Chapter 5: Four Hundred Dollars

The first co-chair meeting was Thursday at 3:15 in the main hallway, because the principal said our two offices were too far apart.

That was true.

My office was a closet by the library, and his was a locker room.

I got there early with a clipboard and a plan.

I did not intend to talk about January.

Rhett came down the hall in his team jacket and stopped in front of the trophy case outside the gym.

He did not look at me.

He looked at a framed certificate behind the glass.

"State Scholastic Journalism Award," he read aloud. "Best Investigative Story. Anja Lindahl, Harbor Gazette. Four Hundred Missing Dollars."

My stomach dropped.

"I didn't put it there," I said.

"It looks nice."

"The school did."

"I'm sure they were proud." He turned. "You get a plaque for my worst month, and I get a letter in my file."

Two boys from the hockey team stopped at the water fountain to watch.

A girl with a violin case stopped too.

Hallways did that at Harbor Ridge whenever a voice went flat.

"Rhett," I said quietly, "can we do this later?"

"No. You're right here."

"Fine." I lifted my chin. "I printed numbers that were real."

"They were real."

"The page had your signature."

"It had my signature," he said. "I sign a lot of things."

"Treasurer.

It said R.

Kolstad, treasurer, right at the bottom.

You kept the hockey fund, and four hundred dollars was gone, and you never once told me anything different."

Keep reading free with an account. Start I Accidentally Sexted My Enemy from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.