Just Another Hero Read online

  “Hey, Lollipop,” he called out, using the nickname he’d made up for her when they were together.

  “Hey, yourself,” she replied.

  “You look kissable today, but then you look like that every day!”

  Arielle gave him a look. “Wow, you don’t waste any time!” she said. “You haven’t talked to me in months, and all of a sudden I’m kissable?”

  November and Dana giggled. Brandon ignored them.

  “I’ve missed you, Lollipop,” he replied.

  “Coulda fooled me. It’s been a while.”

  “I tried to call you, but your cell phone doesn’t answer.”

  “It’s a wonder your sweet Nikki didn’t delete my number out of your phone,” Arielle said.

  “Nikki is bad news and very old news. Trust me.”

  I wonder what’s up with this. Is he for real? Still, she told him, “My phone got stolen, and my stepfather canceled the service.”

  “Bummer about the phone. Who pinched it?”

  “How am I supposed to know?” she replied, frustration creeping into her voice. “The school thief, I guess. Me and a bunch of other kids have been ripped off—everyone knows that.”

  “I tried to call your landline, too. All I get at your house is a recording that says, ‘This phone line is temporarily unavailable.’”

  “Long story. Wicked stepfather,” she replied tersely. “I’m on punishment—for the next hundred years, I think.”

  “It couldn’t be that bad,” said Brandon as they walked into the classroom.

  “Yeah, it could,” Arielle replied, not willing to say more. “I’ve got a job at Smoochie’s Boutique at the mall. I’m on tonight. Stop by if you want to talk.”

  “I might just do that,” Brandon said, giving her the up and down. He wandered on into the classroom. Eddie followed behind him.

  Arielle wasn’t sure whether Eddie had overheard her conversation, but she didn’t trust the look on his face, as if he was gathering information to put in a large, dirty sack to be used later to hurt people.

  Dana and November cornered Arielle before she could take another step, however. “So, Brandon’s back?” November asked with a sly grin.

  Arielle shrugged. “Maybe. He’s kinda shaky. One minute he’s all up in my face, and the next minute he’s drivin’ somebody else in that BMW.”

  “Tell us if he stops by the mall tonight!” Dana said.

  “Yeah, sure. I hope he does, just so I can get a ride home. I don’t have bus fare.”

  “Won’t your mom pick you up?” Olivia asked.

  “My stepfather locked her car in the garage,” Arielle told them.

  “What! How come?”

  “Somebody backed into the Mercedes in a parking lot and dented it. It cost a lot to get it fixed.”

  “Wasn’t it insured?” Dana asked.

  “Yes, but that’s not the point.”

  “So what did he do?” asked Olivia.

  “He put my mother on punishment!”

  “Shut up!” November put her hand over her mouth.

  “That’s not possible, is it? Can a grown-up get put on punishment?” Olivia said, shaking her head in disbelief.

  “He took away her keys!”

  “But if someone backed into her, it wasn’t her fault!” November insisted.

  “Tell that to Chadwick Kensington O’Neil. He can do anything he wants. He’s got all the power and all the money in the family. Me and my mom just live there.”

  “Is he as super rich as folks say he is?” Olivia asked. “I’ve read articles about him in the business section of the newspaper.”

  “Well,” Arielle began, “I watched him pay cash for a Hummer he never drives, and two years ago he bought a boat that he’s taken out only once—so we could see the fireworks on the river for Labor Day.”

  “Man!” November said. “And I thought I wanted to be rich so Sunshine could have nice things.”

  “You know that saying, be careful what you wish for?” said Arielle. “Well, it’s true. My mother thought she’d be hot and happy forever when she married Chad. But money is cold, cold, cold.”

  “But why is he so hard?” Olivia wondered.

  “I don’t know. I try to keep out of his way.”

  “So what kind of punishment has he put you on?” Dana wanted to know. “You don’t have a car for him to take away.”

  “He’s removed all my privileges. Everything,” Arielle admitted.

  “Everything?” November asked.

  “Everything.”

  “Allowance?”

  “Hah!”

  “Video games?”

  “Packed in a box.”

  “CDs and DVDs?”

  “Same box.”

  “Radio?”

  “Locked away.”

  “Television?”

  “Gone. And he told the cable company to disconnect the service.”

  “Laptop?”

  “He took it. I have to use the computers at school to do homework assignments and research. My mother’s desktop at home has been shut off as well. No Internet except on his personal computer.”

  Dana frowned. “This sucks, Arielle.”

  “Big, pretty plasma-screen TV in the living room—unplugged.”

  Olivia scratched her head. “He sounds like a control freak.”

  “Actually, he sounds a little bit like a psychopath,” said November.

  “Why is he doing this? What did you do?” Dana asked.

  “I refuse to obey him, to bow down and suck up, so he punishes me. It started when I dropped a Coke on the carpet and made a little stain. Then I got a store credit card without getting permission first. But lately it’s been getting crazy—almost like we’re at war,” Arielle explained.

  “He hits you?” November asked carefully.

  “I wouldn’t let him get close enough to touch me,” Arielle replied angrily. “But now he makes me pay for everything, even what I eat,” she admitted with embarrassment.

  “Huh? I don’t get it,” Olivia said.

  “This morning I had a small container of blueberry yogurt, a banana, and a glass of orange juice for breakfast.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “He tallied up the cost of each item and gave me a bill for three dollars and seventeen cents.”

  “Shut up!”

  “He subtracts the cost of my food from my Smoochie’s paycheck, which I have to give him.”

  “That’s crazy!”

  “I try to eat just a little, but dinner last night cost almost twelve dollars. He decides the prices.”

  “Girlfriend, you have to report this to somebody!” November cried out. “This is, like, child abuse or something.”

  “It’s not like he beats me or tries to sleep with me or something nasty like that. He’s just mean,” Arielle tried to explain.

  “Shouldn’t you tell somebody?”

  “Tell what? That he put me on punishment? Every kid in school would have to get in line if that was a crime.” Arielle was afraid she’d said too much already. He’d ease up eventually. He just had to.

  Dana said, “You’re just a prisoner in paradise, girlfriend. This is really messed up.”

  “Please don’t tell Kofi or Jericho,” Arielle pleaded.

  “Okay, but you holler if you need help, you hear?”

  Arielle nodded.

  Just as the girls finished their conversation, Miss Pringle, who’d been going from desk to desk checking each student’s homework, paused at November’s desk. She looked carefully at November’s papers and smiled. “Good job, November,” she said. “I think you’re going to do just fine.”

  November beamed. “I just gotta graduate! I still want to try to go to college.”

  The teacher nodded encouragingly, then stopped at Roscoe’s desk and seemed to be trying to stifle a laugh. “Roscoe,” she began, “your homework is certainly the prettiest I’ve seen all day—printed up in color ink and everything.”

  “
Hey, I worked all night on that thing, Miss P,” Roscoe asserted. “Hours and hours of hard work.” He seemed to be pleased with himself.

  Miss Pringle continued, “Well, perhaps you should have deleted the author’s name and website before you downloaded it from the Internet!”

  “Oops! My bad. I didn’t think you’d notice,” Roscoe replied with an embarrassed grin.

  “That’s copyright infringement. Theft of another’s work. You know better than that, Roscoe,” she told him.

  “Can I have a do-over?” he asked.

  “Just this once. But it better be all Roscoe this time!”

  “Gotcha!”

  As Miss Pringle finally began class, Olivia reached over and put five dollars on Arielle’s desk. “Bus fare and dinner,” she whispered. Arielle nodded, her eyes welling with tears.

  Not even sure what words to say, she opened her mouth to thank Olivia, but just then Paula Ingram screamed out, “My Game Boy is gone! It was in my backpack this morning before school. And now it’s gone!”

  Miss Pringle looked up in concern. “Oh, no! Not again! Did you have it when you got to class?”

  “Yes, I think so. I’m not sure,” Paula said, her voice sounding frantic. “I didn’t notice if it was there or not.”

  “When did you last see it?” asked Miss Pringle, hurrying over to where Paula sat digging fruitlessly through her book bag.

  Arielle saw Paula peer over at Eddie, who looked as if he dared someone to accuse him, and at Osrick, who hid under his hood. Of course, nobody was blamed. The game player could have disappeared at any time that morning.

  “For sure? Uh, this morning, down in the cafeteria.” Paula looked like she was about to cry. Or hit somebody. Arielle understood the feeling.

  Miss Pringle frowned. “Go right down to Mrs. Sherman’s office and report this, Paula. I’m so sorry, sweetie. The administration has got to get to the bottom of this—soon!” Paula left in tears.

  When the bell finally rang for class to be dismissed, everyone gathered their belongings and checked carefully to make sure nothing else was missing. Before he zipped up his winter coat and scurried out of the room, Osrick caught Arielle’s eye. He mouthed some words to her.

  She wasn’t sure, but he might have whispered, “I know who it is.”

  KOFI

  CHAPTER 20

  WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2

  KOFI’S HEAD FELT AS IF IT WERE FULL OF large, jagged rocks. It throbbed to the rhythm of a dark, horrible symphony. He could feel his bones and even his muscles, and everything ached. His body felt like a broken wind-up toy, just about ready for the trash. He had almost no appetite, but he couldn’t keep anything down anyway. He’d thrown up twice already that day, and when he wasn’t letting it all out that way, he was sitting on the toilet with diarrhea.

  But he was determined to beat the pills. In his throbby head they were a monster—one that was trying to eat him from the inside out.

  I am Beowulf. I am powerful. I rule.

  Then he wiped his runny nose and eyes and breathed deeply, waiting for the hot and then cold sweats to subside.

  I’m pudding, and I’d kill for one little white pill, he thought helplessly.

  But even though he felt like his guts might do a tap dance on the outside of his body, he was glad the pills were gone. He felt free.

  He headed to Spoon’s class early, hoping she had a Coke in the classroom refrigerator. All the vending machines in the building had recently been switched over to fruit juices, which pretty much everyone hated. Kofi need caffeine—lots of it—and maybe some Tylenol or Advil to quiet the storm in his head and the queasiness in his gut. Spoon kept stuff like that in her desk, he remembered, even though it was technically illegal for teachers to give a student anything stronger than a candy bar.

  When he got to the door of the classroom, he heard scuffling, a male voice gravelly and demanding, and the sound of a girl crying. He paused—it sort of sounded like Dana! He tried the knob. The door was locked, and the window had been covered from the inside by a poster or something.

  The male voice said, “I just want the chance to be alone with you for a minute—make you see how I’ve changed. Just let me talk to you—”

  The girl’s voice, louder now, cried out, “Leave me alone, Eddie!” Kofi heard chairs falling. Now he was sure it was Dana. Then she screamed. “Stop! Let me out of here!”

  Kofi yanked on the locked doorknob and pounded on the door, adrenaline fueling his fury. “Open this door! Don’t you touch her! I swear I’ll kill you!”

  He heard Eddie laugh. “I ain’t gonna hurt her. I just wanna talk to her. How you like that, my man with the weird African name?” Kofi could hear more desks falling over.

  “Kofi!” Dana screamed. “Go get help!”

  Kofi didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to leave Dana for a single second, but he knew he couldn’t get the door open.

  “I’m not gonna hurt you, baby,” he heard Eddie say. “The whole time I was gone I was thinking of you. I just want you to get to know me better. I just wanna talk. Relax.”

  His aches and chills forgotten, Kofi raced down the hall, looking for help, but it was lunchtime—the wing was deserted.

  Then Mrs. Witherspoon turned the corner, and the smile she greeted Kofi with turned to concern when she saw his face. “What’s wrong, Kofi?”

  “Help!” he shouted. “Spoon! Quick! Open your classroom door! Eddie. Dana. Hurry!”

  Spoon hurried. She ran down the hall, whipped out her keys, and unlocked the door. Kofi almost knocked her down getting into the room.

  Dana sat on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Her face was a mask of tears and anger.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, pulling Dana to him.

  She breathed a sigh of relief and let herself be folded in his arms. “He didn’t hurt me. He didn’t touch me. But I did manage to get in a good kick,” she told Kofi triumphantly.

  Eddie sat on a chair near the door, where he’d been blocking Dana’s exit. He looked oddly calm. “I just wanted to talk to her,” he explained. Kofi thought his voice always sounded like he was gargling marbles.

  “What’s going on, Eddie?” Mrs. Witherspoon asked, her voice cautious.

  “Nothin’ at all, Spoonie. Just a private conversation with my girl Dana.”

  “She is NOT your girl!” Kofi shouted. He started to get up, but Dana pulled him back.

  “Don’t let go of me,” she whispered. Kofi held her, but his eyes shot bullets toward Eddie.

  “Did he touch you, Dana?” the teacher asked carefully.

  “No, ma’am. He didn’t.”

  “I’m the one who’s injured,” Eddie said with a laugh. “She’s a little ninja warrior!”

  The teacher ignored him. “How did your blouse get torn?” she asked Dana.

  “I ripped it on the edge of the bulletin board,” Dana explained. “I was trying to get out of the room, and he blocked my way. He wouldn’t let me leave!”

  Kofi held her tighter. “I was havin’ a really bad day when I got here.” He spat out the words to Eddie. “And you just made it worse. It won’t take nothin’ for me to clean Spoon’s floors with your face!”

  Eddie laughed again. “I didn’t do nothin’! I didn’t put one single finger on her pretty little body. I mighta wanted to, but I didn’t.”

  “You have no right to hold a student unwillingly in a classroom!” Mrs. Witherspoon told him.

  “She coulda left any time she wanted,” said Eddie. “The door wasn’t locked on this side.”

  “That’s not true!” Dana spat. “Your ugly face blocked the door!”

  “What were you doing here so early?” Mrs. Witherspoon asked Dana.

  “I came to ask you to read a poem I wrote,” Dana said. “I guess he followed me here.”

  “Was the door unlocked when you got here?”

  “It was standing open, so I don’t really know.” She was still shaking.

  Eddie turned to th
e teacher. “Just to save you the trouble, Spoon, I’m going home early today, so we can let things calm down a little. But I’ll be back tomorrow!” He strolled out the door as if he were leaving on vacation. He paused in the doorway, however, and added, “Oh, you might want to pick up those chairs. Miss Dana made a mess.” Then he disappeared.

  Kofi was about to explode. He knew that one day—very soon—he would have to settle with Eddie.

  Mrs. Witherspoon sat down on the floor with Dana and Kofi and rocked them both in her arms. Except for Dana’s angry sniffling, the room was quiet. “Do you want to go home, Dana?” the teacher asked gently.

  “No, ma’am. I’m not hurt—I’m pissed! Can I say that in front of a teacher?”

  “I’ve said worse,” the teacher admitted with a slight chuckle.

  “I’m not letting her out of my sight, Spoon,” Kofi said. “I’ll make sure she gets home safely.”

  The teacher took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m filing a report with the office immediately. And I’ll call your mother tonight, Dana, just to make sure she understands what happened and to check that you’re okay.”

  “What’s going to happen to Eddie?” Dana asked, as she got up from the floor and brushed herself off. Kofi peeled off his sweatshirt and handed it to her to cover her torn blouse.

  “I don’t think Eddie belongs in a public school setting anymore,” the teacher replied quietly as she started picking up the chairs. Kofi and Dana helped her.

  When the bell rang for class, Spoon didn’t call out jokes and greetings as she usually did. She gave everybody seatwork and a reading assignment, and never even turned on any of her computers.

  Kofi seethed throughout the period, trying to figure out when and where he’d beat the crap out of Eddie Mahoney.

  When class ended, he and Jericho walked Dana to her European history class. “Is Eddie in your last period?” Jericho asked Dana.

  “No, he’s not.”

  Kofi hated hearing her voice sounding so thin and nervous, not her usual bold and brazen tone.

  “He said he was going home,” Kofi said. “I know I better not see him!”

  “You can’t be getting’ into fights and kicked out of school,” said Dana, trying to calm him. “You gotta keep your nose clean. You got MIT and the Freedom Achievers depending on you. Me too,” she added.