She looked up quickly. “It wasn’t my fault.”
The sinking feeling in my stomach increased. “It never is, is it? I repeat: what happened?”
When Angeline refused to say, Jill spoke up. “She gave Trey a concussion with an algebra book.”
Before I could even start to parse that, Angeline leapt to her feet. “The doctor said it wasn’t a concussion!”
“Wait.” I glanced between them, half hoping they’d burst into laughter at the joke they must be playing on me. “You did something to Trey that actually required medical attention?”
“I barely touched him,” she insisted.
I sat down on Jill’s bed and resisted the urge to crawl under its covers. “No. You can’t do this. Not again. What did the principal say? Oh, God. Where are we going to send you?” After Angeline’s brawl with a motivational group, it had been made very clear that further fighting would get her expelled.
“Eddie took the blame,” said Jill. A small smile crossed her face as she spoke. “There weren’t really many witnesses, so Eddie said they were playing around in the library and tossing the book back and forth. He claimed he got careless and threw the book too hard . . . and that it accidentally hit Trey on the head.”
Angeline nodded. “That’s kind of what really happened with us.”
“No, it wasn’t,” protested Jill. “I saw it. You got mad when Trey told you it shouldn’t be that hard to understand that x always has a different value.”
“He implied that I was stupid!”
Variables didn’t seem like too hard a concept to me, but I could tell under Angeline’s bravado that she really was flustered. I always had the impression that back among the Keepers, Angeline had been a queen among her peers. Here she was constantly trying to keep up academically and socially, adrift in a world very different from the one she’d grown up in. That would make anyone insecure. And while I questioned if Trey had ever said she was stupid, I could understand how some of his snarky commentary could be perceived that way.
“Did Eddie get in any serious trouble?” I asked. I doubted he’d get expelled for something like this, but it would be just my luck that he’d get the punishment he’d saved Angeline from.
“Detention,” said Jill.
“He accepted it very bravely,” added Angeline.
“I’m sure he did,” I said, wondering if either girl knew they were wearing mirror expressions of adoration. “Look, Angeline, I know the tutoring process must be frustrating, but you have to watch your temper, okay? Trey’s just trying to help.”
She looked skeptical. “He’s got kind of an attitude sometimes.”
“I know, but people aren’t exactly lining up to fill his position. We need you here. Jill needs you here. Eddie needs you here.” I saw some of her indignation fade at the mention of her friends and duty. “Please try to work with Trey.”
She gave a weak nod, and I stood up to leave. Jill hurried after me into the hallway. “Hey, Sydney? How was your outing with Marcus?”
“It was fine,” I said, certainly not about to dredge up Marcus’s alarming revelations. “Informative. And I learned how to play Skee-Ball.”
Jill almost looked offended. “You played Skee-Ball? I thought you were supposed to be learning about the Alchemists’ secret history.”
“We multitasked,” I said, not liking her tone.
I left before she could comment further and texted Eddie when I reached my room. I heard what happened. Sorry. And thanks. His response was quick: At least it wasn’t a concussion.
I braced myself for snark when I went to meet Adrian the next day. Jill had probably told him about my arcade trip, which would probably elicit a comment like, “Nice to know you’re so dedicated to crack the Alchemists. Way to keep your eye on the ball.”
When I pulled up in front of Adrian’s apartment building, he was already waiting out front for me. As soon as I saw his grim face, my heart stopped. I jumped out of the car, just barely pausing to grab the keys as I went.
“What’s wrong?” I exclaimed, jogging up to him.
He rested a hand on my shoulder, but I was too worried to care about the touch. “Sydney, I don’t want you to freak out. There’s no lasting damage.”
I looked him over. “Are you okay? Were you hurt?”
For a moment, his somber expression turned puzzled. Then, he understood. “Oh, you think it’s me? No, I’m fine. Come on.”
He led me around the back of his building, to the private parking lot used by residents. I came to a halt, my jaw dropping as I took in the terrible, ghastly scene. A couple other residents were milling around, and a police officer stood nearby taking notes. Around us, seven parked cars had their tires slashed.
Including the Mustang.
“No!”
I ran over to its side, kneeling and examining the damage. I felt like I was in the middle of a war, kneeling by a fallen comrade on the battlefield. I was practically on the verge of shouting, “Don’t you die on me!”
Adrian crouched beside me. “The tires can be replaced. I think my insurance will even cover it.”
I was still horrified. “Who did this?”
He shrugged. “Some kids, I guess. They hit a few cars one block over yesterday.”
“And you didn’t think that was worth mentioning to me?”
“Well, I didn’t know they were going to come here too. Besides, I knew you’d flip out and want to set up twenty-four-hour surveillance on this place.”
“That’s not a bad idea.” I glanced up at his building. “You should talk to the landlord about it.”
Adrian didn’t seem nearly as concerned as he should have been. “I don’t know that he’d go for it. I mean, this isn’t really a dangerous neighborhood.”
I pointed at the Mustang. “Then how come this happened?”
Even though we could take Latte to Los Angeles, we still had to wait around to finish up with the police and then get a tow truck. I made sure the tow truck driver knew that he better not get a scratch on the car, and then I watched mournfully as it was hauled away. Once that sunny splash of yellow disappeared around a corner, I turned to Adrian.
“Ready to go?”
“Do we have enough time?”
I looked at my cell phone and groaned. We’d burned up a lot of time handling the vandalism aftermath. And yet, I hated to wait until tomorrow, seeing as I’d already lost time yesterday while dealing with Marcus. I called Ms. Terwilliger and asked if she’d cover for me if I came in after curfew.
“Yes, yes, of course,” she said, in a tone that suggested she couldn’t understand why I’d even bothered calling her. “Just talk to more of those girls.”
Ms. Terwilliger had given me six names. We’d already taken care of Wendy Stone. Three of the girls lived relatively close together, and they were our goal tonight. The last two were closer to the coast, and we hoped to reach them tomorrow. Adrian tried making conversation with me throughout the drive, but my mind was still on the Mustang.
“God, I’m an idiot,” I said, once we’d almost reached our destination.
“That’s never a term I’d use to describe you,” he said promptly. “Articulate. Well dressed. Smart. Organized. Beautiful. I’d use those terms, but never ‘idiot.’”
I nearly asked why “beautiful” had come after “organized” and then remembered the actual concern. “I’m obsessing about that car when girls’ lives are on the line. It’s stupid. My priorities are messed up.”
My eyes were on the road, but I could tell he was smiling. “If your priorities were really messed up, you would’ve followed that tow truck. Yet here you are, off to help perfect strangers. That’s a noble thing, Sage.”