“It was an emergency. I just realized it was October. I’m just glad we didn’t miss it.”
“And now there’s fire trucks here. And you guys are more worried about my birthday, which I’d forgotten about, too.”
Luke laughed. “Someone pulled the fire alarm. It’s no big deal.”
“It was a big deal last time it happened,” I said. “And they don’t take dogs into the school if there is a fire, do they?”
They blinked at me, twisting around to look over. Luke stood, putting a hand over his eyes to block the sun and gazed over toward the building. “She’s right. There’s a pack of dogs.”
“We haven’t been called in.” Victor turned around again. His palm found my back, fingers tracing between a couple of ribs. “Our concern is student safety, not building safety. The students are out here. Mr. Blackbourne hasn’t sent word so it’s probably some standard school inspection. Maybe checking for drugs or something.”
Luke’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not sure ...”
With the way I was sitting, it was difficult to twist around and check. Part of me sensed Mr. McCoy just beyond where I could see. The boys assured me he wasn’t here, but I still couldn’t help wonder where he was. I sensed other eyes watching us. Most students were engrossed in their cell phones or talking, not really concerned with the school except to know it meant we’d be out of class longer. I scanned the group, trying to figure out why I felt so uncomfortable.
“Hey,” North’s voice bellowed after us.
Students cleared out of the way as North, Gabriel and Kota returned. They were tailed by Silas and Nathan.
“Baby,” North said, ”Get out of his lap. You’ll end up with detention.”
Victor squeezed his arms a little tighter around my hips. “McCoy’s not here. The other teachers don’t care.”
“There might be one who does. We don’t want to end up staying after school today if we’re going to figure out what to do for her birthday. Besides, she’s supposed to be dating Silas.”
“No one is paying attention,” Victor said.
“Are we going to skip football practice on her birthday?” Silas asked.
“Are we skipping school on her birthday?” Gabriel asked. “We should.”
They continued their debate. I refocused on what was going on across the parking lot. Luke remained posted. I glanced back at him on occasion, questioning with my eyes if he was seeing something more than I was seeing.
Nathan followed my gaze out toward the dogs and the police. There was something being set up by the policemen. They’d removed a box of equipment from the back of one of the police cars. Firemen were standing by.
“Sang,” Victor squeezed me again. “You still haven’t told anyone—”
“Kota,” Nathan said over him, his tone serious. He nodded toward the school. “What is this?”
I crawled out of Victor’s lap to stand up between Nathan and Luke. I sensed Victor following, standing behind me. Everyone else turned toward the school.
Oh so now they got interested when Nathan thought it was important.
The police surrounded one man, who was putting on what looked like plastic body armor.
I shot a look at Kota. “What’s going on?” I asked in a quiet voice. This wasn’t a fire alarm or a check for drugs.
Kota frowned. “Hazardous waste cleanup perhaps? Maybe someone spilled something in the chemistry lab?” He fished his phone out of his pocket. Dr. Green was calling. He punched the button with his thumb to answer it. “Dr. Green? Are you inside still?”
I glanced back over at the man in the thick suit. He marched slowly toward the school, a blue and white device in his hand that looked like a hand-held metal detector. He circled the fire trucks, heading toward the doors.
Kota dropped the phone to his chest to hold it there. “Our team,” he said in a quiet tone, but the command rang through every syllable. “Get your stuff. Let’s go.”
The boys moved at once. Silas and North, the ones closest to our book bags, collected them in their hands. Nathan tugged at my hand, moving behind Kota. We weaved our way through the throng of students, heading further down into the grass yard and toward the baseball field a good distance from the rest of the students.
“Where are we going?” I asked in a quiet voice, suddenly scared.
“Away from other students,” Kota said. “And the cars.”
We traveled a good distance from the parking lot. We got some looks from other teachers but none seemed to care much that we’d split apart. We were still within eyesight and on school grounds.
Kota halted a few feet from the baseball field’s benches. He eyed them suspiciously. “Everyone stay here,” he said.
Kota moved forward alone, everyone else hanging back. The boys encircled me. I had to tiptoe to peek over Victor’s shoulder.
Kota checked out the underside of the seats, inspecting every corner. When he seemed satisfied, he waved his hand at us to come sit. We collected on the seats. I slid in and Nathan sat on one side of me, and Victor took up position on my other side. Always protecting.
“What is it, Kota?” Nathan asked. His blue eyes darkening.
“This is the bomb squad,” he said. “There was a bomb threat made on the school by phone. There’s an unmarked box on the main floor.”
“Why are we so far out here away from the others?” I asked.
Kota tilted his head toward me. “We’re to keep out of reach of potential threats, which means possibly rigged vehicles or students. The caller wasn’t specific. The package is only a guess by a teacher. Until they get a clear idea on what it is, and the phone call, and possibly who made the call, they want us out of the way.”
“What about the other students?” I asked. “What about Marie? And Derrick?”
Kota frowned. “It’s most likely this is just a student pulling a prank or wanting to get out of class. This is just overkill precaution. We’re more of a target than they are. If we happen to be a target, we want to be out of range so no one else is hurt.”
“But we were in the middle of class,” I said. “If they were wanting out of class, would they call a bomb threat while they were still inside class? It would have been obvious. And if they were outside of class trying to cut out their next class ... well if they’d already skipped class, why would they try to mess up the next one?”
“Baby,” North said. He was sitting in front of me, but turned, droppi
ng a hand on my knee. “The police are here. We’ve got our orders. Stop worrying so much. This isn’t our job.”
“She’s right, though,” Nathan said. He rubbed his palm over the top of his red brown hair. “It’s an odd time to suddenly call in a bomb threat.”
“There’s nothing we can do right now and we don’t have enough information,” Kota said.
I twisted around, studying the other kids. I wanted to see if I could pick out my sister. I thought I would feel better if I could actually see her. She wasn’t the most friendly person, but I didn’t want her to get hurt.
Through the crowd, an all-too-familiar goatee on an angular chin distracted me. I sucked in a breath, holding it, staring after the person as if disbelieving.
Greg was back. His beady eyes were a distance away, but he was looking out at us from the edge of the cluster of other students.
“When did he get back?” Silas muttered under his breath.
Everyone turned their attention to Greg. Greg jerked his chin in our direction, turned around and disappeared back into the crowd.
I kept my eyes on the students. Greg. He hadn’t been in home room this morning. Did he switch classes?
The last time I saw him, he was clutching his throat trying to breath.
After I’d punched him.
I turned on the bench, climbing up until I was sitting at the very top, and dangling my feet down over the edge. Now that I’d spotted him, I didn’t want to turn my back on him.
The others joined me.