“No, I mean, you’re new and all, so you might not be aware that he’s really not the kind of enemy you want to have.”
Camille snorts softly. “I’ll be fine.”
“He’ll try to fight you again,” Destin says.
“And not in class, either,” I add.
“Not a problem,” she says.
In my opinion, a day really ought to contain only a limited amount of disappointment. The universe apparently disagrees with me. When we get back to our lockers, Destin’s is empty. I can almost see his soul departing out his ears as he gazes forlornly at the slender metal void.
“I had four new releases in there...” he says hollowly.
This just doesn’t make any sense. Candy bars? Soda? Comics? I peer closely into his locker. There’s some kind of scratch on one wall...three thin, parallel lines...
“I hadn’t even read them yet,” Destin murmurs, still in shock.
A cackle behind us announces Hyde. “Is wittle baby Heron missing his woobie?”
Realization lights through me. “You!” I declare, pointing at him, “All this is your fault!”
“Me?” he sneers. “Well that would be convenient. Go ahead and try to pin it on me, midget, I dare you. I am untouchable.” He shoves me and I hit the lockers with a loud metallic rattle. “You on the other hand...” he chuckles, strolling away down the hall.
“Alright that is it!” I declare, turning to Destin. “This will not go unanswered! We are coming back here tonight and we are staking out this hall until we catch Hyde in the act!”
“We are?”
“We are.”
“And what happens when he turns around and kicks our asses?”
“We have a more credible story when we tell Principal Umino about it tomorrow.”
“I’m going to go on record as not liking this plan.”
“Mac.”
I try to ignore him. We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile. If anyone catches us in the school at night, we’re in for a heap of trouble. Also, there’s no way we can catch Hyde if he sees us first.
“Mac.”
“What?” I whisper.
“If this doesn’t work...” Destin trails off.
“It’ll work,” I insist.
“If it doesn’t work,” he says, “You owe me a new Sandman.”
“Your sacrifice will not be forgotten,” I assure him.
We had talked about this, but it obviously still bothers him. I had pointed out that the thief was only going for the good stuff - the food, the books, the comics. It’s the kind of stuff I would steal, honestly, if I had no sense of human property. Also I would get caught.
Like I expect that spiky-headed pincushion-face to. He’s finally going to get it, for once. Well, for twice. Camille had thrashed him good in kendo, undeniable. I grin at the remembrance. I’m going to keep that like a movie in my head, to play whenever I need cheering up.
Since Destin’s locker had already been cleaned out, we stuffed mine with chocolate, soda, and his comics. And a dozen mouse traps. It’s not so much that I expect Hyde to stick his fingers in one – it’s that I expect them to make a ton of noise when he opens the locker. It’s dark in the hall, after all, and we can’t see that well. So we need to know when to flip the lights and end that jerk’s locker spree.
No one pilfers my candy beans and gets away with it.
“Okay, here’s what I don’t get,” Destin says under his breath. “I get that Hyde would mess with us. But why the comics? He has zero interest in them. And why swipe from other people’s lockers too? You’d have to be insane to swipe from Chase.”
“Chase went straight to us,” I say. “It’s got to be about framing us. And you heard him, he thinks he’s untouchable. Freaking teacher’s pet. Principal’s pet? Is that the right term?”
“Maybe,” he says. “But here’s the thing...I put the comics in right before we went to kendo. Hyde was at class before us this afternoon, and left after us. How could he have stolen it while he was in a room with us on the other side of school?”
“That...he was...look, stop being logical. Hyde did it.”
“You have a vendetta.”
“Of course I do!” I hiss. “How could I not have a vendetta?”
“So you’re admitting that this Hyde conclusion could be born of bias.”
“Of course it is! What’s your point?”
Destin makes a motion for silence and points to the classroom window. I stand on tiptoe to peer over the edge. There’s...maybe...is it just a shadow? Branches waving across windows? It’s totally silent.
Then...the faintest metallic sound. I curse the janitor for keeping the hinges oiled. It isn’t enough to spring for.
I squint. There’s definitely a shadow hovering over my locker. Too small to be a person, it seems to cling to the grate. I hear a faint trilling noise - like a cat - and then the shadow melts into the locker door and vanishes.
“What the hell...?” I murmur.
Then the traps go off. The pops echo loudly in the empty hallway, along with a screech from inside the locker. If there’s anyone still in the building, they’ll definitely have heard the racket.
“Come on!” I tell Destin, shoving open the door we’re hiding behind. We burst into the hall. The shadow vaults out of the locker - candy bars and popped traps scattering everywhere - and zooms down the hall. Is that a...a tail? I take off after it. Destin follows, calling “Wait up!”
It turns a corner in the atrium. I skid on the tile floor, turning with it. By the light of the moon shining through the windows I’m only in time to see what is a tail, long and slender, as it leaps through one of the glass panes in the door. It shatters, the high crack resounding throughout the atrium. So the shadow is solid after all.
“What is going on out here?” I hear behind me.
Oh crap, I think. Principal Umino is in her office. But I keep going. I don’t want to lose this thing – it’s our ticket to innocence. If she’ll believe it. I push through the front doors even as I hear Destin behind me, “Um, good evening ma’am...”
Avoiding the broken glass, I leap over the stairs and take off running across the parking lot. The shadow is making for the tree line. I’ll definitely lose it if it gets into the forest. I speed up, sprinting between the only two cars in the lot.
Thwack. I collide with something, and fall on my back. Stars explode in front of my eyes. Hyde stands over me, grinning. “Never clotheslined someone before. First time for everything. Guess what I found, principal?” he yells up to the school.
I struggle to sit up, but the shadow has already vanished. Hyde hoists me to my feet by my collar. I shove him away, though I’m still a little unsteady. He keeps a grip on my shirt and pulls me toward the front doors. “This is a first,” he says. “Lots of firsts tonight. I’ve never busted someone else for vandalism before.”
“I didn’t do anything!” I snap.
“No?” he says, looking at the broken glass as we climb the stairs. “The evidence isn’t on your side, munchkin.”
“You set this up!” I accuse, as he pushes me through the door. “You sent that - that - ninja monkey thing just to get me in trouble!”
He laughs. “You clearly don’t need my help to get in trouble, Dupree.”
Principal Umino stands in the atrium, with Destin at her side looking sheepish. “Thank you Mr. Hyde,” she says, regarding me narrowly. “You’re free to go home now.”
“I don’t know, I think I’ll stick around for a minute,” he grins, leaning back against the stairwell.
The jackass just wants to stand there and gloat. My fingers curl into fists.