Ian never went home right away unless it was raining. There was nothing to do at home. His older brothers didn’t arrive back till later, and anyway they were not interested in doing things with him. When he went out into the neighborhood, to shoot hoops or throw a baseball or play kick the can, he’d noticed that after his arrival the other kids would find excuses to leave, saying they had homework or their mothers needed them to go to the store. One time Ian had ridden his bike around and discovered the same boys who’d left the local park ten minutes before had reconvened in a vacant lot to continue their softball game without him. He had hidden, too humiliated to let them see him. But he’d placed each name on a mental list and systematically gone through it, punishing them over the next few weeks. Not with his usual bullying: squeezing out money or physically hurting them or making his presence felt. Instead he was stealthier, meaner—slashing bicycle tires, touching a sister in a crowd, dumping paint in a desk during recess.
He preferred to remain on the playground after school. Though many children left to go home, it was open for an hour for those who wanted to stay and play, with one of the teachers as a monitor. Today it was Miss Lode. That was good—she was too scared of him to interfere much. At the moment she was talking to the parent of a younger student from the other playground. Soon she would sit and read a book, glancing up now and then.
Ian spotted O by the jungle gym—a frame of metal bars bolted together at right angles to make box shapes up to a height of twelve feet, which could be climbed all over. There were a few other students around, but none on the jungle gym. Maybe they were avoiding the new boy.
Ian took his time to make his way over. There was no need to rush; that would be undignified. Instead he paused briefly by the girls jumping their inevitable Double Dutch, a mix of grades now. Mimi was with them, turning for a fourth grader who jumped as the other girls sang:
My mommy told me
If I was goody
That she would buy me
A rubber dolly
My sister told her
I kissed a soldier
Now she won’t buy me
That rubber dolly
He didn’t stay any longer to watch—she was too young to have breasts that bounced when she jumped. As he left they were still singing:
Now I am dead
And in my grave
And there beside me
A rubber dolly
Ian went on to a group of boys playing marbles, standing so that his shadow fell across the circle. The boys looked up, annoyed and ready to complain, but said nothing when they realized whose shadow it was. Ian remained just long enough for the shooter to miss before he moved on.
He had not yet reached the jungle gym when Rod caught up with him, his black eye even more prominent after a few hours of swelling. Rod was seriously getting on his nerves—had been even before today. Didn’t he need to fight his own battles, win his own girls? Hadn’t he learned enough from Ian to do so on his own? He had been the sidekick for too long, and Ian preferred to go it alone now.
“Man, I don’t understand something,” Rod began. When Ian kept walking, Rod ran ahead and stood in front of him to make him stop. Anger flared, but Ian pulled back from slamming a hand into Rod’s chest. Rod was not important; he should save his actions for someone else.
“You promised I would go with Dee,” Rod continued, whining. “But now I don’t know who my competition is. Is it him or him?” He waved one skinny arm at O by the jungle gym, and the other at Casper, lurking over by the entrance to the school gym, out of sight of Miss Lode. Ian smiled to himself: Casper the golden boy, belatedly discovering how to break the rules. He had been suspended; he should be across the street now, getting punished by his parents—being grounded and having his allowance docked, as his parents were unlikely to use the belt he deserved. Instead he had come back to school and was probably waiting for Blanca. Now that he’d had a taste of bad behavior, he was indulging in it.
“I don’t even understand why I picked that fight with Casper,” Rod added. “He’s going with Blanca—anybody can see that. You saw them kissing at recess. Why’d you have me go after him? It’s him”—he waved again at O, who frowned—“who’s going with Dee. And he hurt her! I should be fighting him.” He clenched his fists in a show of bravery, but it didn’t conceal his fear as he contemplated his rival. “I don’t know, though—I might get hurt even worse than with Casper.”
“You probably would,” Ian agreed. “But don’t worry—I think it’s all gonna change soon. Just hang on a little longer. And leave O to me.” He began walking again toward the jungle gym but stopped, putting his palm out to halt Rod as he made to follow him. “Just me.” Rod dropped back, an injured animal left behind. Ian was going to have to find a way to shake him loose. Tomorrow. Today he had another target.
O had been watching him. When Ian joined him at the jungle gym he said, “What did he want?”
Ian sat down on one of the metal bars and rested his hands on the ones on either side. “Rod? Nothing. He’s nothing.”
O had his eyes on Rod, now mooching toward the pirate ship. “It does not seem like nothing. What does he want with me?”
Ian let himself sag into the boxy frame. “Rod likes Dee. So he’s jealous. The green-eyed monster, my father calls it. And”—Ian calculated for a moment, then decided to try it—“Dee likes him too.”
O stiffened, his eyes wild. “What? Him too?!”
Ian smiled to himself. O was in such a state that he’d believe anything—even that a scrawny nothing of a boy like Rod could catch Dee’s eye. “Looks like you picked the wrong girl. I could’ve told you that.”
O crossed his arms over his chest and tucked his hands under his armpits. He seemed to be trying to contain his anger. “She picked me.” He paused. “She is meeting me here in a minute. I was ready to tell her that it is OK, I am not angry anymore. But I cannot trust her, can I?” He looked at Ian as if he wanted a reminder of the evidence.
So Ian provided it. “The pencil case, remember? How did Casper get it?”
Even as he said it he knew that the power of the case was only going to last as long as no one asked questions. Once O or Dee asked Casper or Blanca about where the case came from, Ian’s involvement would be uncovered. That was the flaw in his strategy—he was likely to be pulled into it. The damage had to be done now—enough damage that afterward it wouldn’t matter what part Ian had played.
At that moment Blanca ran out of the building and around the corner to where Casper was waiting for her by the gym. As they embraced, Blanca let her backpack drop. The strawberry case, stuffed into the open front pocket, was just visible.
“What did Dee say about the case when you asked her?”