The Curse of Arkady by Emily Drake Page A

with his leg in a splint?”
    â€œThat was me,” he admitted reluctantly.
    â€œYou’re on my list, then,” said Murphy.
    â€œList?”
    Friday afternoon had all but cleared the school out, and so Sam hiked up his backpack, giving Jason a look of apology before heading off. Jason dusted himself off, giving the vice principal his attention. “List?” he repeated.
    â€œMy list of trouble just waiting to happen. Let’s head to my office,” Murphy answered. “This will be short and sweet. We all want to go home.”
    Jason trotted after the man, somewhat curious, and glad to be in the open air again, shedding the smell of the trash bin as he followed. Murphy was a nice enough guy, always dressed in a suit, looked like he could have been a banker or something but instead he was chief enforcer at the school. He was young, Jason supposed, and had a picture of a nice wife with freckles across her nose and two small kids, who both shared the same freckles, on his desk. This was his first year at the middle school.
    â€œSit down,” he said, pointing in the general direction of several chairs.
    â€œSure.” Jason settled down, feeling vaguely uneasy. Had Murphy seen anything? He gazed at the picture of his wife and two kids. Nice family. He decided to count freckles to take his mind off Murphy’s expression.
    â€œMiddle school,” Murphy said, “can be really demanding. It’s a time in your life when you’re not a child, but you’re not quite a teenager yet either.”
    Jason throttled back a sigh. Not one of those lectures? He tried not to squirm in the chair.
    â€œThat’s why,” Murphy continued, as he steepled his hands and swung around in his chair, staring at his wall full of cheerful posters and interesting looking credentials hung in frames, “we have middle school. We have it to bridge those few years when you are in between, to help you through. As I said, you’re on my list. We don’t want feuds, Jason, and I’m here to intervene.”
    â€œI’m not feuding.” His voice came out sulky, and he shut his mouth, deciding it was better not to talk. Jason waited. Sooner or later, Murphy was going to ask why he’d been in a cloud of golden, glowing light . . . wasn’t he? How could he not have seen it? He tried to think of a logical explanation, and couldn’t. The only thing he could do then, was convince the vice principal that he hadn’t seen it. Or maybe to forget he’d seen it. He had a few options . . .
    â€œ. . . and that is why I think you’ll find this program beneficial.”
    â€œProgram?” Jason glanced up from his tumbling thoughts, to find Murphy now staring at him. He’d obviously missed something.
    â€œIt’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Murphy said. “And, of course, we’ll have to discuss it formally with your parents, but since today is Mr. Finch’s first day, I thought you could meet him and get things rolling. We brought him in as a kind of prevention force. Get to the problem before it really happens, you see.”
    It sounded to Jason as though things were already dangerously out of control. “Ummm,” he said, fishing for a useful thought.
    Murphy stood. “Come on, it’s just down the hall. He’s waiting.”
    He didn’t seem to have much choice, so he joined Murphy again for a short trip through the school’s administration office. They seemed to be heading for a tiny cubbyhole at the far end of the farthest offices. Boring beige walls led into an even more bland cubicle of an office.
    â€œStatler,” Murphy said warmly. “It was good of you to wait. Jason Adrian, this is Statler Finch. He’s our new counselor, brought in for special programs. Finch, this is Jason Adrian. Excellent student, good athlete, has a bit of trouble with peer acceptance. He’s on the early warning list we