A couple of days ago, I started eighth grade in pretty much the same way I ended seventh grade. In each of my classes, I found a seat a few feet away from the biggest talkers, the ones who couldn't keep their mouths shut if they Super-Glued their lips together. It actually felt good to once again plug myself back into the machine that was the JMMS grapevine.
One of my biggest sources of information was Drew Seeley. He was the total jock: tall, muscular, athletic, popular, and dumb as a box of rocks. Sit him next to one of his jock buds, and he'll talk till he's blue in the face. It was from him that I learned who'd poured a cup filled with his own pee into Simon Kirby's locker. Yeah, it was Drew. I didn't have a lot of friends, barely any in fact, and Simon was one of the few guys in school who knew me pretty well. The only reason I didn't go to the principal was because Simon begged me not to. He was a good guy, but he was such a pushover.
I slung my backpack over my shoulder before exiting my bedroom, hoping like hell I could get out the front door before Ron noticed.
Hallway. No sign. Living room. Nothing. So far, so good. Maybe the jerk's still asleep. I wrapped my hand around the doorknob, turning it gently. Seconds away from freedom.
“Hayden? Is that you sneaking off?” came a man's voice from the kitchen.
Sighing, I took my hand off the knob. So … freaking … close.
Suddenly, he appeared in the doorway. He was wearing his ugly blue bathrobe, his graying dark hair was an unkempt mess, and it looked like he hadn't shaved – or bathed – in three days.
He'd entered our lives earlier this year. He'd asked Mom out several times, and, with Dad out of the picture, she started dating him. When our savings ran out, I thought we might lose the house, but Ron Merriweather, who worked as an assistant manager at a local furniture store, agreed to help Mom pay the bills as long as he could live under our roof. Mom was so desperate, she had no choice but to agree. The romantic spark between Mom and Ron fizzled out pretty quickly, but by then, he was already living with us, his new BMW parked on our driveway. Now he was just our roommate … the most annoying roommate ever.
For the millionth time, I wished Mom would just ditch this guy. All he did when he wasn't at work was sit on his butt, drink beer, and expect me and Mom to treat him like royalty.
“Where you going?” Ron said, scratching his whiskers.
“Duh, school.” I pointed to the backpack I had draped over my shoulders. “Just like yesterday, just like tomorrow.”
“Well, you don't have to get smart-mouthed with me.” He straightened himself up. “You know, Hayden, I am the man of this house. It wouldn't kill you to treat me that way every once in a while.”
Jeez, not this again. If I had a dollar for every time I had this conversation … Squaring my shoulders, I faced him. “You're not my father, Ron,” I said, emphasizing his name with as much disrespect as I could muster. “You're not even my stepfather. You're just a guy who lives with us.”
“Who pays the bills and keeps a roof over your ungrateful little head,” he retorted, scowling. “If it wasn't for me, you and your Mom would be out on the street.”
My guts tightened. I hated when he played this card. When Dad left us two years ago, Mom was forced to find work as a server in a nearby pizza restaurant, Romano's. It paid all right, but not nearly enough. Yeah, okay, Ron helped pay our bills, and we might have lost the house without him. A fact he reminded us of every … single … day.
“What do you want from me?” I asked, desperate to be away from him.
His mouth curled into a sneer. “I want you to say 'thank you.' Say it, and you can go.”
I bit my bottom lip, feeling my dignity drain away like water from a bathtub. “Thank you, Ron,” I obliged with no sincerity whatsoever.
Even so, this seemed to satisfy him. “That's better. Have fun at school, Hayden.”
My God, this guy. “For the eighty-fifth time, Ron, it's Ayden. A-Y-D-E-N. You really expect me to look up to you when you can't even get my freaking name right?”
His brow furrowed, and he took two menacing steps forward. “Get your disrespectful butt out of here before I smack the sass out of your head, boy.”
I wrenched the front door open and slammed it behind me, rattling the walls. I sprinted to my bike, climbed on, and pedaled away before Ron could make good on his threat. Looking back and seeing he was too lazy to follow, I sighed in relief.
I could be a superhero. I wish I was a superhero. Everyone else ignores me, why can't that assclown ignore me too?
* * *
Sixth-period Literature in Mrs. Abernathy's class had already become the high point of my day. The classroom was usually kept unlocked, so students could file in even though the teacher wasn't there. Mrs. Abernathy herself usually showed up seconds before the bell rang, squeezing every second she could out of her smoke-break. When I walked in, Drew was already there. He didn't even look up as I took my seat. With my earbuds clearly visible, I opened my textbook and pretended to read it while I listened to Drew blather on with his friend Zach Cavanaugh.
“Alexis still texting you?” Zach was asking.
“Like, twenty times,” said Drew, clearly fed up. “I'm really getting sick of her crap.”
I snuck a glance at them, seeing a puzzled look on Zach's face. “What's the problem? She's mega-hot!”
“She's a friggin' prude, that's what. We've gone out, like, three times and she's only let me kiss her once.”
“Bummer.”
“Plus, she's a total control freak, and she never stops talking. Like, ever. Yap yap yap, all the friggin' time. There's gotta be plenty of girls I can go out with that won't crap in my ear like she does.”
“Sorry, man.”
“By the way, guess who my lab partner in Science is.”
“Who?”
“Sophie Devereaux.”
My breath caught in my throat. I wasn't on good terms with many girls; in fact, Sophie was the only one who'd ever really talked to me at all. Nearly every morning, I would see her at the bus stop as I rode my bike to school. On occasion, I would stop and talk to her, just to say 'hi.' She always smiled at me, and I always smiled back. I often regretted not trying to get to know her better over the last few years. Plus, she was best friends with Marissa Ramos, who I'd had a major crush on since sixth grade.
Sophie's paired up with this jackass? Great.
“Ah, man, that sucks,” Zach continued. “My partner's nothing to look at, but at least she's not a loser like Sophie. Did you hear what Alexis did to her on Monday in the cafeteria?”
“Course I heard,” said Drew. “That's so Alexis. Funny thing is, I'd never even looked at Sophie before. She's actually not bad-looking, except for those ugly glasses.” He chuckled. “Maybe I can have some fun with this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if I start being nice to Sophie, it'll drive Alexis nuts.”
Zach nodded, laughing. “She's halfway there already.”
“Girls like Sophie aren't used to having a popular guy talk to them. All I have to do is pay her a few compliments, and she'll do whatever I want.”
Uh-oh. Not good.
“You're gonna dump Alexis … for Sophie Devereaux?”
Drew straightened up, shocked at the question. “No, dumbass! I'll just make her think I like her. Give me a few weeks, I'll have her doing my homework. And if she's really into me …” He grinned evilly. “Who knows?”
Without even realizing it, I found myself staring right at them. It wasn't until Zach met my gaze that I knew I'd screwed up. He frowned, and then Drew turned to look at me too. “What are you looking at, phlegm-wad?” Zach asked.
Thinking fast, I pulled my earbuds out and made a puzzled face at them. “Sorry, what'd you say?”
They both stared at me for a few seconds before Zach muttered, “Nuthin',” and they turned back to face each other again.
I put the buds back in my ears and resumed looking at the textbook on my desk. I didn't lo
ok up again until Mrs. Abernathy walked through the door. I got no more useful information from either Drew or Zach.
That was too close. Almost exposed my secret identity there. Be more careful next time, idiot!
As Mrs. Abernathy began her lecture, all I could think about was Sophie.
What do I do? Sophie's a good person, and she's about to get herself in deep with the worst people in the class. I'm going to have to do something.
But what?
* * *
I owned about a hundred comic books, which Dad bought for me in the years before he left. I loved superhero stories, stories where good prevailed over evil. Those heroes were fueled by a strong sense of justice, and I always wanted to be like them. Act like them. The one thing I'd always regretted was that I lacked the courage to actually do it. I could've written a book about all the stuff some of my classmates had gotten away with, but I'd never done anything about it. I wasn't a snitch. And besides, it would've been my word against theirs anyway.
As I rode my bike home, I continued to think about Sophie. Knowing Drew and Alexis like I did, there was no way this scenario could end except with Sophie having her heart broken and her self-esteem totally destroyed. And I knew I couldn't just sit back and let that happen.
I CAN be a superhero. Just once.
Chapter 3
~ Day 8 (Mon.) ~
SOPHIE
I woke up today with a sense of dread. It had been over a week since the balloon incident in the cafeteria, and ever since then, I felt the eyes of my classmates on me everywhere I went. Everybody, from casual acquaintances to my enemies at the popular girls' table – I have enemies? How did that happen? – were looking at me now from a discreet distance, but not so discreet that I didn't see them doing it. Jeez, people, get on with your lives already!
Mom spent the last week reassuring me that everything would eventually blow over, and she did so again before leaving for work this morning. I hoped she was right.
I was shocked when Drew spoke to me last week. I mean, I know we were lab partners – we couldn't very well ignore each other the entire semester – but he hung out with the popular guys and only talked to the popular girls. That's how it was. I wasn't popular, and I never would be. So when he started openly talking to me, I figured it would be to tell me what a loser I was. But he was actually very polite, which surprised me. I spent the whole weekend thinking about it.
Michelle was right: Drew was hot. He had awesome medium-length sandy brown hair, zit-free skin, perfect teeth, and quite muscular for someone our age. But every time I looked at him, I had to turn away, as I immediately saw a picture of Alexis scowling at me in my mind's eye. And on more than one occasion, I looked across the room to see Rhianna glaring at me. I had no doubt she was reporting everything she saw to Alexis. That's how they operated.
I hoped if I only limited myself to talking with Drew about classwork, Alexis might call off her dogs … but I knew Alexis better than that. If someone got on her bad side, she wouldn't stop until that person was a sobbing, quivering mess. She did it last year to Autumn Kirkland, who made the mistake of innocently chatting up Colton Reynard, Alexis's boyfriend at the time. Now Autumn spent her recess periods in the library, hiding from everyone. I even tried speaking to her a couple of times, but she wouldn't talk to me. I felt terrible for her, but I had no desire to share her fate.
This was on my mind as I sat down next to Drew in Science class. Almost immediately, he spoke to me again. “Hey, Sophie.”
“Hey,” I said, refusing to look at him. I cast a quick glance at Rhianna's table, and thankfully, she wasn't there. She was probably sick today. I then turned to look at Kayla's table on the other side of the room, but she wasn't paying attention to me. I exhaled in relief.
“Ya have a good weekend?” Drew asked.
What's going on here? Is he just making small talk to kill time before class starts, or is it something else? I saw him out the corner of my eye, and he was giving me an adorable half-smile.
My breath caught in my throat again, and my brain went into a tizzy. What did he ask me again? Oh, yeah, my weekend … what do I say? “Um … yeah. It was fine.”
“You ready for the test today?”
“I think so. Are you?”
He averted his gaze, and I could tell he looked worried. “I tried studying, but science is really hard for me.”
“Don't you and Alexis study together?” I tried my best not to sound sarcastic, but I probably failed.
He snorted, and gave a wry smirk. “Oh, yeah, studying is so her thing.”
“I'm sure you'll find someone who can help you.” I cracked the tiniest of smiles.
He turned to face me full-on. “It would be a lot easier if you could help me. I mean, we're partners, right?”
My heart skipped a beat, and I could practically feel my pupils dilating. A dangerous mixture of exhilaration and fear coursed through my body, causing my vocal cords to stop working. I stared into his amazing eyes, unable to form words.
At that moment, Mr. Tolliver entered the classroom, striding toward his desk. “Okay, people, put your books away and get out your pencils. It's test time!”
I turned away from Drew, stowed my backpack under the table and tried to get my brain back on track. While Mr. Tolliver handed out the tests, I turned to Drew and whispered, “I'll think about it.”
“Thanks,” he whispered back.
Mr. Tolliver gave me my test, and just as I was about to begin, I saw Kayla shoot a glance at me over her shoulder.
Kayla had been running with the popular crowd since moving to Phoenix from New York City last year, but she didn't seem to have the same mean streak that Alexis and Rhianna did. Why does she keep looking at me? And the way she's looking at me … is that … concern? What's that all about? Wish she'd just get past my previous humiliation and move on.
Finding my concentration, I began my test.
* * *
“Sophie! Dinnertime!” my mom's voice echoed from downstairs.
Humming a Beatles tune I couldn't remember the title of, I joined my family in the dining room, taking my usual seat. “What's for dinner?”
“Leftovers,” said Mom, forcing a smile. Our eyes met, and I could tell she'd had another long day at work.
My eyes scanned the assortment of entrees on the table. “Dibs on the meatloaf,” I said, grasping the dish with both hands and setting it down next to my plate.
“All yours,” said Kirsten, frowning. Silently, she spooned a tiny portion of reheated chicken and rice onto her plate.
I looked around at my family. Dad was the only one not grimacing, so I asked him, “How was your day, Dad?”
“It was fine. The airline gave me a nice, simple route today. Up to Seattle, down to San Fran, and back home.” He cast a glance at Mom, whose face looked heavy with worry. He reached over and grasped her hand. “What's wrong, Lizzie? Another tough day in court?”
She squeezed his hand, looking him in the eyes. “Tough case today. Had to put another kid in jail.”
“Drugs again?”
She nodded. “Kid's eighteen years old, he's been dealing for two years. And he's been using for four.”
Oh, man. As a prosecutor for the District Attorney's office, Mom was as tough as they came, but when cases involved kids and teenagers, it really cut her deep.
“It just breaks my heart to see children throw their lives away like that,” Mom said, sighing heavily. “And it seems like every week I have to put another kid away. The worst part of it is, for every teenager I send to jail, there's another one to take his place. There's a never-ending sea of them. But the law is the law.”
I felt a wave of anxiety radiate from her, punctuated by the look of terror on her face. “I'm scared, Steven. The drug problem in this city is getting worse. And it's not just affecting street kids. It's starting to make its way into the more affluent neighborhoods as well. Dealers are targeting kids as young as twelve.”
I gas
ped. Mom and Dad and all our teachers had warned us about the perils of drugs since elementary school, but I couldn't even imagine the situation was this bad. “My God,” I said under my breath, but it was loud enough for Mom to hear.
She turned to face me. “Sophie, there's nothing like that going on at James Madison, is there?”
“Not that I've seen,” I replied. My school had its problems, all schools did. But drugs? I couldn't picture something as terrible as that infiltrating James Madison. Ever since I found out about the dangers of illegal drugs, I'd assumed that I wouldn't have to deal with it, or the misguided people who sold them or used them, at least until high school. Maybe I was wrong.
I looked at Kirsten, who was still silently eating her tiny portion of dinner. I considered asking her if she'd seen anything like that in her brief time in high school, but then decided against it. Kirsten was an honor student, and maybe the smartest girl I knew apart from Michelle. No way would she get into something like that.
“Well, keep your eyes open,” Mom said. I could only nod in return.
* * *
After climbing into bed, I found myself staring into the darkness. The only light came from the hallway, peeking through the crack under my bedroom door.
Every day, it seemed, brought a new problem, a new life-changing decision.
Bullies. Drugs. Boys. Sigh. Can I just go back to elementary school where I didn't have to deal with any of these things?
I closed my eyes, and Drew's face appeared in my mind. And with it came a romantic song – Unchained Melody – that I immediately started softly humming without even thinking about it.
Sophie's Different (James Madison Series Book 3) Page 3
