CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Andrew entered Greenly’s class, his sense of purpose diluting his underlying fear. He may have had a hard time picturing some of the other teachers as potential murderers, but he didn’t have that problem with Greenly. Like most other sociopaths, he was missing the compassionate sensitivity chip.
“Andrew,” Greenly said, handing him back a quiz. Andrew looked down and smiled. He hadn’t gotten over the novelty of seeing an A at the top of anything that had his name on it. “I wouldn’t look so excited. You still got one wrong.”
Andrew bit his tongue. He’d purposely written in an incorrect answer for one of the questions to make his sudden improvement look a bit more realistic. Now, seeing Greenly’s triumphant face, he wished he hadn’t.
Class started and Greenly put a long problem set up on the board. As the class worked busily at their desks, Greenly sat at the front of the room, flipping through his black planner. Andrew had noticed that Greenly carried it with him constantly. What he wouldn’t give for the chance to take a peek inside. Who knew what secrets could be buried in there? Suddenly, an idea formed in his head, but he needed Justin’s help. Andrew slowly slid his phone out of his bag and under his notebook. They were supposed to keep their phones off during school, but most people ignored that rule and kept them on vibrate. He quietly tapped out the text.
Have an idea. Come outside room 306 when the bell rings. I want to see if you can move Greenly’s planner from his desk into my bag.
A moment passed before Justin’s reply came.
Dude. Really? Won’t he notice his planner magically moving? I thought you were supposed to be a genius.
Greenly looked up just then, and Andrew slid his phone under his notebook just in the nick of time.
“Five more minutes,” Greenly told the class. When Andrew saw his head go down again, he resumed his texting.
I’ll ask him a question after class to distract him. My backpack will be open and right next to the desk.
Justin’s reply came quickly.
All right. It’s worth a try.
When the bell finally rang at the end of class, Andrew took his time gathering his books, his heart beating fast. They were actually going to try this. If he ever wanted to be in the FBI one day, he’d have to get used to putting himself in jeopardy. As he reached the front of the room, he saw Justin through the open door, standing against the wall in the hallway as dozens of other students scurried around him. Andrew gave a slight nod to the black spiral-bound planner that was on the desk. Justin gave him a thumbs-up.
“Was there something you needed, Andrew?” Greenly asked sharply.
“Uh, yeah,” Andrew said, his hands clammy. “I was wondering if you could review graphic exponential growth?”
Greenly smirked. “But I thought all this was so easy for you now.”
Most teachers were thrilled when a student of theirs suddenly made strides, but Greenly had taken Andrew’s newfound success as a personal affront. Probably because taunting Andrew had been his primary form of classroom entertainment. With Andrew as the resident genius now, he had limited material.
“I want to double-check that I understand this. It sounded like you were saying that if the base was greater than one, it’s exponential decay, not growth?” Greenly had, in fact, said the opposite. This was a better way to egg him on, though.
“I didn’t say that.” Greenly was instantly defensive. He turned away from the desk and to the board to illustrate his point. As he wrote out a sample function, Andrew turned to the open doorway and gave Justin a signal.
Justin laser-focused in on the planner.
“If the base is less than one, the graph decreases from left to right,” Greenly said as he drew an axis. Andrew’s eyes darted between the board and the planner.
“If the base is greater than one, the graph increases from left to right …” Andrew knew Greenly was reaching the end of the explanation. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the planner moving. He shifted his body to better block the activity from Greenly’s view.
“So I was saying that a base greater than one proves exponential growth. Not decay.” He looked at Andrew expectantly.
The planner was at the edge of the desk. A few more inches and it would slide into Andrew’s bag. He had to get Greenly to turn back to the board so Justin could finish the job.
“What about a population growth model, though? How does that work?” he asked.
“We’re not covering that in this course. That’s calculus.”
“Oh. Okay. If you don’t know, I can ask Ms. O’Reilly at Mathletes …”
“Of course I know,” Greenly huffed, turning back to the board. Andrew had correctly assessed his weak point.
Justin got back to work. Within seconds, the planner slipped over the edge of the desk and into the bag with a small thump. Andrew faked a cough to cover it.
“I think I get it now,” Andrew said to Greenly quickly.
“I haven’t even finished the explanation,” Greenly said, eyeing Andrew suspiciously.
Andrew wanted to hightail it out of there before Greenly realized his planner was missing, but he could only think of one way to do it. He doubled down on the coughing.
“Sorry, the air in here is making it so I can’t breathe. I think I need to see the nurse.”
Greenly rolled his eyes and waved Andrew off.
Andrew smiled as he walked away. Sometimes it was hard to break old habits.
* * *
“Let’s see it,” Justin said, when he and Andrew met up right outside the building.
Andrew opened the planner, the smile fading from his face. The little black notebook was more of a lesson planner than a life planner. The contacts section remained totally blank. Like the rest of the world, Greenly probably kept his contacts in his phone. The calendar section was chock-full, but only with items related to school.
“That was all for nothing?” Justin asked.
Andrew turned the last few pages, reluctant to admit defeat. He reached a section titled Notes. It, too, was empty except for three lines. Each one held a different ten-character combination of letters and numbers.
Andrew’s heart rate picked up.
Maybe this wasn’t going to be as futile as he thought.
He had a feeling he knew exactly what those were.