“Can you do it though?” North asked. His eyes fixed on me. “I mean when he calls for you, you’ll have to go without us. We won’t be able to come in and save you if you get into trouble. If he makes good on his promise to fix your grades, we can’t go in and change it without him noticing. We’re also taking more risks at exposing what happened to your parents. If he finds out, there will be a lot more problems.”
“If I do what he wants, he’ll have no reason to fix my grades or get any closer,” I said.
Mr. Blackbourne frowned. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It looks like our music lessons might be put on hold. We’ll need to spend the time preparing you.”
“The violin can wait,” I said. “There’s more important things to worry about.”
He nodded and focused on North and Kota. “Give the orders to the others. If she gets called out of class again, no one is to follow her. We need to make it look like she’s playing this game.”
“We can’t do that,” Kota said. “We’ve got another problem.”
“What now?” Mr. Blackbourne asked.
Kota glanced at me. “Tell him.”
I bit my lip, tucking my hands behind my back to hide my shaking. “McCoy grabbed me this morning.”
North’s intense eyes narrowed in on my face, his hands clenching into fists. “How? When?”
I glanced at Mr. Blackbourne. North’s temper scared me.
Mr. Blackbourne frowned, inclining his head. “Tell us what happened.”
I sucked in some bravery. Learn to trust. “After I was excused by Mr. Hendricks, Mr. McCoy found me in the hallway. He grabbed me, telling me he was keeping an eye on me.”
“Show them where,” Kota said, his tone calmer than before, as if relieved this information was out.
I gazed at the floor and placed a palm at my hip bone.
“He gripped her hard, too,” Kota said. “I saw the red marks. She’ll probably have bruises.”
“Christ,” North breathed out, his fists knocking against his thighs. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” I said.
“Like hell there isn’t,” North barked.
“Settle down, North,” Mr. Blackbourne commanded.
“No. Let’s go after him. Confront him now. Let’s get his ass fired. He can’t do that.”
“Who are we going to talk to? Mr. Hendricks?” Mr. Blackbourne asked.
“We could talk to the school board,” Kota said.
“If this gets out,” Mr. Blackbourne said in a calm tone, “they will demand to inform and talk to her parents while they investigate.”
North had his mouth open to say something but stopped short. Kota’s face fell. This was an impossibility. My parents weren’t available. I couldn’t risk exposure over something like this.
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” I repeated quietly. “He either knows this or he has something else on me to make sure I can’t complain to Mr. Hendricks or anyone else. It’s his word against mine, anyway.”
“You’re correct to assume he might have something that lets him think he can come after you, Miss Sorenson,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “But we will do something about this. North is right. This can’t continue.”
“I can try to avoid him.” To me, it seemed like the only solution. Next time I was trapped in the hallway, I’d run, or do something. I wouldn’t stand there. He scared me earlier, caught me off guard. I didn’t want to put myself in that situation again. I also didn’t want more trouble for the guys.
“We didn’t pull you from one problem just to leave you with another,” he said. “Let us worry about Mr. McCoy. From now on, you should never to be alone with him. If you ever see him, in front of people or not, and my team isn’t around you, you should contact me immediately and leave the vicinity. I don’t care when or how. If he tries to pull you out of class and we’re not there, don’t follow him. Call me instead.” He turned to North. “In the meantime, we need recorded surveillance on McCoy. Work with Victor to make sure that happens by this afternoon.”
North nodded, his jaw firm.
“Should we follow her out of class, now?” Kota asked.
Mr. Blackbourne’s lips twisted. “Only if it is McCoy coming for her himself.” He turned to me. “Otherwise, keep your phone close and call if you’re ever called out of class for anything. I’ll follow with the installed cameras and I’ll make myself available in the front office. We’ll draw too much attention if someone follows behind you every time.”
My fingers fluttered to the base of my neck, rubbing at the tip of my collarbone. I didn’t like this plan. If they caught him again doing it, what else could they do? I did like the thought of following him with cameras though. Maybe if anyone else was getting hurt by him, they could help them.
It struck me strange that I was being given what almost amounted to orders. A thrill swept through me to be included. It wasn’t all about helping me this time, either. It was to help them.
The bell rang. North cursed. “Never enough time.”
“Meanwhile,” Mr. Blackbourne said, pointing at me, “tomorrow bring your violin as
expected, but be ready for training. Kota, she’s to get self-defense training this weekend. Make sure someone is available to make that happen.”
“I’ll do it,” he said.
North picked up my things, leading the way out of class. Kota remained behind to talk to Mr. Blackbourne.
I walked beside North, with my arm brushing his as he slung my things over his back. He didn’t acknowledge it, locked inside his own head as he marched forward.
Victor was out in the main hallway and waiting. He perked up when he saw us coming, but frowned when he caught North’s serious expression. “What happened?” he asked.
“Long story,” I said quietly.
Victor frowned, reaching for my hand, his thumb smoothing over the skin between my thumb and forefinger. “Tell me on the way.”
???
By lunchtime, the others were informed of the new plan. As soon as North and Victor and I arrived at the courtyard, Victor pulled a laptop from his bag, and sat on the grass. “I need cover,” he said.
Did he mean a shield? I could do that. Since I was beside him, I sunk to my knees next to him, sitting back on my heels.
Victor beamed at me, his fire eyes lighting up. “Princess, I love that you did that, but you’re not exactly what I need right now.”
“Move over, short stuff,” North said, nudging me in the shoulder.
I knee walked across the grass to sit next to Luke and Gabriel. Silas and Kota sat on the bench behind Victor and North and Nathan perched themselves on either side of Victor and started talking over his head. The rest of us clustered around Victor in a circle.
“What’s he doing?” I asked Luke in a half-whisper.
Luke lifted his gaze from his package of chips to check where I was looking. “Computer stuff.”
“Computer stuff requires sitting together like this?”
A chop landed on my head. Gabriel smirked at me from my other side. The red crystal studs in his earlobes sparked in the sunlight. “Stop asking so many questions.”