“Ready for our first karate class?” I asked Joe on Tuesday afternoon. We were at the dojo, and all geared up.
“Definitely,” he said. “But really? I’m ready to find some leads on this case.” He pushed open the door to the boys’ locker room and led the way inside.
“Let’s split up,” I murmured. “We can cover more ground that way.”
Joe nodded and headed for the back of the locker room to get changed. I stayed near the entrance. That way I could see whoever came in. Plus, there was a second door that led into the bathroom. And right now, that was the most interesting room in the whole Rising Phoenix school, since it was a hub of activity.
As I pulled open a locker, I noticed Billy Lee in the bathroom. He was already dressed in his gi. And he looked kind of freaked. I backed up and sat down on the wooden bench between the lockers, hoping to get a better view of the bathroom.
Finn Campbell stood near the sinks, arms crossed, talking to Billy.
That’s the second time he’s been on Billy’s case since we met them, I thought. I scooted over to the end of the bench, trying to hear Finn. But it was hopeless—the sounds of other students laughing, talking, and clanging their lockers open and shut totally drowned out the conversation in the bathroom.
I moved slowly, pulling off my sneakers and socks, purposely dawdling so I could keep an eye on Billy. He was arguing now, his face red, his eyes bulging. In fact, he was yelling at Finn.
“Good for you, Billy,” I murmured.
“. . . not fair!” Billy’s voice carried in from the bathroom. “You should have told me!”
“Man, you’re slow,” Joe cried, appearing next to me in his gi. “Hurry it up.”
“Shh,” I hissed. I nodded toward the bathroom. Billy had stopped arguing. He pulled a twenty-dollar bill from underneath the belt of his gi and offered it to Finn.
Finn shook his head, looking disgusted.
“What’s going on?” Joe asked.
“I’m not sure. They’re fighting again,” I said.
“Well, I don’t think a twenty is gonna cover Billy’s tuition,” Joe murmured.
Finn didn’t seem to think so either. He leaned over and got right in Billy’s face, snarling something I couldn’t hear. Then he snatched the twenty and stormed out of the bathroom.
Joe jumped to his feet. “I’ll see you out there, slowpoke,” he said as if we were finishing a conversation we’d been having all along.
Finn jumped a little, surprised to see anyone so close to the bathroom. He shot a glance back at Billy, then pasted a smile on his face.
“The Hardys,” he greeted us. “Enjoy your first class.” He disappeared into the hallway. Joe followed him.
I quickly pulled on my gi and slammed the locker closed. Billy was still in the bathroom, splashing water on his face. I went in and pretended to be checking out my gi in the mirror. “Hey, Billy. What’s up?” I said casually.
He glared at me. “Nothing,” he snapped. He ran out before I could even react. What had happened to the nice, welcoming guy from the other day?
I headed out into the hallway just as Chet came rushing in, still in his street clothes. His backpack was stuffed so full that he had to hunch over in order to support its weight. I chuckled—Chet looked like a turtle. Had he brought every single textbook he had taken home from school with him?
“Chet, hey!” I called. “Why are you so late?”
He gave me a quick wave and ducked into Huang’s office without even answering. I glanced at the clock on the wall. Class was due to start in two minutes. Why was Chet wasting time in the office? Wouldn’t he get in trouble for being late?
I went to the door of the dojo and hung out there, trying to look casual. For some reason, Chet’s behavior had set off an alarm bell in my head. Chet Morton is one of those guys who’s always on time. He’s also one of those guys who’s always polite. But he’d just waved without coming over a second ago. What was the deal?
A minute later, the office door opened and Chet came out. I tried to get a look at his face, but Sensei Huang was coming out at the same time. He was saying something to Chet, but he turned so that his back was to me. He totally blocked my view of my friend. I ran my hand through my hair, frustrated. I hoped Chet wasn’t in trouble for being late.
As Sensei Huang headed for the dojo, Chet vanished into the locker room. I turned away, hoping Huang wouldn’t notice me watching.
But a movement in the hallway behind Huang caught my eye. I thought I saw Liz Campbell sneak into Huang’s office. I whipped my head around, but she was gone. Were my eyes playing tricks on me?
“You look worried, Frank,” Huang said when he reached the dojo door. “Something wrong?”
“No, Sensei,” I assured him. “I can’t wait to get started.”
“Good.” He looked me up and down. “Why don’t you come up front so you can see me better?” He took his place at the front of the room and bowed to the class. We all bowed back. I shoved my thoughts about Chet and Billy and Liz out of my head. It was time to learn some karate!
“All right, now some of you already know these basic moves,” Huang called, raising his voice to be heard through the entire dojo. I glanced around. There were about twenty kids in the class. I recognized the others from our orientation group. Liz Campbell was all the way in the back, keeping to herself like last time.
“As you know, patience is of the utmost importance. Every muscle must be entirely under your control, and constant practice is the road to that level of control.” Sensei Huang did his making-eye-contact thing again, looking individual students in the eye for a few seconds as he talked. “I’m going to teach the shiko tsuki to the new students, but I want you others to practice it right along with us. This is a basic square-stance punch.”
He gazed at Joe. Joe nodded, doing his best to look insecure. That doesn’t come easy to my brother.
The dojo door opened and Chet rushed in, dressed in his gi.
“Chet, just in time,” Huang said. “Come up here and help me demonstrate the shiko tsuki.”
Chet nodded eagerly and went to the front of the room. He positioned himself next to Huang as the sensei described the proper stance and went through the move in slow motion so we could all see exactly how it was supposed to be done.
“Chet, why don’t you show them?” Huang said.
Chet dropped into a version of the square stance that Huang had described. He gave a loud “Hy-yah!” and shot his arm straight forward. Huang tumbled over backward, landing on the mat. Everybody gasped and murmured to one another, impressed.
But I couldn’t believe it. Chet had barely touched the guy. I was close enough to see that my friend hadn’t done anything the way Huang had showed us. Chet’s feet weren’t in the right position, his weight was distributed unevenly, and his punch had been slow and weak. He’d barely even covered the distance between himself and Huang.
I didn’t blame Chet—he’d only been doing karate for a short time.
But why had Huang acted as if that punch had knocked him down? Why was he smiling and clapping Chet on the back?
Why was our friend such a favorite with this guy?
As soon as I got into the locker room after class, I went to find Chet.
“Hey, man, nice job in class,” I told him. “I wouldn’t want to have to fight you!”
Chet blushed. “Nah, Sensei Huang totally helped me,” he said honestly. “I still can’t really get the hang of that punch.” He opened his locker and pulled out his jeans and sneakers, then his backpack.
“What’s in that thing, anyway?” I asked, reaching for the strap. “You were totally weighted down before.”
Chet looked panicked as I pulled the pack away from him. It swung easily through the air and bumped against my legs. I stared down at it in surprise. The pack was empty. Or at least it was light enough that it seemed empty. What had happened to all the stuff Chet was carrying?
I glanced at him and raised my eyebrows. “This pack was jammed when I saw you in the hall before class,” I said.
“Um . . . I just had my gi in there.” Chet didn’t meet my eyes. He pushed his feet into his sneakers, grabbed the backpack, and headed for the door. “Listen, Frank, I gotta run. Later.” He took off, still wearing his gi.
“Ready to go?” Joe asked, tossing his rolled-up gi on the bench near my locker. He took one look at my expression and knew something was wrong. “What is it?”
“Chet. He’s acting weird,” I said. “He came in late with his backpack all stuffed with something, and he went to talk to Huang. Just now, his pack was empty. And when I asked him about it, he bolted.”
“Plus, he’s getting the teacher’s pet treatment from Huang and he’s not even good at karate,” Joe said.
“You think we should be worried?” I asked.
Joe thought about it, then shook his head. “Nah. Everybody else is all gaga over Huang too. Chet’s probably just psyched someone is paying attention to him. The gym teachers at school are always kinda mean to him.”
“Yeah. Maybe it’s part of Huang’s plan to build up Chet’s self-esteem,” I agreed. A quick glance around the locker room showed me that we were alone. “Everybody’s gone. Do you want to hang out and see what we can find out about Huang’s background?”
“Definitely.” Joe led the way to the door. “First stop, the office of Mr. Paul Huang.”
“That’s Sensei Paul Huang to you,” I joked.
We’d both kept our shoes off so we could walk silently. The hall was deserted, but you never knew who might be around. We inched up to Huang’s office. The door was ajar. I gave Joe a thumbs-up and reached out to push it open.
“. . . a very serious situation,” Huang’s voice came from inside.
I snatched my hand back and shot my brother a warning look. Huang was still here!
Joe ducked down and moved underneath the big window in the office wall. Slowly, he lifted himself up until he could see inside. I held my breath. That was a risky move. If Huang happened to be facing the window, he’d see Joe for sure.
Joe stared inside for a few seconds, then dropped back down and crawled over to me.
“It’s Huang and Finn,” he whispered. “And Billy Lee.”
Billy! Had Finn dragged their fight to Huang now too? “Is Billy upset?” I asked.
“Practically crying,” Joe confirmed.
“I have to see this.” I crawled over and eased myself up to the window the way Joe had. Huang sat at his desk while Finn spoke in his ear. Both looked totally serious, and Huang’s eyes never left Billy’s face. It was like his friendly eye contact routine in class, only this time it wasn’t friendly. It was threatening.
Billy sat in the chair across from them, trembling like a scared rabbit.
When Finn stopped speaking, he straightened up and turned to Billy, arms crossed over his chest.
“I can’t allow this,” Huang’s voice drifted out to me.
“But Sensei—” Billy began.
“What else do you have?” Huang asked.
Billy reached down into his backpack and pulled out another twenty-dollar bill. “Just this.”
Huang and Finn looked at each other, and Finn shrugged.
“Fine. That will have to do,” Huang said. “But next time we need the full amount, Mr. Lee.”
What was this? My brain spun with possibilities. Had Billy’s mother not paid tuition? Maybe Billy was taking classes without permission, and he had to scrape up the tuition money by himself? Maybe he’d gotten ripped off by the bully at school, and had his tuition money stolen?
Huang pulled a bulky brown packing envelope out of his desk and tossed it to Billy. The poor kid tried to catch it, but missed. He bent and picked it up off the floor.
“The money?” Finn said coldly.
Billy gave him the twenty. Then he bolted for the door so fast that Joe and I barely had time to get out of there. We sprinted back to the locker room and rushed inside.
“What was that all about?” Joe asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But whatever is going on here, Finn Campbell’s involved.”