“Yeah. I’ll take care of it.” I took the wallet from him and put it in my pocket. I figured I could slip it in Mr. Briggs’s desk. Or I could toss it in the garbage. I didn’t owe Mr. Briggs anything. Either way, Lucky would be in the clear.
“Thanks,” Lucky said.
We sat and talked. Mostly Lucky talked and I listened. He was terrified of being locked up. That’s why he never told anyone about the voices. At least now he knew he wasn’t crazy.
The bell rang for dinner.
Right after we got to our table, Principal Davis walked in. “Your attention, please,” he said. “I’ve just been informed that at some point this weekend, a wallet was stolen from Mr. Briggs. This sort of behavior will not be tolerated at Edgeview. Fortunately, I have a very good idea who the culprit is. It would be best if he returned the wallet immediately.”
I thought about dropping the wallet on the floor. That wouldn’t work. It would be right next to us. I could tell them I’d found it, but then they’d ask why I hadn’t returned it before.
Before I could figure out what to do, Principal Davis came over to Lucky and said, “Very well, Dominic. It looks like you want to do this the hard way. Come with me, please. Perhaps we need to arrange for you to spend some time in the company of other criminals.”
“But …” Lucky spread his hands in a display of innocence.
“Come with me now, please,” Principal Davis said. He grabbed Lucky’s arm and pulled him from his chair.
Lucky looked back at me, his eyes pleading. I stood, planning to shout, Wait! But the words caught in my throat. I didn’t want to switch places with Lucky. I didn’t want Principal Davis dragging me off.
“He’s dead,” Cheater said. “Even his dad won’t get him off this time.”
“No.” I headed out of the cafeteria. Whatever else I’d done wrong, I wasn’t going to add this to my list. But I couldn’t face Principal Davis. I ran up the stairs, hoping Mr. Briggs was still on duty.
“Martin,” he said when he answered my knock, “this is getting to be a tradition. I hope you aren’t here to tell me about another injury.”
“You dropped this Friday,” I said, holding out the wallet. “Principal Davis thinks Lucky—I mean Dominic—stole it. He didn’t.”
Mr. Briggs took the wallet from me.
Neither of us spoke. I waited for him to say something. He just looked at me.
“I didn’t steal it either,” I said.
He didn’t answer. Okay, I could play that game, too. I stared back. Sooner or later, he’d have to say something.
Finally, he spoke. “How would you like me to treat you, Martin?”
“What?” That took me by surprise.
He put the wallet in his pocket. “I don’t have a clue. Not a clue. It’s like you’re waving me closer with one hand and slashing a knife with the other. I believe you didn’t take the wallet. Beyond that, I don’t know what to think.”
I moved a step away from him.
“Well, I’d better rescue your friend from Principal Davis.” He closed his door and walked down the hall.
How would you like me to treat you? What kind of a question was that? “I don’t want to be treated like anything,” I shouted. But he was gone by then.
I went back to the cafeteria. Before the meal was over, Lucky came in. “You took your time,” he said.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. If I’d been in your spot, I’d probably have left town.”
“So we’re cool?” I asked.
Lucky nodded. “I can’t blame you for freezing.”
“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Torchie asked.
We filled him in, then headed up to the room.
When classes started Monday morning, it was easy to tell that something was happening. The teachers were all nervous. The funny thing was that they were all nervous in different ways. Mr. Langhorn got even angrier and shouted more than before. I thought he was going to break something inside his head the way he was yelling at us. I could just imagine his head flying apart like a watermelon with a stick of dynamite inside of it. Miss Nomad, impossible as it might seem, got even more disgustingly nice, like she was hoping to soften us up. Mr. Briggs just acted kind of distracted.
It was also obvious that Bloodbath and his gang were planning to cause trouble. In a way this was actually good because they spent less time than usual terrorizing the rest of us. It looked like they were saving their energy for something grander.
There was only one incident before the inspection, but it was a whopper.