SIXTEEN 

 

I dialed Chaz’s number for the third time. I’d already left a message and sent a text, but he wasn’t answering. I wished I had Maya’s number. I had to talk to somebody right now.

I sat on a bench in the park for a while, trying to make sense of what just happened. Billy knew about the video. Billy wanted JJ to make the video to make Billy’s dad, the mayor, look bad. Because … his daddy hadn’t paid attention to him when he was little?

I knew something about dads who weren’t around. I’d only met mine a few times—or so my mom told me. It didn’t matter to me—he wasn’t someone I wanted to hang out with. But it mattered to Billy. Enough to fake a video.

I shook my head and caught another bus home.

Chaz wasn’t there the next morning, so I told Maya instead. Her eyes got big then; she narrowed them.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Hmmm,” was all she said. Then she told me to write some photo captions.

When Chaz came in, Maya called him over.

“Are you sure we’re not being punked by Johnson?” she said abruptly.

Chaz looked at both of us warily. I burst out with what I’d heard. Chaz nodded like he already knew it.

“So?” said Maya, lips pursed.

“Excuse us, Destiny,” said Chaz and gestured to Maya to come with him.

When she came back, Maya’s mouth was set. I was dying to know what they’d said, but I was afraid to ask. We both just stared at our computers.