Chapter 18

Roger’s swim practice on Thursday morning was intense. One of the schools in Friday’s swim meet was their strongest competitor and their results against that team would be a good indication of how successful the season would be. So the coach really worked them hard, particularly on trying to avoid any early-start disqualifications.

Roger and Tom had a hurried conversation as they rushed through their showers to get to class.

“Tom, you and Cindy seem to have really hit it off. And hey, your sis is a really cool chick, by the way.”

“Thanks, Rog. Yeah, Jan and I are real close. I hated it when she left for college. She was my main support when we lost Dad ... She would come to my room and hold me and soothe me when I woke with nightmares during those first few months, while Mom was so deep in grief that she was dealing with her own feelings,” he looked down and then wiped his eyes. “So Jan really pulled me through and I love her to death. And Cindy? She’s just wonderful, you know. She’s smart, and cool, and funny, and just great to be around. If you’re worried about how I’ll treat...”

“It’s cool, Tom. I’m just happy that she seems happy to be with you. Say, see you after school, okay?” Roger said as he pulled on his shirt, closed his locker, and left.

So it was a tired Roger who trudged into his home room class that morning. He sat down and pulled out his bag of energy bars and drinks and began eating. Ayame leaned over and whispered to him.

“Nothing important in announcements, just your swim meet tomorrow, Roger. Other things not matter.”

“Mmmm hmmm,” he mumbled.

Several minutes later, the PA system came to life again.

“Your attention, all staff and students,” the principal announced. “There is one other announcement now, the details have just been finalized. Tomorrow morning, instead of home room, there will be a special assembly; attendance will be taken as you enter the auditorium so please be sure that you give your name to a teacher as you enter. We have to get everyone in, so please enter the auditorium as soon as you get to school. All freshmen and those sophomores having their home rooms in the E wing, please use the balcony entrances. Seniors use entrance doors E, juniors doors C, and the remaining sophomores doors A. Please use those doors and be orderly. Thank you, and please resume your classes.”

“Holy crap,” Roger muttered. “What gives? This must be hot stuff for a school-wide assembly like that.”

“Yeah,” Cynthia remarked. “Maybe there’ll be some scuttlebutt about this.”

Meanwhile a student had called the teacher’s attention. “Any idea what the assembly’s about, ma’am?” the student enquired.

“No, sorry, this is the first I’ve heard, so I’m in the dark about it too,” she answered. “Maybe we’ll hear more later today.”

The morning passed and they heard all sorts of rumors, but no concrete information. None of the teachers had information, or if they did, had been told not to share it. Ayame mentioned to Cynthia that she had seen Tom pass her Civics classroom as she was leaving it and had waved to her; he was walking with a group of guys and they were talking animatedly.

At gym, Roger went to the pool to get some work in on his fly stroke. The coach had recommended an adjustment in Roger’s technique that he thought might give him a tiny speed improvement and Roger was keen to practice it so that it would feel more natural.

It was during lunch period that it happened. After they finished eating, Ayame had to use the restroom, so she excused herself and went into the corridor, reminding herself that all girls, even ones not naked, needed to use the boys’ room. But when she entered the room, she suddenly was grabbed and pulled all the way into the room while a boy moved to hang a sign on the door and block it.

She tried to scream but the boy who had grabbed her clapped his hand over her mouth.

“Oh, look who we found,” the boy sneered. “It’s the Denisons’ Jap cousin. That’s really better than I hoped—let’s do this, guys. Hey, Jap girl. We were goin’ to get us a girl and have fun with her, since we can’t get a naked one in the Program. But you’re better. Tell your fuckin’ cousins that unless they stop messin’ with the Program, we’re gonna find you and you’ll really learn what it’s like to have some real men fuck you till you can’t walk, y’hear? And here’s a sample of what I mean...”

He tried to pull down her shorts with the hand not covering Ayame’s mouth but as he moved to reach for her waistband, she bit down hard on the hand he was holding over her mouth. He jerked it away cursing and Ayame screamed loudly, twisted in his grip, and brought up her knee, slamming it right into his groin. The guy howled and bent over as another kid grabbed Ayame, who turned and raked her nails over his face. The third guy grabbed her and managed to pull her shorts partway down, but he was the one who was keeping the door blocked and suddenly it was forced partly open and two girls started to try to squeeze in through the small opening.

“Get outta here,” the kicked guy gasped. “Out!”

He staggered to the open window and slid out, followed by the other two.

“Are you okay?” one of the girls shouted as they worked the door open wider, squeezed in, and then rushed to Ayame.

“はい [Hai], okay now, maybe, catch breath.” she panted.

“Did they hurt you?” the other asked.

“No, but if you didn’t come...” Ayame shuddered.

“What’s going on?” a new voice came. It was a male teacher. “What happened?”

Ayame explained.

“Do you know who the boys were? Describe what they were wearing?”

Ayame said she was so terrified that she didn’t actually recall any faces but did notice that the guys were wearing jeans and black polos and one had cowboy boots.

“Damn. That describes about 20 percent of the boys here,” the teacher mused. “Do you need to see the nurse? No? Sure? Well, let’s go to the office and I’ll need you to do an incident report.”

Just then Cynthia ran up.

“Ayame! It was you? I heard a girl was attacked in the boys’ room. Roger will be here in a sec. I told him to wait because he couldn’t go into the bathroom—he didn’t want to wait but I told him if I wasn’t right back ... ah, here he is.”

Roger grabbed Ayame. “Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?”

“No, Roger, I bit and kicked one and scratched another and then girls came. Not hurt, just scared.”

“She needs to come to the office for a report,” the teacher said gently.

“We’ll go too,” Roger said firmly.

The three of them set out for the office with the teacher trailing them, carrying the sign and doorstop.

Cynthia asked her if she could describe the guys. Ayame told her what she had told the teacher.

“Ehh! Forgot tattoo on one who grab me.”

“What was it? Where?” Cynthia prompted.

“Was like cross on upper arm, like tees crossed.”

“You mean like four ‘T’ letters joined at the base?” Cynthia asked.

“はい [Hai], like that.”

“Mmmm. I know I’ve seen that guy. Mean bastard. That’s a Templar cross, I think.”

They had reached the office; the teacher related what he had seen and Ayame dictated her report, including what the guy had threatened. Roger was enraged when he heard the details. Davis had come out while the teacher was talking and when Ayame finished, asked her a few questions.

Then he asked, “So they came in through the window?”

“Maybe. Probably. Nobody outside room say boys were inside.”

“Hmmm. The windows can’t be opened from outside, they put up that stolen school ‘Out of Order’ sign on the door, and used that wedge on the bottom to keep it shut, so they must have planned this for a while and got in earlier to disable the window lock. And the boy has a Templar cross, you think. But you couldn’t identify him otherwise?”

“Ah, no, not.”

“Well, I don’t think we’d be able to take action without a positive identification, then,” he mused. “Let me consult our school’s lawyer about what we can do.”

The three kids walked out of the office and into the hall.

“That’s shitty, the school can’t take action,” Roger growled. “I’m gonna kill them if I catch them.”

Cynthia put her hand on his arm. “Got a better idea, bro. Bet they went to the hangout those scum use, right? That tattoo on one of them. Another’s face is scratched, so we can ID him too. Here’s my plan...”