The Ghost of Lizard's Rock (20 page)

I looked over the seats.
It was true that none of them rode the bus this morning.

Allie and I looked at each
other and whispered at the same time, “Robert!”

On the other side of town
only eight blocks from the school - Oliver, Dan, and Jacob were
hiding behind some bushes across the street from Robert’s
house.

“How long do think it will
be before he comes out?” asked Dan.

“Pretty soon, I’d
suspect,” answered Oliver. “My sister told me yesterday that this
is a foster house. All the kids that live here have been taken from
their parents.”

“Oh,” whispered
Jacob.

“There he is,” said
Oliver. “Get down so he doesn’t see you!”

They watched as Robert
walked down the street with his backpack over his
shoulders.

“Follow me,” whispered
Oliver.

Oliver quickly ran across
the street to get behind Robert and hid behind a corner of the
house next to where Robert lived. The other two boys
followed.

They watched from the
corner as Robert continued down the sidewalk.

Oliver signaled the other
two to follow behind him. He ran up several more houses and dodged
into a large bush about a half block behind Robert. Dan somehow
tripped - falling straight into Oliver and Jacob. The noise was
loud as the three boys piled into each other.

Robert stopped and turned
around to see what could be making such a racket. All he could see
was the branches of the bushes moving back and forth. He turned
back around and continued down the street.

“Get off me,” Oliver
pushed Dan away.

“Is there a problem boys?”
said a voice.

Oliver turned to see a man
raking the grass next to house. “No sir. We just accidently fell
into the bushes.”

“You’ll have to be more
careful,” said the man as he continued to rake the grass. “You
never know when another bush will attack you.”

“Sorry sir,” answered
Jacob as he placed the branches of the bush back in
place.

The boys stepped out on
the sidewalk.

“Do you think that he
bought it?” asked Dan.

Oliver and Jacob looked at
each other, “Nope!”

By now, Robert was already
two blocks ahead and rounding the next corner. Oliver and the other
boys continued to stay back.

“I thought some of his
guys would be walking with him by now,” said Oliver.

“Me too,” chimed in
Jacob.

They watched Robert all
the way to the school. They saw nothing unusual or bad.

I looked out the window of
the bus and saw Oliver, Jacob, and Dan waiting for us by the
sidewalk to the school. We quickly got off the bus and joined
them.

“Did you find out where he
lives?” I said.

“Yep,” answered the boys
in unison.

“Did you know that he
lives in a foster home?” asked Oliver.

Allie’s eyes
widened.

“No,” I said cautiously.
“What happened to his family?”

“Rumor has it, that Robert
was taken away from his parents about a year ago,” continued
Oliver. “I guess things were pretty bad for him.”

“Do you think we should
change our target?” asked Dan. “We can always go after those eighth
graders.”

“No,” answered Allie
quickly. “It may be bad for him, but don’t forget those little kids
that he picks on.”

“Allie’s right,” I said.
“He’s still the target.”

We all walked into the
school together and went our separate ways to homeroom.

My anxiety shot up to the
ceiling again. I looked over at my desk and saw Troy staring at me
with his usual calming smile. I sat my books on the desk and sat
down.

“Hey,” said Troy
quietly.

I turned toward him,
“Hey.” I lost myself in those beautiful eyes once more and knew all
was right with the world.

I looked across the room
toward Maddison. She looked at me with her usual evil stare. I
thought, “I guess some things never change.”

Allie sat down in her
chair and glanced across the room at Robert, as he placed his
backpack under his chair. “That’s strange? He didn’t take any
books, notebooks, or anything else out of the backpack. I wonder
what he has in it.” She whispered inaudibly to herself. Allie
continued to watch Robert the rest of the morning.

Robert never reached into
the backpack for anything, and yet he always kept it really close
by. During a class activity, Robert had to get up and go join
another group. He pulled out the backpack from under his chair and
took it with him.

At lunch, we all sat
together at our usual table. Allie told us about the
backpack.

“What do you think is in
it?” asked Dan. “Do you think he has a knife or even a gun in
there?”

Oliver popped Dan in the
back of the head. “No.”

“Are you sure?” added
Jacob.

Oliver thought about
smacking Jacob on the head as well, but one look into Jacob’s eyes
told him not to do it. “Where’s he sitting?”

“He’s by himself down at
the second table,” I nodded my head in the direction.

“It strange that his
buddies aren’t with him,” added Allie.

“That’s probably because
he got in so much trouble last week,” said Oliver. “Ms. Kelly’s
probably watching every move he makes.”

“Something just doesn’t
seem to add up,” said Allie. She continued to stare at Robert at
the far end of the lunchroom.

We sat the rest of lunch
talking about this and that. I glanced down a couple of tables and
saw Troy looking at me. I almost choked on the milk I was
drinking.

Troy looked down at his
food, so as to not embarrass me further.

“Sometimes, I think he
enjoys the effect that he has on me.” I tried not to look at him
again.

“Robert’s getting up,”
said Allie in a whisper. “Look!”

Robert walked by with his
backpack in hand.

“I never noticed that he
had it when we came to lunch,” said Allie.

I said, “Something very
important is in that backpack.”

“I’ve got him,” said
Oliver before any of us could say anything. Oliver stood up and
followed Robert out of the lunchroom.

Robert went to the library
and found a table in the corner of the room by himself. He slowly
opened the backpack and stared inside it. Every once in a while,
Robert would reach inside the backpack with his hand and move
something around.

After about ten minutes,
Robert stood up and went over by the computers open to students. He
slung his backpack carefully over his shoulder and walked slowly
behind student after student. He finally stopped behind an eighth
grade girl and looked at her screen.

Oliver got as close to
Robert as he could without being too noticeable. His eyes looked at
what Robert was staring at. The eighth grade girl had a picture of
her entire family on the screen. It looked like she was trying to
make a portrait picture.

Robert finally moved on
and left the library.

Oliver followed behind him
to the playground where Robert sat on a bench watching a group of
seventh grade boys playing basketball. He didn’t place the backpack
beside him – it was on his lap with his hands holding it
tight.

Robert, again, opened the
backpack to look inside.

Oliver decided that it was
now or never. He worked himself behind Robert to look over his
shoulder and see what was in the backpack.

Robert sensed Oliver’s
presence, closed up the backpack, and turned around toward
Oliver.

Oliver quickly dropped to
the ground and acted like he was tying his shoes. He never looked
at Robert.

Robert looked at Oliver
with suspicion, stood up, and walked away.

Allie and I walked up to
Oliver. “See anything?”

“Busted!” said Oliver. “He
made me out.” Oliver quickly shared everything he had
seen.

“We’ve got him.” Allie and
I turned to follow Robert from a distance.

We watched as Robert made
his way to an open classroom door on the side of the building. He
looked around to see if anyone was looking and slipped
inside.

“He’s up to something,”
said Allie. “Let’s follow.”

Allie and I walked along
the side of the windows of the classroom where Robert had slipped
inside. He was nowhere inside.

“Look,” I said, “the door
to the hallway is open. Robert could be anywhere
inside.”

We moved away from the
classroom windows and stood a short distance away. Ten minutes
later Robert cautiously popped out of the open door and started to
move among the students – always to the side of them but never
inside any group.

I said to Allie, “I’ve
never seen anything like this.”

“Do you think that Robert
has always done this but no one has ever noticed?” asked
Allie.

The bell rang signaling
everyone to return to their classrooms. We watched as Robert worked
his way into the middle of the herd of students walking through the
large doors.

“He never lets that
backpack get far from him,” said Allie.

“You’re right,” I walked a
short distance back from Robert until I had to separate and go to
my class.

“Hey,” said a voice beside
me. Troy was walking beside me. His hand lightly brushed
mine.

Those strange feelings
shot through my body again. I looked back at Allie who was grinning
from ear to ear.

Allie walked back into her
classroom. She looked across the room at Robert, who was placing
his backpack back under his chair.

Robert sat back in his
chair and tried to look cool to the people in his groups

Allie leaned over to pull
her chair back from the desk. Somehow she hooked her necklace on
the back of the chair and broke the clasp. The necklace fell onto
the top of the desk.

“No!” She looked down at
the locket and necklace in pure horror.

“What’s the matter?” asked
Ms. Carson.

“It’s broken,” answered
Allie between sobs. “It’s all that I have left of my
mother.”

Everyone in the room,
including Robert, watched in silence.

“Let me see,” said the
teacher. Ms. Carson picked up the necklace and looked at the broken
clasp. “I’m pretty sure that it can be repaired.” She held the
locket in the palm of her and hand. “May I look?”

Allie nodded her
head.

Ms. Carson gently opened
the locket and gazed upon the picture of Allie’s mother. “Your
mother was a very beautiful woman.” She closed the locket carefully
and looked into Allie’s eyes, “Just like you.”

Allie sat the locket and
chain on the desk. She whispered to the concerned kids sitting next
to her. Each of them was trying to assure her that it could be
fixed.

At that moment a loud horn
blew off signaling a fire drill. Every student in the room jumped
to their feet and began exiting the room in a single
line.

Allie grabbed the necklace
and locket, stuffed it into her jeans pocket, and got into the
line.

They quickly filed out of
the classroom, into the hallway, and out the doors to the large
playground area. Everyone is supposed to walk in a single line,
stay quiet, and follow directions.

Somehow, Betsy in Allie’s
class missed the message. She immediately pulled out her cell phone
and began taking video of the fire drill and all the classrooms
exiting the building.

Totally unaware that Allie
was so close to her, Betsy tripped over her ankle. The two girls
piled forward onto the grass, nearly knocking over a boy in front
of Allie.

"I'm so sorry," said Betsy
from the grass. "I was filming everything just in case it was a
real fire!"

"I know," answered Allie
as she stood up to get on her feet. She reached down with her hand
to help Betsy on her feet.

"Is there a problem
girls?" asked Ms. Carson.

"No ma'am," answered Betsy
quickly.

"Then I would suggest you
put your cell phone back in your pocket where it belongs." Ms.
Carson raised her left eye and gave Betsy the 'knock it off'
look.

Betsy nodded her head and
slipped the cell phone back in her pocket.

All the classrooms in the
building continued outward on the playground until they reached a
chain-link fence.

Allie reached into her
pocket to make sure the chain and locket was still there. Her eyes
widened, as she soon realized it was gone. She quickly raised her
hand to get Ms. Carson's attention.

"What's the matter Allie?"
asked the teacher.

"I must have dropped by
necklace on the way out," said Allie. "It was in my pocket when I
left the classroom."