CHAPTER 24

WHEN PANCAKE SUGGESTED they go to his house and lie low for a while, Hudson looked relieved. Anything to get off the street fast —and Pancake’s house was closer. They stashed their bikes in the backyard, and Pancake introduced Hudson to his mom.

She greeted his friend with a smile and poured glasses of horchata before leaving the kitchen. Hudson took a sip. Then a couple of gulps.

“Okay, so I’ve got a new favorite drink.” Hudson lifted his cramping leg onto an empty chair. “Your mom seems nice.”

Pancake grinned.

“You going to tell her what happened?”

Pancake shook his head. “I’ll tell my uncle later. He’ll love it.”

Hudson fished his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll let my mom know where I’m at.”

“You going to tell her what happened?”

Hudson stared out the window. “Not sure.”

Pancake got that. “I still can’t believe we got jumped —and we’re okay.”

Hudson gave a half-smile. “You’re okay.”

“We both are. It was like the best thing ever.”

He took another gulp of horchata. “Which part, the kicks to the ribs or my legs?”

Pancake snickered. “We just stood up to the toughest guys in the entire school —and in the end they ran away from us. From you and me, amigo!”

“I think the guy in the pickup had something to do with that.”

Pancake waved him off. “Details.” The thing was, Pancake had never done anything like that before. Ever. Something about being around Hudson brought out the hero in Pancake. One he never knew existed.

“Thanks for pulling those guys off me. You were a crazy man —tossing guys like they were sacks of potatoes.”

Maybe it was adrenalin. Pancake had no idea. It felt like hot sauce, though. Burning through every vein and artery in his entire body. “I rang the doorbell —and nobody answered —naturally —and I had my phone out. I remember that.”

Did he really want to tell Hudson he’d been filming with his phone? He didn’t remember starting it. “But when I saw them piling on you like that —kicking . . .” Something inside him just —reacted. “I ran to help.” And all the pent-up rage at being picked on and put down for years just sort of boiled out. They were hurting his friend. His friend. “I dropped my phone and knew I had to get them off you.”

“Good thing. I couldn’t breathe.”

Hudson looked totally serious. What if he had been badly hurt? A chill flashed down Pancake’s back. But they were safe now. “At least we got off the street.”

“Right now I’d like to get off the planet.”

It was crazy —but Pancake felt supercharged. “Better yet, let’s stay here and send Wolfe and his pack to the moon.” He clenched his fist and believed he could do it.

Hudson gave him a funny look. “What did you mean when you said you had your phone out?”

Pancake hesitated. Would Hudson think he was an idiot for not helping faster? “I wasn’t thinking. I was on autopilot, you know?”

Hudson leaned forward, wincing. “What are you talking about?”

Pancake cleared his throat. There was no avoiding this, was there? “I rang the bell. Like twenty times —like my finger was on semi-automatic. But the next thing I know I had the camera on you . . . and it was rolling.”

“You caught the ambush on film?”

Pancake gave an apologetic shrug. “Actually, it’s a digital capture . . . but yeah.”

Hudson rocked back. Raked his hands through his hair.

“I’m sorry —it wasn’t like I stood there just filming while you were getting pounded. I was waiting for someone to answer the door. But when they kept kicking —”

“Hey, I’m not upset . . . not one bit. I asked you to ring the bell, remember? But catching the fight on your phone? That was genius. Let’s see it.”

Pancake studied his face. He was serious.

“Okay —one sec.” Pancake dug the phone out of his pocket. His fingers flew over the screen. He cued up the clip and held it so they both could see it. “Ready?”

Hudson drained the rest of his glass. “Roll it.”

Pancake checked over his shoulder once. He didn’t need his mom walking in.

“Here we go.” The video kicked in with Pancake ringing the doorbell, then the camera focused on Hudson before the pack surrounded him. From his spot on the front porch Pancake had extra height and a perfect angle. Zattora clearly advanced, and Hudson’s hit looked absolutely defensive. “Look at the blood squirt out of his schnoz!”

Now Hudson was jerking Wolfe around by the hoodie ties. Pancake snickered. “Hudson takes the Wolf-ee for a little walk. Where’d you learn that sweet maneuver?”

“My kid sister,” Hudson said.

Pancake laughed but kept his eyes on the screen. The clip was amazingly steady. Skirt tackled Hudson from behind. Then the group closed in and the kicking started. The image jostled around crazily for several seconds, then did nothing but film sky. “Guess that’s when I dropped the phone and started tossing guys off the piggy-pile.” Pancake stopped the clip.

Hudson grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a little shake, wincing as he did. “You’re my hero, you know that? Do you think anyone saw you shooting?”

Pancake thought for a second. “Not a chance. They were busy. You have a plan?”

He looked like he was deep in thought. “We keep a lid on it for now. We wait for just the right time —but then we’ll do something really special with it.”

“I’ll send you a copy so we both have it.”

Hudson held out his hand. “How’d you like to be my partner in the Creating Change project?”

So more than just helping Hudson with his project? “Work as a team?”

Hudson nodded. “I’ll do the writing. You do the filming.”

Pancake grinned and shook Hudson’s hand. “C’mon. I’ll make us a little snack.”

“Let me guess,” Hudson said. “Something that will put a smile on my face?”

Pancake grinned. Oh yeah. This was definitely shaping up to be a really great day.