The Academy by Bentley Little Page A

and now they expect me to work there, too? Or pay tuition like a private school?’ ” He grinned. “I told her to think of it as a user fee. She damn near attacked me.
     
     
    “My mom loves user fees,” he explained to Myla. “Hates taxes but loves user fees. Hmmm,” he said, stroking his chin as if in deep thought. “Maybe I’ll tell her it’s called an ‘education tax.’ That should get her good and riled up.”
     
     
    “My mom says she’ll volunteer,” Brad said. “We’ll see if that happens.”
     
     
    “It does seem weird,” Myla offered, “that they can charge people to go to a public school. It seems illegal to me. Isn’t everyone entitled to a free education? And what about poor kids? What if their parents work and don’t have time to volunteer, yet they can’t afford to fork over the four hundred dollars a year?” She shook her head. “Four hundred dollars. That’s a lot of money.” She looked over at Cheryl, the Associated Student Body president. “Maybe we should bring this up in a meeting, see if we can do something about it.”
     
     
    The other girl looked uncomfortable. “I don’t think that’s really our place.”
     
     
    “Not our place? The students elected us! It’s our job to look out for their interests!”
     
     
    “I ran for treasurer because it’ll look good on my résumé,” Reba said. “I’m not out to change the world. If parents don’t like having to volunteer or pay money, let them go to the administration and do something about it.” She paused. “Besides, I think it’s good that parents are being forced to become more involved.”
     
     
    “Yeah,” Cindy agreed.
     
     
    “ Forced to volunteer,” Ed said. “Isn’t that one of those ‘jumbo shrimp’ things? What’re they called?”
     
     
    “Oxymorons,” Brad said.
     
     
    “Yeah. Like ‘effective student council.’ ”
     
     
    “Why are you even here?” Reba said with disgust. “Find your own table.”
     
     
    Ed gathered up his lunch sack and tipped an invisible hat. “Ladies,” he said by way of farewell.
     
     
    Brad smiled and got up to follow his friend. “See you sixth period,” he told Myla.
     
     
    “Period!” Ed repeated loudly.
     
     
    “Eww!” Cindy and Reba cried out together.
     
     
    Brad laughed as they took their food to another recently relinquished table on the other side of the lunch area. “Making new friends everywhere you go.”
     
     
    “It’s my job. How did Myla ever get caught up with those bitches? In fact, how did she ever get caught up in you? She’s way out of your league, you know.”
     
     
    “She was elected; that’s how she got hooked up with them. As for me, I guess she just has an eye for quality.”
     
     
    “Yeah. Right.” Ed craned his neck to look over Brad’s shoulder. “What’s going on over there?”
     
     
    He turned to see a crowd of students gathering around the outdoor basketball courts. There were always a few fanatics who actually spent their lunch hours shooting hoops on the asphalt, but this was different. It was obvious that something had happened. One kid ran back toward the lunch area, shouting for a friend of his to come and see what was going on. “A bird, man! It just flew right into the backboard! And two more right after it! Boom, boom, boom! The second one actually bounced off and went through the hoop!”
     
     
    Ed looked at Brad. “Did you hear that? Freaky. Let’s check it out.” He stood.
     
     
    Brad shook his head. “I’ve seen dead birds before. I’m just going to finish my lunch.”
     
     
    “Back in a sec.” Ed hurried off to join the growing crowd, but Brad did not even turn to watch.
     
     
    Because he was afraid to watch.
     
     
    He was not a superstitious guy, and maybe his mind was just running along these tracks after hearing the story of Van’s disappearance. He didn’t know Van all that well, but it was possible that he was more affected than he thought by what had happened to the boy. Whatever the reason, the basketball courts made him uneasy, and he remained