Unsung

Chapter Fifty-Nine

"He spilled? Just like that?" Ris said, sneering. "So much for journalistic integrity."

"I made it clear that we weren't looking to destroy anyone's lives, including his," I explained. "I promised we'd only go public with anything if the article turned out to be false."

"Which of course, it is," McKayla insisted as she did a pull-up onto a metal chin-up bar. I watched in awe, as she pulled her legs up in front of her, swinging them around the bar until she was resting with her hips on top of it. With a final swing and kick, she maneuvered herself into a sitting position more than six feet in the air.

I almost groaned. I still hadn't mastered a pull-up.

"Come on, guys," McKayla said, as we stared up at her from our place on the ground. "If you can talk, you can train."

I looked around, doubtfully. Halfway through the school day, we'd each received a text from McKayla stating that our training would continue whether the center was open or not. The statement was followed by an address, which turned out to be a park not too far from the center. No one had responded, but we'd all shown up. We knew that the text hadn't been a request.

Now, we were all seated in a circle under the shade of a huge evergreen, between a rather impressive kids playground and a group of mostly vacant picnic tables. A skatepark loomed about thirty feet away and in between were a half dozen boulders and a great expanse of grass.

According to McKayla, it was the perfect training ground for budding heroes.

"Up, up, up," McKayla commanded, after dismounting from the bar and motioning for Ty and Sophia to take her place. "The rest of you, warm up with sit-ups and push-ups."

"Who made you boss?" Ris asked her, refusing to move.

"You didn't get the memo?" McKayla asked without missing a beat. "Oh, well. Start moving. Unless you want everyone to get better than you—I mean, some of us already are, but you can't do much about that."

Ris made a face at her, but slowly leaned back into a sit-up position, daring her to say more.

"So, did you find out who Jack really is?" Austin asked me, following Ris' lead and beginning to warm up.

I lay back on the ground but took my time sitting back up. I wasn't exactly known for being able to do two things at once, but I didn't want McKayla to yell at me for slacking off, either.

"Sort of," I forced out. "Cliff never actually met the guy. Said that all their interactions took place over the phone, and that it was his anonymous tip that started the whole ball rolling on the feature."

"So, you guys didn't get anything?" McKayla asked, unwilling to hide her disappointment.

I paused at the top of the sit-up and smiled. "I didn't say that," I corrected. "We got the phone number that Cliff would call to contact Jack."
"And we called it," Garrick chimed in.

"Nobody answered," I said frowning. "But we thought maybe Ris could figure out who it belongs to?"

"Haven't I already done enough?" he asked.

McKayla gave him a look and he sighed.

"Fine."

"We also got the number for Phoenix's roommate," Garrick said, passing a slip of paper to Ty, who nodded and shoved it in his pocket.

McKayla nodded slowly as she took this all in. "Good," she said. "Glad to see your trip wasn't a complete bust."

My face fell. "Hey!" I said, huffily. "We did the best we could."