The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition (10 page)

              Savannah, Brady, and Hannah decided to slowly reveal the changes to all of their relationship statuses slowly.  This wasn’t exactly something that could be sprung on everybody who witnessed Savannah and Brady having a good time at Prom, even if she had been spending more time with his teammates than she had been with Brady.

              They suspected that the change might be difficult for Kelly to process even though Brady had told her that they had broken up.  Kelly liked Savannah, even if she was currently acting strangely around her.  More times than Savannah could count she’d see Kelly stop in the hallway at the sight of her and then dart quickly out of the way while acting as if she didn’t want to have anything to do with her friend.  Savannah had thought that they were friends. 

              One night Brady heard angry voices coming from Kelly’s room.  Going to check on her he found Aimee and Kelly staring at a few cans of spray paint on her floor.  Not thinking anything about it since the cans could be for a school project, he asked, “Is everything alright?”

              “Just fine,” Aimee purred.              

              “How are you doing?” Kelly asked, biting her lip in worry.

              “Perfectly fine,” he answered.  “Hey, Kelly, I need to talk to you about something later, okay?”

              “Okay.”

              Later never happened; Brady became distracted by texting back and forth with Hannah.

The first murmurings that something major had happened started around third period.  It wasn’t until fourth period that Brady heard that Mr. Wallace’s car had been trashed and Savannah was being blamed for the damage. 

              The picture of the car, beaten in with a baseball bat and covered in red spray paint scribbles was being shared throughout the school.  The video cameras had caught nothing; much of the vandalism had taken place while the cameras were focused on the other end of the parking lot thanks to a rock being thrown at the camera to knock it out of position and take it out of service. 

              It was the immobile screen from the camera that alerted the school resource officer that something was happening.  By the time he arrived in the parking lot all that was left was the damaged car and Savannah Blake’s math notebook. 

              Taking a deep breath, Brady burst into the Principal’s office and blurted out, “Mr. Hodges, I can’t prove that Savannah didn’t total Mr. Wallace’s car, but I can submit some circumstantial evidence that might prove that somebody else did it instead.” 

              After making his announcement he was able to take in the scene unfolding in the office.  Savannah sat crying in the chair right in front of Mr. Hodges’ desk; her parents were sitting on either side of her.  Mr. Wallace stood glowering from a corner; until that day he had no reason to dislike Savannah.  The SRO was standing on the other side of the door and at the opposite end of the room sat Mr. Hodges. 

              “Okay,” the officer prompted. 

              “Savannah and I broke up a few weeks ago, about two weeks before prom, because I met somebody else.”

              “I introduced them, for the record,” she quickly added, looking at her father who was beginning to turn red.  “Hannah from church; I knew she’d be better suited for Brady than I ever was.” 

              “We agreed to still go to the prom together because I had already asked, we already coordinated everything, Savannah had her dress, and the odds of her getting a replacement prom date at that late date were not favorable.  So we went, danced, had fun, and I took her home.  After all, we are still friends.”

              Shrugging his shoulder, “When my sister asked why I came home early I didn’t think anything about it – she’s always been nosy – and I told her that Savannah and I had broken up.  She thought I meant that we had broken up at Prom.  I didn’t think anything about it because I was going upstairs to talk to Hannah online and tell her all about Prom.  I didn’t see that Kelly wasn’t following me upstairs when I was explaining the situation to her.” 

              “But,” Mr. Wallace interjected, “Prom was two weeks ago.”

              “It takes time to make plans, Mr. Wallace.”  Taking a deep breath, “You aren’t going to like this, Mr. Hodges, but I think Aimee Kirkland and my sister were behind the damage done to Mr. Wallace’s car; I just can’t prove it.” 

              Mr. Hodges cradled his head in his hands.  He would be throwing a party as soon as the last Kirkland daughter graduated; those girls had a talent for being able to get away with schemes without anything more than suspicion touching them. 

              “What do you know?”

              “I saw red spray paint in Kelly’s room last week and my baseball bat from Travel Baseball is missing.”  Closing his eyes, “If you look at the handle, right down towards the bottom, you should see ‘B.J.J.’ carved with a year right next to it.” 

              The officer silently took the bat and examined exactly where Brady had told him to look.  He had to look closely at the worn wood.  The carving was there but barely.  “All this proves is that this is your bat.  How do we know that you didn’t let her borrow it?”

              “Would I be standing here telling you where to find my name on the evidence if I did that?  I know just how faded and worn that carving is; would you have noticed it if I didn’t say anything?  Would you even have looked?  Savannah played softball freshmen year before switching to track; you could have assumed it was her bat.” 

              Turning to Mr. Hodges, “There is also a history of assignments and projects going missing without any evidence pointing towards anybody.  The only common factor between those cases is the fact that each and every missing assignment belonged to somebody that I dated.  In each and every case assignments stopped vanishing after the girl and I had broken up.”  Brady paused, “My sister has disliked every single girl I have dated except for Savannah because Savannah was nice and let Kelly tag along half of the time.  Then it appears as if Savannah did the worst thing that she could possibly do and break up with me at the Prom, even though we both know that it didn’t happen like that.  I know my sister and she is going to want to get back at the person she thinks broke my heart.  She is not aware of the real reason I have been spending time in my room; I’ve been messaging back and forth with Hannah.” 

              The entire time Mr. Wallace was watching Brady.  He knew Brady; Brady had been one of his students the previous semester.  He knew Savannah; Savannah was a member of his church and that Brady would often join Savannah, and now Hannah, for Sunday morning services.  Even he had heard that Brady had been going to Wednesday night Bible Study with first one and then the other girl. 

              He didn’t know Kelly, except that she occasionally joined her brother on Wednesdays, or sat with Aimee Kirkland, even though he had Amanda as a student a few years before.  He remembered the devious plots that the elder Kirkland was capable of doing in order to get out of something or to blame somebody else for a scheme that she had orchestrated.

              “Let her go,” he finally said.  “Savannah isn’t capable of doing this.” 

              Brady stepped up, “I’ll talk to my parents.  I’m sure they’ll be willing to pay for damages when they find out what…”

              “That’s not necessary,” Mr. Wallace interrupted.  “I’ve been planning on getting a new car for a while anyway and that one wasn’t worth the trade in.  I’ll probably sell it for parts.”     

              He was the first to leave the office, the SRO left shortly behind him once he realized that no charges would be filed. 

              “Thank you, Brady,” both Mr. and Mrs. Blake said, shaking his hand as they passed. 

              “That was brave of you, Mr. Johnson,” Mr. Hodges acknowledged.  “Risky but brave.”

              “I couldn’t let Savannah get in trouble for something that she didn’t do; especially when I think my sister did it instead.  I just wish we could prove it.”

              “Me too.”

             
Pacing the floor in front of his sister, Kelly tracked her brother’s movements with something like panic in her eyes.  How was he going to have this talk with her?  How could his sister be so cruel? 

              “You’re lucky,” he started.  “You are so lucky that nobody could prove that it was you despite the circumstantial evidence, like the fact that you used
MY
baseball bat!  That I saw you with the spray paint the other day!” 

              Pacing some more, “You are so lucky that Mr. Wallace declined my offer to talk to Mom and Dad about what you did and have you pay him back for damages!  He only turned me down because there was no real proof that you had a hand in damaging his car and the school property! Of you framing Savannah!  All because you assumed she broke my heart!?!” 

              Letting out a rough laugh, “You are lucky that Savannah doesn’t want to file charges of harassment!” 

              “Brady…”

              “No, you are going to listen to me!”  Stopping in front of Kelly and staring her in the eyes he took a moment to breathe.  “Savannah and I had a mutual break up.  We were not working out.  We were not a good fit.  I do not know if it was because we were not a good match or because you insisted on joining us for half of our dates!  There is no possible way for me to be able to tell!” 

              “Brady, I’m sorry...”

              “No, you’re not!  You never are!  Every single time I dated somebody you didn’t like you did something childish to get her to break up with me!”  Grabbing his sister’s face in his hands, Brady refused to let her break their eye-contact.  “I have met somebody.  Savannah introduced me to somebody and right now I really like this girl.  This could be something special and I don’t want you to ruin it for me.”

              “Who?”

              “Hannah.  We’ve been talking for about a month, two weeks before Prom.  If you had stayed to listen to me after the Prom instead of jumping to conclusions, I would have told you Savannah had introduced us.”

              “Hannah?  My new friend, Hannah?”

              “The very one.  You will not treat her like you’ve treated my exes.  You will not do anything to run her off.  You can stay friends with her and get to know her.  You will allow us, Hannah and me, time to hang out on our own without you having to tag along.  If we invite you along, fine, join us, but do not invite yourself into our plans.”