His tone was gentler than it had been all morning, and for a second I was tempted to tell him the truth. Yes, I recognize this. Yes, it’s a message from Amanda. Where is she? I need to talk to her.
“I’m named for Ursa Major,” I said, surprised that my voice didn’t shake.
“The Great Bear,” he seemed to think aloud. “Who would know that?”
I forced myself to shrug. “Anyone who knows the legend of Callisto, I guess. Or who knows about astronomy. It’s not like it’s privileged information.” Remembering how casually Hal had leaned against his locker while Mr. Thornhill stared at him, I forced myself to meet the vice principal’s gaze.
“Does Amanda know?”
I made myself shrug. “I really don’t know what she knows about astronomy.”
“She’s a brilliant math student.”
She’s a brilliant everything. "There’s more to astronomy than math,” I said.
Mr. Thornhill gave me a look that made it clear just how furious he was, then he gestured for me to open my locker. Once I had, I moved to the side, and while he went through my books and notebooks, I made myself stare at the pictures of me, Heidi, Traci, and Kelli that lined the inside of the door. In every single one of them we were all smiling, like nothing bad had ever happened to us. Like nothing bad could ever happen to us.
Mr. Thornhill didn’t take anything out of my locker, just poked at what was inside it and stepped away, as if there were nothing even remotely interesting there. If I hadn’t been so relieved, I might have been offended.
I shut the door and slipped the lock through the hole of the handle as Mr. Thornhill started walking back down the corridor toward the main office. I wondered if we were supposed to go with him or if he was finished with us now that he’d seen we weren’t hiding anything, but he’d only gone a short distance before he snapped, “Follow me.” He set a fast pace, and I had to jog a little in order to keep a few steps behind him.
Just as Mr. Thornhill turned the corner to the main lobby, I felt a hand on my arm. I looked down and saw that Hal was gripping me just below the elbow. Nia was on his other side, and he was holding her the same way.
When he saw we were both looking down, he let go of us and eased the sleeve of his shirt up about six inches. There, in the exact same spot as mine, was a brick-colored tattoo of the same cat that had been on his locker. As soon as she saw it, Nia looked up at Mr. Thornhill’s back, then reached over to her left arm with her right hand and slid her sweater up just enough to reveal the image I’d seen earlier on her locker. A second later, she slid it back down again.
“Let’s go, kids,” said the vice principal. He was already at the door to the main office, holding it open with his back. We were no more than twenty feet away from him.
Fifteen feet. Ten feet. I raised my right arm in front of my face and reached behind the back of my arm with my left hand, like I had an itch on my shoulder I needed to scratch.
Seven feet. Five feet.
Pressing my hand against my bicep, I slid the fabric of my shirt up just enough to reveal the bear’s reaching paw.
“Oh my god,” whispered Nia, and we crossed the threshold from the lobby into the office.
"Have a seat,” said the vice principal, gesturing to three empty chairs outside of his office. “I have a meeting, so, Mrs. Leong, I’m going to ask you to keep an eye on these three. I want them sitting here silently until I come back.”
“Yes, Mr. Thornhill,” said Mrs. Leong.
“Now.” He turned back to the three of us. “While it is true that, historically, Amanda has felt that her attendance at Endeavor was … optional, this is different. Today as part of her absenting herself, she chose to send me directly to three people to ask about her whereabouts.”
“If you want to know where she is so badly,” snapped Nia, “why don’t you just call her house?”
Mr. Thornhill’s eyes flashed with irritation. “I’ll thank you not to tell me my job, Nia. You can rest assured that I’m handling things on that front. Meanwhile, I want the three of you to think very, very carefully about everything you’ve just seen.”
My heart was beating hard enough that I could barely hear him, so it was a relief when Hal took it upon himself to answer for all of us. “We certainly will, sir. We certainly will.”
Despite Mr. Thornhill’s instruction of silence, I thought for sure we’d have a chance to talk about our tattoos, but the one time Hal started to whisper something, Mrs. Leong jerked her head up and stared at us so fiercely I was actually afraid. Two periods passed while I tried and failed to make sense of what was going on, and by the time Mr. Thornhill walked back into the office and asked if we were ready to talk, I was so tangled up it was all I could do not to tell him everything I knew about Amanda just so he’d help me make sense of it.
But after Hal had answered, “I’m just as confused as you are,” and Nia had said, “Has it not occurred to you, Mr. Thornhill, that we, too, are simply victims of a troublesome student’s practical joke?” I couldn’t start spilling my guts. When he looked at me for an answer, I just shook my head.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that. Very, very sorry to hear that. Perhaps you’ll feel differently after you wash my car this afternoon after school—”
“But—” began Nia.
“And, if not, I’m sure a month of Saturday detention will change your mind.” “That’s—” said Hal.
“That’s final,” finished Mr. Thornhill. “Unless you can convince your friend Amanda Valentino to come by my office and explain everything herself.” The bell rang right then, as though Mr. Thornhill had planned it. “You may go to lunch.”
I’d expected Nia, Hal, and me to start dishing everything we knew as soon as we stepped into the corridor, but once the office door closed behind us, Nia clutched Hal’s arm and pulled him into the sea of humanity that fills the hallways during period changes. It was like I hadn’t been with them in Thornhill’s office, hadn’t shown them my tattoo. I didn’t know what to do—was I supposed to trot after them like some kind of desperate puppy? Take me with you! I want to talk about Amanda, too!
Um, no. If they thought they were too good to include me in their little powwow, let them think that way. I’d go straight to the source.
Cell phones are totally forbidden in school, so I had to slip into one of the stalls in the bathroom to dial Amanda’s number.
“Life is too short to wait. Except for the beep.”
Beep. "Okay, wherever you are, you have got to get back to school. What is the deal with Thornhill’s car and the lockers and everything? Call me as soon as you get this. Okay, bye.” When I hung up I wished I’d said something about her knowing Hal and Nia. But what? I happen to know for a fact that you’re good friends with two other people at Endeavor besides me. It wasn’t exactly like I didn’t have friends other than Amanda. I mean, a table full of people was waiting for me right now in the cafeteria. So Amanda had other friends, too. What was the big deal?
But as I made my way to the lunchroom, I couldn’t deny that it did feel like a big deal. After Amanda had chosen me, I’d just assumed that I was her only real friend. Now it turned out that I was one of three people she assigned totems to. Three people she’d gotten involved in her prank (whatever it was). I mean, she knew about the I-Girls. So why didn’t I know about Hal and Nia?
The cafeteria was packed, but I spotted Heidi, Traci, and Kelli at our usual table.