Payback Time by Carl Deuker

Author:Carl Deuker [Deuker, Carl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

14

ALYSSA GOT THE NEWSPAPERS from the printer Monday afternoon. I went back to Lincoln after dinner and helped her stack them up by all the entrances.

Tuesday morning, kids at school had a new Lincoln Light in their hands, and most turned straight to the sports pages. I saw them reading my volleyball and football recaps and looking at Kimi's pictures. And every once in a while I'd spot somebody with his eyes on my article about Angel Marichal.

All of it got my adrenaline going, so as I headed into the commons for lunch, I wanted to find Kimi. The moment I opened the door, I heard a loud voice. I looked over and saw Angel, wearing an Iverson Philadelphia 76ers jersey, looming over somebody, his finger jabbing the air, his voice enraged.

I moved toward him, and that's when I realized he was screaming at Kimi. I stopped. She looked impossibly tiny, but she was staring him right in the eye, her jaw set.

The coward in me wanted to drop my head, cover my face, and beat it back out the door. Instead, I stepped forward. "Leave her alone," I said, my voice weirdly high-pitched.

Angel wheeled around. His eyes flashed with recognition. "No, you leave me alone." He looked back to Kimi. "Both of you leave me alone."

"If you mean the article, then—"

I didn't get a chance to finish. He turned back to me, grabbed my shirt at the neck, and pulled me toward him. I could feel a lump in my throat, but I couldn't cry, not with one hundred pairs of eyes on me. "Write about Horst Diamond," he hissed, "or Shawn Warner, or anybody. Just don't write about me. Don't take pictures of me." As he spoke, he kept pulling me closer until I could feel his hot breath on my face. The whole time, I kept my eyes locked on his. If Kimi could stare him down, I could, too. He held me for a long moment, and then he shoved me so hard that I fell back onto the ground and into a chair that clattered across the linoleum floor. For a second I thought he was going to start stomping on me—that's how angry his eyes looked—but instead he walked out.

I got to my feet and slid into the spot at the table next to Kimi. Kids around us were staring, but I didn't care. She was shaking, but she hadn't backed down. My voice had gone squeaky, but I'd stood my ground, too.

The lump in my throat slowly went down, and in its place came a cold fury. I'm going to get you, Angel Marichal, I thought. If it takes me a million hours, I'm going to uncover your dirty little secret, whatever it is. The article today—that was just a taste of what's coming. You'll pay for this.

We didn't talk during the rest of the lunch period, but when the bell rang, Kimi turned to me. "Thanks, Mitch," she said, and hurried away.

That

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