When I stepped into the principal’s office, I couldn’t help it—I gasped. Candy sat there with her hands clasped tightly in her lap. Her parents sat on folding chairs beside her. They all glared at me coldly.
An older man in a brown suit stood near the window. He had a writing pad in one hand. He glanced at me quickly, then scribbled something on his pad.
Mr. Gonzalez stood up and motioned me to the empty armchair beside the desk. “Nate, that’s Mr. Ambrose,” he said. “He’s the Shutt family’s attorney.”
“Attorney?” My voice cracked. Totally embarrassing. My heart started to pound. “What’s going on?” I asked, trying to sound calm and innocent.
Mr. Gonzalez motioned again for me to sit down. So I lowered myself into the big, green leather chair. My hands were suddenly shaking. I gripped the chair arms to cover it up.
“Nate, I’m sure you know why we’re here,” Gonzalez said softly, his eyes locked on me. “The hog photo—it was traced to your computer.”
I swallowed. “But—,” I started.
My mouth suddenly felt dry. My stomach rolled over. I thought I might heave.
I’d started to say that it was my computer, but Shark did the photo.
But I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t rat out Shark.
I stared at the glittering pendant around Candy’s neck. Thinking hard. Trying to decide what to do. Should I try to deny the whole thing?
“I . . . don’t understand that,” I said in a trembling voice. I knew they could see my hands shaking. I’m such a bad liar.
“There’s no mistake,” Gonzalez said. “It was traced to your computer.”
“But—”
“Candy and her parents are very upset, as you can see,” Gonzalez said. “They feel that you have slandered Candy and embarrassed her in a cruel and humiliating way. They are prepared to take legal action, Nate.”
“But—I . . .”
I couldn’t speak. A hush fell over the room. They were waiting for me to say something.
To my surprise, Candy broke the silence. “I didn’t think it was you,” she said. “I don’t understand, Nate. Were you just showing off for Shark? Did he put you up to it?”
“N-no,” I stammered. I could feel my face burning.
I’m going to have to take the heat, I decided. I can’t squeal on Shark. I let him do it on my computer. I’m partly to blame anyway.
“Maybe we should call your mother,” Gonzalez said.
“No. Please,” I begged. “I’m really sorry. It was just a joke. It wasn’t supposed to go that far. I’m really sorry. Please don’t call my mother. If there’s anything I can do . . .”
“You’ve ruined my life, Nate!” Candy screamed.
Her dad grabbed her shoulder. “Your life isn’t ruined,” he said. “It was a cruel joke, Candy. But everyone will forget it in a day or two.”
Candy scowled at me. She fingered the jeweled pendant.
The lawyer leaned against the window ledge and scribbled on his pad.
“My wife and I don’t want to make a big deal of this,” Mr. Shutt told Gonzalez. “We came in because Candy is very upset. But she’ll calm down.”
“No, I won’t!” Candy cried, glaring at me. “I won’t! You don’t care what happens to me. You don’t care at all!”
“We know Nate’s mother,” Mr. Shutt continued. “We know she’s gone through a hard time. We don’t want Nate suspended or anything. We really want to end this and forget about it.”
I let out a sigh. I couldn’t believe Candy’s dad was being so cool about this.
“Maybe if Nate apologizes to Candy,” Mr. Shutt said. “In front of the whole school . . . ?”
“That’s not enough!” Candy snapped.
“I appreciate your suggestion,” Gonzalez told Mr. Shutt. “And I appreciate your thoughtfulness toward Nate.” He turned to me. “Your joke was cruel and obscene, Nate.”
I hung my head. “I know. I’m very sorry,” I said.
But I felt really good. I was getting off the hook. I wasn’t going to be suspended. My mom wouldn’t have to know.
“Yes, Nate will apologize to Candy over the loudspeaker to the entire school,” Gonzalez told her parents. “Nate, I want you to write a long and sincere apology.”
Candy gripped her pendant and scowled furiously at me. “That’s not enough!” she shrieked again. “Not enough! Not enough!”
14
I stood next to the table, leaned in, and shouted over the jukebox. “So Mr. Shutt was this totally cool guy. He got me off the hook with Gonzalez. It was unbelievable.”
Jamie shook her head. Lewis’s eyes were wide with shock. “I can’t believe he did that,” he said. “We all thought you were dead meat.”
I glanced to the back booth. Shark was there with Nikki and Galen. “I can’t believe he did it either,” I said. “How did such a good guy get such a loser for a daughter?”
Lewis took a long slug of his Coors. “Now what?”
I grinned. “Shark owes me big time. He can’t believe I took the heat for him. Now Candy hates me as much as she hates Shark.”
I glanced to the front. Ryland sat on a stool watching an old Frankenstein movie on the TV above the bar.
What a long day! When I got out of Gonzalez’s office, I was drenched with sweat and shaking all over. I knew I should be home asleep. But I was too wired to sleep. As soon as I knew my mom was tucked in bed, I slipped out of my bedroom window and hurried to Nights.
I gave Jamie and Lewis a wave and started back to Shark’s table. Nikki was holding her wrist up to Galen, showing off a gold bracelet. I guessed it was the bracelet she’d found at the Fear Mansion.
It suddenly got noisy in the bar. Ryland’s TV was blaring, and Shark and Galen and Nikki burst out laughing about something. I didn’t hear Candy come into the bar.
But when I started to drop into the booth next to Galen, I saw her kiss the plaque on the wall, then come storming toward us, black hair bobbing on her head, fists swinging at her sides.
“Nate!” She shouted my name as if it was a dirty word.
My heart stopped beating for a moment. I realized I was holding my breath.
I crossed my arms in front of me and watched Candy approach. She wore a bright red turtleneck pulled down over low-riding gray slacks. The silver pendant on a chain over her sweater caught the light, the blue jewels glowing brightly.
She strode up to the table, her eyes narrowed at me. She bumped the table hard and opened her mouth as if to speak. But she didn’t say anything. Just glared at me. Too angry to speak, I guess.
“Hey, Candy. How’s it going?” Shark broke the silence.
But Candy ignored him and kept her eyes on me.
Finally I found my voice. “Uh . . . sorry. You know. You accept my apology, right?” I tried to keep a straight face. She knew I wasn’t too sincere.
Candy didn’t answer. She stood there breathing hard, holding her fists at her sides. I think she wanted me to know that she was still furious at me. Finally she turned and started to walk away.
I expected her to leave the bar. But instead she dropped into a booth against the wall, propped her elbows on the table, rested her head in her hands, and called for Ryland to bring her a Coors Light.
The four of us tried to talk and hang out as usual. But it was hard with Candy sitting so close, glaring at us the whole time.
Shark called for another round of beers for everyone. Lewis waved good night and headed out of the bar. Jamie joined us in the back booth. She started talking about a college she’d visited in Ohio.
I kept glancing over Jamie’s shoulder. Candy didn’t move. Even when she sipped her beer, she had her eyes locked on me. And she was muttering, moving her lips. Like she was putting a hex on me or something.
Ryland brought the beers and a couple of bowls of beer nuts. I grabbed a handful and tossed them into my mouth. Shark started talking about the trouble he’s been having with Ms. Harvey, our government teacher.
br />
But I uttered a loud gasp, interrupting him. “Something funny about this beer nut,” I said. I reached into my mouth and pulled it off my tongue.
“Whoa!” I watched it wriggle between my fingers.
A cockroach.
“Yuck.” I tossed it to the floor. I grabbed my beer bottle and took a long slug.
I examined the bowl of beer nuts. Nothing moving in there.
“That was totally gross,” I said. “I can still feel it crawling on my tongue.”
Galen laughed. “Dude—was it crunchy?”
I started to answer, then stopped. My tongue prickled. I reached into my mouth again—and pulled out another cockroach.
The insect dropped from my fingers and scrabbled across the table.
My mouth dropped open and I started to gag. Then I felt a cockroach slither out over my lips and cling to my chin.
I grabbed Shark’s arm. “I . . . don’t understand . . .” I choked out.
But I couldn’t talk. I pulled another cockroach off my tongue. Then another one. I tossed them to the floor. My tongue itched and throbbed. I could feel more insects crawling in my mouth—on the roof of my mouth, under my tongue, poking out through my lips.
“Whoa!” I spat the cockroaches out. One of them flew onto the table. Another bug stuck to my cheek.
I gagged again. I pulled two more cockroaches from my open mouth. Another one slid down my chin.
My face itched. My whole body started to itch.
I struggled to keep my dinner down.
Another brown insect scrabbled out of my mouth.
“What is happening?” I choked out.
Cockroaches swarmed over our table.
I leaped to my feet. I shoved Galen out of the way. I pressed my hand over my mouth, squeezed out of the booth, and started running to the front door.
Where was I going? I didn’t know. I couldn’t think straight. Cockroaches were pouring out of my mouth.
“Wait! Nate—,” I heard Shark calling to me.
“What’s up?” Ryland called.
I couldn’t answer. Cockroaches crawled over my hand. My mouth was filling up with them.
As I reached the door, I glanced back.
And saw Candy, watching me from her booth. She sat stiffly, one hand on that jeweled pendant.
And she had the biggest smile on her face.
15
“Let’s cut Ms. Harvey’s class,” Shark said. He tossed his government text into the locker and pulled out his jacket.
I said okay. It was the last class of the day, and she was just reviewing stuff anyway.
I couldn’t concentrate on anything all day. I kept thinking about the night before. Seeing cockroaches everywhere I looked.
I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t even think about putting something in my mouth.
The cockroaches didn’t stop coming until I left the bar. I threw up a dozen of them into the curb on Fear Street. I hunched over the curb, feeling sick, waiting for more bugs to crawl out.
But there were no more.
The next morning my tongue kept tingling and itching like crazy. I could feel the little legs crawling over it. I kept poking my fingers inside my mouth, feeling for more bugs. But there was nothing there.
Just the memory of it.
And the memory of Candy Shutt’s strange smile. As if she was really enjoying seeing me suffer.
Shark and I stepped out the back door by the boys’ locker room. It was a warm day, the sun beaming down in a cloudless sky. I unzipped my jacket. It felt more like May or June than October.
I swung my backpack onto one shoulder and followed Shark to the students’ parking lot. I had parked my mom’s little blue Chevy Malibu by the fence.
Some kids in a gym class were kicking a soccer ball back and forth on the field beside the stadium. I heard the coach’s whistle and saw some other guys on the track getting in position to do sprints.
“Hey, Nate—leaving early?”
I heard the shout and spun around. Aaron. Calling from the soccer field.
I waved. And saw Candy watching us from beside the track. She wore white gym shorts and a gray T-shirt. Her black hair flew around her face in the warm breeze. She had her hands on her waist and stared hard at us, squinting into the sun.
I spun away from her. Up ahead, Shark had his head down. He took long, loping strides. I had to run to catch up to him.
“I just want to get out of here,” he muttered. He shook his head. “I’d like to get in the car and start driving and just keep going. I mean, never look back. Just keep following the highway wherever it leads.”
“Whoa. What’s up?” I asked. That didn’t sound like Shark.
Well, yes, it did. I mean, you never knew what you were going to get with him. Some days he was up and enthusiastic and really into things. Other days . . .
“You mean the thing at the bar last night?” I asked. “The cockroaches?”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I was thinking about, Nate.”
I unlocked the car door and started to slide into the driver’s seat. “What were you thinking about?”
He shrugged. “Whatever.” He suddenly looked embarrassed.
“No. Really,” I said.
He gazed at me a long time, as if deciding what to tell me. “It’s my dad,” he said finally, lowering his eyes. “He . . . he gets drunk every night. I think my mom . . . I think she’s had it. I mean, she says she can’t take it anymore. You should hear the yelling and screaming.”
He kept his eyes down. His hand tapped the side of the car, beating out a fast, tense rhythm. “It’s everything, Nate. I mean, my grades totally suck this term. And . . . well . . . Nikki. You know. I mean, I don’t want a relationship or anything. But she’s talking all the time about the two of us being a couple or something. I mean . . .”
His voice trailed off. I’d seen him like this before. He usually snapped out of it in a day or two.
“Maybe it’s Nights,” I said. “Maybe you’re just wrecked, Shark. Maybe you should stay home and sleep and—”
“No way!” he said sharply. “Late at night in the bar—that’s the only quiet time I get. That’s the only time it’s like . . . peaceful, you know?” He rubbed his temples as if he had a headache.
I turned back. Candy was still watching us. She stood there beside the track like a statue, hands on her waist, not moving.
Was she trying to freak me out?
Shark moved to the other side of the car and pulled open the passenger door. He tossed his backpack into the back seat.
I heard voices. Ada and Jamie came hurrying across the parking lot, their shoes thudding on the asphalt.
Ada jogged toward us, shouting our names. Jamie tried to keep up with her, but her bad leg kept her several paces behind.
They didn’t say a word. Just squeezed into the back seat of my little two-door car. “Where are we going?” Ada asked.
I pulled my door shut. Shark crushed a Burger King cup on the floor and tossed it out the window. I turned the ignition and the car started up. I floored the gas pedal a few times, making the engine roar.
“Jamie? Cutting class?” I said. “Aren’t you afraid of messing up your grade point average?”
“I took the stupid course last year,” she said. She straightened her dark hair behind her shoulders. One of her long, silvery earrings tangled in her hair, and she struggled to pull it out. “I can’t believe they’re making me repeat this stuff.”
Ada blew a big, pink bubblegum bubble. Shark reached back and popped it. Bubblegum splattered over her face. “Nice, Shark,” she said. “Welcome to kindergarten.”
I tore out of the parking lot with my tires squealing.
“Great way to sneak out of school,” Jamie said.
“Who cares?” Shark replied.
Ada, Jamie, and I talked and kidded around while Shark sat in silence. He kept his eyes straight ahead and didn’t seem to be listening to the conversation.
&
nbsp; Soon we were on the River Road, which curves along the shores of the Onononka River. A forest of thick pine trees whirred past on our right. To the left, tall reeds poked up from the grassy shoreline of the river.
The road curves along the water, then climbs to high rock cliffs. The wooded clearings on top of the cliffs are a popular parking spot for Shadyside High kids looking for . . . you know . . . some privacy.
But I didn’t follow the road up. Instead I hit the brakes hard, squealed to a stop, then turned into a wide, grassy clearing between clusters of tall reeds.
We climbed out of the car, pulled off our shoes, and made our way along the muddy shore to the river. The girls and I held back, but Shark stepped into the water. He tugged up the legs of his jeans and let the water wash over his ankles.
“How is it?” I called.
“Freezing cold,” Shark replied. “Feels good.” He took another step, and the water rolled over the bottoms of his jeans.
“Whoa!” Shark shouted. “The bottom—it drops straight down. It’s totally deep here.”
I waded in for a second, but the icy water made my ankles ache. I hobbled back, shaking the pain from one foot, then the other.
The two girls and I found a sunny, dry spot in the grass. We dropped down and stretched out and raised our faces to the sun.
Shark splashed along the shore for a while. Then he began picking up stones and heaving them with all his strength into the river. He tossed one after another, grunting with each throw, his face tight and intense as if he was having some kind of contest with himself.
Finally Jamie called for him to come and sit down. To my surprise, Shark obeyed. He stretched out between the two girls, pulled up a fat blade of grass, and jammed it between his lips.
“What’s your problem, anyway?” Jamie asked him. She was leaning back with her hands in the grass. Her dark eyes caught the light of the sun.
Shark scratched one shoulder. “Don’t really know.”
“You looked so intense,” Ada said. “What were you thinking about?”
He frowned. “Cockroaches.”
Jamie turned to me. “That was so freaky last night,” she said. “I couldn’t get to sleep, Nate. I kept thinking they were in my bed.”