I looked around, thinking about moving toanother table so I wouldn’t feel like such a loser, the feelings ofsitting alone during my real high school experience threatening meonce again. Then I remembered that I was no longer that bulliedgirl, but a killer spy. I stayed put, laughing inside.
To my surprise, a blond boy followed bythree others came and sat down at my table. “I’m Hank,” the boysaid, patting his completely unmuscular chest. He and his friendsall looked young, freshmen probably. And all looked like theyskipped sports in favor of books.
“Have you come to save me from my completeloserness?”
All four smiled at me, but the blond wasobviously the spokesman. “Actually, we were hoping you could saveus from that fate.” He and two others wore braces.
“I’ll do my best.”
From that point on, their chatter wasunstoppable, and I knew I’d never sit alone here at lunch again. Iadmired these kids for taking a stand against bullying and reachingout to the new kid.
I used the time to get more insiderinformation on the school and how the social structure worked. Onething was for certain. The majority of the student body lovedJericho.
Chapter 6
Fourth period was auto engineering, with Mr.Shareweather, of course. Ace, listening to the feed from my wire,had pulled some quick computer magic and changed my schedule to getme into the same class as the two girls I was hoping to befriend.I’d gotten a note from the office during my third period with anapology for the confusion and my corrected schedule. Once again, Iwas grateful for my team. It was pretty awesome having someone torely on behind the scenes. I wished he’d been able to give me moreinformation on the girls, but I’d take what I could get.
After getting class materials fromShareweather, I went straight for the two girls.
“What the heck?” I asked, stepping right infront of them. “I was sticking up for you two, and you do a Houdinion me? I felt pretty dumb sitting there after that.”
They both stared at me. The round girlseemed to stand guard, a few inches in front of the elf-likegirl.
I stood, hands on my hips, narrowing my eyesat them to show them I meant business. Neither spoke before S-Dub’sbooming voice filled the room. “We will be discussing lockmechanisms and how they typically function as well as discussingpossible ways to improve them.”
I stared at the two girls. What was theirdeal? Why wouldn’t they talk to me?
They tried to avoid me all class period aswe inspected different mechanisms in the various sections of carsin the room, but I stuck to them like tar to a shoe the wholeperiod. I hoped my persistence would pay off.
We got into groups to discuss changes thatcould be made, and class flew by. My hands got grimier and grimierthe more car parts I touched. At the end of class, we used a goodamount of Goop to clean our hands in the locker room. Even afterthree scrubbings, they seemed to still have a slight gray tinge tothem, not to mention the terrible smell left behind. I pulled outsome fresh-smelling hand cream and rubbed it in. When I looked up,it shocked me to see both girls staring at me. Their focus seemedto be the lotion bottle.
“You want some? That Goop made my handsreek.” I held the bottle out to them.
I saw the slightest upturn in their mouthsas they made their way over to me. They greedily rubbed the lotioninto their hands and up their arms. The bell rang, and I turned togo.
“Hey, wait.” It was the round girl whospoke.
“Yeah?” I said, continuing to walk butlooking back over my shoulder at them.
“I’m Gina, and this is Karina.” She motionedtoward the pointy girl.
I stopped and smiled. “Like I said before,”I gave them a meaningful look. “I’m Amber.” I smiled again, and myinsides celebrated the much-needed win.
“Wait!” Gina grabbed my arm. “You forgotyour lotion.”
“You want it?” I asked. “I accidentallybrought two to school today. It’s totally weighing me down. You’rewelcome to it.” I turned to go before they could protest.
A deep, warm feeling spread through mychest. I bounded down the hall.
I had physics next, and Viktor sat at theother end of the room. I could have sworn I saw him scowl at memore than once. I guess I’d made an enemy. I didn’t care. He gaveme the creeps.
Three kids from the incident at the shopwere in that class with me. I made sure to pay attention to themand try to overhear their conversations.
There was an anxiousness in their words, butit was hard to make anything out. Something was going down andsoon. I had to find out what.
Just when I thought I was going to have tofollow one of these students for the rest of the day, I caught partof a rushed conversation between Gina and Karina as they wereleaving school.
“Just make sure you bring the toolstonight,” Karina was saying. “We can’t afford for anything to gowrong. I can’t stand how S-Dub looks at me when I screw up.”
“Nothing’s going to go wrong,” Gina saidconfidently. “We’ve been practicing. We can do this.”
“Okay—meet at my place at 6:30? We’ll haveto ride the train.”
The girls kept talking as they left thebuilding. I considered following them home, but I realized therewasn’t much more I could learn. The mention of tools and S-Dubtogether was a pretty strong indication that something involvingthe car theft gang was going to happen tonight. I’d just have tofollow the girls as they met up at 6:30, and go from there.
***
I was preoccupied as I walked into thebrownstone, considering how best to strengthen my tentativeconnection
