“Wayne, stupid!” she said. “Not Spence. I know all about Spence.”
“You do?” How had he let that slip?
“Why would Wayne go to all that trouble just to get a message to you?”
“That’s the thing,” he whispered. “He said it had to be here at the school, that it couldn’t be at my home, or Finn’s, or any of ours because he thinks the OTs are monitoring our home computers.”
“What!? But we…I mean, you and me…” Willa stammered.
“Yeah, I know. We have to stay off our computers. And no crossing over. Who knows what they’re planning?”
“Just when I was starting to feel normal again.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing.” He added, “Normal, if you overlook that when we go to sleep we wake up in the Parks as our holograms.”
“We’ve all been overlooking that for a couple of years now. I don’t even think about it, you know? It’s just…a part of me.” Willa added, “We need to tell Amanda and Jess as well.” The Keepers had applied the hologram technology to Amanda and Jess months earlier. Philby could remotely cross them over as DHIs as well. But this meant they were now at risk along with the other Keepers. It didn’t seem exactly fair.
“Yeah. They’ll need to know.” Philby told her about the Stave Church at eight pm. He left out the part about Wanda for now. He wanted Finn to deal with that, as Wayne had asked. “I’m going to text the others, not IM. We have to assume that whatever we do online from home could be monitored.”
“That’s way creepy,” Willa said.
“Yeah.”
“But what about texting?”
“Probably safer than anything on the Internet. I don’t see the OTs hacking Verizon.”
“No. That’s true.”
The hallway bell rang, signaling another class for both of them.
Spencer had not gone away. The longer he stared, the more Philby felt like kissing Willa right there in the hall for everyone to see. Not that he would ever do it.
He shook his head and coughed out disgust at himself.
“What?” she asked.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
Philby wounded her by saying that. Hadn’t meant to. He longed for a rewind button, another chance to say something different. But Willa was already on her way down the hall, her back to him. Spencer peeled himself off the wall and came up alongside of her, and Willa’s step seemed a little lighter.
Philby stood there watching, sick to his stomach.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Finn blurted out as he climbed atop his BMX bike. It wasn’t just any bike, but a trick bike capable of doing stunts and jumps. Being on the bike gave him a height advantage over Charlene, which he appreciated.
“You don’t have to sound so pleased,” she said sarcastically.
“I didn’t mean…It’s just that Evans High—”
“Happens to be playing your school in soccer today,” said Charlene.
“I didn’t think soccer had cheerleaders.”
“Am I dressed like a cheerleader?” In fact she wore tight jean shorts and an equally tight T-shirt. “Where are you headed?” Charlene asked.
“I’m going to see Wanda.”
“I kind of figured that. Mind if I hitch a ride?”
The bike was small. Finn had ridden with Amanda before—on the seat behind him, while he stayed up on the pedals—but it felt a little weird to offer the same thing to Charlene.
“I don’t bite,” she said when he hesitated.
“No problem,” Finn said, glancing around in the mass of kids, hoping Amanda wasn’t among them.
Finn climbed off, helped Charlene on, and then straddled the bar. He rode away quickly. The message from Philby had injected a sense of panic in him. Wayne. Wanda. The police. He pedaled hard.
“We’re meeting my mom. Only adults can bail someone out of jail,” Finn said.
“And your mom agreed?”
“We’ll see.”
“You haven’t asked her?”
“Not exactly.” He changed subjects. “You got Philby’s text about tonight?”
“Yes,” Charlene said. “Do you know what it’s about?”
“Only that Wayne told us we had to be there at eight.”
“Why?”
“No idea.”
“What do you think he wants?”
“It’s got to be important,” Finn answered.
“Do you know what he told Philby, exactly?”
“Why all the questions?” Finn asked. Charlene never asked so many questions; she was more of a “tell me what to do and I’ll do it” person.