77. The Surprise

It’s quiet. A little too quiet for the locker room this time of the day. It’s like everybody’s been sent home.

Or everybody else has been told to get out.

When I hear the swinging door to the room blast open, I know my time is due.

I quickly claw my long-sleeved T-shirt over my head, then turn to see who made the noise.

Gus is standing there, a baseball bat in his hand, Burt and Riley behind him.

There’s no Oli.

Surely Oli’s around somewhere.

“You ever been hit by a bat?” Gus asks.

I swallow and bend over to slip on my tennis shoe. “Can’t say I have,” I say, quickly tying the laces.

“You know what one of these can do to your side? To your back? Nobody will even have to know. You can take out a rib pretty easily.”

His face, his eyes, his walk—everything is amped up. Like he’s on something. Maybe he’s just flying on adrenaline and pent-up anger. All I know is that this is real and that bat is real and I’m not going to be so lucky this time.

A map of the room plays out in my head. There’s a long row of lockers that feeds into the bathroom. No exit out that way. To my right is the entrance to the room, which Gus and his boys are blocking. To my left is the small hallway leading to the gym and field.

Something tells me that door is blocked too.

Gus curses at me. “You know something, I don’t care if I get suspended. Not for this. You’ve been a pain ever since you stepped foot in this school. I’m sick of you making me look stupid.”

He steps closer.

Talking isn’t going to do anything. I know I have to run.

I nod, smile, then bend over and pick up somebody’s bag with some football cleats in it.

“Look, man,” I start to say, then whip the bag toward Gus as I sprint to my left and head to the hallway.

I’m sure he’ll just swat the bag away like an annoying insect, but I don’t look back to see.

The small hall makes a ninety-degree turn that leads to the door.

I slip and pound against the cement wall as I turn the corner.

To see Oli.

He’s standing there, blocking the closed door, looking irritated and ready.

And then …

“Man, you gotta be a little smarter, Chris,” he says in a whisper that I hear but don’t understand.

Why’s he whispering, and why’s he opening the door?

“Keep your mouth shut about this, okay? You got it?”

The door is opened and I don’t get it, but I nod and I sprint through it toward the gymnasium.

The door shuts behind me.

As I run through the gym, I try to think how this happened.

Oli just opened the door.

He just let me go.

I think back to the other times they’ve tried to grab me.

Once was in the bathroom, where I caught Oli off guard and tore out of the stall. The other was in this same locker room, where I managed to get by the big guy.

I replay the scenes in my head, now wondering if I was really so crafty or if Oli might have let me go each time.

I can outrun Gus, and those other two guys are wimps, but Oli’s the real deal.

As I reach the hallway to the high school, I wonder if I might have a secret ally