down at him .
“We ll, no actually, a forest has bears, cold weather, cougars, ravines . . . Any place this truck is going has hotels, roads, and Internet access , ” Max answers .
“Canada! ” Walker complains. “ I’m in Canada? I thought I hated the school before, this just sucks. Let me guess, Kitimat is far from anywhere good, right? ”
Naomi nods.
“Right now , Kitimat is not our problem. The problem is that this truck is almost for sure going to hit a roadblock , and someone from the school is going to come through those doors and look around in here. ” As Max talks , Walker takes out three hacksaw blades. “ We need to be ready for that. We need to start cutting pieces out of bread racks so that when we stack them back up it will m ake a space big enough for each of us to hid e in.”
“What will we do with the pieces we cut out? ” Virginia asks.
“ Just put them on top of the racks or pile them in the space in the middle of the truck . School staff won’t know the difference. Only the driver would notice , and it’s unlikely he’ ll search the back of his own truck . I was n’t counting on Naomi to show up today, so we don’t have enough saw blades . Let’s get this done in a way that Walker can write as much code as possible . . . Walker , after we’re done with the sawing you also need to hack the wireless on your laptop and get it working. I’ll work on getting this cell phone going and hacking our readers , OK ?”
Virginia faces Naomi. “I need to know one thing before we start. I can understa nd why you wanted to come with u s, but why did you go to Dr. Concilian’s office the other night?”
“I was trying to distract him , I kn ew you were going to his office, it was all I could think of to help.”
“How did you know we were going there,” asks Virginia. “Who told you that? Nothing in the code would let you know where I was going that night.”
Naomi smiles. “You’re way over-complicating this one. I was at a table right behind you in the common room when Max said he needed you to go there.”
Max and Walker try to stay out of it and distract themselves by squatting and cutting up a couple of racks.
“ You had a door code that got you into the secure area. Why didn’t you tell us you had that? Then I wouldn’t have had to go through the ceiling. Besides that , what deal did you have with Dr. Concilian? Do you still have a deal with him?”
Naomi turns away from Virginia. “No . . . wait . . . I was trying to help.”
“Pr ove it then,” says Virginia . “Make us understand. ”
Max looks up at Naomi, sees the tears in her eyes. “Virginia,” he says softly. “She was scared like the rest of us or at least scared like I was. How could she know that she could trust us?” Vi rginia faces him, glaring. “We’ re a pretty closed group , and she k new the d octors were watching everyone. She could n’t just give us her codes, she’ d have been caught the first time we used them .” Virginia’s face softens, but she still won’t look at Naomi. “We all did what we could and we’re out. Now we need the racks cut , and we need to write code , so can we get to work? ”
They finish cutting the rack s in about an hour, and settle into their hiding spot s . Max works at hacking the cell phone and reader , Virginia climbs up and down , exercising, Naomi memorizes the turns and bumps the truck is taking, and Walker codes.
Max looks at the racks in front of him. Any time now. Any time now would be the kind of time for a bout of mine . I have to believe they make me stronger. The rumble of the truck comforts him , and he settles onto his haunches. I don’t hide my weakness at all. The whole school knows . Max is frightening. Don’t go near Max when he gets like that. One time I saw Max throw everything he owned out the residence window. Everyone has a guess-what-I-saw-Max-doing story.
He stand s back up, the cramped position was making his legs go numb.
“We ll, no actually, a forest has bears, cold weather, cougars, ravines . . . Any place this truck is going has hotels, roads, and Internet access , ” Max answers .
“Canada! ” Walker complains. “ I’m in Canada? I thought I hated the school before, this just sucks. Let me guess, Kitimat is far from anywhere good, right? ”
Naomi nods.
“Right now , Kitimat is not our problem. The problem is that this truck is almost for sure going to hit a roadblock , and someone from the school is going to come through those doors and look around in here. ” As Max talks , Walker takes out three hacksaw blades. “ We need to be ready for that. We need to start cutting pieces out of bread racks so that when we stack them back up it will m ake a space big enough for each of us to hid e in.”
“What will we do with the pieces we cut out? ” Virginia asks.
“ Just put them on top of the racks or pile them in the space in the middle of the truck . School staff won’t know the difference. Only the driver would notice , and it’s unlikely he’ ll search the back of his own truck . I was n’t counting on Naomi to show up today, so we don’t have enough saw blades . Let’s get this done in a way that Walker can write as much code as possible . . . Walker , after we’re done with the sawing you also need to hack the wireless on your laptop and get it working. I’ll work on getting this cell phone going and hacking our readers , OK ?”
Virginia faces Naomi. “I need to know one thing before we start. I can understa nd why you wanted to come with u s, but why did you go to Dr. Concilian’s office the other night?”
“I was trying to distract him , I kn ew you were going to his office, it was all I could think of to help.”
“How did you know we were going there,” asks Virginia. “Who told you that? Nothing in the code would let you know where I was going that night.”
Naomi smiles. “You’re way over-complicating this one. I was at a table right behind you in the common room when Max said he needed you to go there.”
Max and Walker try to stay out of it and distract themselves by squatting and cutting up a couple of racks.
“ You had a door code that got you into the secure area. Why didn’t you tell us you had that? Then I wouldn’t have had to go through the ceiling. Besides that , what deal did you have with Dr. Concilian? Do you still have a deal with him?”
Naomi turns away from Virginia. “No . . . wait . . . I was trying to help.”
“Pr ove it then,” says Virginia . “Make us understand. ”
Max looks up at Naomi, sees the tears in her eyes. “Virginia,” he says softly. “She was scared like the rest of us or at least scared like I was. How could she know that she could trust us?” Vi rginia faces him, glaring. “We’ re a pretty closed group , and she k new the d octors were watching everyone. She could n’t just give us her codes, she’ d have been caught the first time we used them .” Virginia’s face softens, but she still won’t look at Naomi. “We all did what we could and we’re out. Now we need the racks cut , and we need to write code , so can we get to work? ”
They finish cutting the rack s in about an hour, and settle into their hiding spot s . Max works at hacking the cell phone and reader , Virginia climbs up and down , exercising, Naomi memorizes the turns and bumps the truck is taking, and Walker codes.
Max looks at the racks in front of him. Any time now. Any time now would be the kind of time for a bout of mine . I have to believe they make me stronger. The rumble of the truck comforts him , and he settles onto his haunches. I don’t hide my weakness at all. The whole school knows . Max is frightening. Don’t go near Max when he gets like that. One time I saw Max throw everything he owned out the residence window. Everyone has a guess-what-I-saw-Max-doing story.
He stand s back up, the cramped position was making his legs go numb.
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