I checked the clock. It was seventeen minutes after twelve. I figured Bloodbath had picked a time when they’d all leap into action. Twenty after.
I tensed, getting ready for the fight. Maybe I could jump on him before he really hurt Cheater. If I grabbed his arms, I might be able to slow him down until he shook me off.
Tick. The clock moved to twelve-eighteen.
Trash lowered his head. He seemed to be staring under the table.
“Hey,” Bloodbath said, looking across the table at Trash. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Leave him alone,” I said. I had no idea what Trash was doing, but this was no time to let him be disturbed.
Tick.
Twelve-nineteen.
“Guess what? You’re about to get hurt,” Bloodbath said. “All of you. And it’s going to be a pleasure.”
I stared back, ready to dive at him when the clock ticked. He didn’t know that I knew. Maybe that would make a difference. I just hoped Cheater figured out that he needed to run for the door.
Time crawled. I could almost feel the seconds trudging past. I thought of those dying flies that drag themselves across the ceiling at the start of winter.
Tick.
Bloodbath leaped from his seat and lunged toward Cheater to his right. He tried to lunge, that is. As his body snapped to a halt, he got the weirdest look on his face. So did the rest of his gang. They all fell down at once.
I’d already jumped out of my chair. Now, as I stood there, braced to leap to Cheater’s defense, I realized there wasn’t going to be a fight. The table jerked as Bloodbath yanked his leg. I peeked around, already suspecting what had happened. Bloodbath’s sneaker lace was tied around one of the legs that jutted from the base of the table.
Bloodbath was swearing in frustration now. Principal Davis and the teachers had run over to the flailing thugs. They got the kids back on their feet and tried to lead them from the room. The whole group was stuck until someone suggested they remove their sneakers.
“Wow, good work,” I said, looking over at Trash. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. His voice was barely above a whisper. He looked pretty wiped out.
For a moment, his eyes flickered. I reached toward him, afraid he was going to pass out. But he shook his head hard once, then opened his eyes all the way. I thought about the old Trash, beaten down by the world. He was nothing but a memory. “That was really cool,” I said. I reached out and clasped his shoulder.
Trash smiled. “Thanks.”
Across the room, the inspectors were all sitting at a table, talking to each other. Several of them kept glancing at their watches, even though there was a clock on the wall. “Looks like a good spot for you, Cheater,” I said.
Cheater got up and sighed. “It’ll be a lot less terrifying than getting close to Bloodbath.”
He walked over to the inspectors’ table. “Excuse me,” he said, “do you have any salt?” Then he leaned between two of them, reaching for the salt. He grabbed the shaker and walked back toward us, staggering like someone who had just run face-first into a lamppost.
“Wow,” he said, shaking his head hard.
“What?” I asked. “Did you get anything?”
He dropped back into his chair. “I’ll tell you, adults sure have a lot of junk rushing through their heads. Give me a minute.”
I waited while Cheater sat with his eyes closed. Finally, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “Okay. According to what I picked up, two of them want to recommend that the state should close Edgeview, two want it to stay open, and the other two haven’t made up their minds yet. They’re almost done with everything on their list. The final thing they want to do is to talk to a typical student. After that, they’ll make their final decision.”
“Just one student?” Flinch asked. “What’s the point?”
Cheater shrugged. “They have to get back to the capital for a meeting. They don’t have time to talk to a lot of kids. They figured one would be better than none. Actually, you can learn a lot more than you’d expect from a small sample properly chosen from a large group.”
“So, it could all depend on who they pick and what he says.” I looked around the cafeteria at the mass of trouble that passed for students at Edgeview. “We’re dead.”
“Any idea who they’re planning to talk to?” Lucky asked.
Cheater shook his head. “I don’t know.”
That’s when Principal Davis returned to the cafeteria. He went over to the inspectors and handed them a stack of paper. One of the inspectors pulled out a sheet from the stack. He passed it to the woman next to him. She closed her eyes and stabbed at it with her finger, then said something to Principal Davis. As he leaned over her shoulder and looked down at the paper, his expression changed. He frowned and shook his head. His face reminded me of someone who’d just lost a big bet. He scanned the cafeteria, then he headed toward our table. What did I do this time? I wondered. Principal Davis came right up to me. “Martin …”