Broken (The Outsiders Series) (4 page)

4

The next day drags on. World History is kind of interesting. The teacher, Dr. Roberts, lectures all period. But he does a good job of making it fun. It’s like he’s telling us a story, the way he turns it all into one big soap opera. And I actually listened. History has never been my best subject. But my old teachers made it all about dates and wars and stuff. They never told us about the people’s lives. They didn’t explain why they made their decisions. Dr. Roberts does.

After World History, I’ve got Chemistry with Ms. Davis. She lets me sit with Ryan and Todd, even though she always makes
kids sit in alphabetical order; it’s because they started doing more of their work when I got there. I didn’t really believe it at first, but when I saw a few of their papers passed back, I figured out it was true. They really did have pretty bad grades. And the work she gives us is so easy. I wonder why they don’t do it.

Sometimes
, I wonder why
I
do so well in school. It’s probably because it was the only thing that kept me from kicking Jack’s ass. Focusing on something more important and bigger than my home life helped. And I guess that Ryan and Todd figured school was better than facing each other. The silence between them was weird, especially when compared to yesterday, and I had to tell them to stop asking me to be their messenger. Ryan felt bad about it, but I don’t think Todd did. He seems like someone that belongs with Anne Marie, not Katie. Someone needs to tell him that he ain’t some god amongst us teens. Maybe I will, if it comes to that.

And o
n top of all of that, Eli abandoned us. He didn’t sit with us in the lunch room yesterday. He sat with the other football players and all. And that’s who he sat with in class today. So I was pretty much alone with the two worst Chemistry partners ever. Good thing my school had us take Chemistry in eighth grade too, because I would’ve been lost coming in this late. But I’ve been balancing equations for a while. The bad thing was that I had to entertain myself when I was done. All I did was draw on my paper and think about all the lies.

Yesterday, I told Ryan all my lies. Turns out, he told everyone else. Cause I kept getting asked about my family. And it was fun
, pretending that my parents were important and stuff. It was fun pretending that I was important.

When I walk into the lunch room, I see Anne Marie and Katie laughing with Todd and Colton. They make their way to the back of the line, and when I look at the big eleven on the screen, I realize that juniors eat first today. For some reason, that makes me excited, and I walk over to Ryan and grab him so that we can get in a different line.

“Dude,” Ryan whispers, “I can’t believe they’re so cool about the whole thing.” He looks through a few people to spy on Katie and Todd. They’re all over each other.

“Ryan, man, she’s just a slut. You need to get over her. There are all kinds of other girls. Why don’t you take your chances with Candy,” I suggest as I spot her walking in. Today, she’s got on
a tight black dress and nasty stripper heels. Her pink hair has a black streak in it, and she’s smacking on bubble gum like it’s the best thing in the world. Girls are so weird about getting attention sometimes.

“Hm,” Ryan says with a tilt of his head. “It might make things more interesting for me. You know, Katie always hated Candy.” He elbows me and wags his eyebrows. “You know, since she’s rumored to be the best girl at the school.”

I shrug. “I guess nothing’s better than revenge. So go ahead and talk to her.” I push Ryan out of the lunch line but he comes right back. He shakes his head and a nervous laugh escapes his mouth.

“Nah, Carter. I ain’t that cool.” He rubs the back of his head and shoves his hands in his pockets. Then, he leans over and whispers in my ear. “I didn’t tell anyone this, but Katie was my first and all. Candy would just tell the whole school about it. And then I wouldn’t get
any girl until college. By then,” he says with a large wave of his hand, “I’ll be too scared to try it another time, and I’ll die all alone.”

I laugh
. “Ryan, for a cool guy, you think too much. Come on, let’s grab our lunch and talk about something other than girls.”

We grab our food as we walk through the lunch line. It’s some weird looking stuffed crust pizza and some green beans. The two don’t really go together, but ket
chup stopped being an accepted vegetable three years ago. Plus, I figure that school meals are my only guaranteed ones for a while. And if Ryan keeps coming over to my apartment, I’ll never find time to look for a job. I’m still thinking about how to avoid inviting Ryan to my apartment when the bell rings. I get up after saying bye to Ryan and go to toss my things in the trash can nearest me. As I’m walking away, I spot a familiar jacket. The girl from the field outside of town is here right now.

Without looking obvious, I push my way forward.
I have to see what she looks like. I have to see who she is.

She walks quickly. She seems like she’s rushing to get to her class, and it looks weird when I see the other students walking so slowly. Maybe her class is on the other side of school.
Still, I keep pushing through the students to follow the girl. And when I get close enough to touch her shoulder, she turns into a room.

I stop, standing in the middle of the hallway like an idiot. The kids that walk around me whisper and stare. They’re still talking about the new kid. But now they’re probably wondering what I was doing, rushing through the halls like a crazy person.
And now I’ve got to rush just to get to my class on time. So I push my hands in my pockets and decide that I’ll make the most of their rumors and conversations. This time, I run.

I get into Creative Writing as
the bell rings. A hand waves at me from across the room and I rush to sit down with the group. As I sit, I notice that it’s the kid that sits in front of me in Mr. Preston’s English class.

“Hey,” he says. “I figure that Anne Marie and the gang won’t mind if we talk in here. Cause they aren’t in this class. No one ever takes Creative Writing, not anyone important anyway.
” He holds out his hand. “I’m Jeremy, by the way. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself to you yesterday.”

I smile and shake his hand before turning to the sound of Mr. Kline’s throat clearing.
He stands at the front of the room with his glasses in his hand. He taps his foot as he stares Jeremy and I down. “Are you two ready to begin our Haikus? Which one of you will go first? Hm?”

I look over at Jeremy, who’s rustling papers and pretending he’s busy. I’m sure he didn’t write his Haiku. And neither did I, but I guess he’s forcing me to take one for the team. And I suppose I will this time.

I take a deep breath and run my hands over my lap. I’m going to have to count the syllables as I say them. That way, I don’t look like a moron on my second day. Not like anyone cares in this class.

Mr. Kline taps his foot again. “Any day now, gentlemen.”

A few of the kids snicker. They’re just glad it’s not them this time. And I look around at their eager faces before continuing. This won’t be hard. I don’t mind lying to all of them. Especially not Mr. Kline.

“
Moving here means change. Seeing new places and things. I hope I like it,” I say. When I finish, I pull in a deep breath. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and I smile at myself.

Mr. Kline makes a weird noise in his throat. “It wasn’t really about monsters, Mr. Daniels, but it works. Good Haiku.”

I nod once and turn back to Jeremy. He smiles weakly at me. “Sorry,” he mumbles. “I’m not into poetry and stuff.”

I lean forward. “I’m not into covering for your ass every time. Next time, it’s on you. And I won’t speak.”

Jeremy swallows but nods once. He holds up his hands, palms facing me. “Touché,” he says. “Touché.”

When I finally get out of Creative Writing, I turn towards where that girl’s class was. I rush back down the hallway, ready to find her this time.
The class is empty when I get there, and I’m forced to take a different route to head to English. I hear Colton and Todd scream my name just as I’m about to turn the corner, and, like an idiot, I turn to find them in the crowd. When I turn back around, I smack into someone and I fall into a locker on my right. Books and papers are scattered around the hall and it’s almost like everyone stops to see what happened.

Immediately, I bend down and start picking things up. “Sorry,” I mumble as I stare at the hands of the person that’s picking things up too. The other person doesn’t say anything, and I look up as they shove my book in my hands. It’s her.
And all I can see are her bright green eyes. They shimmer like the pond I saw yesterday, and it only takes me a few moments to figure out that she’s trying to keep herself from crying. Crap. I stepped on her foot or something. Or worse, I embarrassed her in front of the school. Something about it makes me reach out to touch her arm. I start to ask her what’s wrong, but she freezes and stands up. Without a word or backwards glance, she rushes down the hall.

Slowly, I gather my dignity and stand up with a sigh.
The kids around me have started moving again, and I don’t have to shout at them to mind their own business. Good for that too. I don’t want them to see my angry side. It’s something I’m ashamed of because it reminds me of how Jack gets when he’s drunk or high.

Crap. I ruined my first chance. And I won’t get another one back.
Good job, Carter. You’re a real winner, man. A real winner. And now I get to go in and face the girl that I probably don’t want to be working with – both Jeremy and Ryan said it wasn’t good. And even though I might not believe Jeremy, Ryan’s pretty solid.

“Carter,” Mr. Preston says as I walk in the room. “It seems that your partner isn’t here today.
So I’m going to have you finish your autobiography, all right? Then tomorrow, during class, you and your partner will head to the library to complete the portion that the rest of the class will be doing today.”

“Won’t we always be a day behind then?” I ask.

The class snickers at my comment, and Mr. Preston smiles with them. “I suppose so, Mr. Daniels. But if you and your partner actually get to the point, unlike the students around you, you may catch up.” This time the joke was on them. Since I thought it was going to be on me, it’s nice. And this time, I smile with them. Mr. Preston isn’t that bad after all.

So
I spend the entire class perfecting my lie to Vandelya. I don’t finish, though, because I keep daydreaming about my mystery girl, and how I can fix the impression that I made earlier. Stupid me. She was probably freaked out that I touched her or something. And I had to go touch her arm and all. That was way too much, and I probably came off like some jackass.

When the bell rings, I push out of the room. I want to try to find her again. And this time, I’
ll succeed. But just when I catch a glimpse of her navy jacket, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn to see Anne Marie. She smiles at me while she twirls her fingers around her curls.

“Carter,” she starts, “can I talk to you for a minute?”

I shrug and accept it when she grabs my arm and pulls me to the side of the hallway. “What’s up?” I ask her.

She smiles again and lets go of the air she’s been holding. “I was wondering what you thought of Lane.”

I glance up to see Ryan smiling and nodding at me. “Uh, I guess she’s hot. But I haven’t really talked to her,” I reply.

“We can change that for you, Carter. What about, you and Lane sit together at lunch. Does that sound okay? Would you be interested in something like that?”

“Alone?” I ask. I hope not. I’m not that desperate and if she is, then she isn’t my type at all.

Anne Marie giggles. When she looks at my expression, though, she stops. “Uh, I guess not. But I don’t know how you’re going to decide if you’re into her or not. Don’t be ridiculous, Carter.”

I kind of glance off to the side, hoping that Ryan will help me out again. He’s too busy chatting it up with Lane and Brooke. Great.

“I guess I could try it out, Anne Marie. She seems nice,” I add, remembering that she took the time to ask me where I was from. Even though she kind of trashed it afterwards.

Anne Marie flashes a larger smile. I didn’t think anyone could smile that big. She touches my arm before turning and walking toward Ryan and the girls. Ryan’s got his arm propped against the lockers. Something is going on over there.

A few second later, Ryan walks over. He’s got his hands in his pockets and a big smile on his face.

“What?” I ask him seriously.

“Let’s talk some. Do you mind?”

I sigh inwardly. I know I need to focus on getting a job. But I also need to find out what Ryan is all smiley about. Because I’m afraid I won’t like it at all. And the sooner I find out, the better. “Yeah,” I end up saying. “Come on.”

“You, Carter, are the bestest friend I could ever ask for,” Ryan confesses.
He smiles as we walk out the door.

I shoot him a look
and he shrugs. I’m not liking this, and I’m about to tell him, but just as I open my mouth, Katie’s pushing past us. She’s got her hand in Todd’s, and I can see Ryan’s good mood disappear. Man, I’ve got to help him get over her. Because that’s what friends do for each other.