121 Express (6 page)

Georgie was just as sure it was Sandeep. “Remember how we got Kelly to humiliate him? Sandeep is the only one with a motive. The guy hates our guts.”

“You're not making any sense, Georgie,” Kelly said, shaking her head. “That thing with Sandeep happened after Old Quack Quack pulled the three of you off the bus.”

I suggested Jewel chu. “She's the biggest goody-goody on the bus.”

“You mean the smallest,” Jake said.

I couldn't say the three of us had been on the best behavior since our run-in with Old Quack Quack. But definitely better behavior. For one thing, we'd stopped throwing things at people—or their cars. Old Quack Quack had heard about the field berry yogurt and he wasn't too impressed.

The new driver was still ignoring us. He seemed to be able to tune out our shouting, and the smell of burnt plastic didn't seem to bug him.

“I know this sounds crazy, but I kind of miss the old driver,” Jake said as the bus turned onto côte-Vertu Boulevard.

I understood how Jake felt.

Pierre was busy emptying his backpack. “What in the world are you doing?” Kelly asked.

“Getting rid of my math notes.”

We'd had a math test that afternoon. Geometry.

Kelly raised her eyebrows. “Can't you do that at home?”

“It wouldn't be as much fun. Besides, Mr. Adams said we were done studying triangles.”

Pierre was shredding his notes. When he opened the window, we knew straightaway what he was up to. Jake and I looked at each other—and grinned. Pierre had a knack for coming up with zany schemes.

Georgie nodded from across the aisle. “It's just paper. It can't hurt anybody.”

Soon everyone at the back of the bus was ripping up their math notes and throwing them out the windows. “It's like confetti!” Kelly shouted as she watched her notes take off in a gust of wind.

“You guys are littering!” Jewel Chu shouted.

I'd had it with her. Who did she think she was—the police? “What are you going to do—tell on us again?” I shouted back.

Jewel jumped up from her seat so quickly her glasses nearly fell off her nose. “I'm not the snitch!”

“If you're not, who is?” Jake yelled.

The bus went quiet. Even the bus driver
was watching the action in his rearview mirror.

Jewel adjusted her glasses. “All I know is, it's not me.”

I figured it was a good time to watch the other suspects' faces. Unfortunately, Sandeep's was hidden behind a textbook. Had he done that on purpose? Valerie's notebook was out. Maybe Jake was right and she was the snitch after all. I hoped not.

“Come on!” Pierre shouted. “Who's still got notes to get rid of?”

“I do!” I'd been so busy getting upset with Jewel I hadn't taken my math notes out of my backpack. Just as I lifted my backpack from the floor, I remembered the promise I'd made to myself. But Georgie was right: A little paper couldn't hurt anybody.

Besides, tearing up the notes felt good. I wanted to wait for a good gust of wind so my notes would fly up into the air the way Kelly's had. I didn't have to wait long.

I watched as the notes rose in the air. For a second or two, they made a sort of
triangle—with an acute angle. Mr. Adams would like that. He was always saying how important it is to apply what you learn at school to the real world.

When the wind died down, my notes dropped to the pavement. I leaned out the window and watched as one car drove over them, then another. Good riddance, I thought.

Georgie unzipped his backpack. Then he turned around to make sure we were the only ones who could see inside. “Look what I've got,” he whispered.

I saw the flash of metal before I realized what it was.

Jake shrugged. “Big deal! It's just a pair of scissors. what'd you do—raid your mother's sewing basket?”

Pierre nudged Georgie. “You making yourself a new dress?” he asked.

“I don't look good in dresses. But I thought of something else we could do with these scissors. Something fun.” Georgie raised his eyebrows toward the front of the bus, where Sandeep was sitting.

Why did these guys want to keep picking on Sandeep? Did they really think he was the snitch?

“So what's your plan?” Pierre asked.

“My plan is we give the guy a haircut. Sikhs don't believe in haircuts. It's against their religion or something.”

Jake snickered. “I'm beginning to see your point. Raghead needs a trim.”

“Exactly.”

The four of us were huddled together, like football players reviewing their game plan. usually, I liked hanging out like this with my buddies, but now I had a sick feeling in my stomach.

“So what do we do?” Pierre asked.

“ew're gonna have to get his turban off first.” Georgie looked up at me. “That's where you come in, Lucas.”

“I do?”

“Uh-huh. You're gonna distract him. Go talk to him about Rosa Parks or something.”

Hearing Rosa Parks's name made me feel even worse. we'd picked Rosa Parks because she'd stood up against racial discrimination, And here I was going along with a plan to discriminate against Sandeep for being Sikh.

I tried to think of some way to talk them out of it. “What if he starts hyperventilating again?” I asked.

Georgie rolled his eyes. “We'll get him a paper bag. It did the trick last time.” Then Georgie pressed his palm down on my right shoulder. It didn't hurt, but it didn't feel right, either. “Go for it, man,” he said.

Then he gave me a push that sent me flying down the crowded aisle.

Kelly winked when I passed her. Was she was just being friendly or did she know about Georgie's plan?

The driver stopped for a red light.

Jewel and one of her friends waved at
a guy in the next car. “He's really cute,” Jewel's friend said.

“And he looks nice.”

“Who cares about nice?”

When the guy waved back, the two girls fell to the floor, laughing. I had to step over the heap they made on the floor.

I looked up ahead. Sandeep's nose wasn't buried in a book. He was staring out the window. But he must have felt me coming because he looked up. He lifted one hand as if he was about to wave at me, but then he seemed to change his mind.

I knew Sandeep wasn't the snitch. And I knew he wasn't a bad guy. And I knew it would be wrong to cut his hair. He was entitled to his beliefs—just like people, no matter what color skin they had, were entitled to any seat on a bus.

I heard loud laughter coming from behind me. I didn't have to turn around to know it was Georgie—with his backpack and his mother's sewing scissors.

“Hey, Lucas, get a move on!” Jake called from behind him.

“Yeah, Lucas, let's go!” Pierre shouted.

I was only about a foot away from Sandeep. His eyebrows were raised, as if he couldn't quite figure out why I'd come all the way to the front of the bus to talk to him—when all my friends were watching.

Sandeep moved in a little closer to the guy sitting next to him. It took me a second to realize he was making room for me to sit down.

I put out my hand to stop him. “That's okay,” I said. “I'm not gonna sit.”

I could hear Georgie chuckling behind me.

Sandeep shook his head. I could tell he was confused. His eyes kept darting between me and Georgie. Sandeep must have sensed something was up. Something mean. He straightened his back.

That's when I knew I couldn't let my friends go ahead with their plan. This was one of those defining moments my mom had been talking about. I had to stand up— not just for Sandeep, but for myself too.

I thought about Rosa Parks and what
must have been going on inside her head when she refused to give up her seat to a white person. She must have been scared. But I bet she was angry too. and she must have known she was doing the right thing— and that gave her courage.

I needed some of Rosa Parks's courage.

I wasn't standing up against something big, like segregation, the way Rosa Parks had. But I was standing up for something I believed in. I wasn't going to get thrown into prison like Rosa Parks, but I was risking something too. By tomorrow, I might be sitting up here with the losers. Permanently.

“Hey, Sandeep.”

“Hey, Lucas.”

Georgie was pressing in behind me snapping the scissors.

That's when I sprung around. Georgie's eyes widened. “What ya doing, man?”

“Give me the scissors,” I said. “Now.” My voice sounded braver than I felt.

Georgie's dark eyes grew even darker. “No way.”

I tried to grab the scissors from him. But Georgie wouldn't let go.

“Fight! Fight!” voices called.

Kids rushed over from the back of the bus.

“One of them is armed!” Jewel Chu shouted.

I turned to Sandeep. “Open the window. Quick!”

The scissors scratched the back of my hand, but I managed to wrestle them away from Georgie. I knew I had to get rid of them, before something bad happened. “Is there anyone out there? any cars—any people?” My voice was cracking.

Sandeep turned to look out the window. “No,” he said, “no cars, no people.”

So I tossed the scissors out the window. They made a clanging noise when they hit the pavement.

Georgie was so angry he was shaking. “Why'd you do that, you jerk?” he shouted. “We were supposed to be having fun.”

Jake grabbed my shoulders. “Yeah, what's wrong with you Lucas?”

I shook myself loose from his grip. “You guys don't get it, do you? How come your idea of fun always means someone has to get hurt or humiliated? It's wrong. Plain wrong. and I've had enough.”

Someone clapped. It was probably Jewel. My cheeks felt hot.

Georgie put his hands on his hips, looked straight at me and laughed. Jake and Pierre laughed too. Pierre raised a finger to his forehead and made the shape of an L. “You're a loser, man,” he said.

Pierre was so close I could hear him breathing.

“I'll take that as a compliment.”

WHO'S THE SNITCH?

Kelly had used her finger to write the words on the back window. It had been pouring all day. The inside of the bus felt muggy, and the windows were misted over.

I headed to the middle. The guys at the back were ignoring me—and I'd turned down Sandeep's offer to sit with him. He didn't understand that just because I'd stood up for him didn't mean I wanted to be his best friend.

But when Valerie patted the empty spot next to her, I'd taken it. As I peeled off my windbreaker, I caught a whiff of her shampoo. It smelled like apples. There might be some advantages, I thought, to standing up for what you believed in.

It was the same seat I'd taken when I first rode the 121 Express. Of course, a lot had changed since then. For one thing, I'd made friends—and for another, I'd lost them.

Kelly was still busy writing on the window. She was working on a list of suspects. Jewel's name was first; Sandeep's was second.

Jewel threw her hands up in the air. “Why do I get blamed for everything?” The funny thing was she didn't sound upset. Maybe Jewel was the snitch—or maybe she just liked the attention.

Sandeep didn't lift his eyes from his physics textbook.

“Put Lucas's name up there too!” Pierre called out.

I felt my heart bump in my chest. I didn't like how Pierre and the others were
ignoring me, but accusing me of being the snitch was worse. Way worse.

Kelly didn't turn around. Her fingertip was pressed against the glass—poised to write. “Lucas can't be the snitch,” she said. “He's one of the guys who got turned in. Remember?”

“You never know...” When Pierre raised his voice I knew he wanted me to hear him. “Maybe he had it all planned out. Maybe Lucas isn't as dumb as he looks. what was it Mr. Adams called him?”

“Brainiac!” Jake shouted.

“Yeah, Brainiac might have masterminded the whole thing.”

I thought about taking out a textbook and hiding behind it—like Sandeep. My cover was blown. Now everyone would know about the Brainiac thing.

In the end, it was Valerie who rescued me. “Take a look at this picture I found of Mahatma Gandhi,” she said. When she leaned in to show me the picture, the top of her head touched the side of my arm. There was something about the color of
her hair that made me forget—for a few seconds, anyhow—how lousy I was feeling.

But then Pierre's soccer ball came flying through the air and hit the side of my head. Instead of complaining, I used my palm to send the ball back to Pierre.

“Are those Mentos?” I heard Georgie call out.

“You hate Mentos, Georgie,” Kelly said.

“I need them for a...a science experiment is all.”

Jake laughed. “A science experiment? Who do you think you are? Raghead? Or the Brainiac?”

Everyone turned to see what Georgie was up to—even Sandeep put down his book. I turned to look too.

Georgie had a small bottle of Diet Coke in his hands. He opened it up and handed Jake the plastic bottle cap. “Hey, do me a favor and make a hole in the cap. Now, okay?”

“Hey, do I look like your lab assistant?” Jake said, but he used his pen to puncture the cap and gave it back to Georgie.

Georgie slid something inside the bottle— it must have been one of those Mentos—and screwed the cap back on. He put his thumb over the hole in the cap, and then he shook the bottle up and down—hard. He made a hooting sound when he released his thumb.

Pow! The bottle flew out of Georgie's hands like a rocket and zoomed across the aisle. It hit a window, ricocheted off of it, and then crashed to the floor. There was Diet Coke everywhere—on the windows, on kids' clothes and backpacks and even dribbling down Georgie's face.

“Gross! It's so sticky!” voices screamed.