Chapter 28

I was lining up my shot and reminding myself I didn't need force. I took a breath and started the cue forward.

"Have you heard?" Robbie yelled as she ran in.

'I suppose I should consider myself lucky that I didn't rip the table felt.' I thought as I watched the cue ball jerk crookedly toward the corner pocket instead of the eight-ball.

"Ha! Scratch!" Mikee said as the ball dropped in the pocket. "You owe me a buck."

"That's okay," I said with a tight smile. "I'm taking it out of somebody's backside."

"What?" Robbie asked innocently.

"You have news?" Tami asked, trying to put off the murder.

"You heard about the accident?" Tami, Mikee and I nodded. There'd been a car accident Friday night after the game. A drunk driver ran Tim Reese and three other kids off the road. Other than that, it had been a quiet couple of weeks. Our last two games were easy wins, but not blow-outs like the Pirates.

"They're okay, aren't they?" Mikee asked. "That's what I heard."

Robbie nodded. "They're okay, just broken bones and stuff. But all four of them were in the play. Jeremy Wilkins has withdrawn. Mr. Reed called me. We're in if we want it."

I took a minute to digest that, trying to decide if it was good news or not.

"Should we go for it? Should we do The Basement?" Robbie asked after she couldn't take the silence any longer.

"We only have two-and-a-half weeks," Tami pointed out.

"Three-and-a-half," Robbie corrected. "Mr. Reed said he could push it back that far."

I looked at Mikee. "What do you think?" I could tell she knew what I meant.

"Is it... ?"

I nodded. "Mostly."

"What about... ?"

I shrugged. "Two are done. The one is done except for that one section. They've got good starts on the other three."

From the corner of my eye I saw Robbie looking questioningly at Tami. "What the hell?"

Tami shrugged. "They've had some kind of secret for a couple weeks."

I worked hard at not grinning. "So what do you think?" I asked Mikee.

She hesitated. "We should ask... ?"

I nodded. "Why don't you call 'em."

Mikee nodded and headed for her house.

"Game of pool?" I asked Robbie.

"What was that all about?"

"We had a perfectly normal conversation. Weren't you listening?"

Robbie's look wasn't amused.

Tami moved smoothly between us and looked me in the eye. "If you think Parker enjoyed messing with your life, just keep pissing off Monster Girl."

I nodded, knowing she was right.

We'd heard last week that Parker had submitted his resignation and wouldn't face the school board's hearing. I wondered if he's find another job or have to learn to say, "Would you like fries with that?"

I gently moved Tami to the side and addressed Robbie. "My bestest friend in the world, Mikee and I have been working on something and are trying to decide if it's ready for prime time... We'll know in a minute. In the meantime, would you care for a game of pool to take your mind off it?"

Robbie considered. She knew how I felt about secrets that weren't mine to tell. "Lag for break?"

Mikee came back while Robbie was winning her third game. We were playing rotation and I hadn't gotten a shot yet.

Mikee nodded. I put my useless cue back in the rack and said, "Let's go back to my house."

Robbie looked up from her shot. "You just don't want to lose three in a row," she accused.

"Okay, finish wiping the table with me, then let's go to my house."

Robbie laid her cue on the table. "Do you really think I'm that petty?"

I warred with myself. The desire to say yes versus the desire to keep my testicles attached to my body. My balls won. I took Tami's hand, and we started walking.

At my house I had Mikee and Robbie sit while Tami got drinks and I went to my room, fired up my computer, and started printing. While the printer churned, and I wished for the one thousand three hundred and seventh time that I had a laser, I went back and knocked on Traci's door.