Mockingbird

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine:

"I hope you're not planning to run me into a pole and leave me there or something," I say, blindfolded by Gavin's hands as he leads me across a carpeted floor.

"If I honestly wanted to do that, you would've been ditched by now," Gavin says.

"Oh," I say sarcastically. "How nice of you."

"Very nice of me," he says, laughing lightly.

Gavin removes his hands from my eyes and I'm revealed to the most beautiful room in history.

"What is this place?" I ask, roaming around the room, looking carefully at every little detail.

"Bird's art room," he says. "She's the best artist I know."

I turn to face Gavin. "Bird?" I ask.

"Who's Bird?"

"Oh, you don't know Bird?" he says.

"She goes to our school, you know."

"Well who is she?" I question.

"Who's in here!?" a girl's voice yells from another end of the room.

"It's Gavin, Bird," he says. Suddenly, on the opposite side of where I'm standing, a girl and a boy come rushing out and pace their breathing.

"Hi," the girl smiles at me. She walks over towards me and shakes my hand.

"I'm Bird."

"I'm Ollie," the boy says as he waves.

"School ditchers, too?" Gavin says, smirking at Bird and Ollie.

"We're just working on some stuff," Bird says. "Guess who's bidding on JoJo?"

Gavin points to Ollie and Bird nods.

"Bidding? JoJo?" I ask.

"Ollie gets money by having people bid how long it will take for something," Bird says. "For instance, Ollie has sixty percent of people bidding that JoJo will get caught and go to jail again in about seven weeks."

"Smart way to get money," I say.

"I'm pretty broke so," Ollie laughs.

"Point is," Bird begins, "if you ever need Ollie to bid how long something's gonna take, you can always ask him. Nine out of ten times his bidders are correct-"

"Actually," I say, pulling out my phone. "Do you know who LoriJean Stevens is?" I ask, I open up to my lock screen and show Ollie what LoriJean looks like.

"Oh!" he says. "You're Holland!"

"That's me," I say.

"So what do ya need?" Ollie asks.

"Do you think you can bid how long it'll take for LoriJean to get caught?" I say, taking advantage of his skills.

"Sure thing, sweetheart," Ollie says.

"Thank you so much, I-"

"Holland, don't you think this is a bad idea?" Gavin says. "I mean-"

"Why would it be a bad idea?" I say. "I just wanna know what people think."

Gavin shrugs it off and plops down on the couch.

"By the way, Bird," I say, "I love the decor in here."

"Thanks," she smiles. "It's the hardest project I've ever worked on."

Three knocks come sounding at the door and Bird looks at Gavin and Ollie.

"In comes JoJo in three, two..."

The front door bursts open and in comes the six foot tall JoJo, walking into the room leisurely. He plops onto the couch right next to Gavin.

"Hey there, sweet thing," he says, smirking at me and looking me up and down.

I can't help but smile and shake my head.

"And what are you doing ditching school?" Bird says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What I always do," JoJo says. Ollie quickly runs to the back of the room and slams his bidding suitcase shut.

"Whatcha got there, Ol?" JoJo asks, standing up from his seat and walking towards the suitcase.

Ollie stands directly in front of the case and says, "Just some..." he hesitates with what he wants to say. "Molly," he randomly bursts out.

Bird face-palms herself in frustration. She comes to Ollie's defense. "He's no drug dealer though."

"Then why's he have molly in the suitcase?" JoJo stiffens up. "You're bidding me again, aren't you?"

Ollie slumps down and says, "Yeah, sorry. I didn't wanna-"

"It's cool, Ollie, I see how it is," JoJo says. "How long are your bidders sayin?"

"Seven weeks," Ollie mumbles. JoJo throws his hands in the air.

"Just great," he says. "Gavin, you got anything to do with this?"

"Nope, just a first period ditcher like Holland," Gavin laughs.

"First period ends in two minutes," JoJo says, looking at his wrist watch.

Gavin jolts up from the couch and starts to say, "We gotta-!" but I cut him off.

"We have Mrs. Donatelli second period, and she's as blind as a bat," I say. "No worries man. Third period is what we need to get back for."

Gavin slowly sits back down and slouches down on the couch.

JoJo randomly lays flat on the floor and starts to groan. "I feel like shit," he says, pouting at Bird.

"I ain't doin anything for ya," Bird says, throwing her hands in the air.

Ollie laughs loudly and we all look his way. "I just got a text from Mr. McCann that says, 'If the five of you don't get back in fifteen minutes, you're all going to have an in school suspension with a call to your parents!'"

After Ollie laughs a little more, we all stare blankly at each other and suddenly we all make a mad dash for the door, all trying to fit through it at the same time.

Once Gavin and I squeeze through the small front door, we both quickly jump in Gavin's car and speed down Husky Road to get to the school twenty minutes away...