Alex kept his voice light, innocent. “Pardon, Lily?”
I sighed. “Alex, come on. You know everything that’s planned for tonight.” The final tip-off had been seeing Bunker at home. Alex had been surprised—shocked, even. Like Tag, he clearly believed the old man would be gone for the night.
“Listen, Imayhave consulted a little,” Alex allowed, which made Tag chuckle. “Everyone knows that sounding boards are helpful.” He clapped Tag on the back. “But really, this is all the Jester.” He pretended to weep. “And I couldn’t be prouder.”
I shook my head. “You guys never cease to amaze,” I said, then randomly felt the need to ask, “Do youactuallyhave a cat? Or was that a rumor?”
Tag answered. “No, it’s true,” he said. “We found Stevie hiding behind Provisions’ dumpster and convinced her to come home with us.”
“Stevie aftertheStevie?” I guessed, jettisoning Stevie Nicks. There was only one Stevie in Tag and Alex’s life: Stevie Budd fromSchitt’s Creek.
He nodded. “It fits her. You wouldn’t think a cat could be so sardonic, but…” He pointed to the left, which meant we were taking the scenic route to the sculpture sanctuary. It would take longer but would be worth it.
There was the “beach side” of Ames and the “wood side.” The sculpture sanctuary was wood side, but the most direct path there involved parading back through the academic village and cutting across the Circle again. Tag was smart; it was better to keep to the outskirts. Ames’s paved roads only extended sofar, so the outer buildings and fields weren’t monitored as habitually by Campo.
But watch rookie Gabe get overeager and want to sweep the fields, I thought.Watch him borrow Madame Hoffman’s toy poodles for the first-ever Ames School K9 unit.
They knew the Jester’s prank was happening sooner or later. What a way for Gabe to be welcomed to the squad and what a way for Mr. Harvey to go out if they caught its culprits…
I barely let myself breathe as the three of us fell into a game of follow the leader. Tag was on point with me in the middle and Alex bringing up the rear. I was on high alert for any suspicious sounds, still feeling whiplash from our tête-à-tête with Bunker and the chance that Daniel was on tonight’s chessboard. If we ran into any other roadblocks, I worried there would be no escaping them. Hence, I almost cried out when I felt Alex’s hand on my shoulder. “Shh, it’s only me,” he whispered.
Instead of screaming, I sighed.
“Thank you for asking about Stevie,” he said in a hushed voice.
He doesn’t want Tag to hear, I realized and, with one quick glance, confirmed that the Jester was still scouting ahead of us.
“No worries,” I whispered back. “I’d been wondering for a while, so…yeah.”
“It chilled him out,” Alex said. “You noticed that, right? How fired up he was on the hill, especially after giving Manik new marching orders?”
“Yeah,” I grumbled. “Considering I was equally fired up, I’d say I noticed.”
And I’d noticed Tag thaw too. We were both rattled, and if Alex’s mere presence didn’t do the trick, the best way to calm Tag was to get him talking about something he loved. All I needed to do was ask questions and listen…which was, well, how my heartbeat steadied. I’d been so nervous forThe Sound of Musicsophomore year, but by the time I walked into the auditorium on opening night, I was fine. I was nothing but excited, because Tag had come over after classes and analyzedDune—his favorite book—for an hour straight. “Duneis to sci-fi whatThe Lord of the Ringsis to fantasy,” I’d never forget him saying.
His voice vaporized my nerves.
“He’s head over heels for your cat,” I told Alex. “It’s so cute that he wants—”
Alex snorted. “He wants a girlfriend.”
My stomach somersaulted. “What?”
“A girlfriend,” Alex repeated. “What he wants is a girlfriend.”
“Alex, if he wanted a girlfriend, he wouldn’t have broken up with Blair for the…” I did a quick calculation. “Gajillionth time.”
“She doesn’t count,” he replied. “Blair isn’t a girlfriend, Lily. Blair is a Band-Aid.” He paused. “Well, more like aboxof Band-Aids.”
I stopped in my tracks. “A box of Band-Aids? What does that even mean?”
“Hey, does Lily need a Band-Aid?” Tag whisper-shouted back to us. “I’ve got some in my backpack.”
“Nah, she’s fine,” Alex answered as I tried to decipher his weird metaphor. Blair was a box of Band-Aids? Because even after all the arguing between them, he still reached for her to patch up the hurt? Over and over again?
I rolled my eyes and resumed walking.
Slowly but surely, we passed various checkpoints. The darkened art building, music hall, and then the deserted baseball fields and other practice fields. During a recent game of truth or dare, Zoe had admitted that she and Maya had hooked up in one of the lacrosse goals. “Well, I’m glad the season’s over,” Pravika had joked. “Because now that I know you’ve scored there, I don’t ever want to again!”
