“Actually your cynicism is warranted,” Locke said apologetically. “Guessis an inaccurate word. I deduced the password.”
“You want us to believe you figured out someone’s password?” Ed said skeptically. “How? By watching someone type it in. Stalker much? You like looking over people’s shoulders?”
“Hmm, I can see your point. But no that’s actually not how I did it. Most people use face recognition anyway. No old iPhone models for the students of Haddonfield Hight. Still it comes in handy that a numeric password is still required. Would you like me to tell you yours, Ed?”
Ed’s fork froze midway to his mouth. Today was spaghetti day and everyone knew the football players got extra helpings so they could carb up before practice. We all looked to him and waited.
“Bullshit,” he said, putting down his fork. “No fucking way.”
“Of course you’ll need to change it once I announce it to the table. If I’m right, that is.”
“You’re bluffing,” Fitz insisted.
Locke smiled. “Three. Nine. Seven. Three.”
“You motherfucker,” Ed snarled nearly coming out of his seat. “How the fuck do you know that?”
Locke smiled. “I told you, I deduced it.”
“Sit down,” Janie told him. “It’s just some sort of parlor trick. Like guessing what card you’re holding in your hand. This is all pointless. Just tell us whose phone it was, and we’ll approach that person.”
“I can see you’re the practical one in the group,” Locke said, smiling at Janie. “However, not that simple. The person whose phone I temporarily confiscated was the person making a bet. Not the person taking the bet. The money was sent to a generic Venmo account.”
“I don’t like it,” Reen said thoughtfully.
“What’s to like?” I asked her. “It’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard of in this school, and I’ve heard of a lot of disgusting things. Betting on sex. Corrupting minors. It can’t be legal either. Age of consent in New Jersey is sixteen.”
Fitz looked at me funny then.
“What?”
“That’s a weird thing to know. The legal age of consent in the state.”
“I might have looked it up,” I said, shifting in my seat. It was one of my reasons for waiting to have sex.
Reen brought her fingers together in temple under chin. “Yeah, like these people care about the law. As long as it’s not statutory rape, no one gives a fuck. People in this school have money, Beth. Real money. Someone holding a book like this, we’re not talking chump change. How much was the bet for?”
Locke smiled at her as if she were a puppy and he was patting her head for performing a new trick. “Excellent question. One thousand dollars.”
I gasped. “What? A thousand dollars.”
“Now you understand the stakes,” Locke told the table. He looked directly to Fitz. “You want to find the person behind this, save the honor of your sister and all those vulnerable young girls. That’s noble. But you might be getting in a little over your head. There are, to my count, four hundred and eighty-nine students in this school. Assuming the betting was only limited to students, ruling out those girls named on the list, and those who can’t afford to play, not accounting for sex or sentimentality, you’re looking at a betting pool of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Someone is not going to easily part with that much cash. Not willingly.”
I looked to Fitz who was looking back at me. “This isn’t a game.”
“No,” he said coldly.
“Still want to take the perpetrator down?” Locke asked.
“Perpetrator,” Heath muttered under his breath. “The way this guy fucking talks.”
Fitz held my gaze as he nodded. Then he stood abruptly as if to make his point.
“This ismyfucking school. Which meansImake the rules. When someone put my sister’s name on that list, they knew who they were fucking with. It’s personal. I can’t let this go.”
Fitz left then and Heath and Ed scrambled to follow.
“Swell,” Heath said, clapping Ed on the back as they walked away. “Now we’re on a crusade.”
