Theodore Boone: The Scandal

Chapter 11

On Monday at school, Theo managed to avoid April. He did not want to discuss the cheating scandal, if there really was one, because he was not about to get involved. And what could he do anyway? He was just a student, a thirteen-year-old kid. It was a problem for the adults to worry about. If the teachers at East had done something wrong, they would eventually be caught and punished.

He wasn’t sticking his nose into the middle of it.

April, though, had other plans. She caught him at lunch on Tuesday and insisted they meet again at Guff’s. Theo didn’t want to but couldn’t say no. His jeans were fitting a bit tight, and he was almost certain it wasn’t just because he was a growing boy, so he ordered only one scoop. They hid in the same booth. April went for the blackberry swirl. After two bites, she looked around suspiciously and said, “I have something to show you.”

“Okay.”

“I couldn’t sleep Sunday night, so I decided to do this.” She reached into her backpack and removed a plain white unmarked envelope, letter-sized. “What is it?” Theo asked as he opened it.

“Just read it,” she said, somewhat proudly.

Theo removed a letter, printed on a sheet of white copy paper. It read:

Theo read it twice, calmly refolded it, and said, “Nice letter. Now, what are you going to do with it?”

“It’s done. I mailed it yesterday and sent a copy of it to Mr. Robert McNile, the attorney for the school board. Found him on the website.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I’m dead serious.”

“What about fingerprints?”

“I used gloves. Saw it once on television.”

“Did you lick the stamp?”

“No.”

“Did you lick the envelope?”

“No. Thought of that, too.”

“Where did you mail it?”

“The post office on Main Street.”

“There are about a dozen surveillance cameras there.”

“And they video a thousand people a day.”

“They can trace ink back to your printer.”

“Don’t be so sure about that, but I’m not worried. Why would they ever suspect me? There are seventy-five thousand people in this city.”

Theo took a deep breath and looked away. She was still smiling, as if to say, “Aren’t I clever?”

He said, “April, you can’t accuse people of doing bad things if there’s no proof. This was not a good idea. I wish you had discussed it with me.”

“I was going to but you avoided me yesterday.”

“You could have waited until today.”

“I didn’t want to wait. Something needs to be done, and it was pretty clear to me that you didn’t want to get involved. Right?”

“Right. I did not want to get involved, and you should have left it alone.”

The smile vanished and was replaced by a frown. “Look, Theo, what if this letter makes them look into the matter? They start digging and they find something. They find the cheating.”

“Then what? They throw out the tests, and we have to do it all over again?”

“I don’t know. I can’t answer that. I guess they’ll figure it out when they get there.”

Theo took a couple of bites and tried to organize his thoughts. He said, “No one else knows about this, right?”

“Only you. I wouldn’t dare tell anyone. Why are you so worried, Theo? Dr. Stoop and the lawyer will probably just ignore it anyway, but what if they take it seriously? You have to agree that this needs to at least be investigated. And if they dig into it and find nothing that’ll be the end. But if the cheating really happened, and they discover it, then the letter was a good idea. Right?”

“I guess. I just don’t like the idea of accusing people without all the facts.”

“You’re such a lawyer, Theo.”

“Okay, I’m the lawyer, and you’re the client. My advice to you is to bury this and not tell a soul. Never. Got it?”

“Got it. Stop worrying.”

Theo slid the letter across the table. She said, “No, that’s your copy.”

“I don’t want it.”