On the Edge of Humanity (11 page)

“Jocks get away with murder.” I said. “Is Sam on his way to anger management?”

Ben nodded.

I’m sure Sam is thrilled to spend the next period learning how to control his anger. I hope that he doesn’t lose it during his class.

Darcy made it through the tangled web of students and planted herself directly in front of me. She didn’t acknowledge Ben. Obviously, she was pissed.

“Spill and spill now!”

“You haven’t told her yet?” Ben asked as he let out a low whistle.

“Like I’ve had time and, oh yeah, let me call up Darcy on some cruise ship in the Caribbean. Are you insane?”

Ben raised his hands and leaned back against the locker.

“We don’t have much time, so I will spare you the details.” I didn’t realize I was touching my left cheek until Darcy grabbed my hand.

“Jo, focus.”

“Cliff tried to rape me at knife point and I fought back.” This was the second time I said it out loud. The first time I cried, but this time it was as if a fifty-pound weight fell off my shoulders and the hall spun in front of me.

“He
what
? That mother f—”

“Easy, Darcy,” Ben said.

“I hope the bastard looks worse than you.”

Darcy was an Aries. She held true to her astrological fire sign. Her powerful expression of energy and her impulsiveness had gotten her into trouble many times, especially with people of authority.

I tuned Darcy out. I didn’t want to talk about it. I had to give her more details or she wasn’t going to let up. I loved her as a sister, but her impatience drove me crazy.

“You better give her something,” Ben whispered.

“I’m not ready to dish on the details. We have to get to class, anyways. And you know the halls have ears.”

“You owe me, then. After school, we’ll go to my house and hang out. My mom won’t be home until nine tonight. Deal?”

“I can’t go right after school.” I wrinkled my nose.

“Why not?” Darcy asked. A red color surfaced under her tanned cheeks.

“I have to go and see Coach Welles.”

“Are you trying out for the baseball team?” she asked.

“It’s something Mr. Jackson wants me to do,” I said.

Ben chuckled. He thought it was cool watching the exchange between Darcy and me. I turned and extended my arm, but he caught it before I could punch him.

“You don’t want to do that, love.”

“Oh, but I do,” I said as I nodded.

“Hello. What’s with the love and I do shit?” Darcy rested her hand on her hip and raised her brows. “Explain. Mr. Jackson wants you to do what?”

“You better tell her,” Ben said.

“Yes, you better tell me,” Darcy said, her voice teetering on the edge of screaming.

I glared at him.

“Mr. Jackson feels it’s a good idea to learn how to protect myself. I have to take self defense classes with Coach Welles after school.”

I didn’t want to tell Darcy about the guy chasing us or Neil or anything else. It was too risky around this place. With my luck, Blake was hiding in the shadows.

“Shut up! All you need to know about self-defense is a kick where it hurts if you know what I mean.” She pointed down below her belt.

I wasn’t ready to tell her that her way didn’t work, and when I kicked Cliff between the legs, I was stabbed in the ribs.

We only had a few minutes before the bell, so we barreled our way through the crowd.

“You can come over after your self-defense class then.” Darcy had her arm entwined through mine.

“I’ll check with Mr. Jackson first,” I said.

Sam and I were confined to the house for now, so I didn’t want to ruin her day and tell her it wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t the kind of girl that took ‘no’ lightly.

“Mr. Jackson? Do you have to run everything by him now?” she asked.

“Sam and I are living with Ben. So, yeah.”

“Get out!” Her mouth fell open. “You’re living with Ben?” She raised her right thumb and flicked it in his direction.

I nodded.

“You bitch!”

“Jealous, are we?” I asked.

“Then maybe we should hang out at Ben’s tonight?” She smiled wide and nodded her head a few times.

God only knew what was going through that brain of hers.

Chapter 8

A
fter Study Hall, I said
goodbye to Ben and Darcy and made my way to Math class. The corridors buzzed with students walking in opposite directions, similar to a two way street. I stopped and waited for an opening to squeeze into the far lane. A tall redheaded kid stopped to let me through. I nodded.

I slid in-between two cheerleaders who were all decked out in their red and black uniformed skirts. The cheerleading coach wanted to keep the old style of uniforms from back in the Seventies, which meant saddle shoes and bobby socks.

The blonde one behind me said, “Watch where you’re going, Moonbeam.”

It was a good thing she couldn’t see my face. I rolled my eyes and ignored her. The wannabe blonde in front of me stopped short and my head hit her backpack.

She turned. “Oh, it’s the school idiot. Walk much?”

I glared. I knew better than to open my mouth. The exchange of words wouldn’t end well.
This day keeps getting better and better. What’s next?

“Sorry,” I said.

She resumed walking and her friend behind me was now in front of me. Both of them turned into the Planetarium. I picked up my pace and continued to my History of Math class.

I had my head down as I rounded the corner to the Math wing and bumped into something hard. At first I thought I walked into a wall, but then a hand palmed my head. I swatted at it. He released his grip. I glanced upwards and the yellowish-brown eyes peering down at me belonged to none other than Blake Turner. It was as if I were looking into the eyes of a wolf.

Shit!

An evil grin was etched on his face.

“Well, lookie here. Who is this? Or should I say
what
is this? Moonbeam, you just keep getting scarier and scarier every time I see you.” Blake placed his hand on my right shoulder.

That corkscrew would come in handy right about now.

“Did you try and have some plastic surgery over spring break to make yourself look pretty or something?” He let out a deep grunt and laughed, which reminded me of Cliff. “You realize it didn’t work. Nothing will work on you, Moonbeam. You can’t change creepy.”

I tried to keep my emotions in check.
Too late.
My hands began shaking. I was sure my irises were changing colors as I balled my hands into a fist. I wanted to punch him square in the crotch. But any altercations with Blake would land me in Mr. Jackson’s office—not what I was planning to do today. I was sure the fact he was now my guardian wouldn’t make him go any easier on me. Just the opposite. I didn’t want to sit through detention.

“Did they slice out your tongue too?” Blake asked.

I had to get to class and around Pimple Face. He wasn’t going to let me move. My fate was sealed. I should accept the consequences of my actions now.

I glanced around the hall. One student had his head buried in his locker. The other had slammed her locker shut then walked down the hall in the opposite direction.

“I’m late for class,” I said.

“Don’t let me stop you.” He swung his right arm in a wide arc motioning me to go.

I stepped to my left to get around him. He followed, blocking my passage. I stepped to my right and he mimicked my move again.

“You’re an asshole,” I said.

His hard eyes bored into me. I thought steam was going to come out of his nostrils. I slid to my left again and caught a glimpse of his hand in midair heading for my face. I ducked under his arm. When I looked back, his cheeks had turned five shades of red and his lips were pinched together into a thin line. He stood there like a bull in an arena waiting to attack his opponent.

Now would be a great time to get to class.
My inner voice told me to run, but my legs wouldn’t move and my heart pounded against my bruised ribs.

I took one step forward, and as I did Blake took three steps towards me. I took another step, and turned to run when he grabbed me by the arm and threw me against a locker.

“Asshole? No one calls me an asshole, bitch.”

His nose was an inch from mine. The spray of his spit hit my face and his breath smelled of onions.

A flash of Cliff came screaming into view, causing my veins to throb, rage percolating. Without thinking, I grabbed Blake by his crotch, twisted my hand one way, then the other before I let go.

Blake dropped to his knees. His backpack fell off his shoulder and tears pooled in his eyes.

I walked up to him and bent over. “Asshole, asshole, asshole.”

I adjusted my backpack, turned and ran down the hall through the crowd of students that had gathered. Some of them had out their cell phones, snapping pictures. With my luck, the headline was going to read,
Weird, Creepy Girl Attacks Jock
. I couldn’t worry about that right now. I was already late for class.

I pulled the door open, trying to catch my breath.

“You’re late, Ms. Mason,” Ms. Costner said. “Come in and take your seat.”

“I’m sorry. The halls were packed today,” I lied.

“Don’t let it happen again.”

Ms. Costner had always taught Algebra and Trigonometry, but this year she taught a new subject, The History of Math.

I slid into the seat of the metal desk, inhaling and releasing, so that my breathing would get back to normal. My theory on events happening in threes was proving to be true; Neil then Blake. I was afraid to ask myself what was next.

Ms. Costner cleared her throat as she was opening her History of Math book. “Let’s talk about Pythagoras.”

Some of the students in class moaned. I slouched in my chair, my breathing just about back to normal, but my hands were shaking as I opened my Math book, tearing a page in the process.

“Pythagoras was not only a great mathematician but also a Greek philosopher. His teachings influenced a number of great people such as Socrates and Euclid.” She looked around the room then continued. “Pythagoras believed the universe was divided into the three worlds.”

I perked up when I heard the word three. An electrical charge swirled around me.

“There’s only one world, Ms. Costner,” a boy at the back of the room shouted.

“One that you know, Henry. But ask yourself, how many other worlds are in this universe?” She walked around to the front of her desk, shifted her stance and leaned against it. “The first world he believed existed was the
Supreme World
, which according to Pythagoras was the supreme mind.”

I raised my shaky hand.

“Yes, Jo?”

“The supreme mind? I don’t understand.” I asked.

“God, you idiot,” a boy shouted from the other side of the classroom.

I jerked my head and glowered in his direction. His eyes grew wide and he dropped his head.

Was he afraid of me? Or were my eyes not back to normal yet?

“Pythagoras believed that man was separate except for his soul. We’ll spend some time discussing the Supreme Mind after your assignments are turned in next week.” She jotted down something in her notebook. “Let’s continue. The second world Pythagoras believed existed was the
Superior World
. This world was home to immortals. Now—”

“Yeah, vampires and werewolves,” a third boy near the window shouted.

The class erupted in laughter.

My body went rigid when I heard the word
vampires
, and now she was talking about immortals.
Eerie!

“Frank, one more outburst and you’ll be sent to the principal’s office.”

I shifted my glance between Frank and the teacher. His wild-eyed expression indicated he was afraid, but of whom—the principal or Ms. Costner, whose unblinking eyes projected a murderous expression? After a long pause, the class lowered their heads.

She scanned the room. “The third world was known as the
Inferior World
. Would anyone like to guess which world Pythagoras was speaking of?”

The girl seated in front of me raised her hand.

“Yes, Karrie?”

“Our world?” Karrie guessed.

“That’s correct. The Inferior World, as Pythagoras outlined, was the home of mortals, man, animals and all the things you students think are important—material things. The point of all this is that Pythagoras wasn’t just a mathematician, he...”

I doodled in my notebook as she continued her lecture on Pythagoras. I drew three circles. Underneath each one, I wrote
Supreme, Superior and Inferior
. In the circle marked
Superior
I scribbled the words
blood
and
vampires
. I wondered what a world of immortals would look like.

The overhead speaker blared and jarred me back to the mortal world. The static from the speaker filled the classroom and I winced at the sound. It was worse than someone dragging their nails on a chalkboard. If anyone were asleep, they were awake now.

The person on the other end banged on the microphone.

“Ms. Costner, this is Gail. Mr. Jackson would like to see Jo Mason in his office right away.”

I froze. That damn Blake Turner! He ratted me out. On the other hand, maybe the cell phone pictures went viral already. Everyone in class looked at me. If they didn’t see my face before, they certainly did now. A prickly heat rose inside me and my muscles tensed.

Ms. Costner pushed a speaker button located on the wall near the door. “She’ll be down in a few minutes.”

Then the speaker was silent and my heart picked up a rhythm I was certain everyone could hear. I was in trouble…again.

The principal’s office was located in the Administration wing of the main building, near the entrance of the school. It took at least fifteen minutes to get from the Math wing to the Admin building. As usual, banners and signs peppered the walls with the latest school event. Since it was April, the school dance committee was preparing for the annual May dance. This year they voted for a costume ball set in seventeen hundred as a tribute to the late Mrs. Elise Jordan who was the Chair of the English Department for over twenty years.

I wrapped my hands around both straps of my backpack, wondering what it would be like to attend a school dance. Last year’s theme was a sock hop and Darcy had said it was like being on an episode of the
Happy Days
show. Boys had dressed up as Fonzie and the girls had worn three quarter length dresses with saddle shoes. How neat it would be to dress in costume. It certainly would beat the hand-me down clothes I wore every day. But I wouldn’t be going to any dance, and I didn’t have any money to buy a fancy outfit or costume anyway.

I reached the doorway between the Math and History wing, intent on getting to my destination as quickly as I could.

“Jo. Yo, Jo. Wait up,” a familiar voice said.

I turned around and Darcy was walking down the hall. I stopped and waited for her to catch up.

“Where’re you going?” she asked.

“I got called to the principal’s office.”

“Yikes. What’d you do? Let me guess. You got into it with Blake again, huh?”