Sophomore Freak (Reject High: A Young Adult Science Fiction Series Book 2) (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

dinner costs too much

Debra’s reaction to this failure would set the standard for future screw ups. Keeping the emerald around my neck meant it was only a matter of time before I broke something else.

Halfway down the wooden staircase she broke the silence.

“Dr. Lin is going to comp this session, which is a good thing. We’re footing the bill for the door.”

I glanced away at the blowing palm trees. No way could we afford it.

“God will provide. He always has,” she said, sounding positive about it as we swung around to the next set of stairs. A seagull cawed in the distance.

I tried not to swear. “Did God make me like this on purpose?”

Debra’s face drooped. She looked into my eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Jason.”

Why was she so calm all of a sudden? “I threw a door into the Pacific,” I said, jerking my hands at my sides. “I’m wearing a radioactive jewel and it’s not killing me. There’s something very wrong with me.”

She sighed. “Look, I don’t think Susan’s going to drop you as a client. Even superheroes need people to talk to. She knows that more than anyone right now.”

I’m not a superhero
. I dragged my feet down the next step. “Thanks.”

Debra stopped beside me. “Jason?”

Here comes the other shoe
. I could almost hear her breathing. “Yeah?”

She bit her bottom lip. “Ray’s downstairs.”

I stopped in my tracks. Peeking over the banister into the parking lot, I saw my father’s silver Cougar ZJ parked next to our busted up blue van. He walked back and forth between the vehicles, holding my brother in his arms and making silly noises.

“For real?” I asked in a squeaky voice. “Cool. I’ll go around back and be out.”

“Don’t. I invited him to come. He wants to be in your life, Jason.”

I controlled my breathing again to constructively release my anger. At least that’s what Susan said it would do. Instead, the salty air burned my nostrils.

“He doesn’t pay child support for me or anything else. Make him pay for the damages to Susan’s office.”

“If I do, are you going to explain to him how you did all of that?”

A lump formed in my throat. “Why does he care. . . now?”

“He was a terrible husband. He doesn’t get a do-over on that one, not with me. Parenting is different. Like it or not, he’ll always be your dad. It’s how it works.”

She was hiding something. “What aren’t you telling me about all this?”

“Do something for me.” She placed her hands on my shoulders. “He wants to take you and your brother out for supper. Go. Eat your brains out, and play nice.”

I crossed my arms. “Only if it’s Giovanni’s. It’s pizza buffet night.”

“That’s my boy.” She smiled so hard her eyes narrowed. “Tuck your cape in.”

Debra said that when she didn’t want me using my powers. Easier said than done. “I’ll work on it.”

When we made it downstairs Zachary giggled and clapped over Ray’s shoulder. We never spent much time together anymore, with me always looking over my shoulder.

“Ma-ma,” Zachary said, stretching his chubby arms forward toward Debra.

Ray turned to face us. I tried not to look at his medium complexion, his forehead, or even the shape of his hairline, because I resembled him so much. Zachary lucked out and looked more like Debra.

“Hey, Champ! Deb, good to see you.”

“Hi, Ray.” Debra waved at the Cougar’s tinted windshield. My other stepmother sat behind it. “Hey, Julia.”

When I didn’t greet my father, Debra twisted her mouth at me. I kicked a pile of loose parking lot gravel and nodded in his direction. He might think I was smiling, but I squinted at him because of the bright afternoon sun.

Ray pulled a white envelope from the right pocket of his gray silk dress pants. He passed it to Debra. “Here are those briefs I promised you. Look them over. I’m sure you’ll be pleased with outcome.”

“Thank you.” She ran her hand through her hair. “I’ve gotta get back.”

His eyebrows rose. “I thought the Post Office closed around now?”

Ray didn’t try to sound like a snob, but he really sounded like a snob.

Debra didn’t let it bother her. She dug through her pocketbook, I guessed for her work badge. At least once a week she misplaced it. “It does,” she said, finally finding the badge and clipping it to her left breast pocket. “I traded off with a girl, but I have to help close up.”

“Oh. How’s it going over there?” He sounded interested.

“The hours are better, so I can be with the boys. It’s nice not to be a late night zombie anymore.” Debra toyed with her worn pocketbook strap. Fidgeting meant she wanted no parts of this conversation. “And the office? How’s business?”

He smiled. “Better than ever. We’re doing some overseas negotiations now, too.”

This whole exchange was weird with not one snappy comment from either of them. Debra checked her watch. Ray pretended to get a text. Then they said something to each other at the same time and broke into laughter. What was I missing?

“Later,” she said. I watched her round the van’s front and get inside.

Ray clapped his hands together. “Julia’s in the car, so it’ll be the four of us for dinner. Bring Sasha Anderson along. We haven’t seen her in a while.”

My father pronounced my girlfriend’s name like she was a famous supermodel or something. She was gorgeous with an athletic body, so he had it half right.

I scratched the side of my head. “There’s a reason for that,” I said to him while scrolling through my iPhone contacts.

“Yeah? What is it?”

He didn’t need to know the truth. I stopped short of calling her depressed. “She’s been . . . well, anyway, I’ll ask.”

He patted me on the shoulder. “Do it from the car. You can Skype her.”

Ray put Zachary into his car seat.

When I opened the rear passenger side door a blast of pop music greeted me.

“Hey, Junior!” Julia turned down the song pumping through the speakers. She looked at me over her designer Hristoff sunglasses and pulled up her black sports bra. Her honey-blonde hair fell over her shoulders. “Coming with us?” she asked me.

I cringe every time she calls me that. My father always went by “Ray,” our shared middle name. He disliked being called Jason. I hated the names Ray and Junior.
Why can’t she say ‘Jason’?
Nicknames bother me, though my friend Rhapsody has called me “Cap” so much it has grown on me.

“Hi, Julia. Yeah, I’m coming.”

“Chinese, it is,” she said. “We’re getting takeout from the buffet near the house. The salmon rolls are legit.”

“Nah, we’re doing pizza at Giovanni’s. It’s buffet night. Ray said it’s my pick. Zachary likes pizza better than Chinese, anyway.”

Her tanned face tightened. It was hard to tell what made Julia so angry. She’d sweated her way through an exercise class and hadn’t showered. I could tell from the aroma of sweat mixed with strong perfume. We’d be eating carbs for dinner, too.

When Ray got in to the black leather driver’s seat, Julia let him have it. I don’t know anything about Egyptian women, but when this one yelled her nose wrinkled and she sounded like a wailing violin. I played Texas Hold ‘Em on the iPad in Julia’s headrest while they argued.

“Time-out!” I made a “T” with my hands. “Can I Skype already?”

“Go ahead,” Ray said. Annoyed, he shifted into reverse and backed out of the parking space. “Just get a salad or something, babe. We’ll do vegan tomorrow.”

Julia leaned over and patted him on the gut. “Try
all weekend.”

Using Julia’s iPad, I opened the Skype app and dialed Sasha. The wireless connection fizzled two or three times before connecting for good. Her laptop was set up in her bedroom. Sasha’s Skype was always open so her dad could check on her while he was away, though she never mentioned if he actually did or not.

While I waited I scanned the people walking in and out of the boulevard’s high-priced boutiques. Holding my breath, I hoped Sasha wasn’t a sobbing mess.

On the fifth ring the screen opened up to her pink and white Hello Kitty bedroom. Sasha gave me a slight smile, though it was obvious she had been crying.

“Hey.” She rubbed lotion into her palm and applied it to her dry face.

“Just finished with Susan. Hungry?”

She ran a pink brush through her hair. Then the screen froze, but I could still hear Sasha’s hoarse voice. “I could eat, I guess.”

“In the Cougar. Fifteen?”

“See you.”

I pressed the ‘snooze’ button and exhaled. Ray turned his body around at a stop light. “She’s still torn up over her friend, huh?”

“Yeah.” I changed the subject. “The Wi-Fi connection was awful.”

“It’s the solar storms,” said Julia, as she frantically thumbed at her frozen iPhone display. “Started up again, and they’re forecasting a big one next week.”

Mr. Peters, my Earth Science teacher, had lectured my class about solar storms right before he tried to kill me the first time. Needless to say, I didn’t remember any of what he said.

Ray turned onto the crowded highway and smacked the black leather steering wheel with his palm. “Should’ve known better than to take the 48,” he said.

My phone went off. My friend Rhapsody sent me a blitz of texts. The first one read,
Still on the couch?

Too fast for me to type a response, the next one came through.
Crack safe tont?
Weeks ago we sneaked into the rubble of Reject High and stole a safe from Welker’s office. The thing could have traps in it. If it did and we opened it I wouldn’t die, but she might.

The last one said,
Couldn’t wait anymore. Just ghosted thru it.

My mind went blank.

In addition to turning invisible, Rhapsody could pass her body through solid objects. Sasha called it ‘quantum tunneling’, but we nicknamed it “ghosting.”

The last time Rhapsody tried it she almost lost her legs.

I typed back, “Not on the couch. What’s in it?”

Zachary cooed and played with a teething toy. It sounded like an annoying, psychotic dog. Julia turned the music up so we didn’t have to hear it.

Rhapsody didn’t immediately respond. Had the thing blown up in her face, like I’d thought it might?

I leaned close to the window to see our whereabouts. We were at least forty-five minutes away in traffic. Crap! Thanks to the crystal, I had this incredible ability to leap into the air at tremendous speeds. I could get over to Rhapsody’s house in no time. All I needed was an excuse to get out of the car. Diarrhea was lame, but Ray might buy it.

“Come over and find out,” she finally messaged back, adding a winking smiley face.

What was in it? My patience broke. “Hey, Ray, can we pull over?”

“What’s up, Junior?” Julia asked me. She must have heard me cursing under my breath after Rhapsody’s text. “Problems in paradise?”

Trying not to roll my eyes, I looked down. “What does that mean?”

She giggled like a little girl. “You and Sasha, silly. Everything good?”

Ray hushed her. “That skeleton they found in the rubble of their school.”

Julia’s mouth dropped open. “Wha-?”

“The building exploded. Sasha’s friend was killed. Sasha’s hardly okay, babe.”

Hand at her mouth, Julia gasped. “Oh, God! I’m sorry. Were they close, Junior?”

Sasha and Asia had eaten lunch together, and they’d gossiped by text. Beyond that, I didn’t think they cared about each other at all. Sasha had been fine about it until last month, when the police had publicly confirmed Asia’s identity. Since then things had become mega-weird between us. Today would be the first time I’d seen her in days.

“Yeah, they were close,” I lied. “They went to middle school together.”

Julia reached her left hand back and patted me on the forearm. “Just be there for her,” she told me. “Listen to what she’s not saying.”

“Okay,” I said, pretending to understand. The sounds of my little brother, who was gurgling and making raspberries next to me, made more sense than listening to nothing or to Julia.

Julia squeezed my hand close to the wrist. “You might want to dial back your friendship with Rhapsody, too. Just for now.”

My head jerked back. What did she have to do with Sasha? I thought about it and still couldn’t come up with a good answer.

Julia turned back around and boosted the radio’s volume.

CHAPTER THREE

Ryan Cain, the magician knife-thrower

I entered the code for the black iron gates at Sasha’s subdivision and waved at Nick, the security guard. Within minutes we arrived in front of the Anderson’s house.

I checked my mouth using the face of my cell phone as a mirror. Nope, no drool. No new mustache hair, either, even though I’d skipped shaving for two whole weeks. I needed a haircut. My cheeks were puffy – had I actually gained a pound for once?

When we parked, I expected Sasha to lock up and strut toward us in a stylish outfit. She’d have her dark brown hair in a ponytail. Sasha’s favorite wedge platforms made her a half-inch taller than I am. But to my surprise she didn’t show.

We waited for a few minutes. Zachary played with his dog.

I pretended to be busy on the iPad while Julia talked to my father. “I like the stone accents, and it’s the perfect shade of tan,” she said, waving her index finger at the beige, two-story house. “But the angular design and the recessed front porch is so. . . sterile. Shame we didn’t look at this neighborhood. I like the house next door.”

“It’s probably in the high nines,” He chuckled. “Way too pricey for just us.”

I gagged. Of course, he wouldn’t think of his sons staying there.

“Three-car garage, Ray!” She elbowed him. “The backyard must be crazy.”

Ignoring them, I got out of the Cougar and made my way up the multicolored stone walkway to the front door. Sasha had unlocked it. Her neighborhood was everything Ray said it was and more. No one with half a brain would break in here.

I heard a creaking sound in the floor upstairs.

Was that Sasha? I tried not to make much noise, just in case it was someone else. Stepping carefully across the eggshell white carpet without making a sound was harder than it sounds.

A board creaked underneath my sneakers. The adrenaline in my body must have kicked on my powers. Welker wouldn’t be up there. He knew how to make an entrance.

Rhapsody and I didn’t know our real enemy, but I didn’t want to meet him like this.

I laid my hand on the lacquered banister. Didn’t Sasha hear me?

Maybe she couldn’t say so.

As I eased up the carpeted steps I heard a voice I recognized – Asia? “Hey girl,” she said over a speaker-phone. “Too busy for your homegirl? Must be your new man.”

Sasha sniffled. I moved another step closer to the top, stopping when the floor made noise. For a million dollar house, it sure wasn’t a quiet one.

“Don’t have to worry about me with this one. Straight arrows aren’t my style.”

I’m a straight arrow? Did she date convicted felons? I remembered Asia was dead because of us and I felt ashamed.

“Anyway, call me back.” The line disconnected. Sasha sniffed, blew her nose, and replayed the message.

By the third time she did that I was in front of her white door. I knocked and pushed it open by the brass knob. Sasha sat on her bed, cell phone in hand. Her hair was loose and natural around her face, which had hints of red. She was still in her pajamas, a pair of pink Hello Kitty boy shorts and a matching tank top. Pretty, but sad. Tears flowed from her red-rimmed eyes and her shoulders trembled.

“Funeral . . .was. . .today,” she said, her breath hitching in between her words. With her trembling hand she smoothed the Hello Kitty comforter on her bed.

No way am I sitting down this riled up. “What? Already?”

She turned her head toward the obituary propped against her darkened laptop screen. Written in script above her school picture were Asia’s full name and two dates.

I mouthed the second one – May 17, the day Reject High exploded and killed her.

According to the news report, policemen identified Asia by an old break in her ankle bone. Sasha said Asia snapped it roller skating at her twelfth birthday party.

She sobbed a little, and then suddenly she stopped.

“Did you go?” I asked her. The room shrank a little.

“. . . sort of,” she said, almost collapsing again into a crying fit.

She’d used her powers and sent a clone? Had she done that with me, too?

I squinted my eyes. “Would’ve gone with you.”

Sasha gave me a knowing glance. Funerals and I don’t mix too well.

Without another word, I approached Sasha and lifted her into my arms. She curled against me like Zachary did when he was upset or tired. “So, they have this new, reduced-calorie white pizza at Giovanni’s,” I said, rocking her back and forth.

She dabbed a tissue at her running nose. Her eyes said she didn’t believe me.

I squeezed her side. “You won’t know for sure unless you come with us.”

Sasha buried her face in my chest. “Give me a minute to put on a happy face.”

A short time later Sasha came to the car, exactly like I’d thought she would. No strutting across the neatly-trimmed green lawn, just a simple walk. Her outfit didn’t disappoint me, though. She wore a pair of white denim cut-offs, the off-the-shoulder Raiders shirt I bought her and a white tank top underneath. She’d gathered her curly hair into a ponytail and she wore her sandal cork-soled platforms.

Instead of opening the rear passenger door from the inside, I got out to meet her.

“Well played, Champ,” Ray said. Julia added something positive I didn’t hear.

Debra had taught me to be a gentleman during dates. Sasha liked it when I tried.

“Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Champion,” she said to my parents. This version of Sasha was still upset, but closer to normal. “Thanks,” she said to me.

“No worries,” I said.

As soon as Sasha closed the door she started massaging my left hand. We rounded the cul-de-sac and left the high-class neighborhood. Passing rows of similar-looking expensive houses bored me. I laid my head against the leather headrest.

The next thing I knew we were pulling in to the downtown shopping center where Giovanni’s is located. The clock on Ray’s stereo said 6:15. I had fallen asleep on the drive. My session with Susan had ended just before five, and we must have hit rush hour traffic crossing town with Sasha. Not like Ray was in a hurry to get to this “hood pizza place.”

The frigid air conditioning inside the restaurant helped wake me up. I’d memorized each piece of Oakland sports memorabilia hanging from the hunter green walls, dating back to the ‘70s. Sasha held Zachary, who had fallen asleep on the ride, too.

We stood in line behind Ray, who flashed his black American Express card to the cashier. Show off. He could’ve used debit, cash, or a card with a limit.

Julia made a beeline for the girls’ bathroom, which had a pink Jim Plunkett jersey hanging from the door. She mumbled under her breath in what sounded like another language.

Ray poked me in the shoulder. “
Arabic.
Don’t bother trying to understand.”

I didn’t get it or
her.
“Agreed,” I said, patting my growling stomach.

Meanwhile, Sasha lingered with me at the counter near the cash register. She tapped her fingernails against the crumb-ridden white surface. If I’d had a scarlet emerald I might have tried to read her mind.

A slight smile curled from my girlfriend’s lips as my little brother drooled a small spot on her t-shirt. “Remember last Sunday, when you gave this to me?”

I stopped inhaling the scent of mozzarella and sauce to look closer. Her chest was bigger than usual. Rhapsody crushed her in that department, so I think she wore push-up bras a lot to level the playing field. “They look great,” I told her. “
It
, I mean.”

She leaned in close, ignoring my mistake. “We should jump into the Coliseum for a game sometime.”

I loved the Raiders, so the potential was there, especially if it cheered her up. But football season was still three months away. “Okay.”

Ray wrapped up his purchase and we filled our drink cups at the soda dispenser. That’s when Julia rejoined us. She’d tossed her hair up into a bun, put on some blush and a teal blue Nike warm up jacket. She seemed to be in a better mood when Ray handed her a cold bottle of Dasani water.

We all made our way to the buffet at the center of the restaurant’s dark blue tiled floor. My stomach rumbled. Since the place was deserted, I loaded up on sausage slices.

Sasha held up a plain slice. Grease dripped from the stringy cheese dangling from the bottom of it. “Is this the low-cal version?”

“You know what? I think they’re out,” I joked while sipping my Sprite. “Blot away.”

Julia might as well have been a rabbit with what she put on her plate, and Ray crammed his full with pasta in a creamy white sauce. It was a nice, peaceful outing. Normal is not my life anymore, so something ridiculous was bound to happen.

Then Rhapsody text messaged me again. Good, she was still alive.

I glanced at my phone’s display. Sasha gave me a sideways glance and sucked her teeth. I didn’t have to tell her who was texting me. She already knew.

She cut her eyes at me when I slid my fingers across the screen. “Tell her to chill. We’re eating.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled while chewing. I switched it to silent mode. Powering down wasn’t an option. Not after she’d opened the safe. Something might happen.

“How are your folks doing these days?” Ray asked Sasha.

She looked down and bit her lip. Sasha talked about her mom, Joyce, or her grandma. She never spoke about her father, who I finally found out was named Wesley. “Dad’s on the road,” Sasha said. “And Joyce," she shrugged, "is Joyce – working, as always.”

While Wesley was always on the move, hiring talented executives for his company, whatever it was, Joyce had late dinners with clients.

I met her once. She did not say, “Hi,” or “Nice to meet you.” All she said was, “Let’s not get ourselves put on the Internet, all right?” Sasha had cried on and off for about an hour, and nothing helped calm her down.

I stared at the framed and signed Ray Guy number eight jersey and trading card on the wall to my left. Ray and Julia talked in each other’s ears and laughed. Zachary had woken up in time to smash small pizza bites onto his face.

“Going in for seconds,” I told Sasha as I slid out of the booth. “Want anything?”

“I’m good,” she replied, busily dotting grease away with a napkin.

While I scanned underneath the display glass for sausage pizza, I felt like I should check my phone. I dug it out of the right pocket of my shorts and scrolled through Rhapsody’s texts.