FALCONS AND SPECIALS

Monday morning, I totally expected everyone to give me a hard time about what happened at the party. I even tried faking sick so I wouldn’t have to go to school, but Mom knew a hot washcloth to the face when she saw one.

The one person I told anything to—and I’d already told him everything—was Flip. I said I wasn’t really into the game, which was true. He was totally cool about it. Which I knew he would be. Which is why Flip is awesome.

Once I got to school, I spent the whole morning waiting for someone to tell me how lame I was or make kissy noises or whatever else. But nobody said a single word.

At first that seemed like a good thing. But then I started to wonder. Did anyone even notice I’d left the party? Anyone besides Flip, I mean? Probably not.

Not that I wanted them to.

Right?

Then I passed Page’s cousin Carissa in the hall and she turned away like she didn’t see me. Maybe she thought I didn’t kiss Page because I didn’t like her. Which wasn’t true. How could I not like someone I didn’t even know?

I couldn’t help being kind of jumpy all the way through Learning Skills. Miller was sitting out there at his usual computer the whole time, surfing away. I figured if anyone was going to get on my case about the party, it would be him.I know we still had our little deal going on, but this was Miller the Killer we were talking about. And I still didn’t trust him.

So when the period was over and Miller just let me walk by without saying anything, I’ll admit it—I was pretty glad. Maybe that whole party disaster was just going to fade off into the sunset and I’d never have to hear about it again.

In fact, I was about halfway through a big sigh of relief, when I heard a familiar sound.

SKREECH!

It was someone pushing their chair back from one of the computers. And then I heard Miller’s voice.

“What’s up, dweebs?” he said.

I hung back in the library door, just out of sight, and peeked around the corner. Miller was sitting there, blocking Jonny and Maya’s way out. Tug was there too, watching and grinning like a second-baboon-in-command.

“Excuse us!” Maya said, all friendly like she usually was.

“What’s that class in there?” Miller said.

And I thought—seriously? Couldn’t he at least get some new material?

“It’s Learning Skills,” Jonny said. “It’s for kids who need extra help.”

For some reason that cracked Miller and Tug up. The thing about Jonny is, he’s great at reading books, but not so much with people. He doesn’t always know when someone’s making a joke.Including one about him.

“What do they call you in there?” Miller said. “Factoid?”

“That’s right,” Jonny said.

“Okay, so tell us something we don’t know,” Tug said. “And then we’ll let you guys go.”

“Why are you being like this?” Maya said.

“Like what?” Miller asked her, all innocent. “We just want Factoid here to show us what he knows.”

“Well, for instance, the world’s biggest crocodile and the world’s smallest man are from the same island in the Philippines,” Jonny said.

“See that?” Tug said. “That wasn’t so hard. Tell us something else.”

Then Maya spoke up. “Mrs. Seagrave! These boys are bothering us!”

“QUIET!” Mrs. Seagrave yelled, because she’s so sweet and cuddly that way. But it was enough to break things up, anyway.

“Come on, Jonny,” Maya said, and they kind of squeezed by Miller and Tug. Except just when Jonny walked past, Tug knocked his books out of his hands and they all fell on the floor.

“Careful there, Factoid,” Tug said. “You keep dropping stuff, you’re going to lose something.”

Now Miller was the one cracking up. And I was the one standing there watching, and knowing I should do something, but not doing anything.

It felt kind of complicated. I was on Miller and Tug’s team, technically. We were all Falcons and all that. But I was also sort of on Maya and Jonny’s team—the Specials. I just wished that meant something besides what it actually meant.

I wished it a lot.