Just Another Hero (15 page)

Arielle touched Dana on the arm. “I was just teasing. I'd never accept your really cool clothes. But some leftover jeans or old T-shirts might help out.”

“Bet.”

“Did you ever find out what happened to Chad?”

“His office moved him to California, my mother found out. He'd been planning this for
months
!”

“What about your clothes and stuff?”

“You're not gonna believe this. He told the movers
to put his belongings in the truck, and our stuff in a Dumpster.”

“No way!”

“My mom went to Legal Aid and got a lawyer.”

“I hope she's careful,” November said. “The last time me and my mom had to tangle with a lawyer, I felt slimy every time I was in a room with the dude.”

Arielle nodded. “I guess the lady my mom found handles divorce and whatever else Chad can be charged with.”

“Sounds good,” said Olivia.

They got to Miss Pringle's class a few minutes before the bell rang. Arielle slid into her seat, happier than she'd been in a long time, which seemed so odd to her, considering the mess she and her mother were in.

Jericho jogged in then, grabbed Olivia, and twirled her around in a little dance step. She laughed and let him swing her around.

“What's got into you?” Kofi asked. “You practicin' Pringle's periodic table dance again?”

“Naw, man. I got my letter yesterday. College!”

“MIT?” guessed Kofi.

“Be for real, man. I can't even pronounce some of the courses you'll be taking!”

“You took the Michigan State offer?” Roscoe asked.

“Nope. I turned them down,” said Jericho, his voice pumped with excitement.

“You turned down a full football scholarship to a Big Ten school?” Roscoe said in amazement.

“True that.”

“So you gonna toot your trumpet in a tutu at Juilliard with the rest of the ballet dancers?” Cleveland asked with a laugh.

“No tutus. I'm not going to New York.”

“Your dad musta freaked out. That's where he wanted you to go, wasn't it?”

“It ain't my dad's life,” Jericho said.

Arielle thought about her applications to Stanford and Cornell and her heart suddenly sank. They were meaningless pieces of paper without Chad's financial backing.
I'd better start looking for scholarships at state schools,
she told herself.

“So where you gonna go?” Luis asked. “Too bad you can't go to a school where you can play football, then switch uniforms at half time and play in the band. You're pretty good at both things.”

Jericho exchanged glances with Olivia, who obviously already knew what he was going to say. “That's exactly what I'm doing, my man! I'm going to Shenandoah University. It's in Virginia.”

“Huh? I never heard of it,” said Roscoe.

Jericho continued, “It's got a good football team, and a great music program. So I can major in music and play ball for fun. I can't be in the marching band, but I'll be in the orchestra.”

“You get the best of both worlds,” Cleveland said, getting it. “How'd you find a place like that?”

“Olivia,” Jericho replied simply.

“So is that where you're going too, Olivia?” November asked her.

She beamed. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Ooh, gag me with the cuteness!” Roscoe said, grabbing his throat and pretending to choke himself. “Are you sure you wanna be with your girl every single day?”

“You just jealous, man,” Jericho replied with a laugh, “that no girl wants to be with you
any
day!”

The bell rang then, Miss Pringle began the class, and everyone settled down.

Arielle sketched drawings of Jericho and Olivia in her notebook, marveling at, and a little bit jealous of, the magic they had together.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9

AFTER CLASS, OSRICK APPEARED AT
Arielle's side.

“Do you have a second?” he whispered, glancing at Miss Pringle, who was busy in the back room.

“Sure,” Arielle replied.

“I ordered something off the Internet,” Osrick confided.

“Great,” said Arielle, looking at him strangely. “I order stuff all the time—at least I used to.”

“You don't understand. I ordered a secret weapon!” His little-boy voice sounded really excited.

“What's all this mystery, Osrick?” Arielle said, trying to be patient. “I've got to get to class.”

He reached down into his bag and pulled out a small white jar. The label read
ANTITHEFT POWDER
. “This,” he whispered, “is going to catch the school thief. But I need your help.”

“How is that going to catch the thief, and why me?” Arielle asked.

Osrick blinked rapidly several times and ducked his head. “Well, you've always been nice to me,” he finally said.

“I have?”

“You never laugh at me, and you kept your mouth shut about the poolside thing.” He paused, looked up at her, then continued, “And you once stopped a kid from tossing me in the Dumpster out back.”

“I did?”

“You don't remember?” Osrick looked disappointed. “It was two years ago, in May. It was a hot day, and the garbage was real stinky.”

Arielle thought, but the event that stood out in Osrick's mind had faded from hers. “Well, at any rate, I'm glad I did. Okay, what's that stuff?”

“If you put it on an object and a person tries to steal that object, their hands get stained a bright blue!” he explained with glee.

“So they wash their hands.”

“It stays on for three days. Even if you wash your hands lots of times.”

“Wow. That's really cool. How did you discover this stuff?”

“I spend lots of time on the Internet—it's what I do,” he said simply.

“So what's your plan?” she asked, starting to get intrigued.

“We go to Mrs. Sherman and let her set up the ‘sting.'” He sounded like a cop from one of those crime TV shows.

“Why do you need me?” Arielle wondered. “You're the brains of the operation.”
Now
I'm
sounding like a TV cop
, she thought, rolling her eyes.

“If I go to the principal, it's just Weird Osrick talking. But if we both go, she'll listen. Please?” he added. “You might get your iPhone back.”

The thought of perhaps getting back the one item Chad had missed helped her decide. “Okay,” she said. “I'm in.”

“Can we go now, before I lose my nerve?” Osrick asked.

Arielle had gym class next bell, and the chance to skip the sweating and jumping was a no-brainer. She picked up her bag. “Let's do it.”

“Thank you, Arielle,” Osrick said softly. As they headed out the room he said, “You know, your name means ‘brave and beautiful one.'”

“Really? How do you know?”

“Internet.” They said the word at the same time and laughed. He seemed giddy with excitement.

“I've never walked down the hall with a pretty girl before,” he admitted shyly. “Not with an ugly girl either!” He laughed again.

“So…you know who the thief is, Osrick?”

“Yeah. At least, I'm pretty sure I do.”

“Who is it? Tell me!”

“I can't, not yet.”

“So why don't you just tell Mrs. Sherman who it is and be done with it? Why do we have to do all this secret spy stuff?”

“Because nobody will believe me, and we have to have proof.”

“I guess you've got a point there.”

They entered the main office and told Rosa that they needed to see Mrs. Sherman right away.

“Another theft to report?” she asked, almost hopefully.

“Not exactly,” Arielle replied. “But it's really important.”

“Did you hear about Paula Ingram's Game Boy? And Carlos Burke's cell phone? And Susan's money?” Rosa asked.

“Yeah. Everybody is getting real tired of this.”

As they waited for Mrs. Sherman, Arielle turned to Osrick. “I know you don't want to talk about this, but during the last fire drill I saw the guys who made that video.” She made sure her voice was low and Rosa could not hear.

“You're right. I don't want to talk about it.”

“But I found out their names! Don't you want them to get punished?”

“I told you, Arielle,” he said urgently, “leave it alone!” Rosa looked up from her desk. Arielle knew her ears were attuned to any notes of discord.

“I'm going to tell Mrs. Sherman who they are,” Arielle told Osrick.

“Please don't. At least not yet. Can't you wait until this is over?”

Arielle frowned. But it
was
his decision, she supposed. “Okay. You win. I guess I'm into revenge these days.”

Mrs. Sherman appeared then and escorted them into
her office. Arielle found herself sitting in the same spot she'd been in when she reported her phone stolen.

Osrick wasted no time. “I'm almost positive I know who the thief is, and I know how to catch him,” he said breathlessly.

Mrs. Sherman sat up straighter. “You do? I'd give anything to be rid of this problem person in our school. Who is it, Osrick?”

“I can't tell you right now. When you see who it is, you'll understand.”

“Is it someone who is bullying you again, Osrick?” the principal asked gently.

Arielle gave Osrick a quick look, but he shook his head no.

“And do you know anything about who the thief might be, Arielle?” the principal asked.

“No, I'm just here for moral support.”

Osrick showed Mrs. Sherman the antitheft powder.

“Hmm. I'm not sure about this,” the principal muttered as she read the directions. “I don't think I want to deal with lawsuits about entrapment and such. You know how parents can be these days.” She pressed a button on her intercom and asked Rosa to get Officer Hammler right away.

“Didn't your wallet get stolen, Mrs. Sherman?” Osrick asked her.

“Yes, it did. And you're right. I felt so violated, so I know how the students must feel who've had their property taken. It's a pretty long list of stuff that has disappeared the past couple of months.”

“Like my iPhone,” Arielle reminded her.

Officer Hammler knocked and walked into the principal's office. Tall and stocky, he wore the full regulation navy blue uniform of the Cincinnati Police Department, including a walkie-talkie, a Taser, and a gun.

“How can I help?” he asked in his deep voice.

Mrs. Sherman showed him the antitheft powder and explained how it worked. “What do you think?” she asked him.

“I've used it before. It can be very effective,” he said. “I think it may be our last resort here.”

“Don't you have security cameras around the building?” Arielle asked.

“Yes, but not nearly enough. Not one camera has captured a theft,” Officer Hammler replied.

“School-board-affordable technology?” asked Osrick.

“If you mean the cheapest stuff available, of course!” Mrs. Sherman answered with a laugh.

“Everybody knows where they are—they're pretty obvious,” Osrick said.

“Plus, we've got teachers watching the classrooms and the gym locker rooms.”

“And I'm doing all I can—talking to kids about leads, checking lockers, and patrolling the hallways from dawn to dusk,” the police officer said. “But we've come up with nothing. Zip.”

Mrs. Sherman nodded. “I have to admit—I'm stumped.”

Osrick spoke up again, sounding more sure of himself than he ever did in class. “What we need to do is set a trap. The thief takes money and cool electronic gadgets.
We put some of this stuff on some money or a cell phone, leave it out as a temptation, and see whose hands turn blue.”

“That's smart thinking, Osrick,” the principal said. “But the directions say here that you need one of the UV/black lights for the blue gel to show up on the thief's hands.”

Osrick dug down into his bag once more and pulled out a small UV light. “Runs on batteries,” he explained. Officer Hammler grinned.

Boy, people sure have underestimated Osrick,
Arielle thought as she listened to his plan. She agreed to let them put a fifty-dollar bill—to make it a greater temptation—and an electronic gadget in her purse. The purse would be placed in the girls' locker room, where many of the thefts seemed to have occurred. The rest would be up to the thief.

“If we hurry, we can plant my bag down in the gym right now,” Arielle said. “That's what class I'm supposed to be in.”

“This better work,” said Mrs. Sherman as she took a fifty-dollar bill out of the petty-cash box in her office. “These babies don't grow on trees, you know.” Then she pulled an iPod out of a box by her desk.

“Is that an iPod?” Arielle asked. “It looks like a brick! I've never seen one so huge.” She and Osrick both laughed at the ancient-looking device. “No kid will steal that thing—it's a dinosaur!”

Mrs. Sherman said, “I have to agree, but it's all we have to use as bait. I don't think it even works—it was in that box of lost items when I got here.”

Officer Hammler put on a latex glove from the first-aid kit, scooped some of the powder out of the jar, and rubbed it all over the money and the iPod. Neither item looked any different when he'd finished.

“Let's check it,” Arielle suggested, “just to make sure it works.”

Osrick turned on the black light. Both the money and the device glowed an odd, iridescent blue. “Awesome,” he said.

“You're pretty cool, you know that, Osrick?” Arielle said with a slow nod.

“I know,” he said, blushing.

Officer Hammler carefully placed both articles in Arielle's purse, right on top.

“Hurry, now,” Mrs. Sherman told Arielle. “Let's see if we can catch this thief.”

“Can I get a pass to class and a note that says I don't have to dress for gym today?” Arielle asked.

Mrs. Sherman smiled. “Just for today,” she said. “Now, go! And where are you headed, Osrick?”

“I have computer class last bell,” he explained. “I'm not missing anything. In fact, I could probably
teach
the class!” he joked.

“I believe you,” Mrs. Sherman replied. “Do you want to wait here to see if anyone takes our bait?”

Osrick nodded eagerly.

As Arielle dashed out of the office, Rosa leaned her chair back, clearly trying to figure out what was going on, but Mrs. Sherman firmly shut the door.

Arielle rushed down to the gym, wondering if the trap
would work. Officer Hammler followed Arielle at a distance, acting as if he wasn't paying attention to her. The plan was for him to observe the few students with passes who were in the hall and near the gym so they could be questioned later.

The locker room was deserted. Arielle breathed a sigh of relief and carefully set her purse on a bench near a wall of lockers. She lifted the top flap so the money was in plain view. The iPod lay right beneath the cash. Then she checked her watch, realized she had about fifteen minutes of class left, so she grabbed the note and headed into the hot, smelly gym. She did not look back at the purse.

November was already seated on one of the bleachers, watching a volleyball game.

“Looking at gym class is
so
much better than doing it,” Arielle said as she slid onto a bench next to November. Her heart was beating fast, but she tried to act relaxed.

“I feel ya,” November agreed. “They scheduled me for two gym classes. How dumb is that? But they wouldn't change my schedule. What a waste of time. I could be out of here and with my baby. How'd you get an excuse to miss class?”

“I told them I was sick,” Arielle told her.

“Actually, you don't look so good. You feelin' okay?” November asked. “You're not pregnant, are you?” she said jokingly.

“Not hardly!” Arielle laughed. “I got enough problems!” She didn't want to talk about herself, so she changed the subject. “What's Eddie's excuse to sit out?” she asked, pointing toward the other side of the bleachers.

“I don't know, and I don't care. That dude makes me itch!” November replied.

“Dana's really spooked by him,” said Arielle. “Her mother's looking into getting a restraining order against him.”

“Yeah, I heard. But that's gotta be almost impossible to enforce inside a school.”

“True that.”

“At least she's got Kofi and Jericho as her unofficial security guards. They've worked it out so that one of them or the other is with her between every class.”

“That's cool.”

“There goes Pringle out to run around the track,” November said as the skinny teacher jogged through the gym toward the outside exit. She waved at the girls as she headed out—earphones on her head, keys jingling around her neck, a bottle of water strapped to her waist, and a determined look on her face.

“Every day like clockwork, just before the bell rings at the end of the day. The woman must run on batteries. Did you ever see her do the dance of the chemical elements?”

“No, I missed that while I was out,” November replied with a chuckle. “Lucky me.”

Arielle watched Olivia swat the volleyball across the net. She was sweaty and looked like she was having fun. “You know, I really underestimated Olivia,” she said.

“Yeah, you did.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Tell her, not me,” November said.

“I will.”

“She's a bigger person than you are, Arielle, and I'm not talking about her weight.”

“I know,” Arielle whispered. “I know.”

The gym teacher finally blew the whistle. November sighed with relief, told Arielle good-bye, and left to go pick up her baby. Eddie, Arielle noticed, had disappeared.
Good riddance,
she thought.