The Ranking

Chapter 3

Samantha

Detective Hernandez kept hitting me with questions in the parking lot until they'd shut off every last light in the library and we were there all alone.

Of course I was nervous. But I'd read about this online before my first trip to the police station. I knew you could refuse to answer police, especially if they weren't even trying to arrest you. And she obviously wasn't going to take me in. I tried to play it off like I was hysterical. Instead of refusing her questions outright right, I just kept repeating the same thing over and over no matter what she said.

"I know Aidan. He couldn't have done it."

This was easy to say because I believed it.

The thing I didn't tell her was the same thing I hadn't dared to tell anyone. I didn't tell her about Mr. Parker. That was the one thing I could never explain. I've always been messed up. I could never do things like other girls. Any other girl would have fallen in love with Aidan. But I had to fall for my teacher, the person I could never possibly have. I was so convinced that it was real. That somehow my feelings would change all the rules of the world. I knew it was crazy and stupid and wrong. But I just couldn't help it.

Calvin felt the same way. He wouldn't admit it at first. And he was careful not to touch me or do anything that would get us into trouble. But I dreamed about him and I know he dreamed about me too even if he would never say it to anyone.

We had a chance to choose a year-long project in any class and I chose US History. I wanted to do a project on civil disobedience and Calvin agreed to help me. He introduced me to the writings of Henry David Thoreau, who worked against slavery as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. One time, Calvin invited me over his apartment to practice the presentation of my project.

"Thoreau said that if the law is wrong, then you should break the law. "

We were sitting together on his couch as I ready the report. I pressed my fingers against his hand.

"You're not like other girls your age, Samantha."

"Then don't treat me like them."

"Nothing can happen between us. It will destroy your life."

"Love doesn't care about age."

"The law cares about age."

"What if the law is wrong?"

"You're my student, Samantha. I would be wrong to treat you like anything more than that. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"But what if this feeling is real?"

"Love takes time to figure out. If this is real, then it can wait until you are older."

***  

Dr. Meyers

"How the hell did Parker get your dad's gun?" I asked. Aidan and I were at the lake in the hills behind the school, our usually meeting spot. The police had searched his house the night before.

"I should be asking you the same thing!" he shot back.

"I left that gun under the floorboard like we planned."

"It wasn't there."

I studied Aidan's face carefully. I had become a sort of teenage lie detector after years of experience. The idea for the gun was a joint effort, intended to create a distraction. I knew about a school system in the San Gabriel Valley that had been the site of several SAT cheating scandals. I knew there was a warehouse out there where they kept copies of the Ranking during the week before the test date. I thought if we could fake a break-in it would focus the testing company on potential cheating in San Gabriel and keep our schools off the radar.