Arrival by Chris Morphew

they had caught him, Officer Reeve would’ve said so. Besides, no way were Calvin’s guys ever going to come out on top in that fight. All the way out at the airport with two men down already and no way to call for – ow!’
    Across the room, I could see Michael and Tank laughing. One of them had just chucked over a bead and nailed Peter right in the eye.
    Peter grabbed a bead from our table and stood up to return fire.
    â€˜Peter!’ said Ms Benson sternly from the front.
    â€˜I was just stretching, miss!’ said Peter, looking scandalised.
    â€˜You can stretch on your own time. Right now you’ve got work to do,’ said Ms Benson.
    â€˜Yes, miss.’ Peter sat down again. He made an obscene hand gesture at the other table and then turned his attention back to our conversation.
    â€˜I just don’t get how the security guards were so quick to find us last night,’ Jordan said in a low voice, once Ms Benson had looked away. ‘They had no reason to suspect us, did they?’
    â€˜Can’t have,’ said Peter. ‘Wouldn’t have let us go if they did.’
    â€˜Maybe they knew Crazy Bill was dangerous,’ I suggested. ‘If they knew about his, you know, super strength, then maybe they –’
    I stopped at the smirk on Peter’s face. ‘What?’
    â€˜Mate, you just used the words super strength like you thought that was something a person in the real world could actually have .’
    â€˜You saw what he did last night!’ I blurted, drawing a glare from Ms Benson. ‘What, you think that security guy just –’
    â€˜I don’t know what I saw last night,’ Peter insisted, ‘but if Calvin and his mates thought Bill was that dangerous, why have they been letting him roam the streets all this time?’
    â€˜I think most of them are just doing what they’re told,’ said Jordan. ‘Calvin’s obviously on edge, but I don’t think the rest of them know what’s really going on here.’
    â€˜And we do?’ asked Peter.
    â€˜We know more than they do, at least,’ Jordan told him. ‘Officer Reeve was way too casual talking to us back there to actually be working with Calvin. I think he probably gave away more than –’
    Jordan stopped short, seeing Ms Benson walking towards us. We all made a show of being hard at work with our beads. I turned last night over in my head yet again, trying to come up with an explanation that didn’t involve super powers.
    â€˜All right,’ I said, when she was back out of earshot, ‘so maybe Calvin didn’t know about Crazy Bill’s … special abilities, or whatever you want to call them. Maybe it’s not about that. What if they were out there last night because Calvin figured out Bill knew something about Tabitha?’
    â€˜Why’d they just let us go home then?’ said Peter. ‘If Calvin’s so worried about being exposed or whatever, why haven’t they hauled us three off to –?’
    There was a knock on the door and another teacher walked into the room. She was a dumpy-looking woman I didn’t recognise, with short brown hair and a big mole on her chin.
    â€˜Uh-oh,’ said Peter. ‘Pryor.’
    â€˜The principal?’ I asked.
    â€˜No,’ said Peter, rolling his eyes, ‘the astronaut.’
    Ms Pryor walked across to Ms Benson and whispered something in her ear. Ms Benson nodded and cleared her throat. ‘Peter, Jordan and Luke, would you come here for a moment? Ms Pryor would like a word with you in her office.’

Chapter 13
    M ONDAY , M AY 11
94 DAYS
    â€˜Busted!’ Tank called with a grin as the three of us filed out after Ms Pryor.
    Peter gave him the finger again as he walked out the door.
    â€˜I saw that, Peter!’ Ms Benson warned.
    â€˜Sorry, miss!’
    We followed Ms Pryor across the school in silence. Clearly this wasn’t a