Unbreakable Rules (Too Many Rules Book 3)

by G. L. Snodgrass

  Like I was saying, they had been tipped off by someone in Microsoft, and they were there to offer him an appointment to the Air Force Academy. It was late in the process, but for someone of Ryan's skills they would cut through some red tape."

  "Mom was ecstatic," Amanda said. "Papa, her father, had been in the Air Force. He flew Fighters in the Korean war."

  "So Ryan's weighing his options, Air Force Academy, Microsoft. All of his problems solved. But, still he's not satisfied. He waits, he delays. I'm yelling at him to make a decision before they change their friggin’ minds. His mom is scared out of her mind that he'll blow it all.

  Then, out of nowhere a letter shows up. One page. Offering him a full ride at the University of Washington. Books, room, board, classes, everything covered. Not only that, but entry into their entrepreneur Information Management program. He'll come out of there with all the tools and contacts to start his own business. And I'm the one who gets to help him turn it into a billion dollars," Mark said with a smile as he sat back in his chair.

  "You, my boy, are my ticket out of here and don't you forget it,” Mark added.

  "Yeah, well if they don't get the power back on, all those computer programs are going to become pretty useless,” I said. I could feel the tips of my ears burning. I glanced over at Hailey to see how she was taking all of this.

  I had never seen her look at me this way before. Her eyes had narrowed as she studied me for a moment. She started to shake her head and said, "Ryan, Ryan, what are we going to do with you." But, she said it in such a way that I don't think she was disappointed in me.

  Chapter Eight

  Hailey

  Snuggling under the blankets on the recliner in Ryan's living room, watching the flames dance in the fireplace, I thought over the day's events. Wow, what a freaky two days. Everything was off the charts unusual.

  Mom and Nana flying to North Carolina. Breaking up with Jarret. My phone swimming in the girl's commode. The power disappearing into who knows where for who knew how long. All of it couldn't compare to the story I'd heard earlier about Ryan. The boy was playing in a different league than the rest of us. I'd always known he was smart, but this was so far above what I'd expected.

  Most of my friends couldn't tell you how their toys worked. The phones, tablets, and gadgets they used constantly all day. It was all magic to them.

  Here Ryan was, an apprentice magician being admitted into the guild of masters. You've got to admit, it was sort of cool. In a nerd kind of way.

  I smiled when I thought about how the tips of his ears turned red when people talked about him. It drove him crazy to be the center of attention. It was too cute.

  I fell asleep, relaxed, and semi-happy. Sometime in the night, I woke to a blinking 12:06 on the DVD player tucked under the TV. I stared at the blinking red lights for several moments before I realized what it meant. The electricity was back on.

  I squealed as a sense of relief flashed through me. The power was back. I quickly reached over and shook Ryan's chair. "Ryan," I hissed. "Ryan, the power's back on."

  He blinked awake, then shot up in his chair looking at the red lights. A huge smile spread across his face to be replaced by a brief, sad look. I wondered what that was all about.

  "And life returns to normal," he said with a small shake of his head.

  .o0o.

  Ryan

  The big yellow school bus slowed to a stop at the end of the Cul-de-sac. I let the other five high-school kids go first, then ducked my head as I stepped onto the first step. That early morning stink of teen angst, fake leather seats, and diesel exhaust hit me like a fist to the stomach. I couldn't keep doing this. I could feel my face turn red as the freshmen, sophomores, and the occasional loser junior watched the only senior on the bus make his way to the end.

  I plopped into one of the only open seats next to a scared little freshman. Giving him my best scowl I was able to cut off any attempt at conversation. The last thing I needed right then, was people talking to me.

  The power had been back on for two days now, at least for the most part. The occasional drop still made my stomach clench up every time it happened. Rolling blackouts they called it. Two hours out of every twelve, just enough to keep your whole life off balance.

  Mrs. Thompson and Hailey's mom had come back and Hailey had returned home without stopping to say goodbye. Now, here I was stuck once again in Loser Ville, riding the bus, heading to hell in a hand basket.

  Maybe Mark was right, maybe I should get a car. It'd never seemed that important before. I had access to Mom's mini-van if I needed it. But, things felt different. A girl like Hailey would never go out with a guy driving a mini-van. I shuddered to think of picking her up on a date, pulling into her driveway in a mini-van. God, could there be anything worse?

  Mom's bills were caught up. I had enough in the bank, maybe I should get a used car instead of saving it for college. I had a full scholarship after all. I could afford to splurge a little.

  "Okay you heathens," Mr. Stewart yelled from the front of the bus as he slammed the doors open. "Go forth and learn new things. Fill those little brains of yours with wondrous knowledge."

  He'd said the same thing every morning for the last ten years. Always before, it had been no big deal. Now it sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard sending a sickening shiver down my spine.

  Today! I was getting a car, today. Or, this week at least. Never again would I set foot on that bus. Relaxing, I stood up and joined the crawling line as we left the bus. I smiled for the first time in two days.

  The school halls buzzed with stories about the great Black Out. Each student and most of the teachers seemed to have a story about what they did and how they were impacted by the power outage. You'd think they'd made it through six episodes of Survivor on some deserted island. - - Oh the hardship.

  I turned the corner, headed for my first period Trig class when I spotted Hailey down the hall. She was talking to Brittney Marshall. Holding a textbook to her chest. Both arms wrapped around it like it was a life jacket in a hurricane.

  How I envied that book. The woman was a picture of perfection. Her eyes sparked like precious gems. She wore a black skirt and a pink fitted shirt. Most of the other girls in school tended to tight jeans. Nothing wrong with that, but Hailey always stood out.

  Laughing at something Brittney said, she tucked a strand of luscious hair behind her ear and looked up. Our eyes locked, my heart stopped, as it always did when I saw her. She smiled slightly and nodded. I smiled back and returned the informal nod.

  Brittney's head whipped around to see who had caught Hailey’s eye. The look of surprise and disbelief in her eyes let me know all I needed to know. Hailey hadn't spent the last few days telling her friends about the wonderful time spent with Ryan Hardy. It had probably never even crossed her mind.

  Sighing to myself, I continued on to class. My head down, and a heart so heavy it felt like it was pulling me into the floor.

  I spent the morning staring off into space analyzing my problem from every side. My teachers ignored me. They knew I'd ace their tests. In fact, I could have skipped the last six weeks of school and still aced the final exams.

  Okay Ryan, face it, I desperately wanted to go out with Hailey Martin. I wanted way more than that, but would be satisfied with a simple date.

  It seemed to be all I could think about. I fantasized different scenarios. Rescuing her from a rampaging bear, or pulling her off the street, away from some out of control car. Something, anything that would make her see me as someone worth knowing. Someone worth being with.

  Sighing to myself, I left my fourth period AP Chem course and headed to the cafeteria for lunch.

  "Face it," I mumbled to myself, "she's out of your league."

  Hell, there isn't a boy within a hundred miles of there who was in her league. On the other hand, I knew that in fifty years I'd deeply regret the fact that I hadn't asked Hailey Martin out.

  My stomach hurt thinking about it
. I almost turned around and skipped lunch. Instead I grabbed a tray and started sliding it down the rails, looking for something good to eat.

  I knew Mark and the others would be expecting me to join them at our table back in the far corner.

  I could already imagine the teasing I was going to get from Howard. Megan would look at me and shake her head, then start in on Tony about how she'd kicked his butt in Medal of Honor. Mark would tell stories. Lay it on thick, and entertain the group. Tony would look for an opportunity to start an argument. There were definite drawbacks to being King of the Nerds.

  "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" an angelic voice said behind me.

  My heart lurched and my lungs seized up. Hailey Martin stood in line behind me, smiling like I was her friend or something.

  My mind refused to work, and my tongue had locked itself in place. Here in public, the great Hailey was acknowledging my existence. I quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching. Wondering what the catch was.

  "Um ... Hi, um ... hello." It was now official. I was the dumbest person in the world. I'd just proved it.

  "Hi," she answered. "I wanted to say thanks again for taking me in. You were a life saver."

  "Oh, sure no problem. Anytime the power goes out you are more than welcome."

  She laughed as if I'd said something funny. "So you're saying I can only come visit when it's dark. Don't want to be seen with me is that it?"

  "No. No. That's not it," I sputtered.

  "I'm only kidding Ryan," she said resting a hand on my arm. Her eyes narrowed in concern, obviously worried that she might have made me upset. It felt as if her fingers were burning a brand into my skin, but I could no more have moved my arm than I could have moved Mt. Rainier.

  "I really enjoyed it," she continued, "tell Amanda I said ‘hi,’ okay?"

  "Hey, move it," someone further down the line yelled. Couldn't he see what was going on here? Didn't he know this was way more important than if he got some cafeteria meat loaf?

  My knuckles had turned white with the grip on my tray. It seemed to be the only thing anchoring me to this world. I slid it down towards the cashier. Say something, I kept telling myself. Something smart, witty. Maybe this was the time I should ask her out. I'd never get a better chance.

  I finished paying Mrs. Carver, the oldest cashier in the world, and stepped aside while I waited for Hailey to pay.

  Should I have offered to buy her lunch? The fact that I didn't have a clue about what I should do made me mad. How does a person get to be my age without knowing the rules about things like this?

  Hailey stepped up next to me.

  "It was good seeing you again, Ryan. Like I said, thank you again." She looked off towards her friends sitting at a far table. A wistful look crossed her eyes. She turned and glanced at my friends at the Nerd table. The wistful look didn’t go away.

  Both of us stood there for a moment, not knowing what came next. Finally, she sighed and gave me a weak smile.

  "Well, see you around. Oh, and tell Mark I said, ‘hi,’ and that he needs to expand his reading material. There are more things in this world than Batman comics."

  I laughed. "Don't ever tell him that or you'll be pulled into a long boring argument that you cannot win."

  Hailey laughed, smiled, and nodded her head slightly, then walked towards her friends. I thought I might have seen a slight look of regret cross her face, but that didn't make any sense.

  I sighed and started towards my table, my people. Cussing with each step. What a perfect opportunity and you blew it, I said to myself over and over.

  Chapter Nine

  Hailey

  Things had changed. We'd been back to school for three days and things had definitely changed. The school seemed smaller, the walls closer somehow. As if everything was at three-fifth scale. An old, stale smell seemed to permeate the halls and my shoulders itched with a desire to be outside. To be done. To move on.

  I'm sure the spring nip in the air, the clear blue skies, and the new yellow daffodils had a lot to do with it. But still, I couldn't shake the fact that things had changed.

  Mary Ellison and Beth Roberts had decided to join the Jarret camp. I guess I couldn't blame them, their boyfriends were teammates of his. It seemed that Jarret had spent the blackout period visiting friends. Telling everyone that he had to break up with me because I was a cold, vindictive bitch who didn't understand his sensitive soul.

  He actually used that term, sensitive soul. I swear he must have looked it up on-line because he never would have come up with it on his own.

  Brittney being Brittney, of course, hung true. You've got to give it to her. She never bought into the whole sensitive soul part. She'd laughed out loud and reverse snorted half a Coke the first time Mary had told her. That's my Bri.

  The school seemed to have come down to a forty-sixty split. Forty percent for me of course. In reality, it was probably closer to thirty. But, forty sounds better. Anyway. I wasn't being ostracized, or shut out. Nothing that blatant. People had to be careful. You never knew. The two social pinnacles might get back together.

  My fellow students weren't idiots. They'd play both sides until things settled out, but I could already tell how it was going. Fewer smiled greetings in the hall. A turned back here, a rolled eye there. Jerry Sands was holding a party this weekend and I hadn't been invited. Little things.

  I've got to admit, it hurt a little. What surprised me though was exactly how little it did hurt. A couple of weeks ago I'd have been a raging cyclone of anger.

  How dare he act like it was all his idea and I was the bad person in all of this? I'm sure there would have been a very public display of ass chewing. I just couldn't seem to muster the same level of worry. It wasn't that important and I didn't know why.

  Maybe because I could see the end coming. Seven weeks from now we'd graduate, and I'd rarely see these people again.

  Maybe it was the idea of my mom and Nana talking late into the night around our kitchen table. I think Aunt Susan's illness had scared them both.

  They were making a real effort to talk out issues and history. Maybe it was the time I spent over at Ryan's. I'd been shown that there was a world outside my own little universe of Prom and Homecoming. Who was wearing what and who was dating whom? There was so much more to life.

  "Okay, that's it," Mr. Sinclair said, signing off on the last article and hitting the "go" button on his computer, sending the school paper to the printers.

  He nodded to Eric Jenkins and said, "Good Job."

  We reporters on the school paper's staff relaxed in our seats. No rewrites this time, we were getting better. It'd only taken us seven months.

  "I want to try something a little different this year," Mr. Sinclair said as he stood up and walked to the front of his desk. "I've discussed it with Eric and he's onboard. I want you to interview the students you think are going to make the biggest impact on the world in the future. You know, one of those, 'They were that, back when,' type of articles. The type of thing that you guys can discuss at your fortieth reunion. What do you think?"

  "Do you mean like, 'Who is most likely to succeed?’" someone in the back asked.

  "No, more than that. Who they are, what they see their future being. Imagine if you could go back in time and interview Hillary Clinton when she was in high school, or George Bush, Katy Perry, or Russell Wilson. What would you ask them? What would future generations like to know?"

  Silence fell over the class as we pondered his suggestion.

  John Simpson raised his hand. "How about Tim Barley? He got an appointment to West Point. I bet he's a famous General someday." It seemed to open the floodgates of ideas.

  Mr. Sinclair began writing names on the board.

  "Yeah, how about Randy Cleaver, he's wicked on the guitar, his band's pretty good, have you heard him?"

  "Marla Woods is going to Harvard, she wants to be a doctor. A surgeon."

  "Jarret McGee. He's bound to start at Oregon
in a couple of years. Maybe the pros after that."

  It took a lot for me not to laugh at the idiocy of that last statement. I couldn't see Jarret going anywhere. He'd always relied too much on his parents. I was pretty sure he was going to fall flat on his face when he got out on his own. At least, that was my fondest desire.

  "What about you, Ms. Martin?” the teacher asked me. “You're awfully quiet over there. Who do you think needs to be interviewed? Who's going to have the biggest impact on the future?"

  Without really thinking about it I said, "Ryan Hardy."

  "Huh?"

  "Who?"

  "That tall Nerd. He hangs out at the Nerd table during lunch." Eric said.

  "You've got to be kidding me."

  Somebody laughed. I whipped around to find out who, ready to bite someone's head off.

  "Interesting, Ms. Martin. Why?" the teacher said from the front of the room.

  "Yes. Why?" Bri said from the desk next to mine. Her eyebrows had risen to two points in bewilderment.

  My stomach turned over in worry. I didn't want to make Ryan's life miserable and for some reason, I was worried about people getting the wrong impression. Besides, if I was going to turn him into something socially acceptable I only had a few short weeks.

  Shrugging my shoulders, I said, "Because I think he's going to be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg."

  "Yeh, right," Suzy Rawlings said with a laugh.

  "God, I hope not," Eric said. "I spent fifth-grade shooting spitballs at him in Miss Ring's class."

  "No, she's right,” Amy Johnson chirped in from the back. “Ryan's a genius when it comes to computers. He should be interviewed."

  Bri was looking at me funny. As if I'd lost my mind, and she was trying to decide whether to help me find it or not.

  "Okay, we'll add Ryan Hardy to the list. Anyone else?"

  Bri didn't ask any questions as we left the class, but I know her curiosity was pegged to the max. I silently thanked the stars for keeping her quiet. I wasn't really ready to talk about it.