“Wow, thanks. That’s really kind of you.”
“No, it’s us who should be thanking you for getting Stranko and Hale out of our way,” Benz says. “If you hadn’t, we couldn’t have pulled our final prank. But I have to say, I’m a little disappointed in you. You went to those lengths to clear them out, and the best you could do, or whoever that was who cut the curtain, is to drape a ‘Chaos Club Sucks’ sign over Zippy? That’s pretty embarrassing, man. But don’t worry, we took yours down and did a prank a bit more memorable for the day.”
“But you didn’t pull your prank,” I say.
“Exactly what world do you live in, Max?” Becca says.
Loud applause erupts from the crowd as The End appears on the video screen. Mrs. B pushes Ellie to the front of the stage for a bow, then returns to the microphone.
“No one except our local resident artist and former Asheville High graduate Boyd Phillips has seen the Zippy statue in four months—”
“Not true,” Benz whispers, laughing.
“—so without further delay, let’s welcome back Zippy, the Asheville Eagle!”
All eyes turn toward the curtains. The media moves in, their cameras ready for the unveiling. Mrs. B pulls a ceremonial rope on stage, and all four curtains hiding the statue simultaneously drop.
It’s pretty much one giant, collective gasp from the crowd after that.
Me included.
Parents cover their children’s faces and cameras start snapping pictures. Heads turn from the statue to Stranko and back again, laughing harder and harder by the second.
Why?
Because straddling Zippy’s back is a naked and anatomically correct mannequin with Stranko’s face superimposed on its head. Fake-Stranko’s wearing a red-lettered Chaos Club cape and grips Zippy’s soaring wings like something out of a dumb kids movie. If I weren’t so busy wondering how Becca and Benz pulled it off, I’d probably be impressed.
“Just in case you didn’t know,” Benz says, “that’s what’s called writing your name in the wet cement of the universe.”
“And to think you could’ve been a part of this, Max,” Becca says. “It would’ve saved a lot of hassle.”
I have regrets, yeah, but not joining the Chaos Club isn’t one of them. What I do regret is that this fell apart, because right now, at this very moment, is when we were going to reveal who they were. And now that’s not going to happen. I regret not getting to see the looks on their faces the moment they realized they’d been tricked, when all eyes in the crowd fell on them once people discovered the Chaos Club members were right here—and best of all, when Stranko came to take them away. Missing all of that is what I regret. So much potential unrealized. It’s enough to make a sixteen-year-old boy tear up like a little girl.
Then a voice thunders from the speakers.
“Citizens of Asheville, this is Captain Calamity!”
? ? ?
Stranko and the others on stage look to Wheeler and his friend at the soundboard, but both are pantomiming confusion, frantically twisting knobs and flicking switches like they have no control over what’s happening.
“For too long, this school has been the victim of the evil Chaos Club. Today, their reign of terror comes to an end. Please direct your attention to the movie screen.”
Without anyone at the soundboard doing anything, the documentary picks up where it left off, with The End on the screen. Those words then fade.
Last Night.
“What’s this shit, Max?”
Benz wants to sound menacing, but his voice is way too shaky. Beside him, Becca is wide-eyed and openmouthed.
The truth is I have no answer for him, but I know to play it cool.
“Shh,” I say. “You’re going to miss the big twist ending.”
The screen fills with the eerie green glow of a recording made with the night vision camera Boyd helped Malone place in Zippy’s eye. All anyone can see at the moment is the white curtain shot from inside the statue. Although most people don’t know what they’re looking at, Becca and Benz figure it out.
“You set us up?” Benz asks.
“Just like you did with the water tower,” I say. “And Stranko’s office.”
“We need to get out of here,” Becca says.
“Sure, leave. It’s not going to help though.”
At least I don’t think it will. I’m still not exactly sure what’s going on. Ellie’s real job last night was to turn the camera on. The stupid “Chaos Club Sucks” banner was just a diversion. She succeed in her part, but Wheeler never got to fulfill his role, which was to squeeze out of the base and remove the camera, then edit the footage into the end of the documentary. But he never got to do that because the cops showed before Becca and Benz could appear. So if we failed, what exactly are we about to see?
We don’t have to wait long for the answer. After a few seconds of nothing on the screen, the curtain suddenly ripples, and we hear a rushed, “Come on, hurry up.”
Benz.