Souls in Peril (11 page)

Being prepared for the gauntlet did help somewhat as he
pushed
toward the back of the bus. A rush of different emotions—anger, fear, and disgust, to name a few—raced through him as he and Izzy were mocked, poked, and even kicked. And the names,
F
at
B
oy
,
The Ten
,
Ugly and Uglier
, he heard them all, as did JD, judging by the sick feeling in Max
’
s stomach. Why in the world he ever thought poking a little fun at JD was no big deal
,
he hadn
’
t a clue.

“
My dad came home early,
”
Izzy said as they plopped down into the same seat as yesterday. Max was unsure if her dad
’
s early arrival was a good thing or a bad thing.
“
I faked another episode. It worked like a charm.
”
She laughed, lowering her voice.
“
I got a one month supply of Perc
’
s. Awesome, huh?
”

“
Hey, porky, what
’
d ya bring for lunch today?
”
The tall kid ripped Max
’
s
backpack
off his lap and dumped everything out onto the bus floor. Pencils, erasers and paper
flew everywhere
, along with his lunch.

“
Stop it, Greg,
”
Izzy yelled, reaching across Max for the backpack. Via JD, Max sat stone
-
still. He didn
’
t reach for his bag
.
H
e didn
’
t try and stop Greg
.
He didn
’
t
say a word.

“
Hey,
fat boy
, you going to let Icky Izzy fight your battles for you?
”
Greg laughed.

Max watched as the tall kid tucked the lunch under his shoe and stepped on it, grinding it into the floor. The small paper bag tore under the pressure and Max
’
s new love, fried chicken, became garbage under Greg
’
s shoe.

Izzy jumped over Max and scooped up the rest of Max
’
s things and put them in the backpack.

“
Greg Hendricks, sit down,
”
bellowed the bus driver. Greg tossed his head back, laughing as he returned to his seat.

It was downhill from there. At school, someone came up behind him as he climbed the stairs and grabbed his right foot. Max fell and cut his chin open, resulting in a trip to the school nurse for a Band-Aid. Twice
,
kids ran by him and knocked book
s
out of his hand
s
. Max got shoulder rammed, tripped, mocked, and humiliated at every turn. With the exception of a few teachers and one or two other nerdy kids who offered him secret looks of compassion, Max didn
’
t catch a break all day. And still no Emma. He debated about running over to her house just to see her. He could climb the magnolia tree in the wooded lot behind her house and no one would even know he was there. But unsure of JD
’
s tree climbing skills, and after the disaster yesterday during PE, he didn
’
t dare try.
Besides, th
e
plan sounded a little too stalker-ish.

When the final bell rang at the end of the day, he quickly dragged himself to the bus. No way was he going to go through what he did yesterday.

Izzy didn
’
t take the bus home
,
and Max worried that if she walked, she might have to endure what he went through with
Nate
. As they drove past the strip mall, Max searched through the dirty school bus windows, and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn
’
t see Nate
’
s car or Izzy anywhere.

“
What you looking for, butthead? A life?
”
Greg
laughed as if his lame joke was funny. He slid in next to Max and thumped his arm down roughly around his shoulders. Max
’
s
heart rate
jumped
again.
“
Dude, why don
’
t you do the rest of the world a favor and put a bullet in your head?
”
Max
’
s mind jumped to Izzy, and a sick feeling seeped into his gut. He leaned closer to the window hoping
Greg
would let go of him.
“
I
’
ll even bring you the gun,
”
Greg
whispered. The bus lurched to a stop before Max could respond, not that he would have. All his concentration centered on not vomiting, he was
that
scared.

Greg
stood and
hik
ed his backpack up on his shoulder.
Shaping his hand like a pistol, h
e pointed
it
at Max and pretended to shoot him in the head.
Laughing, he
stepped
off the bus.

Max slowly
sauntered
to the front of the bus, hoping
Greg
would be long gone by the time he got off.

“
JD, why don
’
t you sit up here by me from now on? I can
’
t do much when the other kids bother you if you sit way in the back,
”
the bus driver said as Max started down the stairs. He only nodded, knowing it was hopeless. He was the last one on the bus. There were never any seats left up front.

“
Kill anyone today,
fat boy
?
”
Tim
stood outside the house as Max came jogging up. He stopped dead.

“
I
’
m still waiting for my pen. Remember what happened last time
?
”
H
is eyes
narrowed on Max.
He
had no clue what happened last time, but he figured it couldn
’
t be good judging by how scared JD became when he mentioned it. Max shrugged his left shoulder, not knowing what else to do.

Tim
laughed.
“
I guess we can thank the good Lord above for your head injury then, can
’
t we?
”

A small rust bucket of a car pulled up with a flashy blond behind the wheel.
Tim
climbed in and they drove away.

Max went inside and went straight to bed. He needed a nap. He didn
’
t wake until the next morning.

“
JD! Two days in a row. Come on, sleepy head.
”

It took everything Max had to get out of bed. He again had to race to catch the bus. It was a repeat of the past two days, only this time it was just him. Izzy wasn
’
t on the bus. The taunts and teasing speared Max
’
s head. He tried not to listen, but heard each and every word. He tried chanting the
sticks and stones
rhyme from his childhood
in his head
, but it didn
’
t work either. Words
did
hurt, and they hurt deeply. Each insult, each joke at his expense, hurt JD
’
s heart, his soul, and made him feel worthless. And
drained
,
completely
drained
. If
Greg
were to offer him a gun today, Max wasn
’
t so sure JD wouldn
’
t take it.

School was a disaster
again
. Because he
’
d fallen asleep as soon as he got home yesterday, he didn
’
t get his homework done. But Max just didn
’
t care. His only focus now was getting th
r
o
ugh the school day in one piece.
He didn
’
t even care that Emma still hadn
’
t shown up at school.

Mr. Vetter, his seventh period science teacher, kept him after class to talk about the homework assignment he
’
d missed. To Max that meant one thing; he
’
d have to walk home again. Max tried to listen to Mr. Vetter
’
s words, he really did, but with the fear ratcheted up so high in JD, it was near impossible.

JD led Max down the same pathway, to the same strip mall, to the same dumpster. Lying in the pile of dog crap, Max gave up. It didn
’
t matter that he smelled bad
.
I
t didn
’
t matter that Nate vowed to find out where JD
hid
and beat the life out of him
.
N
one of it mattered anymore.

It took Max ten minutes to get the energy needed to crawl out of the dumpster, and instead of the usual ten minute walk home from the mall, it took him twenty.

“
You
’
re pathetic. If you were my kid, I
’
d take you out back and shoot you,
”
Tim
murmured as Max came through the door.

“
If you were my father, I
’
d shoot myself.
”
Max didn
’
t know why he said it. JD
’
s usual fear of
Tim
was gone. In its place stood resignation. JD wanted
Tim
to beat him. JD hoped
this time
it would kill him.

Tim
flipped out at the insult. He ripped an extension cord out of the wall and laid into Max. Max sunk to the floor and let him. H
e didn
’
t try to block the blows.
H
e didn
’
t beg
Tim
to stop.

When it was over,
Tim
grabbed Max by his hair and dragged him into the bathroom, shoving him in the tub fully dressed.
His glasses flew off his face as he slammed into the tub, breaking.
“
Don
’
t even think of coming out of here smelling like that.
”
Max laid in the empty tub for a long time
.
H
e had no idea how long, but it was dark before it even registered that he was still in the bathroom.

He stripped off his clothes, and turned on the shower, bathing in under three minutes. He wrapped a towel around him, went straight to his room, and crawled into bed, falling asleep within minutes.

“
JD, you need to get up or you
’
ll miss the bus.
”
Max stirred, but didn
’
t get up.
“
Come on, sweetie. I know yesterday was rough.
Tim
told me some kids jumped you on the way home from school yesterday. He said they thrashed you pretty good.
”
Mel
stroked his hair.
“
As soon as we get a
nother
car again, I promise, you won
’
t have to take the bus
anymore
.
”

The bus.
Not again. Max couldn
’
t do it. He opened his eyes and looked at
Mel
, clueless
Mel
.
“
I have a terrible headache. Can I skip school today, please?
”
It would be the first time Max missed a day of school since the fourth grade when he fell out of a tree and broke his
arm
.

“
What about the pain pills the doctor gave you?
”
She adjusted the sheet over his body.

“
I didn
’
t think I
’
d need them
,
so I tossed them.
”

“
Alright. I
’
ll call and see if we can get more. You stay in bed and rest.
Tim
’
s gone for the day with his friend. They
’
re going to the horse races.
”