The Great Greene Heist: List 5

His face was mostly obscured by a baseball cap pulled low onto his head and large, reflective sunglasses.

She looked at the invoice. “I didn’t know we ordered a new machine.”

“Since you’re in charge of the election process, let me run something by you. I’ve been talking to the cheerleaders about starting a new tradition—having the newly elected officers take the floor for the first dance at the formal. Kind of like what the president does at the Inaugural Ball.” Their eyes met. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“What do you mean, it’s broken?!” Lincoln said, his voice as loud as the groaning, grating sound emanating from the scoring machine. “It can’t be broken!”

“But the cheerleaders...There’s a new tradition....” He furrowed his brow. “You said this was a new machine, right? Can we get the old one back?”

As Lincoln crossed his fingers and toes, he thought about Megan’s tousled hair, dimpled cheeks, and perfect smile.

Keith couldn’t help but smile as he walked—no, strutted—to the office.

He paused at the door and took a few deep breaths. He wanted to compose himself to make sure he looked confident. Regal. Presidential.

Contrary to the words scrawled across the walls of the boys’ bathroom, Dr. Kelsey was indeed a smart man.

After Hashemi handed her the microphone, she bounced it in the palm of her hand and gauged its weight.

Jackson flashed Gaby an inquisitive look.

A handful of boys stood underneath, while Omar, in full tuxedo—cummerbund and all—slipped and slid across the floor, trying his best to dribble in his loafers.

Gaby glanced toward the basketball goal, where Omar had just launched a missile that ricocheted off the rim, almost taking out the punch bowl.

The red rose, with its large and crisp petals, looked massive in Mrs. McCoy’s hands. The boutonniere was accented with baby’s breath and green leatherleaf, but the rose was the center of attention.

“Decide to be a wallflower?” Keith asked as Jackson passed by the snack table en route to another corner.

Lincoln sat in the copy room, the green plastic seat hard and cold beneath him, and stared as one ballot after another slipped through the machine. It was akin to watching water drip from a rusty faucet.

“We’ve got a problem,” Charlie replied, the music blaring all around him. His hands, his face, his entire body felt weighed down with sweat. “Jackson can’t shake Kelsey. He’s trying to be incognito, but he’s following Jackson like a shadow.”

He placed half in the queue to run through the machine and the others in the pile that had already been scored.

Lincoln picked up the crumpled ballots from the floor—each with a vote for Gaby. “Keith Sinclair, in accordance with the Maplewood Honor Code and the Student Council bylaws, I hereby nullify these election results and strip you of the right to run as a candidate in any future Maplewood Student Council elections.”

As Dr. Kelsey made his way toward the gymnasium, he tried not to get upset at Bradley, who kept jumping in front of him, spouting nonsense about the election and the formal and anything else that seemed to spill from his brain.

“After the stunt she just pulled, I think we can make her an honorary member of the crew,” Jackson said.

“What Charlie means to say is, we knew that Victor would double-cross us—or as you might say, turn to the Dark Side. He just needed the incentive, which Keith was happy to provide, and the opportunity.”

“You’re the one who said she was part of the crew. And don’t forget Rule Number Seventeen: Once you’re part of the crew, you have retroactive access to all past cons.”

A heist more sophisticated, cunning, ingenious, and beautiful than any job they had ever pulled. Allegedly.

A heist more sophisticated, cunning, ingenious, and beautiful than any job they had ever pulled. Allegedly.