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things.”
    “You’ve already taught me a lot,” Terry said.
    “You learned a lot,” George said. “Which ain’t always the same thing.”

CHAPTER 22
    T hey were on the rocks at the beach, in their place, on the point of an outcropping where the waves broke beneath them and left lacy patterns of foam on the surface of the water. Abby had her big notebook on her lap.
    “I’ve been organizing,” she said.
    “I bet you have,” Terry said.
    “I got Otis,” she said. “Tank, Nancy Fortin, a friend of Jason’s that Nancy got, Perry Fisher.”
    “Don’t know him,” Terry said.
    “Me either,” Abby said. “But Nancy says he wants in. I got Bev and Suzi. Steve Bellino says he’ll help.”
    “Bellino?” Terry said. “He’s a really good ballplayer.”
    “I know,” Abby said. “I think he hates Kip Carter All-American.”
    “Not a bad thing,” Terry said.
    “And I think he’s going to get some other guys,” Abby said. “Maybe Mitchell, maybe Carly Clark.”
    “Carly Clark?”
    “The basketball player,” Abby said. “The guy who just transferred in.”
    “I know who he is,” Terry said.
    “So we already got a pretty good spy system set up.”
    “Thanks to you,” Terry said.
    “Can I be known as the Spymaster,” Abby said, deepening her voice as much as she could.
    “You bet,” Terry said. “Think they’ll keep quiet about this?”
    “I think so,” Abby said. “They all hate Bullard, and they all hate Kip Carter All-American, and I think this is their chance to do one or both of them some damage.”
    “Any of them doing it for Jason?” Terry said.
    “Nancy, probably,” Abby said. “Probably Perry Fisher. The rest of us are doing it for you.”
    “You too?”
    “Of course, me too,” Abby said. “I’ll do anything you want to do, you know that.”
    “Anything?” Terry said.
    “Except that,” Abby said. “Yet.”
    “Yet,” Terry said.
    “Yet,” Abby said.
    “What are we waiting for?” Terry said.
    “I don’t know,” Abby said. “It just seems too soon.”
    Terry was quiet for a moment and then he nodded.
    “I think so too,” he said.
    “Do you know why?” Abby said.
    “No. You?”
    “No,” Abby said.
    Terry shook his head. They were quiet, watching the foam patterns slide backward out of the inlets in the rock. It was the first time they’d ever spoken seriously about it. It made him nervous. Kind of exciting, though!
    “They going to, ah, report in to you?” Terry said after a time.
    “Yes,” Abby said, “and I’ll write it down and try to like find a pattern or something. And we’ll talk.”
    Terry smiled at her.
    “Will we ever,” he said.

CHAPTER 23
    T erry saw Gordon in the corridor between classes. Gordon was wearing sunglasses, which didn’t fully succeed in covering his two black eyes. His cheeks were puffy too. Gordon either didn’t see him or pretended not to. In the cafeteria, Kip Carter looked right through Terry. When he went to English class, he saw Mr. Bullard standing by the door.
    “I want to talk with you,” he said.
    Terry stopped and waited. Mr. Bullard took his arm and steered him away from the door and into a stairwell.
    “You are getting a pretty bad reputation around here,” Bullard said.
    Terry nodded.
    “I understand you got into a fight,” Bullard said.
    “Not at school,” Terry said.
    “Don’t give me any smart mouth,” Bullard said. “You got into a fight.”
    “Yes sir,” Terry said.
    “You start it?”
    “No sir.”
    “I heard you did,” Bullard said.
    “No sir,” Terry said.
    “What’s your story?” Bullard said.
    “Gordy wanted to see if I could box,” Terry said.
    “And you broke his nose?”
    “Yes sir.”
    “He says you sucker punched him,” Bullard said.
    “He swung on me,” Terry said. “I blocked it and countered.”
    “Kip Carter supports Gordon’s story,” Bullard said. “You think he’s lying.”
    “Yes sir.”
    “Well,” Bullard said. “I don’t think so. And