The juvie three

Part 4

 The Alma K. Walker High School is located on East Ninety-first Street, a ten-minute walk from the apartment. The stately old building's original three stories were built in 1867. The "new addition," the fourth and fifth floors, was constructed in 1912, shortly after the sinking of the Titanic.

Douglas Healy delivers his charges there the next morning. They are already preregistered, but the principal has requested what he calls an "orientation meeting." This consists primarily of chewing them out in advance for all the evil things they are probably going to do in his school.

They sit on the hard wooden bench and take it for a while. Finally, the group leader speaks up for them. "Dr. Cavendish—all due respect—I don't think this is fair. I'm not suggesting anyone should get special treatment, but none of these boys has so much as spit on the sidewalk."

"I did," pipes up Terence. The look he gets from Healy woul

d melt steel.

The principal regards the group leader impatiently. "What's your point?"

"These are my kids. If you have any problems with them, you come to me. Pretend I'm their mother. Because, practically speaking, I am."

Dr. Cavendish either refuses to accept it, or is too dumb to understand it, because he concludes the interview with a warning: "I'm keeping my eye on you three. Expect a zero-tolerance policy here at Walker."

Healy leads them out of the office, and they stand in the hall, gathered around him.

"Thanks, Mom," Arjay intones.

Healy tries and fails to keep the corners of his mouth from turning up. Then he spots something that wipes all thought of smiling from his mind.

Gecko is alarmed. "You okay, Mr. Healy? You look like you've seen a ghost."

He has. And worse than that. Marching across the dark-stained terrazzo floor toward them is a woman built like a missile silo, her gunmetal-gray suit falling straight from the shoulders past a nonexistent waist.

"That's Ms. Vaughn!" he hisses. "She's the social worker in charge of our case!"

"We're golden," Terence says smoothly. "I'll just turn on the charm and—"

"Do not mess with that woman!" orders Healy through clenched teeth. "She fought me every inch of the way when I was setting up this program. She has the power to shut us down and send you guys back to lockup. And she's just looking for an excuse to do it!"

"Good morning, Mr. Healy. Boys. I was planning to stop by the apartment yesterday, but my caseload kept me hopping. The last thing I needed was another halfway house in my territory." Her expression implies that she has never uttered a kind word and isn't about to start now.

"Everything is great so far," Healy tells her. "The guys are really excited about starting their classes. In fact, they were just about to head to first period."

"And you have a plan in place for the end of the day?" Ms. Vaughn prompts.

"Absolutely," the group leader assures her. "We're meeting right outside the main entrance at three o'clock."