“Head to the high school,” Rick said.

The two boys looked at each other uncomfortably.

“Is there a problem?”

“Um, we’re kind of … skipping today,” the passenger answered. “We don’t want anyone to see us.”

Rick put on his best good-natured grin. “C’mon, it’ll be cake. You just drop me off real quick, and then you get to tell your friends you not only skipped, you even drove right by without getting caught!”

“I dunno,” the passenger said.

“Why do you need to go there anyway?” the driver demanded.

“My kid goes there. Katie Johnson. I need to talk to the school secretary.”

“Don’t know her,” the driver replied.

“She’s a freshman; I’m not surprised,” Rick answered. “I don’t want her to get into more trouble because I was late. My car broke down.”

“Look, we’ll drop you close, okay? We don’t want to get caught,” the passenger said.

Rick leaned back in his seat. “Sure, I understand. I’ll be sure to tell Katie all about the tough guys that dropped me off near the school.”