The Girl Is Trouble (28 page)

But that didn’t stop him from letting Benny take the fall.

CHAPTER

24

I TOLD PEARL THAT I WANTED
both of us to eat lunch with the federation at their table that day.

“Why?” she asked.

“If you’re back in their good graces,” I said, “I want to see them grovel a little and congratulate you on a job well done. Besides: safety in numbers. If we’re with the federation, hopefully Rhona will keep her distance.”

As we started our meals under the weight of heavy praise from the federation, I could feel Rhona’s glare from across the room. I did the best I could to ignore her and focus on the matter at hand. When we reached a lull in the conversation, I smiled sweetly and said to no one in particular, “There’s one thing that’s still bugging me about all of this.”

“What’s that?” asked Judy Cohen.

“That banner was a two-man job. Who was helping Benny?”

“Probably one of the other Rainbows,” said Ira.

“Hmmmm, maybe,” I said. “Where do you think he got the ladder from? I mean, they would’ve had to use a ladder to hang something up so high.”

“The firemen had ladders in the school all week,” said Paul. “Benny probably stole one.”

“Right,” I said. “I understand Benny’s real good at stealing things.” I looked at Michael as I said it and I could see that he knew what I was getting at even as it went over everyone else’s head. “Wouldn’t you guys love to find out who was helping him? You know, so that everyone gets punished?”

“Of course,” said Natalie.

“I bet I could get Benny to tell me.” I looked sideways at Pearl, who was no doubt very confused. “Maybe if I threatened to get him fired from the A and P, he’d tell me anything I asked.” I thumped my fingers on the table and frowned. “I’d better go,” I said. “I’ve got some studying to do.” I left their little group and hurried out of the cafeteria. It was only a matter of minutes before Michael appeared, his face flushed, his brow damp.

“Looking for me?” I said as he approached the journalism office.

“Who told you?”

“Not Benny, if that’s what you’re worried about. I figured it out myself.”

“Who else knows?” he asked in a hushed tone.

“No one, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Pearl put it together. She’s a smart cookie despite what her brother thinks.” I clucked my tongue at him. “That’s pretty low, Michael, letting Benny take the rap for everything.”

“I didn’t expect that he’d get caught.”

I wagged a finger in his face. “I don’t doubt it, but he did and now you have to do something about it.”

“Do you have any idea what the consequences will be if the truth gets out that I did this? Anytime anything happens to a Jewish student from here on out, people will claim it’s a lie they made up for sympathy or who knows what. Think about what that means, Iris.”

He was right—this was going to have a devastating effect not just on Michael, but on every Jew at P.S. 110. But I couldn’t think about that. Not when Benny had been expelled. “You should’ve thought about that before you started this little scam.”

“Please,” begged Michael. “There has to be some other way.”

I showed him my empty palms. “Sorry, nothing’s coming to mind.” I turned to leave and found Pearl standing behind me. From the look on her face, she’d been there for most of the conversation.

“Please, Pearl. You’ve got to help me,” said Michael.

“Forget it,” I told him. “If Pearl hadn’t come forward about Benny, you would’ve been more than happy to let her take the fall. Come on.” I pulled Pearl away and walked as if there were a hatchet man fast on our heels.

“He’s right, you know,” she said as we turned the corner. “This is going to be awful for the group.”

“That’s not our fault.”

“And Benny’s still going to look guilty. Even if he was forced into it, everyone’s going to say that Michael and he worked together. That’s not going to get him back into school. Especially if Michael denies that he blackmailed him.”

I had thought that telling the truth would exonerate Benny, but it would be easy to see the charges sticking even after everyone heard about Michael’s role.

Benny was behind the eight ball either way.

“I’ll figure out another way to help Benny,” I said. The bell rang. Instead of everyone pouring out of the cafeteria and returning to their homerooms, they proceeded to the auditorium. Pearl and I got caught up in the flow and rode the wave into the convocation. Still holding her hand, I pulled her to the front, where we claimed two seats in the second row.

As soon as everyone was seated, Mr. DeLuca came onto the stage and the music teacher played a somber procession of American anthems. The lights dimmed and a projector whirred to life, showing us images from newsreels from the past year. There were the ships at Pearl Harbor smoking just after the attack. There was President Roosevelt calling us to war. There were the lines of men fighting to be the first to enlist and seek revenge. As the early days of our involvement in the war flashed before us, I thought back to what I’d been through during those initial weeks: both what I thought was the truth and what I learned had actually been going on.

As the film came to an end, the lights in the room returned to their full brightness. “Before we continue with this somber anniversary, I wish to make an announcement,” said Principal DeLuca. “As you all know, our Jewish students have been targeted by the most profane kind of cowardice over the past week, a situation that did not become evident to me until a banner containing the most vile language was hung in front of the school. I am pleased to say that over the weekend we were able to identify the culprit behind all of this.”

My body tingled with anticipation. It was now or never. I would stand up and announce that Mr. DeLuca had it all wrong. Benny may have written the notes and helped hang the banner, but the scheme was all Michael Rosenberg’s.

“While the culprit has been punished, I think it is only fitting that we acknowledge those students who have suffered through these attacks and make it clear that P.S. 110 is committed to protecting and nourishing the Jewish Student Federation. I understand that their president, Michael Rosenberg, would like to share a few words with you about the plight of the Jews in Europe. Michael?”

Michael appeared from the wings and crossed toward Mr. DeLuca as the student body greeted him with a smattering of applause. He was obviously nervous. Did he know where I was sitting? Did he know that as soon as he started talking, I was going to stand up and tell everyone the truth about him?

“Thank you, Principal DeLuca,” said Michael. “Today marks the anniversary of the first of many tragedies we—”

“Stop!”

Everyone turned my way, only I wasn’t the one standing up and yelling for their attention. Pearl was.

“Take your seat, Miss Levine,” said Mr. DeLuca.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let this lie go on,” said Pearl. “Benny Rossi isn’t the person who was writing the notes.” She paused and met Michael’s eyes. “I was.”

A gasp rose from the audience. Had she really just said that?

I grabbed on to the sleeve of her shirt, but she shook herself free and stepped out of my reach. “The federation kicked me out and so I wrote those notes as a way of getting back at them. And then I was worried I was going to get caught, so I pinned them on Benny. I’m so sorry,” she said to Michael, whose mouth was so wide its size could rival the Holland Tunnel. “I didn’t mean those awful things. There’s no excuse for my writing them. None at all.”

And then, either because she realized what she’d just done or she was a much better actress than I’d given her credit for, she burst into tears and ran from the room.

I went after her while Principal DeLuca attempted to get the audience under control. I followed her down the hallway and into the journalism room.

“What was that?” I asked her once the door was closed behind us.

“I’m sorry, Iris—I couldn’t let you do that to them. Not to the federation, and not to Benny.”

“Why do you care so much about the federation, Pearl? They kicked you out. And not just because you’re friends with me. Did you know they—?”

“I know the truth,” said Pearl. “They think I’m weird. And you know what? Maybe I am.”

“But that doesn’t mean you have to take the fall for them.”

She shrugged. “I’m already walking around this school with a target on my back. What’s it matter if it gets a little bigger?”

The door whined open and I turned, expecting to find the principal ready to haul Pearl away. It was Michael.

“I can’t thank you enough, Pearl,” he said.

“You’d better be thanking her.” I poked him in the shoulder with my index finger. “You listen to me and you listen to me good: those so-called friends of yours, including her brother, are going to be saying some pretty nasty things about Pearl. Put the kibosh on it, got it? She might be willing to take the fall, but it’s your responsibility to save her from the repercussions. Otherwise, I come forward with the truth. And that includes whatever punishment DeLuca hands out for this. If you can get Judy Cohen’s father to make the principal expel Benny on a weekend, you can get her dad to convince DeLuca that Pearl doesn’t get anything more than detention for this. Got it?”

Michael nodded. He looked afraid, and I had to admit that thrilled me a little.
I
had done that.
Me
. And I wasn’t done. I’d get Benny to do the same with the Rainbows. They didn’t need to know the details of why Pearl was confessing, but they did need to know that they couldn’t punish her for it.

By the time I was done, everyone at the school wouldn’t just remember Pearl Harbor, they’d respect her, too.

*   *   *

PEARL WENT TO THE OFFICE
after the convocation. I waited for her until she was done. She said it was a bad scene, full of tears on her part, and stern words from Principal DeLuca, but she weathered it well. I have to admit I was impressed. After everything she’d done over the past week, from running the investigation to going with me to Yorkville, Pearl had proven herself to be the bravest person I knew.

“There was one thing I didn’t admit to,” said Pearl.

“What’s that?”

“Sending those boys to beat up Paul. I couldn’t confess to that, you know? He may be an idiot at times, but he’s still my brother and I didn’t want people to think I was capable of doing something like that to my own flesh and blood.” Pearl paused to tie her saddle shoe. “I wonder if he’ll ever forgive Michael for that.”

“I don’t think he needs to. I’m pretty sure Michael didn’t arrange for Paul to get beaten up.”

Pearl stood up and dusted off her knees. “You still think that was unrelated?”

“Hardly. I think Denise set that up. She was thrilled when the letters first appeared and everyone started weighing in on whether to stay in the group. When the letters had the opposite effect on Paul, she decided to try a more persuasive approach.”

“How do you know that?”

“I don’t, but based on the few conversations I’ve had with her, I wouldn’t put it past her.”

Pearl consciously avoided each crack in the sidewalk, making her steps strangely staccato. “Do you think I should tell Paul?”

“Do you think he’d listen to you after what you just confessed?”

“Probably not.”

I mimicked her weird stride. “Then there’s your answer.”

I escorted Pearl home, just in case Rhona was lurking about. After seeing her inside, I went to tell Benny the good news. He was in the air-raid shelter again, though he didn’t respond to my knock. I opened the door and found him asleep on the bench, the blanket wrapped twice around him for warmth. As I entered, he jolted awake, clearly confused about where he was.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” I said as his eyes focused on me. “You’re right—I should’ve believed in you. I realized after I left here that there’s no way you would’ve written those letters on your own.”

“So what do you want? A cookie?”

I was shocked by his tone, but I tried not to show it. “Good news, though: you’re off the hook.” I told him about what had happened that afternoon, how Pearl had taken the rap for him. I also laid out my conditions for keeping quiet about what had really happened.

I expected a smile or, at the very least, a thank-you. What I got was a shrug.

“That’s it?” I said. “Didn’t you hear a word of what I just said?”

“I heard you. They’re letting me back in and you want me to tell everyone to be nice to Pearl Harbor. I got it.”

“Don’t call her that.”

“Easy, Nancy D.”

“And don’t call
me
that, either. I thought you’d be a little more enthusiastic about this.”

“Why? At the end of the day, none of it really matters—everyone knows who and what I am. Including you. So Pearl took the fall for me—big deal. That doesn’t mean my hands are clean.”

“Michael blackmailed you. You had no choice in the matter. You’re a good person that was forced into doing a bad thing.”

He cut his face with a sardonic grin. “That’s what you want to believe. That’s not the truth.”

“You helped me. You went to Yorkville with me. You brought me back here when I had nowhere else to go.”

He shook his head as he pulled out the flask from under the blanket. “You think I didn’t want to get something out of that? I knew you were friends with Pearl Harbor. I knew she had access to everything in the office, including the attendance records and the hall passes.”

“Don’t call her that,” I said again.

“And if going with you to Yorkville didn’t convince you to do what I asked, maybe holding you while you cried would do the trick. Don’t be so naïve, Nancy D. You never get something for nothing.”

“You’re lying. I know you’re lying.” My eyes were starting to water with rage. I mashed one hand into the other, but the pain did nothing to squelch my tears. “Don’t you understand what Pearl did for you? When word gets out that she’s the one to blame for all this, a lot of people are going to be nasty to her, including your friends.”