Liam’s cell phone rang, splintering the moment.
For a moment, he didn’t move. It felt too good to have a grip on Ringleader Boy’s throat. Then his phone rang again, and only three people in the entire world had his number—Hugh, Mom or Dad—so he let go of Ringleader Boy to reach inside his pocket.
As he did, the other boy’s face twisted. Rubbing his throat, he snapped, “You’re not supposed to have a cell phone in school.”
As Liam watched, Ringleader Boy skipped backward to join his two friends, and they all raced away, disappearing around the corner of the school building.
Pulling out his phone, he answered it. “Hello?”
Hugh asked in a gentle, easygoing tone of voice, “Hi, Liam. What are you doing, buddy?”
Just the fact that he asked that question made Liam think Hugh knew what he was doing. Liam lifted his head and looked around. He couldn’t see Hugh, but that didn’t mean that Hugh couldn’t see him.
Rubbing the back of his head, he said, “It’s kind of hard to explain.”
“Everything all right?”
“Sure, I guess.” Turning on his heel, he looked around. Everyone was gone except for the Dark Fae girl, who watched him with large, wary eyes. He told Hugh, “I got really mad at somebody, and I almost lost my temper.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.” But he could have. He had been awfully close. Did that make him bad? Honesty forced him to admit, “Not this time anyway.”
Hugh didn’t sound shocked or worried. In fact, he sounded as mild as ever. “Good job, sport. You okay?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
“Call if you need to.”
“I will.”
He hung up and said to the Dark Fae girl, “Hi, my name’s Liam.”
He kind of wanted to add the Double Oh Peanut and Rock Star stuff, but he didn’t think she would find it as funny as he had the first time.
She didn’t say hi back. She said, “I’m Marika.” She pointed to the phone. “First, that’s gonna get you into trouble. You’re in Mrs. Teaberry’s class, right?”
“Yeah.”
“She can be really mean if you get on her bad side. She’s made kids cry before.”
He pocketed it. “I’m supposed to carry my phone at all times, so it’s gonna have to be okay.”
Shaking her head, Marika said, “Second, those boys? They’re not going to forgive or forget what you just did. You’re pretty big for a first grader, and you’re really, really fast. In fact you might be faster than any kid I’ve ever seen, plus you look strong. But they’re third graders, and now you’re on their shit list, and that’s not a good place to be.” She scowled and muttered damn it under her breath. “Sorry. I know I’m not supposed to swear at school.”
Starting to feel entertained, Liam put his hands in his pockets again and rocked on the balls of his feet.
“It’s okay,” he told her, thinking of the sentinels, and of Hugh and Eva. And of Mom too, on occasion, but especially Dad. “I live with a bunch of people who swear a lot.”
Marika looked at him sidelong again, as if she wasn’t sure he had all his marbles. “Look, I’m trying to tell you something. You made some bad kids really mad at you just now.”
Actually, he wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He was running into a lot of new situations today. Rubbing the back of his head again, he thought about it. Cool didn’t seem like quite the right thing to say, so his mind wandered off on a different tangent. “Who were they, and why were they bullying that other boy?”
She paused as if he had surprised her. Then she said, “Andrew is the guy who tried to punch you. He’s the leader.”
Oh yes. Ringleader Boy. He nodded.
“Joel and Brad are tools. They just do everything Andrew says, but that doesn’t mean they do nothing. Perrin is the kid they were picking on. We’re all in the same class. Perrin did something really stupid last year—when he saw them breaking into the teacher’s lounge, he told on them. They got in major trouble and they weren’t allowed to go to the end of the year picnic, and now they won’t leave him alone.”
“What did they do?”
Her face tightened. “I told you, they’re really bad. They stole money and ruined his lunch several times. They tore up his homework, and beat him up a couple times. Once his mom had to take him to the hospital for stitches. I told Perrin he had started something he had to finish, and he needed to tell his mom and dad who had hurt him, but he got too scared and stopped talking. Summer break is a long time. I thought they would have moved on to something else by now.” Then her wide, gray gaze locked onto him, and her expression changed. “Since you’ve butted in, they probably have.”
“You mean they’ll start picking on me,” he said.
She looked exasperated. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”