The Rocky Road Pact

Chapter 28: A Criminal Mind

By the time I got back with the sandwiches, a few apples and a box of cookies, the wanted criminal was asleep. 

Who are you, I muttered, putting the sack of food next to his backpack and pulling the sleeping bag up over his shoulders. And what trouble have you gotten us into?

He was wanted by the cops for something. One cop in particular wouldn't let it go and that was my dad. This wasn't going to end well for anyone, I knew that much. I should tell my father what was going on, maybe he'd take it easy on Tommy, get him on the right path. So what if he broke a window, scratched someone's car, I'm sure with my dad's help, Tommy could move on from it.

I looked at him sleeping, his face soft, without its usual bravado. Who was I kidding, I was no rat. 

It was the middle of the night and I was freezing. I kicked off my shoes, snuggled in next to Tommy. He sighed and rolled over, putting an arm around my waist. I fell into a dreamless sleep. 

The next morning, he was gone. No note, no explanation.

"You're welcome," I muttered to myself as I climbed down the ladder. I looked at my watch; it was nearly 7 am. If I was lucky, I could sneak in the back door, undetected. I opened the front door and closed it quietly before scampering to my room.

"Where in God's name have you been?" 

Halfway up the stairs, I froze. I turned and saw the whole family looking at me from the living room. Plus, the principal. My boss. 

Mortified, I crept back downstairs.

"I...went for a jog," I said, rolling my eyes at myself. Barefoot, I was wearing my ninja pyjamas.

My mother glared at me and mouthed 'get in here.' My face red with embarrassment, I went into the living room and sat down. "What is all this?" I asked, not really sure I wanted to know.

"Cassie, what do you know about this boy, Tommy?"

"What do you mean, I barely know him," I said. "He's a kid in my tutoring class."

"Yes, and well. I've heard some disturbing rumours about you and the students in that class," the principal said, looking at the ground.

My embarrassment quickly turned to anger. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

He looked at my father, who stared at the wall. "Well, they all passed their final exams," he began.

"That's great! What's the problem?" I was thrilled for them, the meat heads who stuck it out over the summer and worked so hard.

"Well, it's just that. There's a rumour going around that you..."

"Cassie, did you have sex with one of those boys?" 

"Oh my God Dad, gross!" I was genuinely shocked to hear such a question come from my father. 

"There, you see - just idle gossip from people with nothing better to do with their time. Now, if you'll excuse us." Dad was unusually rude as he escorted the man to the door.

"Because of course if we found out the rumours were true, I'd have to pull my recommendation for Cassie to go to university, and all the boys' summer school grades would be forfeited. They'd have to repeat grade 12," he was saying as my dad rushed him out.

"Thank you, goodbye." I heard the front door slam and Dad was back in two seconds, staring at me with a look I'd never seen before.

"Cassie, were you lying?"

"No, of course not!" Technically not, anyways. Besides, what did the Pact have to do with the summer tutoring? They were completely separate. 

"Then what's this?" He pulled the cardboard "contract" out from behind a bookshelf. My heart sank.