CHAPTER 15
"Adler in your first period today?" Bo asked Jimmy, as they were passing in the hall on Friday morning.
"Nope. Mackie in yours?"
"No." Bo said. "I'm not BELIEVING these dudes are actually staying home trying to pull this off."
"I don't like it," Jimmy said.
"They get caught," Bo said, lowering his voice, "Mrs. McCoy might not be able to get them out of there so easy this time."
"I know," Jimmy said. "Thing of it is, guys with smart, geeky brains like that, they want to use them. They like the challenge."
"Kind of like it's a chess match," Bo said.
"Unfortunately," said Jimmy.
The day went by quickly. Right before the end of 7th period, Mr. Riggins came on the public address system.
"Your attention, if I may," he said. "We are pleased that so many of you have chosen to participate in tomorrow night's presentation of the annual Huckabee Talent Show. For your convenience, you will find the schedule of performances now online at the school website. Good luck to all!
"And just one more thing," he said, "Will Mr. Ridley and Mr. Martin please see me in my office after the bell."
Bo slowly turned around and looked at Jimmy. Jimmy's mouth was stuck in the open position.
"He figured something out," Bo said. "This is not going to be good."
Jimmy tried to speak but nothing came out that you could understand.
"We gotta stay calm," Bo said, his voice shaking. "The main thing--he asks us a question we can't give a safe answer to, don't answer at all."
Jimmy gave a weak nod. A second later the bell rang, and they stood up and headed to the office like a couple of dazed zombies.
"Ah gentlemen, please be seated," said Mr. Riggins.
Bo and Jimmy didn't speak.
"Well, then. I suppose you might know why I've called you here this afternoon?"
Jimmy didn't move a muscle. All Bo could do was barely shake his head, as he tried to picture how he was going to tell his parents he'd been expelled from school.
"It's about your friend Mr. Mackie," Mr. Riggins said.
"Unh," said Bo.
"He was just a bit tardy on Wednesday in his attempt to register for the show," he said.
"Unh huh," said Bo.
"Naturally it was my duty to enforce the regulation. Yet, as I've given the matter some thought, it is my sense that Mr. Mackie may have indeed been faced with some truly extenuating circumstance which forced his late arrival."
Hold on, thought Bo, what direction are we going here?
"Still, I cannot, in good conscience, allow Mr. Mackie entry into the talent show. I've decided, however, that as an alternative he may perform before the student body at the next assembly."
"Uh, sounds good," said Bo, thinking: Is that it?
"I wished to meet with him today and clarify this matter directly, but I see he is absent. Would you gentlemen express this to Mr. Mackie over the weekend?"
"We sure can!" said Jimmy.
"No problem at all!" said Bo.
And they tore out of there.
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A half hour later, they were sitting around in The Box, all except for Adler and Mackie.
"I was trying to figure out what other school would let me in after I got expelled," Bo was telling Jenny and Melissa.
"Forget that," Jimmy said, "I was trying to imagine who my roommate was going to be at Juvie Hall."
"But can you believe it?" Bo said, "All Old Man Riggins was doing--really--was apologizing to Mackie!"
"It's not over yet though," Jimmy said, meaning Adler and Mackie were, at this very moment, doing who knows what to try to get into the school computer system--if they hadn't already-- and everyone got serious.
An hour went by. Then they heard the outside screen rattling around, and the sound of the two of them diving through.
"Ouch!" said Mackie.
"Dude, you okay?" called Bo.
"Yeah, just sprained my wrist a little, landing," he said. "But that's not our biggest problem."
Jimmy had climbed the rope and was straddling the top of the wall, looking down at the two of them. They were wearing the same clothes as yesterday, he saw, and they looked terrible--greasy and smelly and with their hair all sticking up in different directions.
"Looks like you guys have been working pretty hard on this," Jimmy said.
"We have actually," said Adler. "We went straight from The Box to Walter's last night. We assumed it would be a simple 'type two' entry into the computer program, but it turned out it was more difficult than that."
"A lot more difficult," said Mackie. "You see, we thought it was Mr. Heffenstern who set up the school computer system, and he's not that swift--we can both beat him easily in chess--so we couldn't understand why it was turning out so complicated."
"But then we remembered that substitute Computer Lab teacher they had last year," Adler said. "Younger dude with a goatee? He knew his stuff, and I'm thinking they had him set it up."
"So we stayed up all night trying to get in through a 'type three' entry, but that didn't work," Mackie said. "Then we switched to a 'type four' this morning."
"And...?" Jimmy asked.
"And we still haven't been able to crack the dang code!" Adler said.
"But we just need a few more hours, I know we can do it!" Mackie said.
Jimmy slid down the rope, and Bo and Jenny and Melissa followed him up and out of The Box.
"Tell you one thing," Bo said. "You dudes are looking awful. Scary in fact. What you do now, you put the computer business away for awhile. You go upstairs, look around my room for some fresh clothes, and take a couple showers--serious showers. Then Jimmy'll treat us all to In-N-Out."
"I will?" Jimmy said.
"Dude, don't EVEN ask that question," Bo said.
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The hamburger place was crowded as usual on a Friday evening. Jimmy stood in line, while the others hovered near the booths, trying to nab one when someone got up.
Bo spotted Henry Pacheco at the soda machine and went over to say hi. Mitch Stanza and Ike Denzell were there too.
"Hey, you guys are playing tomorrow night, right?" Bo said, pretty sure he'd heard they were in the talent show.
"Supposed to be," Pacheco said, "if you can call it that."
"What do you mean?" said Bo.
"Well we're trying to play 'Purple Haze' by Jimi Hendrix, but these home boys don't want to practice it."
"We don't want to practice it because your guitar riffs sound like crap!" said Stanza.
"Nothing personal," said Denzell, "but dude, you need some serious lessons, bad."
"See?" said Pacheco to Bo.
Bo was thinking, grasping onto this.
"What's the name of your band?" he asked.
"The Destroyers," said Pacheco.
"That how you signed up on the sheet--just 'The Destroyers'?" Bo asked.
"Yeah," said Pacheco. "What's the matter, you got a problem now too?"
"Sorry, no problem at all," Bo said. "Henry, you guys like eating here?"
"Do we like eating here--yeah, we do, as a matter of fact. And I got to tell you Ridley, these questions are starting to get on my nerves big-time."
"What I was wondering--" Bo said, trying to phrase it just right, "how it'd be if maybe I could treat you to lunch here tomorrow. And then... instead of you guys playing the talent show--as The Destroyers--I would. Or make that me and Martin would."
"Let me understand what you just said," said Pacheco.
"I understood him," said Stanza. "Sounds okay to me."
"Me too," Denzell said. "Let's face it--we suck."
Pacheco was quiet for a minute. "Forty bucks, up front, right now," he said, winking at the others. "We eat a lot."
Bo checked his wallet--he had eight dollars. "Stay right here," he said.
"I need money right away," Bo said to Jimmy in line.
"B-dog, what do you think I am, a bank? I'll be lucky if I have enough to cover this order!"
Jenny and Melissa and Adler and Mackie were sliding into a booth that had just emptied.
"Guys, I need cash--Jimmy'll pay you back--I'll explain later!" Bo said.
The four of them began pulling out whatever they had and putting it in the center of the table. It felt like a poker game. When the pot hit thirty-two dollars, it was the most beautiful sight Bo had seen in a long time. He scooped up the money and went back to see Pacheco.
"Enjoy your lunch tomorrow," he said.
"We will, and you 'break a leg'," Pacheco said. "Doesn't that mean "good luck" or something?"
"I've heard that," said Bo.
Jimmy was there holding his receipt when Bo returned to the booth.
"I've got good news and bad news," Bo said.
They all waited.
"The bad news is--Jimmy-dog, you owe everyone forty bucks."
"I do?" said Jimmy, starting to feel a little sick.
"But there's good news?" Jenny asked.
"There is," Bo said. "You know that little thing happening at school tomorrow night? There's a new band in town, and it's called 'The Destroyers'."
