Page 51 of Crew
Principal Neeon opened his mouth, but just let out a large gust of air. "Fine. I'll go with Mr. N." He pointed to Zellman. "Stop beating on your locker." He turned to me. "And you, stop skipping classes. You have one year left. I'd like you to graduate."
Zellman smiled, lighting up his face. "You don't have to worry about Bren. Don't you know by now, Mr. N? She's brilliant. She got Bs last year and skipped almost all of her classes."
"Zellman!"
Jordan let out a frustrated sigh, smacking the back of Zellman's head with his palm. Mr. Neeon looked at me, but he looked back at Zellman when he heard him yelp. By then he only saw Zellman rubbing the back of his head and Jordan yawning, scratching the back of his neck.
"Man, my neck is itching. There's not a case of fleas in the school, is there?"
Our principal pinched his nose, closing his eyes a moment. "I am pretending I didn't hear that, because if I did, and it was a true complaint, I would have to allocate money from the budget to test for fleas in this school. So..." He held his hands up, palms facing us. "I am backing away." He did.
"Hey!"
He bumped into Monica and Sunday.
"Sorry, ladies."
He was gone after that.
Zellman waited until Principal Neeon was almost to the end of the hallway before kicking his locker shut again.
It stayed this time.
Race shook his head. "No one can say you guys aren't interesting. That's for sure."
Monica and Sunday took a step forward, easy grins on their faces.
Jordan narrowed his eyes, the amusement over Zellman's locker fiasco gone. "You looking to join, Race? Is that why you're hanging around us every chance you get?"
Monica and Sunday retreated backwards0.
Race's eyes narrowed. "I helped you guys last night."
"We didn't ask for it."
"Didn't need it either," Zellman added.
Race didn't seem to care. "You think Alex apologized out of the goodness of his heart? Or I'm sorry--would you rather have waged a full-blown crew war?"
"Alex knew he was wrong," Jordan said.
"You think he came to that conclusion on his own?" Race stepped closer, lowering his voice. "You think he's that smart?"
He had a point.
Cross, Jordan, and Zellman knew it too.
"Look." Jordan moved to face Race directly. "What do you want? You're around the crew a lot. Either you want in--and if you do, that shit doesn't happen overnight--or there's another reason." He glanced to me. "I figure we got something else you want."
Uh, what?
I froze a moment, looking from Jordan to Race. There were no elaborations or denials, and a full boost of heat warmed my body. I felt everyone's gaze on me--Cross especially--but no one said anything.
So I did. I shook my head. "No. I already dated one Ryerson."
Race spoke as if I hadn't said a word. "Maybe. I can't deny that could be part of it."
I closed my eyes, sucking in some air.
