When the Bob-Whites returned to school on Monday, Jim was feeling almost back to normal. He even answered some questions in History that he hadn't even realized he knew the answers to, so by the time lunch rolled around, he was in a good mood and happy to catch up with the rest of his friends. He set his tray down, ready to start talking about everyone's ideas for the next fundraiser. He set his bag down and sat down next to Trixie, and started to say something, but stopped, suddenly realizing that the rest of the Bob-Whites were staring at him, and no one looked happy.

"Did ... I miss something? You guys look upset ..."

Trixie glared at Mart. "I told you he didn't know! He's been in Lit and History this morning, and those classrooms are on the upper level! He wouldn't have even seen other students who knew yet!"

Mart shook his head. "Unlike you, I don't have everyone's class schedule committed to memory. By the way, it's a little creepy, so maybe cut me a little slack?"

From the glum expressions on his friends' faces, Jim was starting to wonder if he even wanted to know whatever it was. Honey looked angry, her face flushed and her hands shaking. Brian had that wary, cautious expression he wore when he wasn't sure what to say or do. Mart and Trixie were sniping and jabbing back and forth. Diana was conspicuously absent, and Dan looked simultaneously worried and a little bit sick.

"Okay, who died? You all look miserable!"

Trixie started to open her mouth, but Mart elbowed her, a little harder than was subtle.

He tried again. "Okay, did someone actually die? Am I being an insensitive clod?"

He cast a worried glance at Diana's empty seat, and felt his eyes widen at the idea that was forming.

Fortunately, Honey jumped in. "For heaven's sake! We have to talk about it. You all just let him think something had happened to Di!"

Relieved that his half-formed idea had been nipped in the bud, Jim sighed. "What gives, you guys?"

Dan was the first one to create a coherent sentence. "There's a bunch of stuff, man. All of it sucks. It's been going around since right after homeroom this morning that they're letting van Kassel join our basketball team like none of those things you reported ever happened. And, someone vandalized the locker room. Spraypainted something - something jerky on your locker. And, someone seems to have let the air out of back tires of the station wagon out in the student parking lot."

"Is that it?" Jim asked.

"No," Trixie said softly. "Van Kassel asked Di to be his date for the Turkey Trot dance, and she said yes. She's eating lunch with him right now."

Mart crossed his arms and kept his eyes studiously averted from the sight of Diana Lynch smiling and laughing at a nearby table with Alan van Kassel, a few of the other basketball team members, Jane Morgan, and some of the cheerleaders.

Trixie reached out to pat Jim's arm comfortingly. "She's just doing research. She said yes to the dance because it's not a major one anyway. Homecoming and Prom and Spring Fling are all much more important than the stupid Turkey Trot!"

Honey agreed. "She really commits to a role! Who cares about the Turkey Trot anyway? Although, I suppose we'll have to go if we want to keep an eye on Di. We can just go as a group and have as much fun as we can in between making sure she's okay."

Jim nodded slowly. "What does my locker say?"

"Nothing now," Brian said grimly. "Dan and Mart and I took care of it."

"But, what did it say earlier?" Jim pushed. He loved his friends and loved that they were as protective of him as he was of them, but he needed to know if he was going to figure out how to act later if others asked him about it.

Dan sighed. "It said, 'snitch.'"

Suddenly, Jim felt a surge of relief that rather unfortunately manifested itself in the form of inappropriate and ill-timed laughter. The idea that all of this - this teenage drama - was the worst thing he had to worry about now was a strange sort of epiphany. If he could grapple with the reality of spending his teenage years on the run, working like an adult for his pay, stay on top of his academic game while at the mercy of his stepfather and ask Trixie to dance with him at the Turkey Trot, then some idiot spraypainting his locker and letting the air out of the tires and playing on the same basketball team as him - it didn't have to mean anything. So what if some random kids he didn't know well had some kind of opinion of him? They had no idea what he was capable of, how much he was going to accomplish in his life, or what he'd overcome to be here!

The other Bob-Whites were staring, concerned, when he started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Brian asked, alarmed.

"It's not - it's not funny, not really. It's just - I care what you guys think, I care what my family thinks, and given everything else as long as you guys don't not sit with me at lunch, I don't think I really care who else doesn't want to. Did that make sense?"

Honey smiled. "It made perfect sense to me!"

The relief around the lunch table was palpable. Trixie let out a sigh. "Part of the plan is that Di is pretending to have fallen out with Honey and I."

At Jim's surprise, Trixie hastily explained. "It was too suspicious for her to just jump lunch tables like that. We had a fake argument in the hall. We're scheduled to "make up" in a few days, before you get all honorable and weird about it. She's coming to the clubhouse after school like normal. No one is actually mad."

"I'm getting there," Mart huffed, watching Di smiling at van Kassel.

Dan smacked the top of his head with a pencil. "Get it together, man. This is for science! Forensic science!"

Trixie shook her head, a small line of concentration between her eyebrows. "Something isn't adding up," she said.

Jim had been thinking that too. "Why would he come to a new school and immediately target me? I'm not the only one who saw what he did at that game. He pulled out a bottle and started bragging about having steroids in the locker room. Two whole teams of guys saw that. I just happened to be the one to report it because I was team captain and it only seemed right for me to be the one. If he was even a little bit smart, he would be trying to hide that the incident ever happened instead of bringing it up in a new place. It's not exactly snitching when a room full of people saw the same thing."

Two tables over, Diana and one of the cheerleaders were giggling at something van Kassel had said. He seemed to be doing some kind of impression of an ape. Trixie winced at the sheer awkwardness of the situation.

Mart sighed heavily. "Exhibit A, James. Not smart."

"But," Trixie mused. "He does have access to the car we think hit Jim."

Honey added, "But we can't assume he was the one driving it, not yet. We need to wait until after school at the clubhouse so we can talk to Di."

The bell rang, ending the lunch period before the Bob-Whites could finish their conversation, but Jim managed to catch up with Trixie. "Hey, Trix! You have math next, right? I'm two rooms down, in - "

"Biology," she finished.

She really does have my schedule memorized! But I guess I kind of have hers down too. If she's a casual stalker, I guess I am too!

She smiled up at him, her arms full of books. He saw the telltale papers sticking out of her textbooks and suppressed a groan. Both she and her almost-twin treated textbooks like a filing system. Part of him wanted to give her a package of folders and a binder and not stop until she was as ridiculously color-coded as he was, but the saner part of him knew that she would take offense at best and think he was a huge dork at worst. However, nothing escaped Trixie's notice, apparently.

"Are you standing there actively biting your tongue about the flappy papers sticking out of my books?"

She didn't look mad, but he answered cautiously. "No?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"No," he sighed. "It defies logic, makes my brain hurt, and gives me anxiety just thinking about all of the things that could get lost, but it's your stuff, not mine, and you're not flunking out or anything, so who am I to judge? Walk you to class, Trix?"

She giggled. "If you can stand to be seen with me and my flappy papers," she waggled her history book at him, and he shook his head. The poor thing was practically bursting from her ill use.

"Nope. None of my business how you torture your poor books. I mean, what do I care if I can hear it whispering, "Help meee!"

Trixie examined the book like she was holding up a small animal. "Are you suffering, little fellow? Do you want Jim to liberate you from your trials?"

Playing along, he whispered, "It's too late for me. Save yourself! Run!" He laughed. "That was History telling Math to save itself."

Outside the door to Trixie's Math class, they paused. Students were still filing in, and the teacher had yet to return to the room.

"Say, if we're going to go to the Turkey Trot as a group, do you suppose a guy could make sure he got at least a couple dances with you?"

Her cheeks turned pink. "Of course! Which guy, though? I mean, Nick Roberts is swell, but he steps on my toes and sweats a lot."

He knew she was teasing him, but it still seemed important to be clear. "Me, Trix. I want to make sure I get to dance with you."

She gave his arm an impulsive squeeze, her face still flushed. "You didn't even have to ask, Jim. But I'm sure glad you did!"

As Trixie darted into her classroom, she turned and gave him a little wave, and he felt his heart soar. If van Kassel was planning to make things difficult for him, he'd have to try a lot harder. He was no stranger to adversity, and any challenges would be met head-on.