Shallow Grave

Copyright © 2012 Alex Van Tol

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Van Tol, Alex
Shallow grave [electronic resource] / Alex Van Tol.

(Orca soundings)

Electronic monograph.
Issued also in print format.
ISBN
978-1-4598-0204-9 (
PDF
).--
ISBN
978-1-4598-0205-6 (
EPUB
)

I. Title. Ii. Series: Orca soundings (Online)
PS
8643.
A
63
S
43 2012        j
C
813'.6        
C
2012-902578-
X

First published in the United States, 2012
Library of Congress Control Number:
2012938213

Summary:
Elliot and Shannon call forth a restless spirit when they are forced to clean up an old boathouse as punishment for a school prank gone wrong.

Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Cover photography by
Dreamstime.com

www.orcabook.com

15   14   13   12   •   4   3   2   1

For Mrs. Finch.
Your presence makes our lives
interesting.

You can check out any time you like,
but you can never leave.

—The Eagles,
“Hotel California,” 1976

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter One

“This is awesome,” I say. “Hard-core manual labor is exactly how I planned to spend my Friday after school.”

With a loser goth weirdo in tow, I think. But I don't say that part.

“Well, it's not like I want to be cleaning up the boathouse either,” Shannon shoots back. She claps her mittened hands together as we walk along the gravel road leading away from the school.

I grunt. Who wears mitts anyway? What is she, five?

I wonder if her palms are pierced too, or if it's just her cheek, nose, eyebrow, lip and tongue. And god knows what else.

I shudder at the thought.

“And anyway, I wouldn't exactly call it hard-core manual labor,” she continues.

“So sorting through piles of old life jackets and busted paddles sounds like fun to you?”

She shakes her head. “Not fun. But not hard-core either. Hard-core is hiding the principal's Smart Car in the woods.”

“No, that's what they call stupid,” I say. The late October wind sneaks under the bottom of my hoodie and around my collar, making me shiver.

“It wasn't stupid. At least, it wouldn't have been if those idiots hadn't rolled it onto my foot. It would've been funny.”

“Funny for you, maybe,” I say. “Not so much fun for Mr. Harrison. And not funny for me. You should think twice before pulling dumb pranks that get innocent bystanders in trouble.”

I can feel Shannon looking at me, but I don't return her gaze.

“Holy,” she laughs. “Ease down there, Mr. Perfect. I already said I was sorry you got caught up in it. It's not like I planned for them to roll the car onto my foot. And anyway, I never asked you to come crashing through the bushes to save me, scholar boy.”

“Scholar boy?”

Shannon ignores me. “You were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she says. “And you got in trouble. What's the big deal?”

I look at her in disbelief. “Ever heard the term ‘miscarriage of justice'?”

She shrugs. “Life's unfair,” she says. Then she gives me a sly smile. “Must be a hard pill to swallow for a rule follower like yourself.”

“Since when is following rules a bad thing? Just because they're rules?”

“Depends on your reasons for following,” she says. “I think you're one of those people who does what they're told because they've been brainwashed by the establishment.”

I stop. “Excuse me?” I'm almost certain I didn't ask to have my character assaulted. Especially by a freak with purple hair and multiple puncture wounds whose crime I'm about to serve time for.

Besides. She doesn't even know me.

“Never mind.” Shannon waves a hand dismissively. She keeps walking.

I don't move.

She turns and looks at me, then sighs. “I apologize, okay? For the millionth time.” Her ultrawhite face and red lipstick look stark against the flat gray sky. She's dressed in a long black coat. A thick gray scarf winds around her neck. Docs on her feet. Those ugly boots are the only thing that saved her foot. She walked away instead of crawling.

Maybe I should've let her crawl.

“Honestly, Elliot,” she says, “you're making a huge deal out of this. All we have to do is clean up the boathouse.”

“Yeah, and who's going to clean up my record?” I ask. “I just started at this school two months ago, and already I got a rap.”

As soon as I say it, I wish I hadn't. She'll just chalk it up to me wanting to impress the authorities. I try a different tack.

“Besides, why should those other jerks go free? They ran their little emo asses off when Harrison came. Beat a chickenshit retreat and left you stuck under the car.” I shake my head. “Who does that? They should be here cleaning up too.”

“Don't worry about them,” Shannon says. “Karma's watching. They'll get what they deserve somewhere down the line.” She tucks a strand of purple behind her ear. “Besides, you should be glad. You collected lots of positive karmic points for trying to help.” She grins. “Especially someone who obviously doesn't fit on your spectrum of…social acceptability.”

I can't argue with that.

“How could I not stop and help?” I say. “You were screaming like someone was tearing your heart out of your chest.”

“My hero, Elliot the A-student jock superstar.” She clasps her hands under her chin and flutters her eyelashes.

Girl's got a chip on her shoulder a mile wide.

I bite my tongue. Take a deep breath and release it very, very slowly. I count to ten, like that buck-toothed psychiatrist taught me how to do back when my parents split and I was beating the crap out of everything within arm's reach.

This could be a long afternoon.

Chapter Two

If it weren't for this stupid situation, Shannon and I would never have had any reason to cross paths. We don't run with the same crowds. Not that I have such an established crowd after only seven weeks at Wildwood, but there are some good people in it.

Smart people. People who work hard. People who want to do well in school so they can do well in the world.

I'm not so sure I could say the same about her crowd.

In the last seven days since Mr. Harrison walked in on us in the bushes, I've learned how different Shannon and I are as people. “Like chalk and cheese,” my grandmother would say.

I swim for the national team. Shannon writes mouthy articles for the school newspaper.

I work hard and apply myself so my mom's not wasting her money sending me to a school like this. Shannon breaks the rules no matter who's paying.

I like to look respectable and approachable. Shannon likes to shock people.

I am black. Shannon is white.

End of story.

When I pulled in last Friday morning after my doctor's appointment—a long needle in my foot for another plantar wart from a dirty pool deck—I'd seen the principal, Mr. Harrison, leaving the building. My mom wanted me to ask him about missing some school. There was a big tri-state meet in November, and I was going to have to miss a couple of days on either side of the weekend. This seemed to be as good an opportunity as any to speak with him.

I parked and grabbed my bag.

Once I was out of the car, though, I couldn't exactly ignore the shrieks coming from the bushes at the edge of the parking lot.

I forgot about talking to Mr. Harrison and went over to investigate.

Okay, I ran over with my heart in my throat. I thought someone was being assaulted.

One glance told me all I needed to know. There was this purple-haired girl with her foot stuck under the tire of one of those little Smart Cars. Swearing a blue streak. Two skinny weak types were yelling at each other. A third guy dressed head to toe in black was hissing at the girl to keep it down. Four or five other people were pelting down a forest trail, away from the scene.

Holy crap. They actually rolled a car into the bushes.

Purple Girl was shrieking. “Don't tell me to shut up, Ramone. Just get this goddamn thing off my foot!”

I cleared my throat. Heads whipped in my direction. They seemed shocked to see me. Like it never occurred to them that hysterical screams coming from the forest might attract attention.

“Uh,” I said. “Is this Mr. Harrison's car? 'Cause he's on his way over.” I nodded over my shoulder, toward the parking lot. “I just saw him leaving the school.”

It wasn't going to take him long to notice that his car was gone. I'm sure he'd already heard the screams and was wondering what the hell was going on in the bushes.

The other guys all looked at each other. “Shit,” said the Ramone guy. “Harrison.”

I bent to brace my shoulder against the back of the car.

Purple Girl threw me a grateful look. “Thank god,” she said. “Someone who has half a brain.”

I didn't even know her name then.

“You guys going to help or what?” I asked, looking up.

It was like my words broke them out of their spell. They took off, leaving the girl and me behind. I had to push the Smart Car off her foot by myself.

Which wasn't that hard, really.

What was hard was getting treated like a criminal for trying to be a nice guy.

Mr. Harrison didn't care that I wasn't in on the plan. He's a dick like that, I discovered. All that matters is his own view of things. Smash through bushes. See two kids standing next to car. Car in wrong spot. One kid looks like he's maybe the wrong color. Must punish. Hard. I guess it didn't help that I'm new this year and he doesn't know me. He had his own conclusions to jump to.

I can see why you'd want to hide his car. The guy's a jerk.

That was a week ago. And now here we are.

Shannon didn't rat out the other nerds who were in on the prank, even though she had every right. I guess that's respectable in some circles.