Undercover Justice (3 page)

Forcing my voice to sound calm and indifferent, I said, “So, are you in this class?”

Grinning, he looked pointedly around him and said, “If I’m not, I sure got on the wrong bus then, didn’t I.”

Mentally slapping myself on the forehead, I felt myself turn beet red. I can’t believe I asked that. What an idiot! Why don’t I just crawl under the seat and stay until we get there.

“What I meant was,” I stammered,” Why did you transfer schools with only a few months left until we graduate? Did your family just move here? I’m assuming of course that you are a senior also.”

“Yes, I am a senior,” he said, with another amused expression. “Job transfer.”

Oh, would you stop rambling, I told myself. Of course he’s amused, I sound like a rambling idiot.

“So your dad got a new job around here?”

“What?” he asked.

Turning to look at me, a puzzled look flashed across his face and just as fast it was gone.

“Oh… Yeah,” he answered. Jed almost blew that one, and on the first day undercover. Jeesh. Get it together, Greyson, he told himself. Remember your cover story. Undercover 101.

At that moment, the bus finally pulled up to the sidewalk of Pine Hill City Hall. Because our town was small, with about 15,000 residents, the library, fire, police station, city hall, and the town’s museum were all housed in the same building. Ever since anyone could remember, the same white building with the tall, big pillars on the front and big, wide stairs leading up to the main entrance housed all of Pine Hill’s finest.

As soon as the door opened, my seat ‘buddy’ was up and down the steps before I had even gathered my bag. Standing up, I scooted into the aisle and made my way down the steps. Before I got very far my best friend, Gabby, grabbed my elbow.

“Tell me everything," she demanded, raising her eye brows up and down.

“About what?” I asked playing dumb. I knew very well she wanted the scoop on the new addition to our class.

“Who IS he? He is a total hottie? What did he say to you?” she asked quickly as she ticked each question off on her fingers.

“I don’t know his name, I didn’t ask, and he didn’t say much of anything.”

Gabby glared at me skeptically. “You didn’t ask his name?

“Um. No, it didn’t come up,” I said, remembering our brief conversation.

“Everyone over here please!” Ms. Morley yelled to the class.

We all filed over to the main entrance where Mayor Greenly was waiting to welcome us.

“Welcome, Welcome, I am glad you all could come today. Our town is very proud to have its youth interested in our government and city municipalities. Please make yourselves at home as you look around, and feel free to ask any employee you see any questions you may have.”

“Thank you Mayor Greenly,” Ms. Morley said shaking his hand with what for a brief second looked like a forced smile.

“I am sure you are all anxious to hear about the final project and be assigned to your groups. Please, can I have your attention for a few more minutes, and then you will have plenty of time to walk around and explore.

I am going to break you into five groups. As you are all probably aware, there are five different divisions of service housed in this building. Each group will be responsible for doing a report on one of the branches. You will need to conduct interviews, explore the part of the building it is housed in, and write about the historic as well as the present purpose your branch contributes to the town. I also expect you to work together and each contribute equally.”

Glancing around, I caught Gabby’s eyes and we both crossed our fingers. I knew that she was hoping she got put in a group with Chris and hoping for me to get in a group with Tyler. I was sort of relieved that she didn’t know what had happened on the bus. Hopefully that meant not very many people had been paying attention.

Giving her a smile, I turned and saw Vanessa and Shelby flirting with the new student. If they stood any closer to him, they would be plastered to him. Not that I care or anything. Don’t ask me why I felt annoyed watching the three of them. I hardly knew him. In fact, I didn’t even know his name.

“I know that you all have certain groups you want to be in, but we are going to do things a little bit differently this time,” Ms. Morley explained. “I am going to draw five names out of this paper sack. Those five will make up group number one.”

Pulling five names out she read them off and assigned the group to cover the fire station.

Giving Gabby the thumbs up sign because she was in Chris’s group, I crossed my fingers behind my back and waited impatiently for Ms. Morley to announce the next group.

If Gabby was lucky enough to have Chris as her partner, there was hope that I would be in the same group as Tyler. Although, honestly, I don’t know if I still wanted to be in his group. My feelings still hurt just thinking about his reaction on the bus. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and another chance if it presented itself.

Glancing up, I caught sight of the new guy leaning against a handrail. He was all alone. I wonder how he got rid of Vanessa. He seemed to be intently studying everyone around him. As he looked my way, I tried to turn my head away quickly, but he managed to catch my eye and wink.

I quickly turned away wincing. He probably thought I was a groupie like the other girls in our class who couldn’t seem to keep their eyes off him. Embarrassed once again, I kept my back to him and tried to concentrate on what Ms. Morley was saying. His wink did funny things to my insides. All thoughts of Ms. Morley disappeared. All I could think of was how to look like I was immune to his charm and not effected in the least by his good looks, strong muscles and intense dark eyes. Looking around, I saw that I was probably the only girl trying to ignore him.

It was actually quite comical, I thought. All the girls in class were preening, and straining to catch his attention. I have heard more than one whispered comment about hoping he was in their group. All the guys on the other hand, were trying to check him out subtly, and trying to determine if they should be threatened by him, or if he was harmless. From some of the wary looks on their faces, I would say they were leaning towards threatened.

“In the second group...”Ms. Morley was saying”…we have Vanessa... Mike… Tyler…”

Please, Please I thought. This is it...

“Jessica and. …Finally,” she said reaching into her bag for the last name, “Mitch.”

Bummer. There goes my chance with Tyler. I could feel my face heating up. A few of my friends looked at me with sympathy. They all knew I had a slight crush on him. Surprisingly, I wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I would be. I’m more embarrassed than anything else.

Tuning out for a while, I was lost in my own thoughts, so I was surprised to hear my own name called.

“Finally, group five, your project is on the Mayor’s office,” Ms. Morley said. ”Please find your groups and make sure you know each other, start planning out your project, and make a list of questions you will need answered. As soon as you have them, head on into the building and find your respective areas. They are all expecting you. Good Luck. And remember this counts towards twenty-five percent of your grade.”

Looking up, I saw Gabby looking at me with her eyebrows going up and down, smiling. What did I miss? Who’s in my group?

“Looks like we’re in this together, Sis,” Kent said slapping me on the back.

Kent was in my group. That’s good. But what was Gabby so excited about? Looking around for the other members, I saw Charlotte shyly walking over. Giving her a welcoming smile, I looked over the class. That’s three of us.

“Hi! I think I’m in your group,” a young boyish voice said.

Turning around, I saw the smart kid who was really young, shaking hands with Kent. He was probably about five foot eight, with a boyish looking face and a head of jet black curls. He had a backpack slung over one shoulder and a pad of paper in his hand.

“I’m Oliver, but you can call me Ollie”

“Kent. Nice to meet you,” Kent said with a smile.

Great. The perfectionist. Well, at least we’ll get an A, I thought.

Stepping closer, I introduced myself.

“And this is Charlotte,” I told Kent, pulling her forward. I knew that Charlotte and Ollie knew each other from the science club.

“Who are we missing?” I asked.

“I think maybe that new guy,” Ollie said, eyeing him speculatively, “He’s headed over here.”

Inwardly groaning, I thought, not him!

As he walked up, Kent stuck out his hand and pointing to each of us said, “Welcome, I’m Kent, this is my sister Nora, and that’s Ollie and she’s Charlotte. Welcome to Pine Hill also, by the way.”

“Thanks,” drawled that deep voice that sent chills running down my spine. “Jed. Nice to meet you,” he gave Ollie a small nod.

As he turned to me he said, “Hello, again.”

“Your name is Jed?”

“That’s right, Jedediah Greyson, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

I liked the sound of his voice. I knew that if he kept talking, I was going to find myself entranced and probably make a fool out of myself. His voice was deep and smooth. I think I could listen to him speak all day. I quickly said, “My name is Nora.” Mentally slapping myself, I felt my face turn red. Kent just introduced me. He already knew my name was Nora.

“Hello, Nora,” he drawled putting an emphasis on my name.

Smirking, Ollie laughed and said, “Nice to have you in our group.”

Jed paused and looked closer at Ollie, his eyes narrowing. Then he straightened and smiled and looked over at me. “It is a pleasure, I’m sure,” he said, making me blush.

“Ok,” Ollie said, reaching into his backpack for a pen. Changing the subject he said, “Let’s get going. I already have a list of questions started.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” Charlotte said laughing.

“I think if we start with a tour of the mayor’s office, we can start interviewing the people who work for him, and then lastly the Mayor,” Ollie suggested.

“Sounds good to me, let’s go,” I said, starting up the steps. I was in a hurry to put some distance between me and Jed.

Chapter 3

Walking into the lobby, the receptionist greeted us. “Good morning, welcome to the Mayor’s office. Please feel free to walk around, take pictures, and I will try to answer any questions you may have. Mayor Greenly is on a conference call, but will be done shortly.”

“Thank you,” I said walking around the lobby looking at the framed news paper articles as well as the Mayor’s impressive graduation certificates that lined the back wall.

The office was decorated in a chic, modern décor that looked like it cost a fortune. Hopefully, the Mayor footed the bill, and not the taxpayers.

We all agreed to wander around for fifteen minutes, and then meet in the lounge, to compare notes. The receptionist had given us directions.

Even though I was not standing next to Jed, I could still feel his presence, just being in the same room as him. He radiated a confidence and maturity that made every other guy seem younger. Even Kent, if I was being honest. The prickly feeling of awareness inside my stomach was not something I had ever experienced before and it was a bit disconcerting.

Writing down some information about the Mayor’s academic career, some simple history of the building, and the Mayor’s electoral race, I decided to go sit in the lounge and wait for the others. I needed a chance to clear my head and focus on something other than Jed.

Heading down the hall, I was unprepared to be shoved into the wall when a man wearing a dark suit and sunglasses came barreling towards me and literally pushed me out of his way. I gasp as pain radiated through my shoulder and down my arm making it numb and tingly. It was more that shock of being pushed out of the way that surprised me, than banging into the wall. I wasn’t really hurt, it was more of a twinge like hitting my funny bone.

He was out the door before I could get a good look at his face, but I managed to see what he was wearing.

“Are you ok?” Jed asked quickly coming toward me. Glancing at the shutting door, I could tell he was torn between making sure I was ok and going after the man.

His eyes had turned even darker, if that was possible. Angry looking. Swallowing hard, I couldn’t bring myself to look away from his face.

Wanting to calm him, I placed a hand on his arm, “I’m fine, don’t worry about it. Let’s just go sit in the lounge and wait for everyone else.”

Looking down at my hand on his arm then back up to my face, he held my eyes for what seemed to be forever. In reality, it was only a couple seconds.

He nodded slowly and then took a step towards me, not breaking eye contact.

“Nora,” he began.

Immediately, I dropped my hand and moved away. I wasn’t sure what just happened between us, but I wasn’t ready for it. Not to mention that it wasn’t proper for me to be touching him, even his arm, when I hardly knew him. Maybe if I pretend it didn’t happen...

Walking into the lounge, I stopped. It was beautiful. It was floor to ceiling glass on two sides, which looked out onto a private courtyard. This was great. I could get used to this. My heart still pounding and not just from being pushed into the wall, I looked around desperately for something to focus on. Flowers. A fountain. A rock. Flowers. Fountain. Oh look, a bench. What else...