Chapter 150: Monday morning
Chapter 151: Monday Morning Traffic (Liam’s POV)
The parking lot at Northview High was completely packed by 7:45 AM. It was the first day of our final week of high school, and you could feel the tension the second you turned off the main road. Students were crowding around the main entrance, talking about the final exams and signing each other's yearbooks.
I parked my truck in my usual spot near the gym fence. Elena was sitting in the passenger seat, closing her calculus notebook after doing one last review of the derivative formulas.
"Are you ready for the math test?" she asked, looking over at me.
"As ready as I'm going to be," I said, pulling my backpack from the floorboards. "I spent all of Sunday doing the practice questions. If Reynolds tries to say I didn't complete the hours, I have the signed ledger from the tutor right here in my bag."
"Good," Elena said, stepping down from the cab. "Because I just saw Chloe’s car pull into the visitor lot near the administration building. Her dad is with her."
I locked the truck doors and walked around to meet her on the asphalt. I looked toward the administration building. Chloe’s father, Arthur, was standing by the glass doors, wearing his usual expensive gray suit and talking into his phone. Chloe was next to him, holding her cheerleader bag and looking toward my truck. When she saw me looking, she immediately whispered something to her father, pointing her finger in our direction.
"They're still trying to find a wedge," I muttered, grabbing Elena’s hand and walking toward the main staircase. "They hate that the athletic board threw out the suspension."
"Let them look," Elena said, keeping her voice level and her English plain. "The board's decision is final. They can't overturn it without a new police report, and the police aren't going to help them after the data logs proved Maya lied."
As we entered the central hallway, the noise of the lockers slamming echoed through the corridor. The hockey guys were already standing by the trophy case, talking about the weekend. But the atmosphere changed the moment we got closer to the gym doors.
Jax was standing by the water fountain. He was surrounded by two varsity scouts from a state college division, but he didn't look happy. He looked nervous, his eyes darting toward the principal's office every time the door opened.
When Jax saw me, he froze. The scouts turned around to look at me too, recognizing me from the regional tournament logs.
"Vance," one of the scouts said, nodding at me. "Good to see you back on the roster for graduation week."
"Thanks," I said shorty, keeping my eyes on Jax.
Jax didn't say a word. He just shifted his weight and stared down at his sneakers, exactly like he had on Wednesday. He knew his reputation with the regional coaches was completely ruined because he had backed Maya's fake story until the very last minute. The state scouts were only here to look at his physical stats now; they weren't offering him the big-tier scholarship deals he had been bragging about all winter.
"I'll see you at first period, Elena," I said, letting go of her hand as the warning bell rang.
"Don't let them distract you during the test," she reminded me, giving my wrist a firm squeeze before heading toward the AP block.
I walked into the calculus classroom and took my seat at the back row. Mr. Reynolds was already passing out the test papers, his face expressionless as he dropped a packet onto my desk.
"You have exactly one hour, Liam," Reynolds said, his voice flat. "No extensions."
"I don't need an extension," I told him directly.
For the next sixty minutes, I kept my head down. I focused entirely on the numbers, completing the graph problems and checking the algebraic equations twice to make sure there were no simple mistakes. By the time the final bell rang, I felt confident. I handed the paper back to Reynolds, and he couldn't even look me in the eye when he took it. He knew my grade was going to be an A, and he had no legal right to hold back my graduation ledger.
When I came out of the classroom, Mason was waiting for me by the lockers. He looked serious, his usual joking attitude completely gone.
"Liam," Mason said, pulling me into the alcove near the boiler room. "We have a problem."
"What is it?" I asked, looking around the hallway. "Is Chloe’s dad still at the office?"
"It’s not just Chloe’s dad," Mason whispered, keeping his eyes on the main entrance. "Julian’s car just pulled up outside the gym gate. He’s talking to Jax and Marcus right now. I think they’re trying to do something with the equipment logs before the final athletic clearance is signed at 3:00 PM."
My jaw tightened. Julian hadn't set foot on this campus since the hearing two weeks ago. If he was here now, talking to Jax and the student board president, it meant he was desperate. The weekend peace was completely over.
"Where are they?" I asked.
"Behind the equipment shed near the ice rink," Mason said. "They think everyone is in second-period history. Elena is already heading toward the guidance office to get the transcript copies, so she doesn't know he's here yet."
"Keep an eye on Elena," I told Mason, slinging my bag over my shoulder. "Make sure Sarah stays with her in the main hall. I’m going to go see what Julian is paying Jax to do."
I turned around and walked down the back stairs toward the exit that led to the athletic fields. The villains were all back in the same space, and they were running out of time before graduation next Friday. If they wanted to try one last trick to mess with my Boston contract, I was going to make sure they got caught red-handed