Page 48 of A Scandal in Homeroom
He’d made that comment about the List expanding. I’d been so worried about him potentially finding out about the poker game, I hadn’t really thought about what it meant.
Why would he think I might care about the List expanding?
“I have to go,” I said, as I stood, packing up my half-eaten salad.
“Where?” Janie asked.
“I think…I don’t want to say anything until I know for sure, but I don’t think this is just about Fitz being a dick.”
“Really?” Beth said. “Because I think that’s exactly what this is all about. He saw a way to take advantage of me and he did it. Why not pass up an opportunity to make me look like a fool? I only wish I’d thought of it first.”
“You don’t mean that,” Janie told her. “You’re mad at him. I get that. But if there is a reason behind Fitz’s cold shoulder, let Reen find out. She’s good at getting people to give up their secrets.”
I flashed a smile at them both and wiggled my eyebrows. “I’ve got skills. Let me go and put them to the test.”
Because maybe if I did that, maybe if I found something that might help Beth, it would alleviate just a smidge of the guilt I felt for lying to her.
So much lying it was getting harder to know what was real.
Then I remembered the money in my bank account.
At least that was real.
* * *
“Yo! Adler. Wait up.”
I’d just shut my locker door and had started to head out for the day, when I heard my name. It was late afternoon since it was after practice, and thank God the hallway was empty. Because the person calling my name shouldn’t even know I exist, let alone be shouting at me down the hallway.
Coyle jogged up to me and stopped, puffing out some foul breath.
“Are you fucking insane?” I said, even as I was pulling him out of the hallway into an empty classroom. “We don’t know each other. Remember?”
“Relax, the place is empty.”
“Not of everyone. There are staff, teachers. My cheer squad practice just broke up. They could be lingering. You know the rules, Coyle. We don’t talk on school property. Ever,” I whispered.
“Yeah, well, we need to talk now. What the fuck were you thinking, calling Moriarty?”
I didn’t know who the man was, but I had a number to reach him. I’d called and left a voice message telling him we had to back off the game for a few weeks. That someone had seen lights and reported it to someone who would be very curious about any activities happening at the abandoned home.
There’d been no reply. I didn’t expect one. I’d been waiting for a text to say Saturday and Sunday weren’t happening this week.
“What? I told him we needed to lay low for a while and we do.”
“You don’ttellMoriarty anything,” he sneered, “He tells us what to do.”
“So he wants to get caught? Because, trust me, we will. The person looking into this is tenacious. He’s not going to stop asking questions until he has an answer.”
Coyle laughed. “You think Moriarty cares about some fucking exchange student? Do you even have a clue how much money runs through those games?”
“You mean the money that’s getting dumped to Mr. Bennet and not the rake we’re taking in, right? Yeah. Because I’m not an idiot.”
Coyle’s expression changed then, and he got meaner than I’d ever seen him.
I’d seen him pretty mean.
“You want to be careful, Alder. You don’t know shit, and you want to keep it that way. I would hate to see your pretty face get messed up because you stepped in something that was over your fucking head.”
