But had she known he was the Jester at the time?
I didn’t think so.
I wiped my feet on her classroom’s doormat—HI, WELCOME TO CHILI’S!it read—before turning the knob and pushing into the room. My mom sat at her corner desk with her laptop, review packets already distributed around the big oak table. “Hi,” I said, gingerly taking a seat as if I were a student on the first day of class. “I’m here.”
She closed her laptop and joined me at the table. “I only have forty-five minutes before my pre-dinner sophomore study session,” she said. “Let’s cut the bullshit.”
“I’m sorry.” I knotted my fingers together. “It’s my fault there’s bullshit between us.”
My mom laughed. “Oh no, Lil, stop,” she said. “I’ve just always wanted to use that line.” She took my hand so she could untangle my nervous fingers. “Relax. We’re touching base.”
I nodded and then watched her stretch across the table to grab something from her pile of study materials. My pulse quickened. It was our newestVogue. Taylor Swift was giving off Gatsby vibes with her 1920s flapper look.
“Tag stopped by several weeks ago,” my mom said casually, “asking if he could have our magazines for a project.” She gave me a look. “Please tell me he won’t be needing more.”
I shook my head. “What you gave him was sufficient.”
“Okay, thank god.” She gave me a relieved smile but soon let it slip away so she could arch an inquisitive eyebrow. “Would you care to elaborate on said project?”
“You want to hear about the prank?” I asked, sitting up straighter in my seat. Because ever since she’d said she was too disappointed in me to want details, I had beenwaitingfor her to change her mind.
“Yes,” she answered. “I know you helped our Jester steal the Almanacs—”
“Along with Alex, Zoe, Maya, and Manik. They were also tapped.”
My mom blinked. “Yet you and Tag were the only ones caught,” she commented, then announced that she neededa drink. She got up to grab a Red Bull from the mini fridge hidden under her desk. I highly suspected she wished it were whiskey. “Okay, so the six of you pull this absurdly hilarious heist,” she resumed. “But there’s obviously a second act happening now, so how do the magazines come into play?” She kept eye contact with me. “Clue me in, Lil.”
I couldn’t help it; I burst into laughter.Clue me in.
She couldn’t have teed this up any better.
“What?” my mom asked. “What’s so funny?”
“You,” I said through giggles. “You’re funny. Because the magazines—Mom, Tag used the magazines to createclues. Scavenger hunt clues! We stole the Almanacs and then scattered all these clues across campus. Tag crafted them using individual letters he cut out of the magazines. They look like—”
“Creepy ransom notes,” my mom concluded. There was a hint of a smile as she shook her head. “I will never cease to be charmed by his cleverness.”
“Each clue is a riddle,” I added. “There are seven total, and the last one leads to the Almanacs. They took a while to hide, and there were, um, complications. The biggest one being…” I trailed off because she already knew.
The biggest one being Tag’s hypoglycemic attack.
My mom sipped her Red Bull. “Did you memorize the clues?”
I stuck my tongue out at her. Naturally I knew the clues by heart; I was an actress. Memorization was one of my sharpest skills.
“Alright, well, take me through the night,” she said.
So I did. I told her about sneaking out to meet the Jester and the other fools at midnight, full of excitement. But by the time I’d reached our depleted numbers and Tag downplaying his symptoms, my voice began to waver. “The final clue is in Admissions,” I said. “It was just Tag, Alex, and me by then. We tried to run when we saw Mr. Harvey’s headlights, but Tag couldn’t move.” I swallowed. “I forced Alex to hide, Mom. I know he was as guilty as Tag and me, but I didn’t want him to get caught. He put up a fight, not wanting to leave Tag, but I made him.” I grimaced. “And that’s it. Mr. Harvey busted us.”
My mom had stayed incredibly stoic during my story, but now she exhaled so deeply it was like she’d been holding her breath the whole time. “Christ, I have so much to say,” she said. “So much to say, but it won’t be in chronological order.”
“It’s a lot,” I offered.
She touched my cheek. “I spoke with Tag after his disciplinary hearing, but I need you to know that having a good timenevertrumps safety. He never should’ve ignored his signs, and when they came to light, you should’ve stopped and called me. I think I’d probably passed out to a podcast by the time you snuck back home, but for the life of me, I don’t understand why you didn’t come upstairs for help.” She shook her head. “It’s not like either of you.”
A lump formed in my throat. “I know,” I said. “It’s not us, Mom—and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I just think we both felt ashit-ton of pressure to pull off this prank and were so anxious about it that both our judgments failed spectacularly.”
She rose from her chair. “Spectacularly, huh?”
