These guys have guns and pepper spray and those sticks for hitting people, and as they come toward me and Cam, the hallway fills with more shouting as Cam and Professor Perry seem to be getting into a whole new argument. I fixate on their handcuffs and wonder if we’re all about to get arrested, but I get physically ill and dizzy when I catch Harrison shooting all of us this terrible, confident, bloody smile.
From far away, I hear Harrison screaming, “What? No. Take Ellen Foster away. She’s the one who bloodied up my face. I need to go to the hospital to have my nose checked. I’m sure,
just sure
it’s broken!”
I figure if they let the guy go to the hospital right now, he will have a broken nose—because he’ll break it himself somehow before they can x-ray him. But I’m the only one that knows just how far he will go.
My head spins more with that realization as the security guards approach me.
*Harrison’s won! He’s really won, and I’ll never have a chance to explain.*
I lean all of my weight on the administrator lady and say, “I didn’t mean to do that to him. I swear his nose isn’t broken. I only grazed his cheek…and I’m sorry.”
And just as the room starts to go black, I think I hear her say, “We know, honey. We know. It’s going to be okay.”
I hold on to her like a lifeline. “You do?”
“Yes. Now let’s get you off your feet, shall we?”
She nods, and with the help of the security guards, they practically carry me into the digital photography room.
Professor Perry looms over me as they settle me into my desk at the front of the room, and whispers so only I can hear, “We caught everything on tape. All of it. I’m really sorry we left you out in the hallway so long, but once we realized he was confessing, we wanted to have as much evidence against Harrison Shaw as possible, should we need it.”
Cam
I get to Ellen’s side as soon as I’m allowed. She grips my hand as I take the seat next to her. “Don’t let them send you away.”
“Ellen. It’s okay. The guards are here to protect you. They aren’t taking anyone away.”
“They’re not?”
“No. Sadly, not even Harrison. The ass.
I called my mom, and she called her hotshot lawyer, who informed us that pressing any sort of charges against Harrison will be close to impossible because he’s only seventeen. The attorney said his crimes, although horrible, are probably impossible to punish, because he’s going to be able to lie his way out of everything. He also said that universities keep all this kind of stuff under wraps. But
oh
, wouldn’t I love for him to meet my judge back in British Columbia. That guy would send him packing.”
“I don’t want anyone else locked up, even Harrison. I only want the guy to get some serious help.” She glances over at Harrison, who’s now being held by the guards as well as Professor Perry. She starts to shake when one of them approaches with her computer bag, and when he sets it down on the table, her laptop slides out and it’s all dented and destroyed.
“Did he do that?” I say, grabbing it off the floor.
“With his foot.” She nods. “Whatever. It was so old.”
“Better than him smashing you, I guess.”
She nods. “Only you get to do that.”
I raise my brows, putting my arm around her shoulder. “Are you really going to joke right now? Because that was not funny.”
“Sorry.” She smiles up at me. “But I have to do
something
. My CP is really taking over,” she says. “I’m trying to focus on the good parts of this moment. I’ve got you here, you’re holding me, you’re not being sent to lock-up or to Ireland, and Harrison didn’t stomp on me or my Nikon. But none of that information is working. I feel dizzy. I—I don’t want to faint in front of all of them—especially not in front of
him
.”
I want to let her know she’s really okay. I also want to bring color back to her cheeks, so I brush a fast kiss across her lips before she can protest. It does the trick. Pink floods back into her pale face, and she seems to suddenly sit up straighter. “Thanks. That kind of worked,” she whispers.
“It worked for me.” I wink, relaxing finally, because if she can joke and blush she’s fine.
Just then, the rest of the administrative tribunal arrives. It’s all four of the judges from yesterday, as well as the president of the university. I recognize him from the painting that hangs in the cafeteria lobby. Professor Perry and the administrator lady shake hands with the two men and two women as well as the president. Like yesterday, they don’t take the time to introduce us, and, frankly, I’m not in the mood to learn names, so I don’t even care who they are, as long as they have the power to save Ellen and get rid of Harrison.
I settle Ellen’s crutches under her seat where she can’t trip on them. As I stand to approach Professor Perry, I overhear scattered phrases he and the president are whispering to Harrison.
“You’re in a deep well of trouble, son.” Then, “Better come clean
or else
,” and finally the president’s whisper of, “Own the truth, and we will see if I can keep most of this off of your permanent record, but should I find there was indeed foul play, you will not be welcome here at Western Ontario Arts. Not ever again.”
Harrison’s brown-nosing reply to that last one: “Please. Don’t say that. I’m sure you’ll see this was all a huge mix-up. I’m still innocent until proven guilty.”
Harrison catches me listening, and I stare at him like it’s the first time I’ve seen the guy. What makes a person lie and deliberately try to hurt someone over winning a scholarship? As if Harrison can read my mind, he smiles like he’s the devil himself.
Disgusted with the guy’s apparent lack of any and all remorse, I interrupt: “Professor. I’m sure you can all see Ellen’s exhausted, and as I mentioned in my email, I’ve got some things to show you, so…can I start?”
Harrison rolls his eyes, but thankfully, because he’s surrounded by security guards, the professor, and the school administrators, he has stopped his usual snide comments.
Professor Perry walks over and picks up Ellen’s destroyed laptop and places it on his desk. “I hope this machine is not where you two stored this proof. Ellen, did you have your files saved to some sort of cloud?”
Ellen nods. “Yes, but truthfully, that laptop didn’t have anything on it that would prove Harrison wrong. I simply just brought it along—just in case it was needed and then…”
One of the security guards adds, “I could radio for someone to download what’s caught on the hallway cameras, sir?”
Harrison cries out, “I hope you
do
review that video! You’ll see that Ellen Foster attacked
me
with her crutches! She brought me to the ground while I was simply talking to her. Let’s all just look at which one of us has the bloody face here.” He points to the scratch on his cheek. “As for the smashed-up laptop, well…she did that herself. The cameras don’t reach down to the floor. So of course that’s going to be her word against mine again.”
“Interesting that Harrison is aware of how our security cameras work,” Professor Perry says to the administrator lady. She takes a few notes. “Let’s have a look at what Cam’s brought for us to see. Then we can go after the video feeds from there, shall we,
Harrison
? Because I really wouldn’t be too hasty in reviewing those just yet.” His voice is laced with fury, and enough threat that Harrison doesn’t do anything other than nod.
I fish my camera’s memory card from my shorts pocket. “Uh,” I say, holding up the memory card, mostly so Harrison can see it. “I was going to show these photos on
my laptop
, but then at the last minute I asked Ellen to bring hers. That’s because my own laptop and my Canon camera mysteriously disappeared from my dorm room last night.”
Ellen gasps.
“I’m not
accusing
anyone of anything,” I go on, pausing to aim a direct glare at Harrison. “But I
suppose
when we were split up to private rooms,
for our personal safety,
new key cards should have been made.”
Harrison laughs. “Well, of course you are all going to blame me, but I don’t have anything to do with any missing equipment, I swear. And, based on WOA summer workshop rules, why were you not in your room after curfew? I think it should be noted that Cam Campbell just implied he was breaking some serious school rules last night.”
“Then please note, Harrison Shaw
knew
Cam wasn’t in his room,” Ellen calls out.
Professor Perry crosses the room and flicks on some extra lights. “The hallways within the dorms have new mini-cameras with time-lapse recorders as well. It will take some effort, but we can get to the bottom of all of this if need be, so please be honest.”
I note Harrison’s shifting in his seat. His mask of full bravado slips some, because I think the dorm’s hallway cameras were a surprise to him.
Ellen’s also shifting in her seat and blushing to the roots of her hair, but she holds her head high when she says, “I was with Cam last night. Cam was with me. In my room. We didn’t—I mean, it was all innocent—but if we are being honest here, then I also broke rules.”
Harrison snorts and says, “Innocent, my ass.”
Ellen tilts her chin up keeps her face away from Harrison and addresses only the administrator people. “Cam and I have been really good friends since…well, we’ve known each other since grade school. He just stayed because I was so sad about Laura going away. My best friend getting sent home, and then this whole tribunal thing was a lot to handle. And…so…I’ll take the blame for Cam. I should not have let him stay. I’ll be happy to tell my mom about what happened. I’m really sorry we broke the rules. I don’t even remember falling asleep. When I woke up, Cam was long gone. So you
could
check those video feeds, and maybe we could help you pinpoint the time when things might have been taken out of Cam’s room. And by
whom
, because I think we all know.”
My heart expands because Ellen is so determined, serious, and so darn cute defending me.
“It’s true,” I say. “I won’t deny I stayed with her, and I’ll have no problem informing my mom about that as well. But I’m pretty sure we aren’t here to discuss minor curfew violations.” To quickly change the subject back to Harrison, I hold up the memory card again. “Luckily, I’d pulled this card out of my camera right after class yesterday, before my camera went missing. I’d wanted to get some prints off that huge machine in the print shop. But all morning that printer wouldn’t work properly. And at this point I would suggest someone check if it has been tampered with.”
I glare bullets at Harrison.
He responds, “Oh. That’s right. Blame me for that also. I must have superpowers, so blame me for everything. It’s also my fault the cafeteria ran out pancakes this morning! Can’t you see, Professor Perry, they’re all just firing out accusations? They’re crazy. Crazy!”
The administrator lady scribbles more notes.
“Well, let’s decide who is crazy after we all see the photos on Cam’s card. How about that?” Professor Perry asks. He takes the card from my hand and puts it into the universal card reader connected to his computer. “Of course, I will be backing this entire card up to the cloud should
anything else
decide to go missing. You don’t mind, do you Cam?” He asks, shooting Harrison a look.
“Not at all, sir,” I reply.
Harrison’s mask slips again, and he’s suddenly looking panicked for the first time since he sat down in here, which is good. He calls out, “Whatever’s on there can’t prove anything. Ellen and I did our shots together and I made sure—I mean, we were sure we wanted to be completely alone when we took them, and I mean
completely
. Because Ellen…she was always all about being alone with me before she dumped me, that is.”
He tosses Ellen this suggestive wink, which makes her gasp out, “That is
no
t true! We broke up last week, and it was a mutual breakup. I didn’t really want to be alone with him at Grand Bend—not like he’s suggesting, anyhow.”
“Oh. Okay. Yeah. Sure. What about all of those kisses? Have you already forgotten all that we shared after one night of making out with Cam?”
His leering eye roll that implies she’s a liar and also
easy
makes me want to punch him in the face. But I won’t, because I get that a major part of Harrison’s game is to make us react so we all get in trouble right along with him. Not this time. He can say what he wants, because I’m not going to get distracted from my quieter, more lethal goal of crushing this guy with facts and tangible proof.
When there’s no reaction out of me, Harrison crosses his arms and tries again: “Before you start showing what’s on that card, I want you all to know that Ellen Foster is now
dating
Camden Campbell. Dating him only a few days after dating me. I don’t think whatever he’s brought should be shown at all. I’ve accused this guy and that dude Patrick of bullying me. They threatened me—like, my whole life—like, to
kill
me! And it’s obvious whatever he’s brought is going to be so biased and so messed up, that we shouldn’t even look at it. They’re worse than Bonnie and Clyde.”
Ellen gasps again. “You are the biggest liar alive, Harrison Shaw. Really. You are.” I put my hand on her shoulder to try to keep her calm.
Professor Perry asks, “Is this true, Ellen? I thought you said Cam stayed with you because you were
just friends
. Now I discover that you and Cam are suddenly together? Like a couple?”
Ellen turns in her seat, face going all pale again. “We
are
a couple, and it’s not…sudden. It’s not how Harrison is making it sound, that’s for sure. Cam and I—”
“See? She’s admitted it!” Harrison cries out. “Who’s the liar now, Ellen Foster? Who?”
“Please. Wait,” I say, mostly to Ellen, but I say it loudly so the room quiets and returns their attention to me. “Ellen and I are happy to address the status of our relationship, but first, let me show you the photographs I’ve brought so we can stay focused on why we are all here.”
“Good idea.” Professor Perry, now shaking his head as much as the other administrators are, finally gets my shots to load into thumbnails across his computer screen. I walk over to the computer so I can scroll through the thumbnails, but pause to turn on the huge overhead screen before clicking on any of them. “This shot is going to seem kind of strange to you, like I’m a stalker so…yeah. I need to explain. Ellen and I—being together—it’s not sudden, like she said. See, we’ve been in love with each other for almost a whole year now. Only we, our relationship, got really sidetracked with life and other people.”
I click on a photo and let it fill the screen. It’s a shot of Ellen in Grand Bend. She’s lying flat on her back in a grassy spot down in the little park next to our hotel. She’s holding Harrison’s camera—and she’s pointing it directly at a bird’s nest in a tree. I’ve captured a shot of when Ellen took her awesome close-up of the bird.