GREY

The bell to dismiss sixth period clanged through the hallways just as Mr. Dawson, the Pre-Calculus teacher, was scribbling a linear equation in point-slope form across the board. A quick glance around the classroom told me I wasn't the only one relieved to see PreCal reach its endpoint.

"Hey! Hey! Don't forget the section on negative reciprocals!" Mr. Dawson called as we were already scrambling to our feet and bounding for the door. "Quiz next week!"

I rolled my eyes as I joined the crowd piling through the door. Good grief, could that class be any longer?

As soon as I was out into the hallway and safe from the clutches of mathematics, Dash called my name from behind.

I turned just as he and the other guys caught up, Brayden clamping a hand over my shoulder.

"Ready to rock on the court today, boys?" Cody asked.

"You know it." Brayden elbowed his arm.

I smiled lightly, felt my chest relax as I exhaled.

"Uh, guys...?" Dash said, his voice uncertain as we strode past the door to the school's main entrance. "Isn't that...Jacquarious?"

My head shot up, as did Cody's, both of us glancing right and through the transparent glass to the principal's office.

Inside, Jacquarious sat in a cushioned armchair, head down and hands grasping tightly at the edges of the seat. Surrounding him on three sides, a trio of policemen stood in dark vests and matching slacks; one was mouthing out words I couldn't hear, another scratching notes onto a tiny black pad.

"Guess that's what he gets for cutting school," Cody spat as we kept walking.

I turned to him. "Really, dude? You think they'd call in three cops just to bust a guy for skipping?"

"Got a better explanation?" Cody snorted back. "Principal probably thought he'd need three officers if the guy got violent—"

"Cody." Dash's words came out like an order. "Let's just make it to practice, alright?"

"Whatever," he grumbled.

****

The air inside the boys' locker room was just as stale and stiff as ever, metallic mini-doors snapping open as we traded in our school uniforms for matching navy jerseys.

I sealed away my backpack next to my phone and the haphazard pile of unfolded clothes I'd just shed. I slicked a single hand through my curls of tawny hair and headed for the main gymnasium.

But just as I arrived at the exit, my back to the odoriferous air and smooth patterned tiles, a terrified, blood-curdling wail burst out from behind me, echoing in rebounding waves against the locker room walls.

I spun in sync with the bolt of fear that zipped through my body, eyes wide as the shower door burst open and one of my teammates came barreling across the tiles in soaking flip flops.

"BODY!" he screamed as he ran. "B-BODY!" His feet slid in the water that trailed his darting steps, hands slamming against the floor as he fell to his knees. "BODY!"

I was frozen in place where I stood, but Dash came running through the exit doors and bounded past me. He knelt on the floor, grabbed the guy by the shoulders.

"Andy, bro. Slow down. What's going on?"

Shivering against the tiles, Andy looked up to meet Dash's eyes. "Th...there's a body in the shower! Somebody s-slashed his neck, and there's...b-blood everywhere..."

What!?

"A—a body?" Dash gulped. "Are you sure it was—?"

"YES!" Andy screeched, horror surging to life in his eyes. "So much...so much blood," he trembled.

Dash turned to me, to the others staring from all across the locker room. "Grey, go find Coach," he ordered. "The rest of you—finish getting dressed, and let's head upstairs." He stood to his feet, walked to the shower and shut the door, never once hazarding a glance inside.

****

It'd only taken minutes for me to rush upstairs to Coach Rangford's office. He was still out, so I used his desk phone to call the principal's office and tell him what Andy found in the shower.

He said he'd be back as soon as he could, and I headed onto the main court to meet with the rest of the team—but before I even made it there, I heard the rumble of hard-bottom soles sounding in the distance.

I paused mid-step, turned to see policemen scramble inside and beeline for the locker room alongside Jacquarious and—No way...?

TaKylar, the girl Dash and I'd met at the hospital—she was gliding through the locker-room entrance alongside Jacquarious and the other three officers. Right after them, a fourth officer darted inside as well, staring around briefly before shutting the door to the locker room behind him.

I wonder if she's—

A hand slammed down on my shoulder.

"Dude!" I screamed as I whirled to see Dash.

"Whoa, man. Chill," he said. "What're you doing out here?"

"I—I was just...um..."

Dash shook his head. "You know, Grey. Sometimes, I think you're too nosy for your own good."

"Oh, come on! It's not like I tried sneaking in the locker room or anything. I just..." I looked to my left, then my right, lowering my voice. "You remember that girl we met in the hospital on Monday? TaKylar, the one with the braids?"

Dash raised a brow. "...Yeah. Why?"

"She just booked it inside the locker room, right behind Jacquarious and those cops...A-and there was another cop there too. Like, it wasn't just the three we saw in the principal's office."

Dash paused. "...Okay, that is weird. I thought TaKylar lived in Browning Heights. Why'd the police bring her all the way out here?"

"It's the body," I said. "Whoever's body that is in the shower, I bet you a million bucks she knows him. Jacquarious probably does too. Cops must've brought her so they could get a positive ID."

"I...Grey, that's not even possible," Dash puzzled. "The drive from Browning Heights's like twenty minutes, and it hasn't even been ten since you called the principal."

I paused. "Then...then they must've called her before. Might've even sent that fourth cop to go pick her up." I sighed. "Maybe that's why those guys were crowding Jacquarious earlier in the office."

"Wait a sec." Dash shook his head. "Are you saying they already knew there was a dead body hidden somewhere in this school?"

I stared back at him. "I mean, I can't figure out why else they'd bring in so many cops. Maybe Jacquarious tipped them off or something, but...how would he know?"

"This is crazy. There's no way they could've—"

"Only one way to find out." A sly grin rode up both sides of my face.

Dash's eyes grew wide. "Dude, no. No way. We are not about to—"

"Come on, man. You know something's happening down there." I motioned toward the locker room. "As we speak, who knows what they're pulling out of that shower?"

"If we get caught, we're gonna be in so much trouble..."

"Then let's not get caught," I pressed. "Just a quick peek inside, then we floor it back upstairs to the gym, no questions asked."

Dash rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Dash—please, man."

He sighed, glanced away. "Fine. But we better not get spotted."

I nodded once. "Scout's honor."

I turned on my heel and began creeping down the hall on tiptoed steps, Dash following behind. As we neared the locker room, I fumbled my smartphone from my pocket and reached out my free hand to slide across the muted door of silvery gray.

I pushed my palm against it, the metal inching open. Dash sidled up behind my right shoulder, the tiniest of slits widening between the door and its frame.

I lifted my phone's camera and angled it to the cracked space, zooming in as best I could before pressing Record. The blurry image of the locker room's interior slowly dulled into focus as I tilted my head, straining to catch even the faintest fragment of words uttered.

"Yes, Officer...that's him," Jacquarious's voice echoed mutteringly from beyond the doorway.

"Definitely him," TaKylar whispered as I eyed my phone's screen, watched her take two tentative steps closer to Jacquarious.

One of the police officers sighed. "Do either of you recognize the...um, the words on the wall?"

Words on the wall?

I squinted at my screen, saw the officer motion toward the shower, toward the pulled curtains and ajar frame just barely within my vantage.

I tried pressing the locker room door wider, tried twisting my phone to reposition it again.

The tip of the shower door's fogged glass edge came into view as I panned, hazy blots of red seeming to wriggle with my unsteady hand.

"I...I don't," mused TaKylar.

"Yeah, sorry. I don't either," Jacquarious said.

The officer sighed, just as the blur on my phone screen at last evaporated, the zoomed image sharpening the blots of red to coarse and unmistakable strokes of blood on the tiled shower wall.

Between the gratuitous, carmine smears, bold black letters sneered imposingly. Their dark message was clear, brutal even on the illuminated screen through which I read with wide eyes:

Shower, Shower, Uncle Tom

Scrub Those Black Bones Raw

"Dash," I breathed, his head inches from my shoulder. "Are you seeing this?"

"Yeah," he gulped, fear tremoring through his voice.

I ended the recording and snapped a picture, then I clicked off my phone and turned my back to the locker room. "Let's go," I whispered. "Before anyone sees us."

Dash stared me in the eyes, nodded once.

And then we fled back upstairs.