The school was different, but some things never changed. Tammy’s father had pulled strings, as expected. He said that the evidence was circumstantial, that Tammy was set up, and that he would personally sue the school district for allowing his innocent daughter to be exposed to dangerous drug dealers. Mrs. Bagley was livid that the school board wouldn’t let her expel Angel. But like Tish said, Angel had a new attitude. Which I saw right through. She was a Knight, and the personality change was part of the deception. She was still going down.
“Yeah, even Mason is acting weird,” Bobby said. “He hasn’t hit anybody or stuffed them in a locker…nothing. He even apologized to me. But I’m not falling for it.”
I hadn’t discussed Mason with Bobby. I hadn’t told him that the Memory Lash did what it was supposed to do. Bobby was a smart kid. He’d figure it out on his own. Mason was changed, and the change felt deep.
“Hey, what’s up with you and Egon?” Bobby said.
“What do you mean?” My heart sped up.
“He says he asked you out, but you’re too busy.”
“Busy? That’s not what I told him.” He hadn’t asked me out since the day we hung out at the hospital. Of course, I hadn’t really been still long enough for him to ask. As soon as my mission was complete, I had to make time.
The bell rang and everyone headed for class. I followed the Dweeb League out of the cafeteria and right into a traffic jam of ninth and tenth graders. Rubric was twisting a girl’s arm and had her in tears.
“Please, stop, it hurts!” the girl pleaded.
“I said five dollars,” Rubric bellowed. “Are you people deaf?”
“Air a little thin up there in the bozone layer?” It took all my self-control to not rip Rubric’s arm out of the socket. But I didn’t want detention, so I speared my fingertips into his elbow joint instead.
Rubric’s eyes grew wide. He let out a little yelp and released the girl, then started jumping around holding his arm. His hand opened and closed involuntarily. “What’ja do ta me?”
“Not what I wanted.” I helped the girl to her feet and wiped her tears away. “Are you okay?”
“No!” The girl glared at me, rubbing her arm, then turned and kicked Rubric hard in the shin. “Now I am.”
“Hey!” Rubric shouted, switching his grip to his shin. “What is with you people? This is my hall. You want to pass, you gotta pay.”
“I’m surprised your brain has enough voltage to make your lungs work,” I said.
Rubric stopped jumping and glared, holding out his open palm. “Pay the toll to the troll.”
“Too stupid to realize he just insulted himself,” Bobby said under his breath. “This is scary.”
“Be careful,” Whatsisface whispered. “He’s as strong as he is stupid.”
“I’m the strongest in this school,” Rubric said, smiling. “Except for Chuckie.”
I burst out laughing. “Let’s go, it might be contagious.”
Rubric held out his hand. “Five bucks. Each.”
“No,” Bobby said.
Rubric reached out to smack Bobby on top of the head. Bobby slapped his arm away. “Don’t touch me.”
“Are you and your girlfriends gonna stop me?”
Dougie stepped forward. “N-n-now that you mention it, we are, D-d-d-umbelina.”
“Die, Dweeb.” Rubric pushed past Bobby and dove at Dougie. Whatsisface stuck out his foot and Rubric landed flat on his face. The ninth grader whose arm he had twisted jumped on his back and began beating his head with her book bag. Then the other kids joined in. Before Rubric could get up, he was buried beneath a stomping, punching, laughing mob.
“Get off me,” his muffled voice screamed.
I almost felt sorry for Rubric as he lay under the pummeling heap of kids, all former victims of the school’s bullies, finally able to release years of pent-up frustration. Almost.
Heads popped out of doors all the way down the hall. One of them belonged to Mrs. Bagley. She stepped out and came toward us, walking like a gunslinger at high noon. In place of a six-shooter, she carried a yardstick.
“Students!” she barked. The bell rang and the hall became silent.
The pile of bodies got to its feet. All except Rubric, who lay there unmoving.
“Mr. Rubric,” Mrs. Bagley snapped. “Arthur! Please get up off that filthy floor.”
Rubric stirred and looked up. “Get lost, Old Bag, before you get hurt like the rest—”
“Mr. Rubric!” She broke her yardstick over his head. “I asked you to get up. Don’t make me ask again.”
Rubric mumbled a filthy word that only people with deflated brains use. He dragged himself to his feet, raised his fist and took a step toward Mrs. Bagley. Before I could stop him, the mob of kids swarmed, forcing themselves between him and Mrs. Bagley.
“You touch her, you touch us.”
Rubric lowered his fist. His face became bright red. “I’m outta here.”
“Just a minute.” Mrs. Bagley pulled a pad from her pocket. She scribbled something and handed the paper to Rubric.
He slowly reached out. “What’s that?”
“That is your detention slip, Mr. Rubric. Fighting is forbidden. I would like to expel you, but then I couldn’t keep an eye on you. Instead, you will serve two hours after school for the rest of the school year. If you refuse, I will turn you in to the police, and your parents will be fined. I know they don’t care about money, but they certainly won’t like the publicity when the story is in all the newspapers. Now go to the office.”