“I did.”
“The flapper dress?”
“It’s yours. Early birthday present,” I say.
“Seriously?”
I nod because the next word would accompany sobs. Watching her pull it from my closet and squeal while she clutches it to her chest is excruciating. It feels like she ripped a child out of my arms, but it has to be done. Anything you want, Bex, as long as we get back to stable ground.
Compared with today’s throng, yesterday’s crowd was downright chill. There are easily twice as many people gathered outside the school, and they are bigger, meaner, and shriller. And the biggest, meanest, shrillest of them all, Governor Bachman, is back in a fresh blue business suit and a brand-new megaphone. This one is painted red like the shirts the Niners wear. Her face is painted with phony conviction.
“America welcomed the Alpha with open arms. That’s what we always do. Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free! That’s what makes us so exceptional: the world knows that America is a place where you can start a new life. I personally extended an olive branch, but they turned their backs on me. I tried to show them all what our great nation has to offer those who work hard and pledge allegiance, but they’re an arrogant bunch. They call themselves the Alpha, the First Men. I hear they think they’re better than us. Their actions over the last three years tell me so. They don’t want to be part of our nation. But oh, are they ready for the handouts! Now they want a free education! Well, I say enough is enough. You want to thumb your nose at us? Fine! Human schools for human children!
“I call on the president, Congress, and the mayor of New York to give up this failed experiment and let the children of Coney Island have the school their parents worked so hard to provide for them.”
“This is no place for sea monkeys,” someone shouts.
Bachman smiles. “No sea monkeys!” she echoes, and it morphs into a chant.
A reporter pushes to the front and begs the governor for an interview. “Governor, how is your plan to build an electrified fence on the beach coming?”
“It’s an uphill fight but one the people of New York will win,” Bachman says with a smile.
“I reviewed your plans. You want it to be constructed five yards away from the shoreline.”
“And thirty feet high, which I’m told is just higher than an Alpha can jump,” she sings.
“That will push them back into the ocean.”
Bachman’s face is full of mock surprise. “Will it? Well, you know, that property belongs to the people. It’s valuable real estate, and the taxpayers want it back. The amusement parks that used to operate there brought in millions in tax revenue. They were a cultural and historic treasure.”
Bex laughs. “Cultural and historic treasure? The most popular attraction was an open field where people paid five bucks to shoot paint balls at a dirty clown.”
A buzzing drowns out the crowd when the Selkie Guards arrive, which, like yesterday, gob-smacks the crowd. Next come Terrance Lir and the six Alpha students. They rush up the front steps with the help of two dozen soldiers. As they pass, I spot the prince and we lock eyes. I can’t read what he’s thinking, but his female friend’s glare could melt me in my shoes. Is she his girlfriend? She must be. Only a girlfriend would act that territorial.
Bachman charges up the steps after them and blocks the doors, and like yesterday two cops follow and arrest her. Another win for her! The crowd demands her release. A few surround the squad car they place her in before officers start blasting them in the face with pepper spray. All the anger that was aimed at the Alpha is now focused on the police and soldiers.
My father takes my hand. “Lyric—”
“Dad, don’t worry. I know what I have to do. No more trouble.”
He nods. “Be careful.”
“Like it’s my middle name,” I promise.
When Irish Tommy gives the word, Bex and I run for it. Today I manage to make it inside catfish-free.
Shadow is already waiting for us outside Ervin’s class. He does a double-take when he sees Bex. She’s all legs and blue eyes, a high school supermodel with a dress that barely covers her butt.
“Yo,” he says just after he wipes the googly eyes off his face.
“What do you think?” she says, giving him a twirl. The beading lights up like fireworks.
He shrugs.
She growls and stomps into Ervin’s room.
“You’re not fooling anybody,” I whisper in Shadow’s ear.
He shakes his head and quietly mouths the words, “I’m fooling her.”
I can’t help but grin. He is lovestruck. I see it in the way he laughs at her jokes and how he stares when she isn’t paying attention. He looks for her when she is not nearby, and when she’s with him he smiles like my father does when my mother walks into the room. But he’s got game. This boy knows what he’s doing. He’s driving her crazy with indifference. I just wish his little plan wasn’t taking so long.
“Just tell her!” I beg.
“I’m waiting for her to tell me first,” he says, then saunters down the hall.
“I need to get caught up in some true love right now, even if I’m riding in the sidecar,” I shout to him.
Homeroom is shell-shocked—no dancing, no throwing stuff, no fronting. Everyone sits face forward, feet on the floor, quiet as houses. Deshane is missing in action, and since he is captain of the troublemakers, his crew looks adrift. Gabriel, however, is pissed. He comes in just before the bell rings and won’t even look at me. He keeps his eyes on the floor, like the meaning of life is written on his Doc Martens.