CHAPTER 86

HUDSON EXPECTED MRS. JACKSON TO call him to the office the moment first period started. She had to have opened her email, checked the YouTube site —and was probably getting calls from parents, police, and maybe even the mayor. Why wasn’t she hauling him in? He could only think of four possible explanations.

• A. The videos spoke for themselves. She didn’t have any questions.
• B. She was too busy dealing with angry DIS-honor roll parents.
• C. She’d called his parents, and was waiting for them to get here.
• D. She was talking to the police —or reporters.

Likely the right answer was all of the above.

Halfway through first period, a police car rolled into the lot. The cop was some kind of brass. He walked with authority —and didn’t look happy. So maybe Hudson’s ride had arrived.

Hudson forced himself to stop looking out the window —but he still wasn’t listening to a word Miss Joyson was saying.

You’re an idiot, Hudson. What did you do? Once they saw the YouTube site, it wouldn’t take a detective two minutes to figure out no true hacker was involved. He’d been fooling himself to think he wouldn’t get caught, but now that the moment was here, he wanted to hop on Blue Boy and ride. You messed up bad, Hudson. Really bad.

Two more police cars pulled into the lot over the next two periods. Hudson avoided going anywhere near the office between classes.

Exactly when the news crew vans showed up, Hudson couldn’t be sure. They were camped out in the lot —and they didn’t look like they were leaving. The hydraulic broadcasting towers telescoped up from the vans.

He only spotted Wolfe in the hallways once —in the break between periods. Wolfe definitely didn’t look like he was planning any kind of retaliation. And he wasn’t exactly oozing with confidence. He looked younger somehow —like a scared kid.

Seeing others scared . . . is this what it feels like to be a bully? Hudson didn’t like it. Not at all. Which was so different from what he imagined he’d feel. Hudson almost wished Wolfe and the pack would retaliate. It would get his mind off the police, news crews, and his mom —who at this moment was probably holding a pink slip from City Hall.

“Oh, God,” he whispered. “What have I done?” Would his mom really lose her job?

Enjoy your day. That’s what his mom said this morning before he left. You too, Mom. Yeah . . . he’d said that . . . knowing he was going to totally atom-bomb her day. You’re an idiot, Hudson. Enjoy his day? He just wanted to survive it.