He smoothed out his tie. “Someone left it on the floor outside the admin office. We found it when we came in this morning.”
Mom and Principal Flynn exchanged a handshake and said their good-byes.
I texted Train.Almost done.
He responded,Meet me down on the football field.
“Thanks for your time,” my mom said.
Principal Flynn beamed at Mom. “It was nice to meet you.”
Then we sped past the painted wall and out the doors to her car.
A lawnmower whirred somewhere nearby.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the locker room door?” she asked with her car keys in her hand.
“You wouldn’t have believed me. When you found my paint can, you assumed I’d tagged. So what was the point? I’m not even sure Principal Flynn believes me.”
“This has your name written all over it,” she said.
“I know. And I’ll get to the bottom of who did it.” I just didn’t know how yet.
She grabbed the bridge of her nose. “You can’t afford to get expelled.”
“Mom, I’m not taking the blame for something I didn’t do.”
“Tell me about Nina’s threat.”
I kissed her quickly on the cheek. “I will later. I need to get to class.”
I left Mom and wound around the school, down to the football field. Computer class should have been ending at any moment. I sat on the top row of the bleachers, enjoying the morning sun and thinking. I had a study period next, so I was free, but Train had calculus. I wasn’t in any of his other classes since he was taking all advanced subjects.
He jogged up with concern swimming in his eyes. “What happened?”
“Don’t you have calculus next?”
He sat down beside me. “Don’t worry about me. I’m getting straight As, anyway.”
If it weren’t for the eagerness on his face, wanting to know what had gone down, I would’ve teased him about his good grades.
“Remember I told you I lost a paint can? Well, it showed up in Principal Flynn’s office with my name on it. I don’t think the principal believes I tagged the wall, but he’s not convinced I didn’t tag the locker room door. I gave him Nina’s name. He called her down to his office, but I didn’t see her when my mom and I left.”
“He called your mom in? Wow. Did you give him Ferris’s name?”
“No. I truly believe it was Nina. Ferris might be mad at me, but he doesn’t strike me as a guy who is that catty, especially when it could ruin his valedictorian status.”
“If Nina painted the wall, how did she know what your signature looked like?”
I puffed out my cheeks. He brought up a good point. “Nina was chummy with Ferris. So maybe he told her. I plan to talk to Ferris.”
“Not without me,” he said.
I was cool with that. “But don’t break his bones. You have a scholarship to worry about.”
“Someone cares,” he said in a sugary tone.
I cared what happened to him… maybe more than cared.
