The Biggest Scoop

  There was the sound of footsteps at the door. I looked up to see Matt pull the door shut and lean against it. “It’s time. Now guys!”

  “What are you doing—” I got my answer as one of the stalls opened, revealing Logan and a sport’s bag that clinked when Logan picked it up. I stepped back— right into Jordan. He clamped his arms around me, and before I had time to struggle, I was restrained by the wrestling team’s star.

  “Let me go! Somebody— help!”

  “Keep him still,” Logan instructed. He pulled a glass bottle from his bag, dropping it in my trouser pocket, and shoving a second one into my jacket pocket. “There.” He slung the bag he was carrying at my feet.

  Matt opened the door. “Teacher! We need a teacher— Coach!”

  It was only then that I registered what was happening. I started to fight anew. “You won’t— you can’t do this!”

  “Watch,” Logan said with triumph, his tone dropping as Coach stepped into the bathroom, Victoria beside him, and followed by a handful of interested students.

  Coach looked around the room at us. His mouth tightened at the sight of the bag, left open so that its contents were clearly visible. “What’s going on here?”

  “Milo didn’t think much of the party,” Logan said. “I noticed him acting weirdly. I told Matt and Jordan what I’d noticed, and we followed him in here. Found him helping himself to a drink.” The bag clinked as Logan nudged it with his foot. “He’s drunk. You can smell it on his breath.”

  “Milo?” The crowd in the bathroom had grown. Alexis shook her head. “No way.”

  “And after what he did to Carson and Blake!” Maria shook her head, her arms folded. “The hypocrisy of it.”

  “That’s a big word.” Fern had her arms folded by the door. Taylor was beside her, his expression unreadable. “Did you look it up specially?”

  I blinked at her tone. I’d never heard that bite in Fern’s voice— or seen Taylor look as quietly furious.

  “This is all wrong. Milo would never do this.”

  “I know what this looks like, but I’m not drunk! They staged this! It’s not—” I tripped over my tongue suddenly. Taylor and Fern were defending me? But—

  “A likely story,” Logan scoffed, arms folded across his chest. “I haven’t heard anything more obviously fake since I read your last article.”

  That got a laugh from the watching crowd, but Coach wasn’t smiling. He put his hand on my shoulder. “Jordan, let go of him.” He leaned in to sniff at me.

  I felt my heart sink. I knew now what the funny taste of the drink Maria had given me was. “I didn’t know what it was,” I told him. “The drink was—”

  “Enough,” he said, keeping his hand on my shoulder. “Nobody move. Nobody means you, Logan.” The smirk suddenly vanished from Logan’s face. Coach scanned the watching students. “Fern. Get Principal Kim in here at once.” As Fern disappeared to do his bidding, Coach folded his arms. “I’m very disappointed in you, boys.”

  From the look that passed between Logan and Matt, this wasn’t part of their plan. I was equally confused.

  “Out of the way.” Principal Kim had arrived. The students nearest the door stepped back to let him pass. “Now, then. What’s happened here?”

  Mom was right behind him, and from the way her mouth pressed into a thin line the moment she saw the bag and its contents, I knew that someone was in serious trouble. I just hoped that it wasn’t me.

  “Milo—” Logan started again.

  Coach waved at him to be quiet. “Victoria called me over, said there’d been some disturbance in the men’s room, that I was wanted. When I get here, I see Jordan restraining Milo, Logan by the bag. Matt at the door. They tell me they caught Milo drinking, he says his drink was spiked and this staged.”

  “That’s very interesting,” the principal said.

  “Interesting?” Again, I had that weird feeling that something was going on I didn’t know about.

  “Very,” Principal Kim continued mildly. “You see, I’ve been talking to Mrs. Markopoulos, and it seems that Milo spent the entire day at home until she brought him to the formal. His decision to attend at all was last minute.”

  Mom folded her arms, glaring at Coach. “And I can tell you for a fact that my son does not own that bag!”

  Victoria gave an empty little laugh. “Milo brought his mother to the formal?” She looked around at the surrounding students for support. “I find that very convenient.”

  “And I find the fact that you heard a disturbance in the bathroom from the buffet table convenient.” Coach’s comment was grim.

  “But you believe us,” Jordan said uncertainly. “Right, Coach?”

  Coach looked ahead, stone-faced. “Let’s hear what Principal Kim has to say.”

  “This drink that is supposed to be spiked,” the principal said calmly. “Where is it now?”

  “I have it,” Taylor said promptly. “When Milo suddenly felt sick, I thought maybe there was something wrong with it.”

  As he handed it over for the principal to sniff, I stared. Was Taylor on my side or not?

  “Yes,” said the principal. “Definitely spiked.” He looked at Taylor. “Why did you think there was something the matter with the drink?”

  Taylor hesitated. “I don’t know if I can say.”

  “He needs time to think of a lie,” Victoria said. “This is so obviously made-up—”

  “Taylor knew that the football team was planning revenge against Milo,” Boomer said, his voice loud enough to be heard over top of Victoria’s protests. “And he knew because I heard them and told him and Fern about it.”

  “Fern asked us to keep an eye on Logan,” Declan added. “We saw him enter the bathroom about a half an hour ago. Jordan followed a little later. They’ve been in there waiting until Milo went in and Matt followed.”

  “Of course they’d say that! They’re all Milo’s friends!” Logan balled his hands up into fists. “You can’t honestly believe that, Principal!” And as Principal Kim made no reply, Logan turned to the Coach. “You tell him, Coach!”

  “I think,” Coach said slowly. “That this is a bad case of misunderstanding. Team spirit—”

  “Team spirit!” Mom’s exclamation made the students surrounding her jump. “To frame my son—”

  Principal Kim raised his hand. “Perhaps we should let Logan, Matthew and Jordan explain.”

  Amazingly, my mom subsided.

  Matt and Jordan glanced at each other and shuffled awkwardly. Logan, however, exploded.

  “Fine! We faked it. We had to do something! Carson and Blake get kicked off the team— kicked out of school! —and no one seems to care how unfair that is! All because of a stupid article that he invented!” Logan flung his arm at me.

  “My reporters do not invent facts!” Candice cut in. “Milo had proof.”

  “Then why didn’t he do something with it?” Logan crossed his arms. “We all know that in case of student wrongdoing, we’re supposed to go to a teacher. Instead, the first anyone hears of it is two weeks later, when the school paper runs the story, and Carson and Blake get expelled before they can even defend themselves!”

  “I went to the teachers!” I said. “They didn’t listen! Instead Carson found out that I reported him.” I glared at Logan. “When you told Taylor that I had a grudge against Carson? Other way round. He and Blake were trying to scare me into taking back what I’d said.”

  “And the teacher Milo went to was me.” Coach looked to the principal. “I admit, I mishandled it. I wanted to wait to address the incidents until after we’d played our final match of the season rather than risk losing our two best players. The effect on team morale—” He shook his head. “I let Carson and Blake know they’d been reported in the hopes that they’d keep their noses clean until the season was over. By the time I got wind of the fact they’d been harassing Markopoulos, the story had already run.”

  “Yes,” the principal said. “You said the same thin
g to me at the time.” He sighed. “With the football season behind us, perhaps it’s time we can be totally honest.”

  “What do you mean?” Jordan sounded like someone way out of his depths.

  It was Fern who answered him. “It means we’re going to stop covering for Carson. Right?”

  “Not how I would have put it,” the principal conceded. “But yes. It seems that there are some misconceptions about why Carson and Blake left Bernhardt.”

  “They weren’t expelled,” Fern continued. “They were dropped from the team and received a one week suspension. Carson chose to leave. He couldn’t stand being stripped of being class president or losing the football captaincy. Blake went with him, because if they left Bernhardt before they were suspended it wouldn’t be on their student transcripts. Carson’s already playing football for his new school.”

  “That’s not true.” There was an emptiness to Matt’s protest. “Carson, Blake, they wouldn’t.”

  “It’s true,” Principal Kim continued. “Carson’s father wouldn’t hear of his son not playing football, and rather than accept the school’s punishment, chose to withdraw his son. He persuaded Blake’s parents to do the same.”

  “They asked the school to keep it quiet, so that their sons could start afresh in their new schools with a clean slate,” Fern said. “Personally, I think they were counting on the shock factor when you encountered them in the football tournament next year working in their new team’s favor.”

  “You’re his girlfriend!” Logan protested to Fern. “How can you say that?”

  Fern smiled grimly. “It’s not very nice to find out that your feelings of friendship have been used against you. I’m pretty sure that Blake was involved only because he couldn’t say no to Carson. But Carson… Carson doesn’t deserve friends who would go to these lengths for him.”

  “It’s my fault too, boys,” Coach said. “I should have been straight with you from the start. But like the principal, I thought Carson and Blake could benefit from a fresh start.”

  “A fresh start!” Mom was making up for her uncharacteristic silence with sheer volume. “And where did that leave my son?”

  “Or my paper?” Candice was not going to be left out.

  “I owe the two of you an apology,” Coach said. “I put the team’s interests over that of the school, and you got the short end of the stick. Principal Kim and I have been discussing ways to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I can’t promise I won’t make other mistakes, but I can tell you that I’ll do my best to have my team set a better example.” He looked to the football players. “You know what you need to do.”

  Matt and Jordan mumbled something apologetic, but Logan frowned, looking at Fern.

  “I still don’t believe it. What makes you think Carson would use our loyalty like that?”

  “Because he used mine the same way.” Fern’s tone was sympathetic, but her voice was loud enough that everyone in the crowded bathroom could hear her. “He didn’t want a girlfriend. He wanted a passing grade. Don’t get me wrong. I love helping people, and I was really flattered to be asked to tutor him and his friends, who gradually became my friends. But there was a point that I realized I wasn’t helping Carson. I was doing his homework for him. And Blake’s. And Maria’s and Victoria’s.” Fern waited until the stir created by this last sentence died down. “Whenever I tried to talk to them about it, something would happen. I found notes in my lockers, my science homework was destroyed, my cheerleading uniform slashed… But my ‘friends’ always came to my rescue until I believed that I needed them more than I needed to do the right thing.”

  Logan said nothing. His expression was troubled.

  Maria, meanwhile, had plenty to say. “That is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard! It’s ridiculous!” She tossed her head back, her curls rippling beautifully. “Any excuse to make yourself the victim—”

  “That’s what happened to Lisa,” I said. “Why she quit the newspaper after becoming friends with you. She didn’t have time to do it and your schoolwork. Sara, too—”

  “Sara had that huge crush on Carson,” Alexis agreed, turning to Sarah Choi who nodded.

  “And Lisa went to homecoming last year with Blake. I thought it was weird, that someone who was more interested in books than boys would be the date of one of the most popular guys in our year.”

  “You can’t seriously believe Fern!” Victoria looked around. “She was caught inventing stories!”

  “Fern might have been wrong about who took the tickets out of her bag,” Lily said. “That doesn’t mean they weren’t taken.”

  “Fern wasn’t at school when her posters were vandalized,” Declan agreed. “Since she has such a long commute, it was impossible.”

  “But that doesn’t mean it was us—”

  Fern folded her arms. “Word of advice, Victoria. If you know someone has permission to bring a recording device to school, make sure it’s off before you rifle through her bag. I found your conversation very enlightening. And Principal Kim thought the same.”

  “Lying!” There was genuine fear in Maria’s face. It made it difficult to look at her. “She’s lying— whatever is on that tape, she’s faked it—”

  “Let’s continue this discussion Monday,” Principal Kim cut in mildly. “When your parents can join us. Until then, it would be a shame to let the formal that you’ve all worked so hard on be overshadowed by disciplinary measures.” He motioned to the door. Students reluctantly took the hint and drifted out.

  “Milo!” Mom hugged me tightly, making me clink. I’d entirely forgotten the bottles stuffed into pockets. “Let’s get those awful things off you—”

  “Let me.” Coach picked up the bottles. “If this goes as far as the police, we might need to verify whose fingerprints are on these.”

  Mom squeezed me. “You think it will go as far as that?”

  Coach shrugged. “I hope not, but some parents will go an awfully long way to get their precious offspring out of trouble.”

  I studied him, puzzled. “They’re your football team!”

  “Right,” Coach said. “Which means it’s my business to know them. Know how they react under pressure.”

  “And that’s why you knew they set this up?”

  “They’re good kids. Just misguided.” Coach shook his head. “Carson fooled us all.”

  Mom snorted. “Misguided? I think if anyone is misguided here—”

  Taylor put his hand on my shoulder and steered me toward the door, leaving them arguing. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” I assured him. “I didn’t have much of the drink.”

  News of what had transpired in the men’s room was rapidly spreading throughout the ballroom. Excited students formed groups, discussing what had just taken place. Taylor guided me around them, to an empty space on the dance floor.

  “You look kind of pale.”

  “I’m stunned. I mean— I wasn’t exactly expecting that!” I shook my head. “Is Fern okay? I mean—”

  Taylor laughed. “It’s not Fern who needs to worry, it’s her so-called friends. They’re going to have a lot of trouble explaining that tape.”

  The band started to play again. Taylor took my hand, and I automatically leaned against him again. With my head still whirling with everything that had happened, Taylor’s solid presence was infinitely necessary. “You knew about it?”

  “Fern asked my advice about what to do with it when she first found the recording. We went to the principal about it last week, even before Boomer contacted us. And Fern’s got you, Declan, Lily… She’s going to be fine. Look.”

  Taylor turned us so that I could see Fern, surrounded by a large group. She looked every inch the master of the situation, reassuring Declan and confidently putting the facts of the matter before a pair of seniors. As she looked up and saw us, she smiled, turning to murmur something to Candice.

  Future student president in action? I smiled, despite myself. “And now everyone knows
she didn’t make anything up.”

  “It’s all worked out.”

  “Not quite.” I frowned. “There’s still Logan.”

  “Logan?” Taylor glanced around, but there was no sign of him. “Fern was sure that once he knew the truth about Carson, he’d have no reason to pick on you. She said Logan’s loyal, not vindictive.”

  “I don’t know.” I couldn’t forget that Logan had forgotten a word that he’d gotten right on a spelling test. I very much suspected that somebody had given him the answers… Maria or Victoria, maybe? They might have been preparing a second Carson.

  As I looked up to share my theory with Taylor, the band started a new song. I knew the brassy flourish at once, and the throaty purr that followed.

  “I want to be loved by you—” It wasn’t Monroe, but it was her song.

  “Taylor. They’re playing my song.”

  “Our song.” Taylor went pink. “At least, if you want to get technical, I think it’s Monroe’s song…”

  “Nope. All mine.” If it hadn’t been for Taylor’s arms, I might have floated. He kept me grounded, even as we continued to whirl in time with the music. “You planned this?” Now the signal to Fern made sense. Taylor had arranged the band to play the signature song from my favorite movie! But why? For someone who didn’t care for romance this—

  Suddenly it made sense.

  “You’re not going to share?” Taylor smiled, but there was an uncertain note to his voice. “Yeah, I planned this. After all the confusion between us, I wanted to make sure there was no possible way you could misconstrue this.”

  “‘I want to be loved by you’ is pretty hard to misconstrue.” Note to self: warn Mom not to mention Carrie.

  “You’d think,” Taylor said grimly. “But all the same…” He looked down, approximately the same color as Candice’s dress. “Milo, we don’t always agree on things, but I think that’s a good thing. You make me see things in a different way. Do things I never thought I could. Feel things I never have.” He stumbled over these last words.

  I was enchanted. Taylor was many things, but to see him made clumsy over a few words was really touching. “Feel things?”

  “I’ve been trying to work out how you do it. When you walked in on me in the bathroom at school, well— I’m an actor. That’s how I figure people out. Copying them, trying to get inside your head.”

  I had to admit, that explanation had never occurred to me. “You want to get inside my head?”