When Demi walks into Mrs. P..s class on Friday I.m still thinking about how I.m going to get
back at her for throwing my keys into the woods last weekend. It took me forty-five minutes to find the
suckers, and all the while I was cursing Demi. Okay, so I give her props for dishing it out. I also have
her to thank for helping me talk about the night of my papa.s death. Because of it, I.ve called older OG.s
in the Blood, asking them if they know who might have had a grudge against my dad.
Demi has been wary this whole week. She.s waiting for me to play a joke on her, to get her back
for tossing my keys into the woods. After school, as I.m at my locker picking books to take home, she
storms up to me wearing her sexy pom uniform.
“Meet me in the wrestling gym,” she orders.
Now I can do two things: meet her like she told me to or leave the school. I take my books and enter
the small gym.Demi is standing, holding out her keychain without keys dangling from it.
“Where have my keys magically disappeared to?” she asks. “I.m going to be late for the game if
you don.t tell me. Ms. Small will kick me off the squad if I.m not at the game.”
“I tossed them somewhere. You know, you should really get a purse that has a zipper. You never
know when someone will reach in and grab somethin..”
“Glad to know you.re a klepto. Wanna give me a hint as to where you.ve hidden them?”
I lean against the wall of the wrestling gym, thinking about what people would think if they caught
us in here together. “It.s in a place that.s wet. Really, really wet,” I say, giving her a clue.
“The pool?”
I nod. “Creative, huh?”
She tries to push me into the wall. “Oh, I.m going to kill you. You better go get them.”
If I didn.t know her better, I.d think she was flirting with me. I think she likes this game we have
going on. “Mamacita, you should know me better than that. You.re all on your own, like I was when you
left me in the library parking lot.”
She cocks her head, gives me sad eyes, and pouts. I shouldn.t concentrate on her pouty lips, it.s
dangerous. But I can.t help it.
“Show me where they are, Joe Please.”
I let her sweat it out a minute before I give in. By now most of the school is deserted. Half of the
students are on their way to the football game. The other half is glad they.re not on their way to the
football game.
We walk to the pool. The lights are off, but sunlight is still shining through the windows, Demi.s
keys are where I threw „em – in the middle of the deep end. I point to the shiny pieces of silver under the
water. “There they are. Have at it.”
Demi stands with her hands on her short skirt, contemplating how she.s going to get them. She
struts over to the long stick hanging on the wall that.s used to pull drowning people from the water.
“Piece of cake,” she tells me.
