Did You Get What You Deserve?

There followed a period of mutiny in class. Not a single person in our form room liked Mr Dean. Alec had been loved by everybody, so it was hardly surprising that no-one gave the slightest fuck what Mr Dean thought. The jocks dropped sports equipment on his head as he passed the gym, the druggies put pills in his coffee, the art freaks drew insulting pictures, sang offensive songs and did rude impressions, and the nerds sent him viruses. I enlisted the help of Joanne McAfee, a computer nerd, in hacking into his computer to access all his files. To her, it was a simple prank, but to me it held to key to Alec’s freedom. If we found something that proved the whole thing was a conspiracy, and spammed it out to the whole school, it would make our job a hell of a lot easier.

“Alecsandra Iero! Wake up!”

The ruler smacked down on the desk in front of me. I sat bolt upright, jerking my hands out of the way to avoid having them whacked.

“Ow!”

Mr Dean smiled a sickly smile.

“Maybe that will teach you not to fall asleep in my class, Miss Iero.”

I scowled at him, and as soon as his back was turned I pulled the finger. James snickered and flicked a rubber band at his back. Then there was a knock on the door. As Mr Dean crossed the room to open it, I saw a flicker of movement at the back of the class, and suddenly Alana was kneeling at my elbow.

“Got a plan yet?” she whispered.

I shook my head, keeping an eye on Mr Dean.

“Right,” she said. “In that case, I think the time has come to abandon all principles.”

I nodded. I still didn’t like Alana, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Truce?” she asked.

I took the extended hand.

“Truce,” I agreed.

“Brilliant,” she whispered, darting back to her desk as Mr Dean turned around.

“Miss Morgan.”

“Yes Sir?”

“May I ask why you were out of your seat?”

I turned around. Alana bit her lip, appearing deep in thought.

“No Sir,” she said finally. “You may not.”

Mr Dean’s expression grew, if possible, even more sour.

“Well, I am,” he said coldly. “And if you don’t want a detention, you will answer.”

Alana smiled.

“Oh well,” she said, and sat down. I grinned. One of the things I had most hated about Alana was now becoming very useful. There is nothing more annoying than being ignored, and boy did Alana know how to be annoying.

“Miss Morgan,” said Mr Dean dangerously, “see me after class.”

Alana tipped her head onto one side, smiling in that annoying vacant way.

“No, I don’t think I will, thanks,” she said.

Mr Dean strode to the back of the class and leaned down to say something quietly to her. As he straightened up and walked back to his desk, I caught sight of Alana’s face. Her expression was worried, but as she caught my eye she winked and tried to smile. I could only think that whatever he had threatened her with, it might help us in some way.

After class, James and I waited outside for Alana to come out. When she did, she looked pale.

“Oh, hello,” she said, “I didn’t expect you to be waiting, seeing as you hate me and all.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Didn’t we say truce?”

She nodded, almost smiling.

“That we did.”

She fell into step beside us as we headed towards our lockers.

“So,” I said, “how did he torture you?”

“He didn’t. He just subtly threatened to hurt my family.”

“He what?!”

“I know. He asked about my brother, what his job was. I told him he was a construction worker. He said that must be a dangerous job, that it would be such a shame if anything happened to him.”

I stopped.

“He’s blackmailing you!”

“That he is. Are we going to let it get to us? No.”

I sighed. This complicated matters. Having Alana as an ally was not what I had in mind. I knew she genuinely liked Alec, but as far as I was concerned she could just worry on her own. Up until now, that is. Now she had a personal interest in the matter. Well, if it had to come to that, we could use all the help we could get.

“Alright, Alana. Your priority is making sure you cause as much trouble as you can, without getting yourself expelled. And make sure he doesn’t hurt any family members.”

“Right.”

“And we will focus on saving my brother’s butt.”