"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."
McKayla stopped pacing and walked over to me, her hands placed staunchly on her hips. She stared at me for a brief second and then held her hand out and nodded for me to take it. "I know," she said, sounding apologetic as she pulled me up and onto my feet. "I just wish your best were better."
Then she gently guided me toward the metal high bar and slapped my butt hard.
"Ow!" I yelped, grabbing my backside in surprise.
"Now get to work, Erin Brockovich," she said with a wink.
"Did you do any better?" Garrick asked McKayla as we continued our warm-ups.
"Found out I was right," McKayla said as she launched her body forward and into a handstand. "Cain's like Gandhi. A revolutionary. Everyone loves him."
"Not everyone," Ty pointed out. "Otherwise we wouldn't be in this mess."
"Okay, fine," McKayla said, rolling her eyes. "But honestly, I asked around. Nobody had anything bad to say about him. Students around campus seem as surprised as us that he's being accused of this stuff. I even talked to a few former teachers, and they all insisted that nothing nefarious ever happened on their watch."
"Maybe they were just saving their own asses?" Ty suggested.
McKayla thought about this. "I don't think so," she said. When she saw the skeptical look on his face, she added, "And I'm not saying that because it's Cain. I talked to teachers who weren't asked back by the University. AKA, they were let go or fired. They had no reason to lie. If anything, I'd expect to hear the worst rumors from them. But there was nothing."
She seemed pleased to relay this, and I had to admit, I nearly let out a breath of relief myself. As sure as we were that Cain was innocent, there was still the tiniest part of me that worried we'd find something we hadn't been counting on. And I wasn't sure what that kind of information would do to us.
It could ruin everything.
Not just Cain's life. But ours, too.
"Hate to burst your Cain-coated bubble McKayla, but I took a crack at the Institute's internal records last night," Ris chimed in out of nowhere.
McKayla came down from her handstand, her face flushed from being upside down.
"And?" she asked, barely out of breath.
"It appears that there was an incident reported to the school board back when Clarissa Atkins was a student," he revealed, his face expressionless.
When he didn't continue right away, McKayla stalked over to him threateningly.
"And..." she prompted.
Ris smirked. He knew that for once he held all the power between them. And he loved it.
"I'm not sure you're going to like it," he teased, turning over and starting to do push-ups.
McKayla sat down hard on his back, putting her full weight onto him as he tried to push back up. Then, to show him just how serious she was, she grabbed a fistful of his jet black hair and pulled his head back toward her.
"Spit. It. Out. Ris," she said between clenched teeth.
"Not the hair," he said, suddenly flipping over onto his back and causing McKayla to straddle him. She stayed where she was and gave him her best death stare.
"Okay," Ris relented, a small smile playing on his lips. "It appears that Cain actually made the report himself. Claimed that Clarissa Atkins developed an unhealthy obsession with him, and that her advances were uninvited and unreturned. He said she showed up at his house late at night and refused to leave when he turned her away. Apparently, she even broke in a few times to surprise him with romantic dinners."
"Obs, the bitch was crazy," McKayla said.
"It's possible," Ris admitted. "A few weeks later, Clarissa made her own report to the University claiming that Professor Cain had a history of predatory behavior toward young female students. She didn't go into details in the report, but it was enough to stir things up. The matter was closed a month later after an internal investigation found there was no merit to the allegations. Turns out Cain had video footage of the break-ins, as well as exchanges via text and e-mail that corroborated his side of the story. After that, Clarissa was asked to get help or leave."
"And we all know how that turned out," Ty concluded.
"See, I told you Cain wouldn't go for her," McKayla said satisfied, before finally climbing off of Ris. "Now was that so hard?"
For a second, I could've sworn Ris looked disappointed by her absence. But when he caught me staring at him, he just scowled and got up.
"Well, I can wholeheartedly confirm that Miss ClarissaAtkins definitely did not get help,"Sophia said, lifting her leg and stretching it on the rung of a ladder attachedto the monkey bars. "That girl is loonier than a bag of Fruit Loops."