Alice in Wonderland High (34 page)

“What her motivations were is unimportant compared to the crime itself.”

“I know that,” Di said. She turned and met Quinn's eyes. “I'm sorry, Quinn, Dru. I don't feel comfortable lying.”

“She means lying for Alice,” Dru said. “Alice paid her off to confess.”

“Contrariwise, Alice tried to warn me against doing the prank. She was looking out for me.” The volume of Di's voice rose an eighth note.

“No how. She wanted you out of the way.”

Di ignored her. It was weird to see her be her own person again. “I can't, in good conscience, be responsible for getting someone expelled who doesn't deserve it. She may have done the flood, but I
know
she didn't do any of the painting. We did.” She pointed at the other girls as well as Kingston.

The room broke into intense whispers.

“Off with your head! You're done!” Quinn waved her hand at Di dismissively. “You too, Dru.”

Dru held up her hands in protest. “But I—”

Di tugged her friend away to the back wall near me. If I hadn't been shocked into silence, I might have hugged Di for helping me out. But then I heard her whisper to Dru that if Kingston really did send the evidence in, they'd be in trouble no matter what. Confessing might get them a lesser sentence. Good thing I hadn't wasted the hug.

“It's always the ones you don't keep in their place that fuck you over,” Kingston mumbled.

“Jail. Expulsion,” Whitney said. “One more and you've got a nice collection.”

“At least we're going down with you?” I attempted to joke, complete with a half-smile. Humor didn't really work to cheer me up, though.

Principal Dodgson clapped her hands to restore order. “I think there's only one option here.”

Quinn coughed
expel Alice
under her breath.

“Alice, you're ex—”

I squeezed my eyes shut and flattened Chess's hand in my own with my grasp.

“—extra lucky you're not the only one who damaged this school. And though I would like to cut down on those crowded classrooms, I can't expel this many students.”

I loosened my grasp on Chess, then brought my other hand over to pinch the flesh on my wrist. Just to make sure I hadn't imagined it.

“It's only fair that everyone receives the same punishment for the same crime,” Principal Dodgson continued. “So, Alice, Quinn, Dinah, Dru, Kingston, Whitney, and anyone else found to be involved in the damage to the school will be suspended for the rest of the week.”

A collective groan escaped from the class. Quinn rose from her seat. “What? That's unfair! That's . . . that's . . . nonsense!”

“Would you rather take expulsion?”

Quinn let out a sniffle, then tried to scramble away from the desk in such haste that she tripped over the leg of the chair and crashed to the ground.

A frenzy of packing up bags began. Students herded to the door, a mass of people forming near the exit. The small entryway was unable to funnel so many people at once.

Whitney stood up and put two fingers in her mouth, whistling loudly enough to make everyone stop and look up. “Don't forget, the first Eco Club meeting starts in ten minutes in Mr. Hargreaves's room. If you want details, you better show.”

That seemed to get everyone's attention. The talking increased, taking on an excited tone.

“I'm afraid I haven't condoned the organization of such a club,” Principal Dodgson said.

“You told us the other day that we had to get a teacher to sponsor it. I did. Mr. Hargreaves.”

Principal Dodgson pursed her lips. “Well, I'm going to have a talk with him about the appropriate conduct of such a club.”

I tugged on Whitney's pant leg. “What are you doing? We're suspended, remember?”

She grinned. “The way I see it, the suspension starts tomorrow. Might as well use our new flooding-the-school and damaging-the-desks infamy to our advantage.”

“Okay . . . so how'd you get back here? And are you really enrolled in Wonderland High?” I may have been suspended for four days, but that didn't mean I couldn't distract myself with excitement over Chess's presence and Kingston's apparent freedom, now that I could fully appreciate it.

Chess interlocked his fingers with mine, letting me pull him into a standing position. “Kingston should explain first, because my explanation won't make sense without his.” Chess gestured with his chin to the packed courtroom, everyone still filing out. Most watched us as if we might do something rash and put on a good show. “But maybe we should take this someplace more private first.”

The four of us got in line with the rest of the crowd and dodged questions from the reporter-wannabes. As soon as we broke free of the confines of the classroom, Whitney waggled a hand to follow her. We rounded a corner and I slowed my pace, tugging on Chess's sweater. I pushed him into the shadow of a doorway until his back pressed against the wooden door. I aligned my body against his, slipping into the dark recess between the door and the wall, if only to gain a tiny bit of privacy from watchful eyes. I hoped Kingston would have the self-preservation to turn away. He shouldn't have to see this.

“Are you going for kidnapping? Need a new goal after not getting expelled?”

“Not the worst idea in the world, kidnapping you. But no. Mostly I wanted to do this before I forgot.” I cupped my hands behind his neck and pulled him closer to me.

He leaned away and scoffed. “You were afraid you might forget?”

“Well, you did,” I said. He raised an eyebrow. “Hey, I said I love you in there. I deserve a kiss. But no, you just wanted to go somewhere private. And not for this reason.”

He laughed. It was adorable, almost as attractive as his serial-killer smiles, the ones that immobilized me on attack.

I whispered into his ear, “I don't want to make the same mistake.”

He sank his mouth into mine, finishing the kiss we'd started. I didn't want it to end—after all, we had a week of lost time to make up for—but I knew when I pulled away that it wasn't an ending.

“Any other distractions I should know about?” Whitney asked from her perch against a locker when we returned. A giddy smile erupted on my face, making me look like I'd just swallowed a little too much laughing gas at the dentist.

Kingston, on the other hand, studied the floor like he might be able to see a magic eye in the spotted linoleum.

“Okay, King. Spill.” Whitney propped one foot against the locker, launching herself off the wall. “I've already deduced from your presence that you haven't been arrested. I'm good at riddles like that.”

That made him laugh. “Well, try this one then.” Kingston caught up to Whitney in one quick stride. “What's my one superhero talent that got me off scot-free?”

“You pleaded insanity.” Whitney stomped off down the hallway, plowing right through other people's paths like they didn't exist. The few students lingering jumped out of the way. I wondered how many of them had gone to the meeting . . . or gone home. A girl from my homeroom traced her eyes over us, cell pressed to her ear, but she'd stopped talking and I could hear the fuzzy mumbling of “Hello? Hello?” on the other end of the line.

My focus shifted back to Kingston, who was scowling. “I couldn't make it that easy on them.”

“Snooping?” Whitney guessed.

“Close.”

“Blackmail?” I tried.

He grinned, clearly proud of himself. It was kind of weird to be celebrating that.

“You blackmailed the township?” Sweat gathered along the back of my neck. That didn't seem like the safest move. Not when the township had a habit of quickly rezoning or raising taxes to get what they wanted . . . plus, the exceptional talent of covering it all up. They may have let Kingston go free, but only until they could calculate their next chess move.

“I know. I'm badass. You can create a shrine in front of my locker.” Kingston snickered. “But seriously, don't use anything with the color yellow. I promised the bees I'd avoid it, and I don't want to piss
them
off.”

“That was the
seriously
you meant?” Whitney said. “Not,
seriously
this is why I'm not in jail?”

“The stipulation about the yellow was important, too. But if you must know, I simply explained the situation to Alice's sister and her boss. They made me sick, essentially killed my mom and Chess's mom, and covered it all up. Then I suggested the citizens of Wonderland might be interested in knowing some of the land here is contaminated.”

A chill slammed into my body, freezing the sweat that had been collecting on my skin. It hadn't occurred to me that more people might get sick. Specifically, people who used to live on the contaminated farmland and called themselves my boyfriend. “We need to let them know!” Images flashed through my brain of overcrowded hospitals, flummoxed doctors scratching their heads, newspaper obituaries expanding their one-page sections. More teenagers orphaned by the unholy acts of our town officials. “If it's dangerous—”

“It's not,” Chess said as we rounded a corner. No one lingered in this hallway, but heavy chatter carried from a classroom in the distance. I studied him, analyzing the calm tone of his voice in my hazy, fear-laden brain. “Not anymore at least. That, apparently, was the main reason they rezoned the land and drove people away, not the leak. As part of the cover-up, but also to get houses off the bad land and protect the citizens. The nuclear-power plant was shut down. There's a parking lot and a highway on the contaminated land instead. That new housing complex is on the only part of the farm that wasn't affected.”

Relief seeped out of my mouth in a yoga breath. “But what about you? Are you sick?”

“I went to the doctor today. So far so good.” Chess rubbed the stubble of his jaw. “I'll keep getting tested every few months.”

My muscles relaxed. He was going to be all right. For now.

Kingston held up a finger. “Hey, we'll get to that in a sec. It's still my turn to show off my brilliance.”

“That's it?” Whitney asked, heels clicking like a tap dancer. “You spewed some loose-lipped threats and their knees buckled?”

Kingston ran a hand over the stubble poking out of his scalp. “No, first Alice's sister brought proof that my story was legit and stuck by me.” He turned to me. “I guess we really did take the wrong files, right, Alice?”

“Your fault.”

“Thanks, by the way. For giving her the right one. It let me up the ante and demand the township pay for my medical bills, too.” He flashed all his teeth at us.

Lorina had . . . defended him? Why? My brain frantically calculated complicated algebraic equations, but something wasn't adding up.

“Your sister convinced her boss that it would be cheaper to pay my bills than to go through all the legal stuff. Done and done. Okay, Chess, your turn now.”

But Kingston was just one person. If so much land had been compromised, it was possible others had gotten sick, too. Dread settled into my stomach, burrowing a deep hole. They deserved compensation as well.

“Let me guess,” Whitney said. “Your dad had U-Haul on speed-dial, waiting for the ‘action!' command, and as soon as he found out it was safe in Wonderland, he made the call.”

“Not exactly. We're not moved back yet.”

We reached Mr. Hargreaves's classroom, chatter spilling and drowning out Chess's voice. We huddled around our quarterback so we could hear the play-by-play better. Kingston stepped closer to Whitney, and I squeezed into the space between him and Chess.

“I mean, this all happened today. He's checking into a motel right now until we find something more permanent. Showering at home, it's a luxury.”

I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my lips. “What about his job?”

Chess started to speak, but his attention was diverted over my shoulder toward the classroom. The three of us spun around to see . . . Lorina poking her head out.

All the happiness I felt dropped to the floor, weighing down my shoulders.

“I thought I heard your voice, Alice.” She didn't sound angry with me. She didn't sound happy either. Her stoic face was mannequin-blank.

I dropped Chess's hand and walked toward her, fighting off the panic building inside me. “What are you doing here?”

“Kingston told me you were having a meeting. I figured your Eco Club might be interested in helping with the farmers' market. I could really use it.”

I glanced from Kingston to Lorina, mouth parted, brow furrowed. This all must have been some cruel joke.

“I was just about to tell Alice about my dad's new job,” Chess said.

“You guys should really go inside,” Lorina said. “The crowd's getting restless.”

No one moved. We were all waiting for the cliffhanger resolution. “You go, Whitney,” I said. “You really should be president of this thing.” She deserved it.

“I want a full recap of the rest. I'm talking details here, not just summary.” She backed into the classroom.

“I've already heard this, so . . . ” Kingston followed her, probably to get away from being the third wheel to Chess and me. Then he poked his head back out. “Wow, either half the school's really into the Going-Green trend or they're hoping this is going to be a press conference Q-and-A with juicy gossip.”

I couldn't help grinning, even though I knew the latter was more likely. “Whitney will reel them in!” And hopefully inspire them to actually join the club, instead of use it to find out more details about the school pranks. Once Kingston disappeared inside, I turned to Chess and my sister. “Your dad's new job?”

“He joined enemy ranks.”

Lorina pursed her lips. “Don't say it like that. I hired him, and
I'm
not the enemy.” Her voice was firm. “I got him a position in the Parks and Rec department. He'll be working with my department—with me—to start a farmers' market. He has contacts with the farmers left in the area, and he'll know what kind of produce to order. I'll make sure the market is safe and operating legally. Plus, having him there will mean I won't work such long hours.” She looked pointedly at me. I swallowed hard. I knew my days of easy sneak-outs were over. But at least it seemed like she condoned the Eco Club. I clung to that.