Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance (13 page)

Jimmy ate
breakfast quietly over the kitchen sink.  The cereal tasted like sawdust on his
tongue.  Jimmy found himself staring into the backyard again.  He noticed how
there was a small hill, a kind of lump, in the middle of the backyard.  He had
never noticed that before. 

The bike ride to
school was one of tension and fear.  It was all Jimmy could do not to drop his
bike and dive for cover beside the road each time a car passed.  Jimmy knew
that the jocks all drove together in one car like some holdout from the 1950s. 
The car was Stan Little’s, and Clinton Marsters usually hung his dopey head out
the passenger window and yelled at passersby like a dog that had discovered it
had a voice.

Avoiding the
football players was going to be the problem throughout the day.  First, there
was the problem that the school itself was just not very big.  The other
problem was that Stan, Clinton, and Dale were always together.  Somehow they
had ended up in nearly all of the same classes.  They walked the halls
together.  They had lunch together.  They were like a unified force, and they
walked the halls of the school as if they owned the place.  The halls parted at
their passage.  It was only a matter of time before Jimmy and Stan were
standing eye to eye.  It was only a matter of time before Clinton would kick
Jimmy’s ribs in for the wound to his hand.

Jimmy got to
school and realized he had arrived much earlier than he had intended.  That was
a good thing; the jocks didn’t bother coming to school until moments before the
bell for the first class rang.  Most times they didn’t even arrive until well
after that bell rang.

Jimmy locked up
his bike and quickly ducked inside.  When he entered the main door, Jimmy stood
there for a moment and debated where he should go.  The library was like a
garlic factory to vampires for Stan and his ilk.  The mere sight of books was
enough to send them into a kind of apoplexy.  Jimmy headed there and found a
cubicle in a far corner that gave him a good view of the rest of the library
just in case they got bold.

Jimmy tried his
best to read a book he had been reading for the past few days.  He thought
about trying to find George, but George was likely down in the cafeteria with
some other friends of his.  While Jimmy was his best friend, George did hang
out with some other guys who liked to play role-playing games.  Even Jimmy did
not find this particularly appealing.  Jimmy watched the clock as the minutes
ticked by.  He wondered if this was how people felt on Death Row.

The minutes ticked
by until it was time to head to class. Jimmy glanced at the clock and decided
that it was probably the best time to try.  He hoped that Stan and the rest of
his crew still had not bothered to show up.  Jimmy gathered up his books and
backpack and headed out into the hall.

The hallways were
bustling with high schoolers.  Most of them were gathered in small groups in
and around the lockers, making traversing the halls a tricky thing.  Others
were paired off, guys and girls, leaning against the row of lockers to make
out.  Jimmy kept his eyes scanning as he made his way down the lower-level 
hallway.  His first class was algebra, and it was at the room at the end of the
hallway on the right.

Jimmy walked
quickly and quietly.  He had become very good, over the years, at navigating
the halls, diving between people, and walking against traffic.  Jimmy could
travel like a wraith, dodging between the mashing couples and ducking around
the clustered groups that drove down the middle of the hall. Jimmy’s life was
trying to remain on the periphery, away from prying eyes and the people who
could hurt him.

Just as he was
about to reach the classroom, Stan, Clinton, and Dale appeared at the top of
the short flight of stairs in that exact order.  Jimmy immediately dove to his
left, ducking into a small alcove created by the school’s bookstore.  Jimmy was
friends with Clark Munch, the kid who ran the bookstore in the morning.  Jimmy
knocked frantically and Clark opened the door, his mouth filled with an energy
bar.  

“Can I come in?”
Jimmy said.

Clark’s eyes
widened in surprise.  “Of course not.  I’m not allowed to have anyone in here. 
Did you really stab one of the football players with a fork at the dance on
Friday night?”

Jimmy nodded. 
“That’s why I have to hide.  Stan and company are at the top of the stairs and
I’d like to live through the day, if possible.  Can I just duck in and hide for
a few minutes until my first class?  I won’t be any trouble.”

Clark chewed his
energy bar slowly and swallowed.  He nodded.  “Fine.”

Clark pushed the
door open and Jimmy ducked in.  The bookstore was really just a long, narrow
room filled with metal shelves.  Students appeared at the window facing the
hall and asked for whatever supplies they needed.  At the front of the store
were supplies like pens, paper, and notebooks.  Textbooks and paperbacks were
near the middle of the store and at the back, and separated from view in the
hall was an area filled with old textbooks that mostly were not used anymore. 
Jimmy knew the store well, as he had helped do inventory here for a modest
payment during the summer months.

Jimmy nodded to
Clark and ducked down behind the spot near the back.  There was a beat-up
wooden table and wobbly chairs back there where he had sat counting textbooks
and sheets of paper during the summer.  During those months, the school was
deserted and they were able to up the radio very loud and had a blast.  Right
now Jimmy just hoped he was hidden from the hall.  He sat down and clutched his
backpack to his chest.

Clark sat on a
stool near the open window and Jimmy peered around the edge of the bookshelf to
watch the students pass by.  At no point did he see Stan or his cronies walk
by.  Jimmy had the sneaking suspicion that the three jocks knew where his first
class was and were just going to wait at the top of the stairs for him.  Jimmy
felt a growing sense of alarm and outright panic.

Jimmy closed his eyes
and tried to calm himself.  As soon as his eyes were closed the image of
Sapphire appeared.  She was wearing her gorgeous blue dress and dancing in the
moonlight.  She twirled and twirled on the beach along the river that,
apparently, existed only in Jimmy’s imagination.  Sapphire came closer, until
Jimmy could see his own reflection in the tiny black dot that was her pupil,
and she smiled.

“Be brave,” she
whispered.  “You can do anything, Jimmy.  You’re stronger than you think.”

Jimmy snapped his
eyes open. Clark was closing up the wooden window overlooking the hall.

“Closing time,
Jimmy,” Clark said.

“Did you see Stan
or the others out there?” Jimmy asked.

Clark shrugged. 
“I wasn’t really looking.  Sorry.”

Clark held out his
hands in a kind of apology and shrugged again. He began shutting off the
lights, and Jimmy was suddenly in darkness. 

Jimmy gathered his
backpack and his courage and walked toward the door.  As he passed Clark, Clark
slapped Jimmy on the back.

“You’ll be fine,”
Clark said.

Jimmy shrugged. 
With the door locked behind him, Jimmy ventured slowly into the hall.  He
looked across the hallway and saw that his homeroom was filled. Jimmy looked to
his left and saw that the spot at the top of the stairs was empty.  He sighed
in relief and quickly dashed across the hall.  He only realized he had been
holding his breath when he got into the classroom and sat down at his desk.

Jimmy closed his
eyes and smiled.  It was going to be a long day.  He wondered if he could keep
this kind of thing up day after day for the rest of his high school life.  At
some point, he guessed, he was going to have to face off against those three. 
Jimmy shuddered.  He took out his books and set them on the desk.  His hands
were shaking as he took out his notebook and his pencil.

Jimmy glanced at
the clock.  Algebra was an hour and a half long.  He sighed again.  By his
calculations, he had an hour and a half to live.

Too bad he was
spending that time in algebra.

The next hour and
a half was a mixture of torture and sheer terror, with a heaping helping of
boredom thrown in.  Jimmy wanted the class to end because, well, it was
algebra, and he was bored.  At the same time, each minute brought dread and
worry that he was about to die.  At the halfway point, Jimmy broke out in a
sweat.

The teacher droned
on and on and on.  Jimmy did his best to concentrate on the numbers and the
equations, but it was impossible.  Math was like that on days when he wasn’t in
fear of his life and it was even more so now that he felt life slipping through
his fingers.  Jimmy took plenty of notes, but when he looked back at them he
found more doodles and scribbles than anything substantive.  Jimmy just hoped
that the teacher would go over this again before finals.

When time for the
bell drew near, Jimmy decided to quietly gather up his books and backpack. 
When the bell rang, he would bolt out of the classroom.  Woe to anyone who got
in his way.  He hoped that by making a kind of sprint into the hallway, he’d be
into the next classroom, which was just down the hall and to the left, before
Stan and his cronies had a chance to get out of their first class.

The clock ticked
away.  Jimmy hoped that the teacher wouldn’t notice what he was doing.  There
had been many a student busted by this particular teacher for trying to pack up
and get out early.  Most of the teachers in the school preferred their students
to stay attentive until the last second.  Jimmy clutched his backpack and
tensed the muscles in his legs.  He felt like a coiled spring.

The teacher read
off the homework for the night.  Jimmy read and re-read the board until he had
the homework assignment memorized.  He would write it all down in his notebook
when he got to the next class.  Jimmy said a brief prayer of thanks that he was
not in any of the same classes as the jocks.

The bell rang and
Jimmy sprang to his feet.  He pushed his way past the girl who sat next to him,
who had also jumped up when the bell rang.  She gave Jimmy a cross look that he
caught out of the corner of his eye, but he was past her in a flash.  The door
was his target.  As he raced through the door and hung a left turn, for a
moment he had the entire hall to himself.  Jimmy immediately turned to the left
and began walking.

The hand came down
on his shoulder at that moment.

Jimmy let out a
strangled noise that would probably best be described as a squeak.  He knew
immediately that no friend in his own circle had a grip that strong.  Jimmy was
spun around and found himself staring into Stan’s snarling face. 

“Where ya goin’,
Jimmy?” Stan hissed.

“I-I-I…” Jimmy
stammered.

“We have
unfinished business,” Stan said with menace, and his hand tightened on Jimmy’s
shoulder. 

“Wh-wh-what?”
Jimmy blurted.  “W-w-wait...”

Stan acted as if
he couldn’t hear him and began dragging Jimmy back toward the small three-step
staircase just to the right of the classroom.  At the top of these stairs was
where Jimmy had seen Stan and the others before the bell.  Jimmy’s eyes rolled
wildly in their sockets and he looked around for help.  Instead, it appeared as
if the entire school knew what was happening and was standing off to the side,
crowded near the lockers along the wall.

Jimmy’s feet had
barely touched the bottom step when Stan grabbed him by the neck and lifted his
feet off the ground.  To Jimmy’s left was a short bank of lockers and then a
door that led to a courtyard and parking lot.  Beyond that were bleachers and a
football field.  There would be no one else out there near the bleachers at
this time of day and, more importantly, no teachers.

Jimmy felt as if
he were floating.  He had time to note the fact that his toes were barely
clutching the tile floor and then he was shoved through the door and the fresh
air was in his nose.  He smelled freshly cut grass.  He looked up into the sky
and saw how blue the sky was.  Puffy white clouds were just starting to form,
and they drifted slowly overhead.  He saw all of this with perfect clarity.

“Wait,” Jimmy
said.  “Wait, please.”

“Shut up,” Stan
said.  “Time to face the music.”

The bleachers were
getting closer.  Dale and Clinton stepped from the shadows beneath them and
their eyes let Jimmy know that they were planning on giving him a very serious
beating.  There was outright hatred in Clinton’s eyes.  The jock held his
bandaged hand down at his side, but his other hand was already clenched in a
fist and held out in front of him. 

“Please,” Jimmy
pleaded.  His breath was now wheezing in and out of his lungs.

Jimmy looked up
into the sky again.  Near the edges, down by the horizon, the blue darkened. 
It was nearly the color of sapphires.

Sapphire.

Jimmy closed his
eyes and thought of her face.  In an instant, he could see her face, get lost
in her eyes, smell her skin and hair.  He could see her smile.

I’m right there
, she said inside his mind. 
I’m right there with you. You can do
this.  You’re braver than you know.