Just Another Hero

  “So do I,” Arielle whispered.

  Her mother kissed her forehead. “You’ve got to go back to school today, Arielle. They’ll provide a bus for you.”

  “I know. I know. What will I wear?” Arielle asked grumpily.

  “Let’s go downstairs and do some early morning shopping at the Clothes Closet,” her mother suggested. “I hear they’re having a big sale!”

  “May as well,” Arielle agreed, getting up and slipping into an oversize sweatshirt. She and her mother crept down the steps, arm in arm, trying their best to pretend they were heading to a fancy boutique. At the bottom of the stairs they met Mrs. Toth, who was just unlocking the door to the clothing area.

  “Good morning, ladies,” she said. “I’m glad someone is in a good mood today. How can I help you?”

  “I need something to wear to school,” Arielle said quietly. She glanced at the piles of faded T-shirts with the logos of various stores or sports teams or cartoon characters, at the rack of dresses that she’d seen old ladies wear to church, and the slacks that were cut too high, or too wide-legged, or too plaid to be worn by anyone she knew.

  Mrs. Toth looked at Arielle’s face and said, “I’m afraid that when people give clothes to shelters, they give up the ugly clothes first, then the old-fashioned stuff, then the ridiculous items.” She picked up a gold feather boa. “Now, who needs this to keep her warm on the streets?” she asked.

  “I guess if she wanted to feel fancy for a few minutes, it might help,” Arielle offered.

  “You’re right, my dear,” Mrs. Toth said with a wink.

  “Does anybody ever give away cute jeans or tops that teens would wear?” Arielle asked, her voice only faintly hopeful.

  “Have you ever donated any of your nice clothes to us?” asked Mrs. Toth gently.

  “No, ma’am,” Arielle admitted. “When I had a closet full of sharp outfits, well, I just never thought about a kid like me who might need something to wear. It honestly never crossed my mind.” The realization made her feel like pond scum.

  Mrs. Toth patted Arielle’s back. “Well, fortunately for you, somebody did think about it. We just received a large donation from a high school across town. Jeans and tops and such. Not new, but they’ll do. They also give us prom gowns every year for kids who don’t have one.”

  Arielle’s eyes grew wide. Man, in all the years of spending Chad’s money, she only ever thought of herself and her own racks of clothes. She felt humbled when Mrs. Toth unlocked a small area in the back room. “Oh, my,” she breathed. The small closet was full of up-to-date, stylish clothes for teens.

  Mrs. Toth looked pleased. “I saved these back here for you. I had a feeling you’d be needing school clothes pretty soon.”

  Arielle thanked her profusely, then picked out a pair of blue denim capris, a red top with only a few of the sparkles missing, and a neat white sweatshirt—just her size. She even found some socks and a pair of tennis shoes that were almost new. The soles weren’t even scuffed.

  “Oh, thank you, Mrs. Toth,” Arielle said again, giving the woman a hug.

  Mrs. Toth shrugged her off. “Just remember us when you get back on your feet, kid.”

  “Oh, I will!” Arielle told her.

  “You sure you don’t want the feather boa?” Mrs. Toth asked, teasing.

  “Maybe tomorrow!” Arielle replied with a laugh.

  Her mother dug through boxes and found underwear for Arielle, and Mrs. Toth brought her a nice-looking canvas book bag.

  “Now hurry and get dressed and grab some breakfast. The bus will be here at eight!” her mother reminded Arielle.

  The bus, a battered yellow one with the words HILLSIDE VALLEY SHELTER on the sides, stopped at several elementary schools, dropping off the younger kids who lived at the shelter before it lumbered to the high school. As Arielle got close to her school, she knew that she was probably the guts of everybody’s gossip this week. But she didn’t care anymore. She was grateful for the smallest things these days. Shoes. Deodorant. Underwear.

  Arielle hesitated before she stepped off the bus. She hoped she wouldn’t see anyone she knew, but standing right by where the bus pulled up were November, Dana, and Olivia. She cringed only for a moment.

  “Hey, Arielle. What’s up?” Dana greeted her.

  “Believe it or not, I feel great,” Arielle told her. “Better than I’ve been in a long time.” And she wasn’t kidding.

  “You sure you’re handlin’ all this?” asked November.

  “I’m taking one day at a time, but I’m okay. Really. Thanks for asking. How’s Sunshine?”

  November grinned and pulled out a new picture. “She sat up yesterday! All by herself! I must have taken a million pictures. She sat there grinning, like she knew she’d done something special.”

  “That’s really great,” Arielle said, smiling at the tiny face in front of her. “One day she’s gonna be running all over your house, and you’ll need track shoes to keep up with her!”

  “I sure hope so,” November told her, tucking the picture back into her purse.

  “How is it at the shelter?” Olivia asked carefully. “You hanging tough for real?”

  Arielle furrowed her brow. “You know, the ladies who end up at a shelter for battered women have been through so much—tons worse than me and my mom. I’ve learned a lot just by listening to their stories.”

  “Deep,” Olivia said. “Is it, like—depressing?”

  “It’s not as bad as you think,” Arielle replied as they headed toward the school. “It’s real basic, kinda like the army—no frills. But my stepfather’s not there, so it’s like heaven!” The other girls relaxed as they laughed with her.

  “But you’re not battered, are you?” November asked.

  “No, but I guess we’ve been abused—mentally, the woman who runs the place says—big-time. Mom’s had time to see things differently. She said she never dreamed she’d be staying at the place she only thought about once a year when she wrote a check to support it.”

  “Um…so…what’s it like there?”

  “Small, but clean. As soon as Mom gets a couple of paychecks under her belt, we’re gonna look for an apartment.”

  “For real now, Arielle,” Dana told her. “I was serious about letting you borrow some clothes. I just didn’t want to, you know, embarrass you.”

  “I think I could walk in here butt naked and not be embarrassed after all that’s happened,” Arielle said with a laugh.

  Roscoe, who’d been walking near them, hollered out, “Go ahead, baby cakes! Do your thing if that’s what you need to do.”

  Olivia, Dana, and November all groaned and popped him on the head at the same time.

  “Pervert!” November said.

  “No, I’m just a healthy boy!” Roscoe called as he ran toward the building.

  “It feels so good to have friends again,” Arielle told the girls. “And I really appreciate your offer of clothes. I might take you up on it this weekend.”

  “Just say the word.”

  “How about that green suede outfit?” Arielle asked, her tone playful.

  “Not a chance. That’s Kofi’s favorite!”

  Arielle touched Dana on the arm. “I was just teasing. I’d never accept your really cool clothes. But some leftover jeans or old T-shirts might help out.”

  “Bet.”

  “Did you ever find out what happened to Chad?”

  “His office moved him to California, my mother found out. He’d been planning this for months!”

  “What about your clothes and stuff?”

  “You’re not gonna believe this. He told the movers to put his belongings in the truck, and our stuff in a Dumpster.”

  “No way!”

  “My mom went to Legal Aid and got a lawyer.”

  “I hope she’s careful,” November said. “The last time me and my mom had to tangle with a lawyer, I felt slimy every time I was in a room with the dude.”

  Arielle nodded. “I guess
the lady my mom found handles divorce and whatever else Chad can be charged with.”

  “Sounds good,” said Olivia.

  They got to Miss Pringle’s class a few minutes before the bell rang. Arielle slid into her seat, happier than she’d been in a long time, which seemed so odd to her, considering the mess she and her mother were in.

  Jericho jogged in then, grabbed Olivia, and twirled her around in a little dance step. She laughed and let him swing her around.

  “What’s got into you?” Kofi asked. “You practicin’ Pringle’s periodic table dance again?”

  “Naw, man. I got my letter yesterday. College!”

  “MIT?” guessed Kofi.

  “Be for real, man. I can’t even pronounce some of the courses you’ll be taking!”

  “You took the Michigan State offer?” Roscoe asked.

  “Nope. I turned them down,” said Jericho, his voice pumped with excitement.

  “You turned down a full football scholarship to a Big Ten school?” Roscoe said in amazement.

  “True that.”

  “So you gonna toot your trumpet in a tutu at Juilliard with the rest of the ballet dancers?” Cleveland asked with a laugh.

  “No tutus. I’m not going to New York.”

  “Your dad musta freaked out. That’s where he wanted you to go, wasn’t it?”

  “It ain’t my dad’s life,” Jericho said.

  Arielle thought about her applications to Stanford and Cornell and her heart suddenly sank. They were meaningless pieces of paper without Chad’s financial backing. I’d better start looking for scholarships at state schools, she told herself.

  “So where you gonna go?” Luis asked. “Too bad you can’t go to a school where you can play football, then switch uniforms at half time and play in the band. You’re pretty good at both things.”

  Jericho exchanged glances with Olivia, who obviously already knew what he was going to say. “That’s exactly what I’m doing, my man! I’m going to Shenandoah University. It’s in Virginia.”

  “Huh? I never heard of it,” said Roscoe.

  Jericho continued, “It’s got a good football team, and a great music program. So I can major in music and play ball for fun. I can’t be in the marching band, but I’ll be in the orchestra.”

  “You get the best of both worlds,” Cleveland said, getting it. “How’d you find a place like that?”

  “Olivia,” Jericho replied simply.

  “So is that where you’re going too, Olivia?” November asked her.

  She beamed. “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Ooh, gag me with the cuteness!” Roscoe said, grabbing his throat and pretending to choke himself. “Are you sure you wanna be with your girl every single day?”

  “You just jealous, man,” Jericho replied with a laugh, “that no girl wants to be with you any day!”

  The bell rang then, Miss Pringle began the class, and everyone settled down.

  Arielle sketched drawings of Jericho and Olivia in her notebook, marveling at, and a little bit jealous of, the magic they had together.

  ARIELLE

  CHAPTER 26

  WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9

  AFTER CLASS, OSRICK APPEARED AT Arielle’s side.

  “Do you have a second?” he whispered, glancing at Miss Pringle, who was busy in the back room.

  “Sure,” Arielle replied.

  “I ordered something off the Internet,” Osrick confided.

  “Great,” said Arielle, looking at him strangely. “I order stuff all the time—at least I used to.”

  “You don’t understand. I ordered a secret weapon!” His little-boy voice sounded really excited.

  “What’s all this mystery, Osrick?” Arielle said, trying to be patient. “I’ve got to get to class.”

  He reached down into his bag and pulled out a small white jar. The label read ANTITHEFT POWDER. “This,” he whispered, “is going to catch the school thief. But I need your help.”

  “How is that going to catch the thief, and why me?” Arielle asked.

  Osrick blinked rapidly several times and ducked his head. “Well, you’ve always been nice to me,” he finally said.

  “I have?”

  “You never laugh at me, and you kept your mouth shut about the poolside thing.” He paused, looked up at her, then continued, “And you once stopped a kid from tossing me in the Dumpster out back.”

  “I did?”

  “You don’t remember?” Osrick looked disappointed. “It was two years ago, in May. It was a hot day, and the garbage was real stinky.”

  Arielle thought, but the event that stood out in Osrick’s mind had faded from hers. “Well, at any rate, I’m glad I did. Okay, what’s that stuff?”

  “If you put it on an object and a person tries to steal that object, their hands get stained a bright blue!” he explained with glee.

  “So they wash their hands.”

  “It stays on for three days. Even if you wash your hands lots of times.”

  “Wow. That’s really cool. How did you discover this stuff?”

  “I spend lots of time on the Internet—it’s what I do,” he said simply.

  “So what’s your plan?” she asked, starting to get intrigued.

  “We go to Mrs. Sherman and let her set up the ‘sting.’” He sounded like a cop from one of those crime TV shows.

  “Why do you need me?” Arielle wondered. “You’re the brains of the operation.” Now I’m sounding like a TV cop, she thought, rolling her eyes.

  “If I go to the principal, it’s just Weird Osrick talking. But if we both go, she’ll listen. Please?” he added. “You might get your iPhone back.”

  The thought of perhaps getting back the one item Chad had missed helped her decide. “Okay,” she said. “I’m in.”

  “Can we go now, before I lose my nerve?” Osrick asked.

  Arielle had gym class next bell, and the chance to skip the sweating and jumping was a no-brainer. She picked up her bag. “Let’s do it.”

  “Thank you, Arielle,” Osrick said softly. As they headed out the room he said, “You know, your name means ‘brave and beautiful one.’”

  “Really? How do you know?”

  “Internet.” They said the word at the same time and laughed. He seemed giddy with excitement.

  “I’ve never walked down the hall with a pretty girl before,” he admitted shyly. “Not with an ugly girl either!” He laughed again.

  “So…you know who the thief is, Osrick?”

  “Yeah. At least, I’m pretty sure I do.”

  “Who is it? Tell me!”

  “I can’t, not yet.”

  “So why don’t you just tell Mrs. Sherman who it is and be done with it? Why do we have to do all this secret spy stuff?”

  “Because nobody will believe me, and we have to have proof.”

  “I guess you’ve got a point there.”

  They entered the main office and told Rosa that they needed to see Mrs. Sherman right away.

  “Another theft to report?” she asked, almost hopefully.

  “Not exactly,” Arielle replied. “But it’s really important.”

  “Did you hear about Paula Ingram’s Game Boy? And Carlos Burke’s cell phone? And Susan’s money?” Rosa asked.

  “Yeah. Everybody is getting real tired of this.”

  As they waited for Mrs. Sherman, Arielle turned to Osrick. “I know you don’t want to talk about this, but during the last fire drill I saw the guys who made that video.” She made sure her voice was low and Rosa could not hear.

  “You’re right. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “But I found out their names! Don’t you want them to get punished?”

  “I told you, Arielle,” he said urgently, “leave it alone!” Rosa looked up from her desk. Arielle knew her ears were attuned to any notes of discord.

  “I’m going to tell Mrs. Sherman who they are,” Arielle told Osrick.

  “Please don’t. At least not yet. Can’t you wait unti
l this is over?”

  Arielle frowned. But it was his decision, she supposed. “Okay. You win. I guess I’m into revenge these days.”

  Mrs. Sherman appeared then and escorted them into her office. Arielle found herself sitting in the same spot she’d been in when she reported her phone stolen.

  Osrick wasted no time. “I’m almost positive I know who the thief is, and I know how to catch him,” he said breathlessly.

  Mrs. Sherman sat up straighter. “You do? I’d give anything to be rid of this problem person in our school. Who is it, Osrick?”

  “I can’t tell you right now. When you see who it is, you’ll understand.”

  “Is it someone who is bullying you again, Osrick?” the principal asked gently.

  Arielle gave Osrick a quick look, but he shook his head no.

  “And do you know anything about who the thief might be, Arielle?” the principal asked.

  “No, I’m just here for moral support.”

  Osrick showed Mrs. Sherman the antitheft powder.

  “Hmm. I’m not sure about this,” the principal muttered as she read the directions. “I don’t think I want to deal with lawsuits about entrapment and such. You know how parents can be these days.” She pressed a button on her intercom and asked Rosa to get Officer Hammler right away.

  “Didn’t your wallet get stolen, Mrs. Sherman?” Osrick asked her.

  “Yes, it did. And you’re right. I felt so violated, so I know how the students must feel who’ve had their property taken. It’s a pretty long list of stuff that has disappeared the past couple of months.”

  “Like my iPhone,” Arielle reminded her.

  Officer Hammler knocked and walked into the principal’s office. Tall and stocky, he wore the full regulation navy blue uniform of the Cincinnati Police Department, including a walkie-talkie, a Taser, and a gun.

  “How can I help?” he asked in his deep voice.

  Mrs. Sherman showed him the antitheft powder and explained how it worked. “What do you think?” she asked him.

  “I’ve used it before. It can be very effective,” he said. “I think it may be our last resort here.”

  “Don’t you have security cameras around the building?” Arielle asked.