FOURTEEN 

 

“You can put those powers of skepticism to work at the press conference,” Chaz said in the car.

I didn’t know what he meant.

“People in power are always saying what they think you want to hear,” he said. “It’s our job to look underneath the pretty lies to what’s really going on.”

I wanted to impress him again. And I still wanted answers. “Has the mayor gotten in trouble for doing this kind of stuff before?” I asked.

“No, but there are always rumors. Now we know the rumors are true,” said Chaz.

It reminded me of when Shakira said it was proof the rumors were true that her boyfriend was cheating on her with me. All because of a note she found that I wrote Kendra about how fine he was. I did think he was hot, and he did flirt with me, but nothing happened. But that’s why she said nasty stuff in the school newspaper about me being a slut.

I think you can’t really know if a rumor’s true unless you see it with your own eyes.

Chaz pointed JJ out to me at the press conference. He was standing right by Billy.

“Why is he here?” I asked. “Isn’t this just a thing for newspapers and TV?”

“He’s a journalist,” said Chaz, trying to push his way to the front of the crowd. “Yeah, but I thought he was pretending to just be a regular guy,” I said.

“Shh!” Chaz glared at me.

I rolled my eyes at the back of his head.

The press conference was boring. I got knocked on the head twice by big cameras as everyone jostled for a spot. People were yelling in my ear, trying to get the mayor to answer their boring questions about the city budget.

I watched JJ and Billy instead. They were very friendly and kept giving each other looks and looking at the mayor and laughing. Something didn’t seem right to me.

In the car afterward, I said to Chaz, “Something’s wrong with that video.”

“Were you even paying attention at all during the conference?” he snapped. Ugh, it was like being in school.

I tried to be polite. “I was watching them and they seem … like they got a joke together or they know something.”

Chaz was confused. “You mean Billy and Jeff? Well, they are planning something illegal together. Or that’s what Billy thinks.”

“They’re supposed to be planning something illegal with the mayor though, right?” I said. “But that’s not how they’re acting. It reminded me of when kids are playing a teacher—looking at each other and laughing and stuff.”

Chaz was silent. He looked mad.

“And Billy didn’t look stupid,” I said.

“You think you can tell who’s stupid just by looking at them?” Chaz shot back, shaking his head.

“Yeah, sometimes,” I said, sliding down in my seat.

We didn’t talk the rest of the way.