Page 24 of The Wrong Side of Kai
I slip Harrison’s phone into the pocket of my hoodie and turn around along with Kai, and we come face-to-face with Coach Maverick as he approaches us. He stops a few feet away, hands on his hips. He’s old, verging on retirement, but he’s a permanent fixture at Westerville North. Kind of a legend and basically part of the furniture. He furrows his thick, graying eyebrows at us.
“Hey, Coach Maverick,” I say with a polite smile. “This is my friend, Kai Washington. He just transferred here, and he plays football, so I thought I’d show him around. Sorry.” It’s almost a convincing lie, and I see the creases of suspicion on Coach Maverick’s forehead fading away.
“You aren’t supposed to be in here,” Coach says, but then turns to Kai with keen interest. “Where did you transfer from?”
Kai looks down at the floor and blushes a little as he admits, “Central, Sir.”
“Ouch,” Coach says, placing a hand on his chest as though he’s been wounded. An enemy player standing in his own locker room. . . “You guys beat us good last weekend,” he acknowledges with an appreciative nod. “If you’re interested in playing for us, I’m sure I could find a spot for you. I’m not sure my guys would like it, though.”
“No thanks, Coach,” Kai says. He glances up and smiles. “I’d much rather get hit by a bus.”
Coach Maverick’s mouth parts in shock, but then it slowly transforms into a smile. “Alright, you guys really need to get out of here. Don’t snoop around again without my permission first.”
He doesn’t need to tell us twice. Kai and I set off like rockets, bursting into a sprint the moment we walk out of the locker house. We’re laughing as we run, enjoying the thrill of our getaway, and we only slow to a stop when we’re back outside the school entrance. I bend over, hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath between giggles.
“Good work on the quick thinking,” Kai compliments, leaning back against the wall of the school building for support. He’s breathing heavily, his lips parted. “I thought we were totally busted there for a second.”
I straighten up, finally recovered. “He totally believed me too. I swear, you can get yourself out of any situation just by feigning innocence.”
“Let’s hope so,” Kai says. “Never admit anything, huh? I think this calls for some food.” He pulls out the swiped thirty bucks from his pocket and passes the notes to me.
Our hands brush together and we both freeze in the moment, caught out by the feeling of his skin against mine. I stare at our hands together, only the cash between them, and wonder what it would be like toreallyhold his hand properly. I fight the urge to drop the dollar bills and interlock our fingers.
We both glance up. Kai gives me that smirk again, the same one he gave me when we met in the office yesterday, though I swear I see him blush as he pushes the cash into the palm of my hand and then steps back.
“It’s on Harrison.”
9
“I’m sure I could find a hacker on Craigslist,” Kai muses in between mouthfuls of his cheeseburger.
We’re sitting opposite one another in a booth in Delaney’s Diner. We’re just past the outskirts of Westerville, south of the Outerbelt, the interstate that circles Columbus and serves as a border line between the city and suburbia. We biked here, sticking to the sidewalks during daylight hours to avoid the traffic, and now our bikes are locked up to a mailbox outside the diner.
“Chyna is smart when it comes to computers,” I say, remembering her offer. Chyna’s sort of a tech whizz. Last year when my Mac seized up, she managed to remotely move my entire database over to an external hard drive so that I still had access to all my files. How much harder could it be to do that with an iPhone? Easier, I bet. “She already said she could help.”
“And who is Chyna?” Kai asks, giving me a blank stare.
“My best friend.”
“Do we really want to bring her in to this?”
“She already knows,” I say sheepishly. Was Inotsupposed to share Operation Harr-assassinate with my best friend? Chyna always gets to know everything. That’s just how it works.
Kai rolls his eyes. “Of course she does,” he mumbles as he bites into his burger again. He chews slowly for a few seconds, then swallows. “Okay, we can try your friend first. Then Craigslist. Then the dark web. And if none of that works, then I’m smashing the phone.”
I nod in agreement and return to the buffalo chicken sandwich I ordered. It tastes even better knowing that we’re paying for this with Harrison’s money. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why did you transfer to our school?”
Kai leans back in the booth, sipping his Pepsi. He’s quiet while he studies me, like he knew this question was coming. “Got kicked out of Central.”
I kind of guessed that. You can’t just up and transfer for no reason. Usually, it’s because you have no choice – like when you’re expelled. “You’re going to have to give me more than that,” I say.
“Got kicked out of Central for fighting.” When I still stare expectantly across the booth at him, he groans and sets his drink back down. “Okay, fine. I already got suspended once in sophomore year for fighting, so when I was involved in that brawl at the game last weekend, I didn’t stand a chance. Two strikes and you’re out.” He shrugs nonchalantly and tosses a fry into his mouth, but I don’t buy his cool attitude. I see a flicker of regret in his eyes that suggests he cares more than he’s letting on about getting kicked out of school.
“So whydidyou get involved in the brawl?”
