NOW & FOREVER
Chapter Twelve
"All right, everyone! Line up!" Mr.
Richardson blew hard on his whistle, startling the milling students out of
their conversations.
Rose stood on her number, trying to avoid
looking at Jack, who stood next to her. He ignored her, acting as though she
didn’t exist. Rose supposed that she should be glad that they hadn’t had to
line up the previous day—she would have hated to have had that fight with Jack
in front of everyone.
Now, he simply ignored her. She glanced at
him, but he stared straight ahead, looking for all the world as though he were
intensely interested in the wall.
As Mr. Richardson finished taking role, there
was a surprised murmur from the class as one of the vice principals walked in,
followed by a security guard. They conferred with Mr. Richardson for a moment,
then stood before the class.
"Students, we know that some of you were
quite distressed by the incident that took place here two days ago, when one of
the students cut the line holding the basketball hoop to the wall, allowing it
to swing down and entrap your teacher. Fortunately, someone had the bravery to
step up, and we now know who the culprit is."
The security guard gestured to Jack, who
stepped reluctantly out of line. He looked back for a moment, wondering who had
turned him in. His eyes narrowed as they fell on Rose. Who else had known what
he was up to? Who else could have turned him in?
"Students, as you know, knives and other
weapons are forbidden on campus. It is also forbidden to destroy school
property or endanger the safety of teachers and students. We won’t say who
turned him in, but we do thank you."
That said, they left the gym, Jack dragging
his feet and casting angry looks at Rose.
Gary laughed. "Look at him! You just
can’t trust these low class people."
Rose turned on him. "Shut up, Gary! You
laughed as hard as anybody. Maybe you even turned him in!"
Gary shrugged. "It looks like he thinks you
turned him in, Rose. I’d watch out for him, if I were you!"
"I didn’t turn him in!" Rose
responded angrily. "Maybe it was a dumb thing to do, but we all thought it
was funny!"
"Watch out for him, Rose. Even though
you didn’t turn him in, he thinks you did, and I bet he’ll come after you. Low
class people like him aren’t very smart, you know."
"He’s as smart as any one of us, and a
talented artist! Just because he doesn’t have money like we do—"
"Ooh…someone has a crush on him,"
Amanda teased.
"I do not! I just—there’s no reason to
make fun of him for getting caught doing something that all of us enjoyed
watching!"
Holding her head high, Rose marched away from
them toward the other end of the basketball court, but she could still hear the
snickers and taunts following her.
I hate my world. I really do. I wish I
could just get away from all of them. Why do they have to be so mean? Jack
never hurt any of them—and neither did I.