddenly, I saw Tyreese sprinting across the grass. He had seen the cops coming out of the high school and took off—a gazelle trying to escape a mob of hungry cheetahs. The cops sprinted after him, but he moved fast, slipping in and out of their grasp. When they surrounded him on the front lawn, he spun around, running them in circles until he slipped on the grass and went down. Three cops pounced on him and it was over. He squirmed about as they tried to pin him down, but eventually they dragged him off to a van. They had seven other middle schoolers, including C-Jay and Doughboy. Then as quickly as they came, the cops hustled everyone into the vans, and just like that, they were gone.

“Well, that made a statement,” said Evans.

“Can they do that?” I asked.

He ignored my question. “Hopefully, our students won’t forget this little show and it’ll be more effective than Kindness Day. Unfortunately, you all tend to respond more to getting caught than having empathy toward the victims.”

“And what about me?” I asked.

He studied at me with lizard-like eyes. “It seems you have a little more breathing room for now. I would still keep a low profile, if I were you.”

I left his office a bit stunned. It had all happened so quickly. I expected Jamison to escort me back, but Evans’ secretary told me he hadn’t returned from the raid. Besides, they said the threat was gone, so I was on my own.

I found myself alone for the first time in days. It was eerie. I started down the hallway until I felt somebody watching me.

I turned and saw Mrs. Lee. The poster of her from the assembly was standing outside her office. It was a blowup of one of those bad yearbook photos everyone had to take, the ones where you had to look optimistic and hopeful. I gazed at it for a long time, hoping it would wash away the images burned into my brain from the crime-scene photos. This was a much better way to remember her.

During lunch, Destiny found me alone, shivering on the bleachers. I didn’t mind the wet seat; I wanted to feel numb again.

“You know they got this thing called indoors, right?” she said.

She waited for me to say something. When I didn’t, she zipped up her jacket and sat down next to me. We sat there in silence for a good couple of minutes, until she meekly said, “Are we still friends?”

I shrugged. “Oh, now you’re asking,” I said.

She bit her lip. “I didn’t . . . set you up. I guess I just got caught up in everything . . . and then my brother showed up. . . .”

“Well, if it means anything to you, I’m not seeing Kalvin anymore.”

We both looked at each other and busted out laughing. It was such a stupid thing to say.

“Was it the prison duds that turned you off?” she said, barely able to get it out.

We laughed until we couldn’t anymore. Then we got serious again.

“So, I guess I should say thanks,” she said. “Seems someone left me off the TKO list.”

I had managed to overlook her picture in the yearbook. “I’m always saving your ass.”

She was about to say something back, but nodded instead. “I remember when my brother made me swear I’d leave the TKO club,” she offered.

“And why didn’t you?”

She scrunched up her face. “I wish I had, way back when. I was too young. But I guess I was no different than the rest of ’em. . . .”

“You’re like me. Too stubborn to listen to anybody who tells you not to do something. Besides, if you had left, we wouldn’t be friends now.”

She nodded, sheepishly. “I didn’t know K was gonna be at the assembly.”

I believed her, but didn’t say so. We sat in silence.

“You gonna testify?” she asked finally.

I shrugged. “Someone’s gotta stand up for Mrs. Lee, right?” I said, mostly to myself.

She put her arm around me in a sisterly way. “You do what you gotta do. I got your back.”

I was surprised. “Really?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know; I have a thing for losers. If I don’t stand with you, who will?”

“Thanks.” I put my hand on hers and felt the warmth of her skin. “You wanna ditch school with me?”

She did a sly double take. “Now? Aren’t you supposed to stay out of trouble?”

“I can’t stay here. There’s something I have to do. And I want you to come with me.”