can ever happen if
you don’t give it a chance.
Just as that thought crosses my mind, I catch sight of Jagger.
He glances away quickly, as if he doesn’t want me to notice he’s been
watching.
My heart lurches. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was
jealous.
* * *
My cell rings. Surfacing from what feels like an
underground cave, I squint at the sunlight, then my cell. Not quite noon.
“Omar! Are you in trouble?”
“Whatchu think, sista?”
“But you saved everyone!”
The thing I’d seen in his hands as he rushed toward the flames was a fire extinguisher. By the time
Engine Company 224 arrived, he and Raul had put the fire out.
Omar laughs drily. “Got a couple of points from Dad for not
being the wuss he usually thinks I am—but not enough.”
“Grounded?”
“Oh yeah. But I didn’t call to bitch. I have to show you
something. Can you come over?”
“When?”
“Soon as you can.”
* * *
Even with the basement door propped open, the burned
smell is nasty. Omar does not look like himself. He isn’t wearing a single scarf
or ounce of jewelry. Instead, he’s got on dirty jeans, an old shirt, work gloves
and a dorky pair of boots. Lumpy trash bags, buckets and sooty sponges fill the
room.
Raul holds a mop.
“Didn’t know you were here, too,” I tell him.
“Stopped by half an hour ago. Just wanted to make sure
everything was cool.”
“That’s nice of you.” Remembering my thoughts after last
night’s hug, I shoot him an extra-warm smile.
He shrugs modestly. “I’m a nice guy. I was helping Omar fold
tables when we found it.”
“Found what?”
Omar points to the corner. The words are spray-painted across
the bottom of the wall.
MP was here, suckers.
“Holy shit!” I cry. “They came to the party!”
Omar cocks an eyebrow. “At least one of them.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. Anyone from school could have
written that,” Raul points out. “It’s not their regular writing.”
“Oh, come on! Stencils take time,” I say. “People would notice.
Damn. Why didn’t we think about this before? Of course MP would come to a masked
party. It was the perfect place to hide in plain sight—” The next thought takes
my breath away. “Omigod! Do you think one of them started the fire? On purpose? ”
Omar blinks. “That would explain how it happened. I’m not dumb.
I didn’t hang decorations near any of the candles. So, really, how did it start?”
“People were smoking. Somebody with a match or lighter wasn’t
paying attention and whoosh—fire’s lit.” Raul shakes his head. “It’s a big leap,
guys. How do you go from hanging underwear to pyromania?”
“Don’t forget the dead bird,” I say. “Okay, maybe it started as
a joke. A sick prank that got out of control. Someone in MP was fooling around,
lit a streamer and didn’t realize the whole mess would go up.”
Raul picks up the water bucket he’s using to mop. “I still
think it was an accident. No one at WiHi is that stupid—or that evil—to burn
down a house with everyone inside.”
PART TWO
NOVEMBER
12
A Team puts together a broadcast on the fire.
“Your crew can’t do it because it’s a conflict of interest,”
Scott tells me after listing it on the whiteboard. He looks surprised when I
don’t argue.
“Go for it!”
Hailey interviews Omar, who “neglects” to mention what he found
on the wall. Even though she and Scott shot footage of the basement, they don’t
see the writing. That’s because Omar painted over the words so that his parents
wouldn’t see them. He took a few decent pictures before he did it though, in
case we need them for a future broadcast.
Next, A Team talks to kids who “saw it all.” Of course, by
Tuesday, half the two thousand kids at WiHi claim to have been there. No one
wants to admit that they didn’t go to the most exciting party of the year.
For a Community Story, the captain of Engine Company 224 makes
a plea for fire safety. The
you don’t give it a chance.
Just as that thought crosses my mind, I catch sight of Jagger.
He glances away quickly, as if he doesn’t want me to notice he’s been
watching.
My heart lurches. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was
jealous.
* * *
My cell rings. Surfacing from what feels like an
underground cave, I squint at the sunlight, then my cell. Not quite noon.
“Omar! Are you in trouble?”
“Whatchu think, sista?”
“But you saved everyone!”
The thing I’d seen in his hands as he rushed toward the flames was a fire extinguisher. By the time
Engine Company 224 arrived, he and Raul had put the fire out.
Omar laughs drily. “Got a couple of points from Dad for not
being the wuss he usually thinks I am—but not enough.”
“Grounded?”
“Oh yeah. But I didn’t call to bitch. I have to show you
something. Can you come over?”
“When?”
“Soon as you can.”
* * *
Even with the basement door propped open, the burned
smell is nasty. Omar does not look like himself. He isn’t wearing a single scarf
or ounce of jewelry. Instead, he’s got on dirty jeans, an old shirt, work gloves
and a dorky pair of boots. Lumpy trash bags, buckets and sooty sponges fill the
room.
Raul holds a mop.
“Didn’t know you were here, too,” I tell him.
“Stopped by half an hour ago. Just wanted to make sure
everything was cool.”
“That’s nice of you.” Remembering my thoughts after last
night’s hug, I shoot him an extra-warm smile.
He shrugs modestly. “I’m a nice guy. I was helping Omar fold
tables when we found it.”
“Found what?”
Omar points to the corner. The words are spray-painted across
the bottom of the wall.
MP was here, suckers.
“Holy shit!” I cry. “They came to the party!”
Omar cocks an eyebrow. “At least one of them.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. Anyone from school could have
written that,” Raul points out. “It’s not their regular writing.”
“Oh, come on! Stencils take time,” I say. “People would notice.
Damn. Why didn’t we think about this before? Of course MP would come to a masked
party. It was the perfect place to hide in plain sight—” The next thought takes
my breath away. “Omigod! Do you think one of them started the fire? On purpose? ”
Omar blinks. “That would explain how it happened. I’m not dumb.
I didn’t hang decorations near any of the candles. So, really, how did it start?”
“People were smoking. Somebody with a match or lighter wasn’t
paying attention and whoosh—fire’s lit.” Raul shakes his head. “It’s a big leap,
guys. How do you go from hanging underwear to pyromania?”
“Don’t forget the dead bird,” I say. “Okay, maybe it started as
a joke. A sick prank that got out of control. Someone in MP was fooling around,
lit a streamer and didn’t realize the whole mess would go up.”
Raul picks up the water bucket he’s using to mop. “I still
think it was an accident. No one at WiHi is that stupid—or that evil—to burn
down a house with everyone inside.”
PART TWO
NOVEMBER
12
A Team puts together a broadcast on the fire.
“Your crew can’t do it because it’s a conflict of interest,”
Scott tells me after listing it on the whiteboard. He looks surprised when I
don’t argue.
“Go for it!”
Hailey interviews Omar, who “neglects” to mention what he found
on the wall. Even though she and Scott shot footage of the basement, they don’t
see the writing. That’s because Omar painted over the words so that his parents
wouldn’t see them. He took a few decent pictures before he did it though, in
case we need them for a future broadcast.
Next, A Team talks to kids who “saw it all.” Of course, by
Tuesday, half the two thousand kids at WiHi claim to have been there. No one
wants to admit that they didn’t go to the most exciting party of the year.
For a Community Story, the captain of Engine Company 224 makes
a plea for fire safety. The
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