Page 54 of Ward D
I glance over at Jade, who doesn’t even look the slightest bit worried. She scratches at her elbow and slides right back into her desk. She lifts her eyes to look at Mr. Riordan with a bored expression on her face. If I didn’t know she had stolen that exam right out of his desk—if I hadn’t seen it with my very own eyes—I would swear she hadn’t done a thing wrong.
She did steal it, didn’t she? I didn’t just imagine the whole thing…
God, what’s wrong with me lately?
I slide back into my own desk, an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Mr. Riordan is staring at the two of us, but mostly me. His scalp is sweaty, and the strands combed over his bald skull have become frizzy. One stray lock of hair slides down onto his forehead, turning itself into bangs.
“I want to talk to you about the midterm yesterday,” Mr. Riordan begins. “About one of the test papers that was missing.”
Oh no.
I hazard another look at Jade, who has the slightest hint of a smile playing on her lips. I want to smack it off her. It’s her fault we’re here right now. It was her stupid idea to steal that test.
“Did you find it?” Jade asks in a flat voice.
“I did not.” He looks between the two of us. “And I was concerned about where it went. So I asked the janitor yesterday if any students were around here after hours the day before. And he described the two of you.” He leans in closer and that moldy cheese smell makes me gag. “He told me he let you into the classroom.”
“He got us mixed up with someone else.” Jade waves a hand. “I’m sure we all look alike to him.”
Mr. Riordan is quiet for a moment. “I showed him your photos in last year’s yearbook.”
My future flashes before my eyes. A failing grade would have been bad, but I could have come back from that. Stealing a test from a teacher’s desk is cause for suspension, at the very least. It’s the kind of thing that ends up on your permanent record.Cheating.
I see my entire future being flushed down the drain.
Jade, on the other hand, doesn’t look worried. “Come on. That guy barely speaks English.”
“Regardless.” His lips twist into a sneer. “I will be referring this matter to the principal tomorrow morning. You can explain to him why you were snooping around my classroom right before a test went missing.”
With those words, Mr. Riordan returns to his desk and starts gathering his belongings. I want to do the same, but my body feels frozen. I watch him lean over, the buttons on his shirt straining over his gut. Of all the teachers who could catch us stealing an exam, he is easily the worst. There won’t be any leniency from this man.
When I finally manage to get to my feet, my legs wobble beneath me. I’m not even sure if I can make it out of the room, but somehow I get to the door on my own steam. Jade doesn’t seem nearly as shaken. She waits for me outside the classroom, studying her nails, which are coated in a layer of chipped glittery gold nail polish.
She squints up at me. “You okay, Amy?”
“No, I am not okay,” I snip at her. I grab her by the arm and haul her down to the end of the hallway, out of earshot of Mr. Riordan. “We are in big trouble. You know that, right?”
Jade snorts. “What are you so worried about? You didn’t look at the test. If you bombed it, then how can he claim you cheated, right?”
And then I’m quiet.
“Amy!” Jade cackles at me—it’s maddening how amused she is. “You didn’t! Oh my God, after that fuss you made about how it was wrong to cheat, blah blah blah, then you went and looked at the test?”
“I didn’t want to fail,” I mumble.
I would have failed if I hadn’t rifled through the garbage in my bedroom and pulled out the copy of the test Jade brought me. At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. But I should’ve gone with my gut. An honest F would have been better than what’s about to happen to me.
Anyway, it’s irritating that Jade won’t stop laughing.
“This isn’t funny!” I cry. “Jade, do you realize how screwed we are? We’re going to get suspended for sure. Maybe expelled.”
“Nah.” She lifts a shoulder. “I doubt it.”
My face grows warm. “Maybe you don’t care, but I actually have plans for my life. I want to go to college and medical school. I don’t want to get kicked out of high school for cheating, okay?”
“Right, and I’m just a loser with no future, so what do I care?”
Hurt fills Jade’s delicate features. If it were any other time, I’d feel bad about what I said. But I don’t feel bad right now. This is all her fault.
