I'm not supposed to talk to Eli. So last night I texted Mrs. Macauley a linkto the Tumblr post that Addy, Cooper, and I read together, and told her whatwas weird about it. Then I waited. A frustratingly long time, until I got atext back from her after school.
Thank you. I've informed Eli, but he asks that you don't involve yourselffurther.
That's all. I wanted to throw my phone across the room. I'll admit it; Ispent most of last night fantasizing that Addy's bombshell would get Nateout of jail immediately. While I realize that was ridiculously naive, I stillthink it deserves more than a brush-off.
Even though I can't wrap my brain around what it means. Because--JakeRiordan? If I had to pick the most random possible person to be involved inthis, it still wouldn't have been him. And involved how, exactly? Did hewrite the whole Tumblr, or just that one post? Did he frame Nate? Did hekill Simon?
Cooper shot that down almost immediately. "He couldn't have," he saidMonday night. "Jake was at football practice when Addy called him.""He might have left," I insisted. So Cooper called Luis to confirm. "Luissays no," Cooper reported. "Jake was leading passing drills the wholetime."
I'm not sure we can hinge an entire investigation on Luis's memory,though. That boy's killed a lot of brain cells over the years. He didn't evenquestion why Cooper was asking.
Now I'm in my room with Maeve and Addy, putting dozens of coloredPost-its on the wall that summarize everything we know. It's very Law &Order, except none of it makes sense.
Someone planted phones in our backpacks
Simon was poisoned during detention
Bronwyn, Nate, Cooper, Addy & Mr. Avery were in the roomThe car accident distracted us
Jake wrote at least one Tumblr post
Jake and Simon were friends once
Leah hates Simon
Aiden Wu hates Simon
Simon had a thing for Keely
Simon had a violence-loving alter ego online
Simon was depressed
Janae seems depressed
Janae & Simon stopped being friends?
My mother's voice floats up the stairs. "Bronwyn, Cooper's here."Mom already loves Cooper. So much that she doesn't protest all of usgetting together again, even though Robin's legal advice is to still keep ourdistance from one another.
"Hey," Cooper says, not the least bit breathless from bounding up ourstairs. "I can't stay long, but I got some good news. Luis thinks he might'vefound that car. His brother called a buddy at a repair place in Eastland andthey had a red Camaro come through with fender damage a few days afterSimon died. I got you the license plate and a phone number." He searchesthrough his backpack and hands me a torn envelope with numbers scrawledacross the back. "I guess you can pass that along to Eli, huh? Maybe there'ssomething there."
"Thanks," I say gratefully.
Cooper runs his eyes over my wall. "This helping?"Addy sits back on her haunches with a frustrated noise. "Not really. It'sjust a collection of random facts. Simon this, Janae that, Leah this, Jake that..."
Cooper frowns and crosses his arms, leaning forward for a better look atthe wall. "I don't get the Jake part, at all. I can't believe he'd actually sitaround and write that damn Tumblr. I think he just ... blabbed to the wrongperson or something." He taps a finger on the Post-it with all our names onit. "And I keep wondering: Why us? Why'd we get dragged into this? Arewe just collateral damage, like Nate said? Or is there some specific reasonwe're part of this?"
I tilt my head at him, curious. "Like what?"
Cooper shrugs. "I don't know. Take you and Leah. It's a small thing, butwhat if something like that started a domino effect? Or me and ..." Hescans the wall and settles on a Post-it. "Aiden Wu, maybe. He got outed forcross-dressing, and I was hiding the fact I'm gay.""But that entry was changed," I remind him.
"I know. And that's weird too, isn't it? Why get rid of a perfectly goodpiece of gossip that's true, and replace it with one that's not? I can't shakethe feeling that this is personal, y'know? The way that Tumblr kepteverything going, egging people on about us. I wish I understood why."Addy tugs on one of her earrings. Her hand trembles, and when shespeaks, her voice does too. "Things were pretty personal between me andJake, I guess. And maybe he was jealous of you, Cooper. But Bronwyn andNate ... why would he involve them?"
Collateral damage. We've all been affected, but Nate's gotten the worstof it by far. If Jake's to blame, that doesn't make sense. But then again,none of this does.
"I should go," Cooper says. "I'm meeting Luis."I manage a smile. "Not Kris?"
Cooper's return smile is a little strained. "We're still figuring things out.Anyway, let me know if the car stuff is helpful."He leaves and Maeve gets up, crossing over to the spot near my bed thatCooper just vacated. She shuffles Post-its on the wall, putting four of theminto a square:
Jake wrote at least one Tumblr post
Leah hates Simon
Aiden Wu hates Simon
Janae seems depressed
"These are the most connected people. They've either got reason to hateSimon, or we already know they're involved in some way. Some are prettyunlikely"--she taps on Aiden's name--"and some have big red flagsagainst them." She points to Jake and Janae. "But nothing's clear-cut. Whatare we missing?"
We all stare at the Post-its in silence.
You can learn a lot about a person when you have his license plate andphone number. His address, for example. And his name, and where he goesto school. So if you wanted to, you could hang out in the parking lot of hisschool before it started and wait for his red Camaro to arrive. Theoretically.Or actually.
I meant to turn the numbers Cooper gave me over to Mrs. Macauley soshe could pass them along to Eli. But I kept thinking about her terse text:I've informed Eli, but he asks that you don't involve yourself further. WouldEli even take me seriously? He's the one who first mentioned the caraccident as suspicious, but he's spending all his time trying to keep Nate inthe juvenile detention center. He might consider this nothing but a peskydistraction.
Anyway, I'm just scoping things out. That's what I tell myself as I enterEastland High's parking lot. They start classes forty minutes before we do,so I can still get back to Bayview in plenty of time for the first bell. It'sstuffy in the car, and I lower both front-seat windows as I pull into an emptyspot and turn the car off.
Thing is, I need to be doing stuff. If I don't, I think about Nate too much.About where he is, what he's going through, and the fact that he won't talkto me. I mean, I understand he has limited communication options.Obviously. But they're not nonexistent. I asked Mrs. Macauley if I couldvisit, and she told me Nate didn't want me there.
Which stings. She thinks he wants to protect me, but I'm not so sure.He's pretty used to people giving up on him, and maybe he's decided to doit to me first.
A flash of red catches my eye, and an ancient Camaro with a shiny fenderparks a few spaces away from me. A short dark-haired boy gets out andhauls a backpack from the passenger seat, looping one strap over hisshoulder.
I don't intend to say anything. But he glances my way as he walks by mywindow and before I can stop myself I blurt out, "Hey."He pauses, curious brown eyes meeting mine. "Hey. I know you. You'rethe girl from the Bayview investigation. Bronte, right?""Bronwyn." Since I've already blown my cover, might as well go all in."What are you doing here?" He's dressed like he's waiting for a '90sgrunge comeback, in a flannel shirt over a Pearl Jam T-shirt.
"Um ..." My eyes skitter to his car. I should just ask, right? That's what Icame for. But now that I'm actually talking to this boy the whole thingseems ridiculous. What am I supposed to say? Hey, what's the deal withyour oddly timed car accident at a school you don't go to? "Waiting forsomebody."
He wrinkles his brow at me. "You know people here?""Yeah." Sort of. I know about your recent car repair, anyway.
"Everybody's been talking about you guys. Weird case, huh? The kidwho died--he was kind of weird, right? I mean, who even has an app likethat? And all that stuff they said on Mikhail Powers. Random."He seems ... nervous. My brain chants ask ask ask but my mouth won'tobey.
"Well. See ya." He starts to move past my car.
"Wait!" My voice unsticks and he pauses. "Can I talk to you for asecond?"
"We just were talking."
"Right, but ... I have an actual question for you. The thing is, when I saidI was waiting for somebody? I meant you."
He's definitely nervous. "Why would you be waiting for me? You don'teven know me."
"Because of your car," I say. "I saw you get into an accident in ourparking lot that day. The day Simon died."
He pales and blinks at me. "How do you--why do you think that wasme?"
"I saw your license plate," I lie. No need to sell out Luis's brother. "Thething is ... the timing was weird, you know? And now someone's beenarrested for something I'm sure he didn't do and I wondered ... did youhappen to see anything or anyone strange that day? It would help--" Myvoice catches and tears prick my eyes. I blink them back and try to focus."Anything you could tell me would help."
He hesitates and steps back, looking toward the stream of kids funnelinginto the school. I wait for him to back away and join them, but instead hecrosses to the other side of my car, opens the passenger door, and climbsinside. I press a button to raise the windows and turn to face him."So." He runs a hand through his hair. "This is weird. I'm Sam, by theway. Sam Barron."
"Bronwyn Rojas. But I guess you know that already.""Yeah. I've been watching the news and wondering if I should saysomething. But I didn't know if it meant anything. I still don't." He givesme a quick sideways glance, as though checking for signs of alarm. "Wedidn't do anything wrong. Like, illegal. As far as I know."My spine tingles as I sit up straighter. "Who's 'we'?""Me and my buddy. We had the accident on purpose. A guy paid us athousand bucks each to do it. Said it was a prank. I mean, wouldn't you?The fender barely cost five hundred to fix. The rest was pure profit.""Someone ..." It's warm in the car with the windows up, and my handsgripping the steering wheel are slick with sweat. I should turn the airconditioning on, but I can't move. "Who? Do you know his name?""I didn't, but--"
"Did he have brown hair and blue eyes?" I blurt out.
"Yeah."
Jake. He must've gotten away from Luis at some point after all. "Was he-- Wait, I have a picture in here somewhere," I say, fumbling through mybackpack for my phone. I'm sure I took a picture of the homecoming courtin September.
"I don't need a picture," Sam says. "I know who he is.""Really? Like, you know his name?" My heart's beating so fast I can seemy chest moving. "Are you sure he gave you a real name?""He didn't give me any name. I figured it out later when I saw the news."I remember those first few stories, with Jake's class picture next toAddy's. A lot of people thought it wasn't fair to show him, but I'm gladthey did. I have the homecoming picture pulled up now, and I hand it toSam. "Him, right? Jake Riordan?"
He blinks at my phone, shakes his head, and hands it back. "No. That'snot him. It was someone a lot more ... closely involved with the wholething."
My heart's about to explode. If it wasn't Jake, there's only one other boywith dark hair and blue eyes involved in the investigation. Closely involved,no less. And that's Nate.
No. No. Please, God, no.
"Who?" My voice isn't even a whisper.
Sam blows out a sigh and leans against the headrest. He's quiet for thelongest seconds of my life until he says, "It was Simon Kelleher."