"What is it?" Becky cried, rolling down the window.
Blood! Thick puddles in the grass! But there was no body! I followed the bloodstains, afraid bits of his corpse were strewn everywhere. And then I tripped over something hard. I looked down, anticipating a severed head. I apprehensively shone my flashlight on it. It was a dented paint bucket.
"Is he dead?" Becky gasped as I returned to the truck.
"No, but I think you may have killed his can," I said, dangling the bucket in front of her. "What was he doing painting in the middle of the night? And where was he going?"
"It was just paint!" Becky said with a gasp of relief, hanging up her cell phone and revving the engine. "Let's get out of here!" "What was that jerk doing walking in the middle of the road at night?" I wondered out loud. "Maybe he was going to paint some graffiti or something."
"Where did he come from? Where could he have gone so fast?" she mumbled back at me.
In the rearview mirror I caught the reflection of the darkened Mansion just in time to see a light go on in the attic window.
Chapter 6 Exposed
The story of Naked Trevor spread immediately through Dullsville High. Some students said he stumbled into Matt's house in a trash-bag diaper; others said he was found passed out na**d on the back lawn. No one had a clue I was involved. Only Trevor Boy knew the real story. Apparently he tried to pass it off to his buddies as an encounter with a cheerleader. Either way, everyone got a laugh.
Trevor left me alone. He wouldn't even make eye contact with me. Gothic Girl had finally gotten the goods on the popular Soccer Snob. But I didn't want him to accuse me of theft. I had to give his clothes back, right?
First there was the shoe. I think it was the left. I strung it on the outside of my locker. At first no one seemed to notice the hanging loafer. Those who finally did looked at it and walked on. But the next morning it was gone. One person had noticed it. Now it was time for others to take notice besides good ol' Trevor.
The right brown loafer was strung up in the same fashion. But next to it was a sign: MISSING SOMETHING, TREVOR? This time I heard giggles as students passed. They didn't realize whose locker it was. But they'd soon be catching on.
Each day a sock would hang out, or a T-shirt. I started noticing Snob Girls who would never talk to me suddenly looking over in algebra with smiling approval. They had been Trevor Tree Girls, promised everything, with nothing to show for it. Well, I had plenty to show.
By the time his khaki pants were hung out, complete with grass stains and dirt, everyone knew whose locker it was. Now kids in the hall were grinning at me. Guys weren't exactly asking me out, but I was suddenly popular--in a quiet kind of way.
Except, of course, with Trevor. But I felt safe. Now that everyone knew whose locker it was, he would be the prime suspect if anything happened to me.
But he did make the odd threat.
"I'll kick your ass, Monster," he said one day. He grabbed my jaw in his hands when Becky and I were starting to walk home.
"Combat boots hurt more than loafers, Neanderthal," I shot back. My face was pressed between his hands.
"Let her go," Matt said, pulling him away. I could see even Matt had enjoyed my prank. I'm sure he got tired of the Trevor attitude sometimes. After all, he was stuck being Trevor's best friend.
"You'll never be anything more than a freak!" Trevor shouted. Fortunately Matt pulled him away again. I didn't feel like going to battle after a long day at school.
"You just wait! You just wait!" he called back to me.
"Talk to my lawyer!" I yelled, secretly hoping I wasn't going to need a plastic surgeon instead. Time for the grand finale. Lots of students were gathered around my locker. I even saw a freshman taking pictures.
It was the cl**ax everyone had been waiting for: Trevor's white Calvin Klein underwear hot-glued to my locker. The sign underneath read: WHITE IS FOR VIRGINS, RIGHT TREVOR?
It would be up there for a while. Everyone saw it. I mean everyone!
"Raven, you defaced school property," Principal Smith scolded me later that day. I had been in Principal Smith's office so many times, it was like seeing an old friend.
"Those lockers have been here forever, Frank," I replied. "Maybe it's time you tell the school board we need new ones."
"I don't think you see the seriousness involved here, Raven. You ruined a locker and embarrassed an honors student."
"What honor? Ask your straight-A cheerleaders and half the drill team how many times he's embarrassed them!"
Principal Smith rattled his pencil in frustration.
"We need to get you involved in something, Raven. Some club you can belong to, something that will help you make friends."