We named the file "BOOBS.jpg" and sent it to Astor through the messaging system on the school app. We saw when he received the message but couldn't tell whether or not he'd opened the file. There was really no way of judging if it had worked or not, that was the one flaw in my amazing plan. That was why we had to steal Astor's phone to see if all the data had been wiped.
Tennyson Wilde thought he was the king of plans, but his plans always sucked the most. At least my plan hadn't involved anyone getting up close and personal with Astor's back pocket. And I don't know why it had to be me, anyone could've snuck into the polo club's locker room and grabbed his phone. Sure, they'd have been way more noticeable in Tennyson's pocket but it wasn't impossible.
I kept my eyes tight shut and blocked my ears as I waited in the coat pocket while the polo players got ready to train. There was some grumbling from a few people about Tennyson's tactics and that kind of thing, which seemed mostly incited by Astor. I didn't much care for the opinions of the polo team, no matter how loudly they gave them, but it did give a good indication of where I'd be able to find Astor's stuff. It took them forever to change clothes and complain, but finally they filed out onto the ground, leaving me alone with their sweaty jock straps and other treats. I climbed down out of the pocket and onto the bench, climbing over everyone's school clothes they'd dumped down to try to find Astor's stuff.
Astor hadn't left his stuff lying around like the others had, but had shoved it willy-nilly into his locker. That made my job a bit more difficult. It crossed my mind that I could bow out, tell them it had been too hard, I couldn't get all the way up into Astor's locker. Nobody would blame me. The locker was up super high. But everyone was counting on me to get this done. If it hadn't been for me, Astor would never have been able to film Sam turning all wolfy because none of them would've been anywhere near Astor. Even though Tennyson and Nikolai were jerks, they had no obligation to me and yet had protected me from the moment Tennyson had found me in the snow, about to be eaten by rats. Now it was my turn to protect them.
Astor's locker was near the end of the row, right near a bunch of spare polo sticks. That was perfect. I grabbed one with both hands, wrestling it into position. Astor hadn't locked the locker, I noticed, just pulled it closed. I tried to lift the polo stick up high enough to hook around the handle of Astor's locker and pull it open, but it was too heavy and I lost my grip, and the polo stick clattered to the floor. I tried again with another stick and the same thing happened, they were just too heavy and cumbersome for my itty bitty hands. I had to try something else.
I grabbed another polo stick and balanced it with the handle against the ground and my arms around the knobby end bit. This really needed to work because I did not want to end my life squished up on the floor of the boys' locker room.
I kicked off from the bench, clinging to the polo stick as I flew through the air. Wow, they really should give these jobs to someone a bit less clumsy than me, I thought, as the locker grew closer and closer. I had to time it perfectly.
When I thought I was close enough, I let go of the stick and launched myself at the strips of holes in the locker. What even are those holes for? Ventilation? For what though? Lockers were a mystery to me. But I caught on and pulled myself in through the hole, landing safely inside Astor's shoe, which had a nice, springy sole.
It was pretty dark inside the locker but I looked around as best I could until I found his phone inside his blazer pocket. Unlocking it was no problem - he said his passcode out loud every time he typed it into his phone and he never seemed to bother with fingerprint ID. Hitting the numbers with enough force for it to register was a bit of an issue, but I managed it.
First, I went to his photos app. I braced myself for the horrors I might find there, but lucky for me, it was empty. His mail was empty too, and his messages and call log. I went into the school app, but the only thing in there was the message with the virus. It was great that it had worked so well but also sucked that I had access to all his info but couldn't actually find anything out from it because it had been wiped. I searched through all his apps, my arms aching from the effort of swiping across the screen, but I couldn't find one for the cloud. It was possible he had everything automatically back up though, so I went into his settings to see if I could find anything out. If I could find even the email he used to log in, I could try to access it when I was home.
Before I could get into his settings though, I heard something unmistakable. It sounded like a herd of buffalo only more obnoxious and entitled.
The polo team returning from practice. And I was stuck in Astor's locker.
Chapter 15
I hadn't thought my plan through to the extent of how I'd get out of the locker, but there was only really one way. I had to throw my full weight against the locker door and hope for the best. Even if I landed headfirst on the cold concrete floor, that would be way better than getting caught by Astor in his locker.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and rammed into the locker door. I flew through the air, hoping for the best but expecting any moment to black out from the contact with the floor. I landed on something soft, and drew a sharp, relieved breath. That was a mistake. I'd landed in someone's sweaty socks and the smell was overwhelming. The herd of polo players was almost upon me, so I fought my way out of the socks to try to reach the safety of Tennyson Wilde's coat pocket.
I ran as fast as I could, using the terrain of discarded shoes and bags to my advantages, ducking behind them and hiding once the polo players were there. Every time I thought I was safe and could take a moment to catch my breath, the landscape would move - someone would pick up with sweatshirt or sit down right next to my head. Then there was the other danger. I did not want to get up close and personal with the most intimate places of sweaty polo players, and I certainly did not want to invade their privacy by being forced to look at those intimate places, but it didn't seem as if I'd have much choice. They stripped off their clothes and frolicked around naked as they prepared for the showers. Why did they need to frolic so much, were they actually trying to trample me? Sheesh, just get in the shower already, what was with all the towel-snapping and name-calling and whatnot.
Finally, I made it back to Tennyson Wilde's pocket. He had not taken off his clothes, but was sitting primly by his locker. He looked down as I climbed up into his coat and I gave him a thumbs up to show that the mission was complete, before I ducked down out of sight. I covered my eyes and ears just to be on the safe side, those naked polo players really liked to flaunt their stuff.
It wasn't surprising that I had a little nap. My energy levels seemed to be proportionate to my size and getting into Astor's locker had been a mammoth effort. Plus, there was something super comforting about Tennyson Wilde's pocket; something about the smell, the luxurious texture of the fabric that made me feel as if I was protected from anything the outside world could throw at me. Through my nap, I was vaguely aware of being carried back to the house, but I didn't see any need to be alert for it. Rather, I just let the soft motion of his footsteps rock me back to sleep.
I was woken up by yelling. It took me less than a nanosecond to figure out what was going on.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Astor yelled.
"Buddy," said Nikolai. "Everyone you've ever met thinks you're stupid. That's hardly the issue here."
"Did you think I wouldn't have back up copies of the video? You think I don't have it scheduled to upload if there's no response from me? See, that's exactly the problem with you lot. You think you're so much better than everyone else and then it's a big shock when you find out you're not, right?"
I didn't dare to peek out of the pocket to see what was going on but things sounded heated.
"You know what this tells me?" Astor asked. "It tells me you're never going to hand over the girl. You're going to find some way to weasel out of this, just like you weasel your way out of everything. Well, that's not going to work on me. I'm sick of playing around with you losers. If you don't hand over the girl by midnight tonight, that video is going live."
I heard stomping footsteps and then a door slam, and Tennyson Wilde sunk down into his chair. I climbed out of his pocket and up onto the table.
"We're not handing her over," said Sam, sitting opposite.
"Obviously not," said Tennyson. "She is our only bargaining chip. If we hand her over, we lose any leverage against him."
"We need to discredit him," Nikolai said, pulling out his phone. "I'll make some calls."
"Even then, does anyone ever care about the integrity of the person who starts a scandal?" I asked. "People will watch the video and make their own conclusions."