Get Even (Don’t Get Mad)

COACH MILES BLEW HER WHISTLE WITH A FEROCITY THAT froze the entire Bishop DuMaine varsity girls’ volleyball squad in their tracks. Kitty snatched the scrimmage ball in midair and spun to face her as she blazed across the court.

“Annabelle!” Coach Miles said. “If I ever see you half-ass a kill like that, I’ll bench you for an entire match, you hear me?”

Annabelle’s beet-red face flushed even deeper. “Yes, Coach.”

Coach Miles swung around to the scrimmage team on Kitty’s side of the net. “And, Zoe, I have no idea what you thought you were doing with that last dig. The goal is to keep the ball in play, not launch it into orbit. Come on, guys. It’s only Tuesday. I’m not used to seeing this much lazy ball handling so early in the week.”

Kitty knew Coach was right, but her approach to motivating her players wasn’t exactly what Kitty would have done in her place.

Two short blasts on the whistle signaled a change of drill. “Accelerations,” Coach Miles said. “Eight balls.”

The entire team groaned in unison and skulked to one side of the court for the hated drill. Coach was about to throw the first balls, when Mika walked into the girls’ gym with Theo Baranski close behind.

Coach Miles tooted on her whistle again. “Water break. Ten minutes.” She pointed at Kitty. “Wei, come with me.”

“Coach, this is Theo,” Mika said, her hand on Theo’s shoulder. “He’s interested in the team manager gig.”

Coach Miles examined Theo up and down. “You’re the first in and the last out,” she said curtly. “You’re on the bus for every away game, and I expect stats on my desk first thing the next morning. Can you handle that?”

“Yes, sir!” Theo barked.

Kitty bit her lip to keep from smiling as Theo’s eyes grew wide, instantly realizing his mistake.

“I mean, ma’am,” he squeaked.

“Sir is fine,” Coach Miles said. She pointed at the two girls. “Get him up to speed.”

Theo hustled after Kitty and Mika as they strode to the athletic lockers across from the main gym. He had to take three steps for every two of theirs.

“All the team sports keep their equipment in these lockers,” Mika explained. “Volleyball, basketball, soccer, water polo, whatever.”

“Coach Miles is kind of a hard-ass about keeping the equipment organized,” Kitty added. “If you can manage that, you’ll be golden.”

They gave Theo a tour of the locker, explained the setup for practice versus home and away games, then stopped by Coach Miles’s office to retrieve copies of the team rosters and schedules.

Theo took prodigious notes throughout, scribbling away in a pocket-size spiral notebook. He seemed eager to do a good job, motivated by the luxury of avoiding Coach Creed in sixth-period PE, and soaked up everything Kitty and Mika spilled out. By the time they ducked into the main gym where the team played their home matches, Theo had picked up enough of the lingo to anticipate what they were going to say. It was kind of adorable.

As they started to leave, the far door of the gym opened and the varsity boys’ basketball team meandered in, sweating like they’d just spent an hour in the weight room.

“Kitty!” She jumped at the sound of Donté’s voice. “Hey, Mika,” he said, jogging up to them. He took Kitty’s hand. “What are you doing here?”

Kitty gestured to her new recruit. “Theo Baranski, this is Donté Greene. Theo is going to be the volleyball team manager this semester.”

“Right on, man.” Donté held out his fist to Theo, who, with a look of delighted surprise, readily returned the bump. “Don’t let these ladies run you ragged. They’re a tough bunch.”

“Please,” Kitty said. “We’re way less demanding than those divas on the boys’ basketball team.”

“Kids,” Mika said, cutting off their banter. “You guys have plans tomorrow night?”

Donté glanced at Kitty. “Not that I know of. What’s up?”

Mika dropped her voice. “There’s a meeting at the Coffee Clash. Kind of an organizational thing.”

What was Mika up to? “Organizing for what?”

Mika glanced from side to side, then leaned closer to Kitty and Donté. “For an on-campus rally. We’re going to protest the way old F.U. and his ’Maine Men have been treating the students around here.”

Theo was at Mika’s side in the blink of an eye. “Can I come?” he asked eagerly.

Mika’s face lit up. “Of course. Everyone’s welcome.”

“Thank you,” Theo said. “I’ll do whatever you need. Paint signs, recruit people. You name it.”

Mika turned to Donté and Kitty. “What about you guys?”

“Count me in,” Donté said.

Kitty swallowed. She had a DGM meeting scheduled for tomorrow night, and that wasn’t something she could change even if she wanted to. “I can’t,” she said. “I have a family thing.”

“Can’t you get out of it?” Mika pleaded.

Kitty shook her head. “Sorry.”

“How about Friday night?” Mika pressed. “We’re doing some prep work after Ronny’s vigil.”

Mika wasn’t going to let her out of it. Dammit. She’d be on F.U.’s blacklist if she took a leadership role with this rally, but Mika would be suspicious if she avoided it.

“That’ll work,” Kitty said, forcing a smile. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

Mika grinned. “I knew I could count on you guys. I organized one of these in junior high to try and get the school to change their mascot so we didn’t have to wear a stupid fighting Jesuit on our jerseys.”

Fighting Jesuits? Kitty recalled the photo of Bree with the cropped-out image of Christopher Beeman.

“Where did you go to junior high?” Kitty asked.

“St. Alban’s,” Mika said.

With the exception of the article about Christopher Beeman going AWOL from Archway, there were no other hits on him when she’d Googled his name. Was it possible that her best friend knew him?

“We played against you guys,” Donté said, stroking his chin. “Helluva blowout each year.”

Mika pursed her lips. “Yeah, but the girls’ volleyball team rocked.”

“Hey,” Kitty began, hoping she didn’t sound as anxious as she felt. “Did you know a student at St. Alban’s named Christopher Beeman?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Kitty saw Theo start.

Mika scrunched up her face, trying to remember. “Short, kinda chubby, thick glasses?”

Kitty had no idea. “I think so.”

“I didn’t really know him,” Mika said, shaking her head. “He left in sixth grade. Suddenly, I think.”

“Got it,” Kitty said. She stole a glance at Theo, whose ruddy face seemed to have blanched several shades paler. Mika might not have known Christopher Beeman, but apparently Theo did.

The squeak of athletic shoes and the thundering of a half-dozen basketballs signaled that the varsity team’s practice was under way. Donté glanced over his shoulder, then squeezed Kitty’s hand. “Gotta go. We still on for Saturday?”

“Absolutely,” she said, wresting her gaze away from Theo.

“Sweet.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek, while Mika prominently rolled her eyes.

“Thanks for taking me in,” Theo said as they walked back to the girls’ gym.

“No problem,” Kitty said. “We need a manager, so it’s win-win.”

“Coach Creed has it in for me,” Theo said bluntly. “I think he blames me for what happened at the assembly.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Kitty said. “He can’t hold you responsible for DGM.”

Theo shrugged. “Father Uberti threatened to expel me if I didn’t tell him everything I knew about DGM.”

“See?” Mika said, throwing her hands in the air. “This is what I’m talking about. Creed bullies students right and left, and Uberti doesn’t do jack about it. Then he blames the victim. Total bullshit.”

“Even if I knew anything about DGM, I wouldn’t have told him,” Theo said with a grin. “They’re the only ones who’ve ever stood up for me.”

“Is that why you confessed to the murder?” Mika asked.

Kitty watched Theo. She was curious about him, touched and saddened by his confession to Ronny’s murder, as if it was the only way to show his gratitude for what DGM had done.

Theo nodded. “I just wanted them to know how much I appreciate them.”

“But what if you’d gone to jail?” Kitty asked. The idea that someone would have voluntarily suffered on her behalf made her sick to her stomach.

“My parents have a security system,” Theo said. “The kind that monitors all the doors and windows. My dad had the records pulled up immediately and it showed there was no way I could have left the house that night during the time Ronny was killed.”

“It’s a good thing your parents had that,” Mika said, pausing at the girls’ restroom. “I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit. Glad to have you on board, Theo.”

Theo and Kitty continued back to the gym in silence. She was about to bring up Christopher Beeman again when Theo beat her to the punch.

“I could have killed him,” Theo said, suddenly pensive.

“Ronny?”

Theo nodded.

“But you said—”

“I mean,” Theo interrupted, “that I could have if I wanted to.”

Kitty remembered the list Bree saw in Ronny’s room. Theo’s name was on that list. What connection did he have with Ronny? And could it possibly have anything to do with Christopher Beeman?

“Did you know him?” she asked.

“Not really,” Theo said, without elaborating.

Theo reached the door to the girls’ gym and paused. Then he turned and looked Kitty directly in the eye. “He wanted something from me. Something I knew.”

What could Ronny have wanted from Theo?

“Ronny DeStefano was not a good person,” Theo continued. “And I’m not sorry he’s dead.”

Without another word, he yanked the door open and disappeared inside, leaving a stunned Kitty in the courtyard.