Lucky Cap (8 page)

The cap was not in Chase's duffel. But I got caught while I was looking for it in Chase's duffel. By Chase. He made such a big stink about it, I got called into Coach's office the next day.

“Why did you get into Chase's duffel?” Coach asked me after I sat down. No beating around the bush when it came to this guy.

“I was… looking for something,” I tried.

“The something you ‘lost' yesterday?” he asked. He didn't wait for me to answer. “Did you suspect Chase of taking something that belonged to you?”

How had he figured all this out? Was he some sort of genius? Or psychic? Or maybe wizard? Good or bad?

“No, sir,” I lied.

“This something you ‘lost,' did you lose it during the pep rally?”

“Yes.”

“Was it in your locker?”

“Yes.” At least I thought it was.

“I saw someone else in the locker room during the rally,” Coach said. “Near your locker, as a matter of fact.”

“You
did
?” I gasped. “Who?”

“I was ducking back into my office for my clipboard, and I was surprised to see someone in here…”

“And he was near my locker?” I could barely breathe.

“
She
was. It was one of the cheerleaders. I'm not certain which. I only saw her from behind. She was running for the door to the hall.”

My mind crashed. Then rebooted. Then raced.

Why didn't he tell me this yesterday?
When he found me bawling on the floor? If he was such a genius, why hadn't he put two and two together?

And why was a cheerleader in the boys' locker room? And why right before a pep rally? And why by my locker? Was she
in
my locker? Did she take my cap?

What would a cheerleader want with my cap? More important,
which
cheerleader would want my cap?

Misa, maybe. She had a crush on me. Maybe she wanted something of mine. Something dear to me. Would she want it enough to go into the boys' locker room? During a pep rally?

How about Mackenzie? She loved pranks. But this was pretty crazy even for her.

Cassie? The student council secretary? I couldn't think of a single reason why.

Analisa? No! She would never do that to me.

Would she?

She was a girl, after all, and it was a girl who was in the locker room, and girls were definitely not to be trusted.

I wished Coach had gotten a better look.

“Listen, Enzo,” he said, “if something of yours was taken on school property, you should report it.”

No way,
I thought. No squealing. A guy is dead if he squeals.

“I think I just misplaced it.”

“Can you tell me what it was so I can keep an eye out for it?”

“Uh…,” I said, trying to think of a reason not to tell him.

“I see you're wearing a new cap today,” he said.

It was true: I was wearing one of my backup caps, a truly amazing one, a Kap cap, of course, but not a prototype. Not lucky or magic. Not to my knowledge, anyway. I'd never worn it. Why would I?

“So was it that fine cap you usually wear that you, uh…
misplaced
?” he asked.

He definitely possessed super mental powers of some kind. There was no point fighting him. I nodded.

“And you thought your friend Chase took it and hid it in his duffel,” he said—not asked. He had everything all figured out.

I nodded again.

“I'm afraid that will cost you a lunch detention,” he said.

My heart fell from my chest down into one of my feet. Detention?
Detention?
What happened to the think time? Didn't that come first? Why the bold leap straight to detention?

“Remember,” Coach went on, “according to school rules, three detentions disqualifies you from participating in school sports. So be careful.”

I gasped. Disqualify? No team?

“Also, I want to see you here after last period today. Since the incident happened on a sports-related trip, you will receive a separate consequence.”

I nearly passed out. Really. I don't know how I stayed conscious. I wasn't exactly a saint, but I wasn't used to getting into this kind of trouble.

“You will need to apologize to the team. You will also need to write formal apologies to the principal of Lardo Middle School and to Ms. Kish.”

I gulped. Aloud.

“I'll have some extra wind sprints for you,” he added. “And that's all.” Then he looked down at some papers on his desk.

The meeting was over. Time for me to leave.

“C-Coach,” I said, then wished I hadn't. But I needed to know. “Will I be st-starting next F-Friday?”

“No,” he said. Not “I'm sorry,” or “I'm afraid not.” Just “No.” Firm. Direct. Final.

“Thanks, Coach,” I said, and left.

Detention is sitting somewhere you don't want to be sitting, usually for an hour.

I sat and ate my lunch in the Detention Center. I sat with other detainees, as the Detention Center supervisor called us. They weren't hardened criminals or anything. Just kids. Boys and girls. Mostly boys.

We were released when the bell rang. I walked (not ran—I did not want to get into more trouble) toward the Student Commons. I hoped to talk to Misa before the next period started. I found her among a clump of chattering girls.

“Misa!” I called, and ran over to them.

The girls shut up at once and stared. Then they started whispering and tittering.

“Oh, hi, Enzo,” Misa said without a drop of enthusiasm. What happened here? Where was the dopey smile, the embarrassing compliments, and the getting too close to me all the time? What happened to that crush of hers? Did crushes evaporate,
poof,
just like that? Having no real experience with them, I couldn't say.

Apparently, though, they could be shifted, like a sniper changes targets. Misa now targeted Chase. Maybe she was behind the heist after all. Maybe she stole the cap because she was mad at me for not crushing on her back. Maybe she then handed it to Chase to win him over, which was why he played so well. Which was why she started crushing on him!
Which was why she stole the cap!

Wait. That couldn't be right.

“Can I talk to you?” I asked.

The girls giggled.

“Sure,” Misa said. “Go on. Talk.”

More giggling.

“I meant
alone,
” I said.

“Oh,” she said, pretending to catch on when she'd known exactly what I'd meant all along. “But it's almost time for the late bell to ring…”

“It'll only take a second,” I said, and reached out to take her arm.

“Hey!” she said, pulling it away. “Not so grabby!”

“Ooh, Chase won't like that,” one of the girls said.

“Come on, Misa,” I said, reaching for her arm.

She slapped my hand.

“Ow!” I said, though it didn't really hurt. Why do girls get to hit guys whenever they want?

“I'm not going
any
where with you, Mr. Grabby,” she said. “In fact, if you don't leave me alone this instant, you will find yourself in a lot of trouble.”

Trouble? I didn't want that. I took a step back.

“What's the matter with you?” I whined. “I mean, you
liked
me, like, yesterday!”

The girls all thought this was very funny.

“So why were you in the boys' locker room during the pep rally, Misa?” I asked in a loud, clear voice.

The girls stopped giggling and gaped at me. Misa's face turned red, which was as good as a confession to me.

“Coach Keller saw you,” I announced.

“Coach Keller?” she asked, her voice breaking slightly.

The girls started whispering.

“He saw a cheerleader by
my
locker,” I said.

Misa peeked around at her friends as if she didn't know how to answer this, what to say in front of them, whether or not they believed me. Then she laughed.

“But how would I even know which locker was
yours
?” she asked.

Hmm. I hadn't thought of that.

“Coach Keller must have made a mistake,” she said. “Maybe he saw a cheerleader, but it wasn't me. I've never been in a boys' locker room in my life. And hope I never will!”

The girls answered, “Yeah!”

“Well…,” I said slowly. “I suppose Coach didn't say it was you
exactly.
I just figured it was you because… well… because you… you know…
liked
me.”

“I
knew
you didn't know what you were talking about!” Misa laughed. “Let's go, girls!”

They all spun around and marched off, honking like geese.

That had not gone well.

I still believed Misa had been the cheerleader in the locker room, though. How was I going to prove it?

Process of elimination, maybe. I would talk to the other cheerleaders and see if they acted guilty, find out if they had alibis.

Misa, Cassie, Lance, Kai, and Iris were in my next class—social studies. Cassie wasn't there yet. I sat by Iris.

“Hello, juvenile delinquent,” she said.

“How'd you hear about it?”

“It's all over school. You broke into your best friend's duffel bag. You got busted. Now he has your spot on the team, and the class president had to go to jail.”

“Shut up,” I said. She was talking pretty loud.

Cassie came through the door and took a seat in the front row, like always. I didn't have time to talk to her before the bell rang. I'd have to wait till after class.

I worried during class instead of paying attention to the teacher. My parents didn't know about the duffel incident, or the detention, or Coach's “consequences.” This was a lot bigger trouble than I'd ever gotten into before. I didn't know how they were going to take it. I also didn't know if any of it went on my permanent record, if it would hurt my chances of working for Kap someday. I sure hoped not.

Lance turned to sneer at me quite a few times. He didn't bother hiding his hatred anymore. He let it breathe. It was like he thought I deserved it. Why? Because I peeked into Chase's bag. Big deal. Chase stole my cap.

Or did he? Maybe he'd put his goon Lance up to the job. Lance would have jumped at the chance to hurt me. He went to the game on the fan bus. Maybe he had the cap with him, which was how Chase got so lucky during the game. Maybe Lance kept it in his school locker. I thought maybe I should check and see…

No. I couldn't break into anyone else's stuff. Too risky. But boy, did I want a peek in that slimy creep's locker…

Kai sat a couple seats over from Lance. He stared at me till I looked over at him. His name was on my suspect list, too, but I realized right then he couldn't possibly have taken the cap. Kai was incapable of doing anything dangerous or illegal. He was so terrified of getting into trouble that some nights he couldn't sleep because he was so worried he'd accidentally committed a crime that day.

Besides, he could never have done something so low to me. Me and him went way back. Maybe things weren't like they used to be, and maybe he was sore about that, but we still had a bond. We actually did the blood-brother, pinprick thing when we were little. Kai would never hurt me the way the scum-sucking scumbag who stole my cap did. No way. Not my blood brother.

I was so sure he couldn't have stolen it, in fact, that I began to wonder if I should make him my top suspect. Isn't it always the least likely person in crime stories who ends up being the culprit?

Trying to think like a criminal was tricky.

I almost missed the way things were before the cap. Life was simpler then. Less drama. Less excitement. Less fun. But less girls. Less trouble. Less worries. I wondered if it wouldn't be too long before I'd be living that life again. I wondered if Kai would ever forgive me for being such a stuck-up jerk and be my best friend again. Of course he would. What other choice would he have?

Class finally ended, and I caught up with Cassie in the hall. She stepped away from me when I said hi, like she was scared of me.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she lied.

Something was definitely up. Was she feeling guilty? Or was I just too eager to talk to her? I'd never just walked up to her and said hi before. I barely even talked to her during class officer meetings. No one did. She just sat there and took minutes. For a cheerleader, she was pretty shy. I really couldn't imagine her ever going into a boy's locker room. Still…

“Did you go into the boys' locker room before the pep rally yesterday?” I asked. I wanted to put it out there fast and see how she reacted.

She scrunched up her nose like she smelled something stinky, and said, “WHAT? The
boys
' locker room? Why?”