Someone in the back tells him to go to hell.
“And I bet some of you wanted to meet them but you were afraid of the thugs who used to run this school. They stomped around here with their stupid T-shirts. Well, they’re gone. We don’t need them here. They don’t deserve to have this experience. Now you can all start over and try to get to know these kids. Talk to them. Ask them questions. They have lived lives you can barely imagine. They lived underwater! Do you get it, kids? This is like walking on the moon.
“We could have prepared you better. We could have guided you toward each other. I don’t know. We could have done lots of things differently than we did. For that, I apologize, but I ask you, what did you do? Did you help? Because if you didn’t, you are no better than the boy who opened the door and let the lunatic in here. If you painted nasty words on a locker, you let the lunatic inside. If you bullied the new students, you let the lunatic inside. When you won’t give new faces a chance, you open the door and invite madmen into our halls. And you saw what happened. All of us suffer. Which one of you will open the door and let the next one in?”
The crowd is stone still.
“So here’s my idea. Every day since the school year started, you have had to weed through a bunch of idiots just to get inside. They’re out there: the blowhards, the gangstas, and even our favorite politician. There’s nothing we can legally do to make them go away, but you can show them they are wasting their time. You can tell them all that this is our school and they need to stay out. Tell them we’ve let the last lunatic into Hylan, damn it!”
There’s applause and laughter. I’m not sure if it’s just teenage rebellion, but who cares? It’s pissing Bachman off, so it can’t be bad.
“Come to this school with an open mind,” Ervin continues. “You don’t have to be friends with the new students. All you have to do is be respectful, just like you are with everyone else who is different from you. There are kids from every corner of the world here, who practice different religions, speak different languages, and you didn’t have a rumble every single day. And that goes for the Alpha kids too. Stop with the crap. Get to know us.”
Doyle steps forward, and Ervin reluctantly surrenders the microphone.
“Thank you, Mr. Ervin,” he says. “I couldn’t have said it better myself. In fact, I think he’s just given me a great idea. Could Lyric Walker please come up here?”
I reluctantly stand and make my way to the podium, but I’m cooking Doyle with my eyes at every step. What is he doing? He knows I need to remain under the radar, and he’s risking that for his stupid games. When I get to the podium, he flashes me his conspiratorial grin and I’m reminded that I am just one of his pawns.
“All of you know Lyric, but you probably don’t know what she’s been up to lately. In the last few weeks, she’s taken part in an experiment. Every day she has met with one of the new Alpha students. His name is Fathom.”
I feel like he’s just kicked me in the gut. How can he betray me like this?
“Ms. Walker did not want to be part of this experiment. She worried that some of you would turn on her, even attack her. She was right. But I made her do it. In fact, I called her father’s boss and arranged it so that if she refused me, I would have him fired. She had no other choice.”
I turn to face him, wondering if he hasn’t lost his mind.
“Now it’s your turn. Gabriel Bowen, Ghost, please step up here.”
And then I get it, and a huge smile comes across my face as I watch them come to the front. I know what Doyle’s going to do, and no one in the world deserves it more than Gabriel.
“The two of you are assigned to each other. Ghost is going to be in every one of your classes, Gabriel. He’s also going to meet with you privately every single day.”
“No way,” Gabriel says.
Doyle laughs. “I’ll make sure your father knows you said that when I call him today. He works for the Department of Motor Vehicles, right?”
Gabriel’s face falls.
“Tyrese White? Where are you?”
A thin black kid stands. He doesn’t look happy.
“Tyrese, allow me to introduce you to Luna.”
Luna turns in her seat, and they eye each other.
“Nicolette Wilder, you will be spending time with Bumper,” he says.
Nicolette looks likes she’s going to vomit.
Arcade is assigned to Lynn Plumber. Both of the girls look like they’re ready to leap at each other.
Surf is placed with Dougie Harris, a scrawny freshman. Dougie looks like he’s going to faint.
“I bet you’re all thankful your names weren’t called. Folks, they will be. Each one of you will be rotated in for a turn with your new classmates.” Doyle takes a sip from his coffee mug. “All right, let’s get to class and have a good day.”
I turn to him and he’s grinning. He gives me a wink.