The Princes of Tangleforest (4 page)

Julia had tried to catch up with Tanner after school, but he sped away on his skateboard. She had even run after him calling his name, but he hadn’t heard her.

She climbed off of her bed and put her computer in its case. She couldn’t call it a night until she checked on her dad, so she went to the living room to see if he had gone to bed.

Ever since her mom had died, the house felt somber, family-time nonexistent. Her dad would come in from work and grab a sandwich and sit in front of the television.

Julia regretted not spending more time with her mom in the kitchen. Her mom had wanted, practically begged, Julia to at least watch as she cooked; she had wanted to pass down the traditional Mexican family recipes. Julia wasn’t about to be trapped in that kitchen. She had plans and knew that once cursed with the knowledge of the dishes, in the kitchen was where she would’ve been expected to be. She tried to be as far away from the kitchen as possible, especially when her aunt and grandma came over to make tamales with her mom. However, now Julia wished she could prepare a meal that would make her and her dad feel closer to her mom. She wanted the house to be filled with the familiar aroma of home, happiness, and jalapenos.

She walked into the living room where the television blared. “Dad, did you eat?”

He didn’t answer or turn around.

“Dad?”

All she could see was the top of his strawberry-blond head. He had fallen asleep in his chair, again. She couldn’t leave him like that. “Dad,” she whispered so she wouldn’t shock him awake and shook him lightly.

“What? Huh?”

“Why don’t you go on to bed?”

He looked around, disoriented. “Oh. Okay.”

He was doing better—better than when he couldn’t get out of bed and when he couldn’t go to work—but still went to see Dr. Davis once a month. Julia refused to go to his home office, Zachary’s house, any longer. Besides, she felt like the rest of the healing she needed to do she could handle on her own.

She wished her father would take another step and go out with some friends or something. Often she felt like she had lost both parents. Her dad had changed so much since then. A year earlier he had seemed so young, strong and handsome; now he was just there. She understood… she missed her mom, too.

After her dad had gone upstairs, Julia sat in his chair in front of the television. The TV played, but now she couldn’t stop thinking about Tanner and if the Princes had converted him.

She thought Tanner’s smartness was hidden in kind of the same way hers was: hair, clothes, and not-a-care attitude. However, she feared there was this one big difference: perhaps Tanner hid his smartness to be cool. To fit in. That’s what worried her. At Tangleforest High, the smart kids
were
the cool ones. The question was—how bad did Tanner want to fit in? Would he want to fit in so much that he would go geek?

Chapter 7

As Tanner rode to school, he had at least one thing to be thankful for… Friday! Finally. Several times during the week he had considered telling his mom about the strange goings on at Tangleforest High. However, he wondered what he would say. No, he decided, at least not yet. He had to deal with everything on his own, because she might not believe him? He didn’t want to move. Not when such a hot girl lived right across the street.

Julia stepped in front of him as he walked up the stairs to the school entrance.  “So I heard a rumor that the Princes showed up at your house yesterday.”

“They did. They wanted me to join their Geekdom.”

“Well?” She clutched her books in front of her and stood firm, not letting his stare wander.

“I said no! Why would I want to be some sort of geeky prince?”

She sighed and relaxed her stance.

“You didn’t actually think I would consider?”

“No, it’s just that… well… you know. It does have its perks. And Crapola…”

“What?”

“Do you see that? Look how Ashley is dressed?”

“She does look a little different,” Tanner said.

“And carrying books! She never carries books. They never match her clothes. She borrows. Oh crap! I can’t believe he did that! They changed her.”

“Do you think it is because of me?”

“I don’t know.” Julia put her hand on her head. “I wonder if I can change her back.”

“You can do that?”

“Phuh. I’m not sure. It’s been like forever.”

Tanner felt sorry for Julia as Ashley stood with a group of kids—pointing, laughing, and talking loudly about her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know you two weren’t actually chummy, but—”

“What? I…” She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not a big deal, really. It’s not like we were really friends. However, and despite knowing I’ll be stuck listening to how great she is again, I guess it won’t hurt to try and change her back to her original snobby self… unlike this new geeky snob. I so can’t win.” She exhaled and checked her faux-hawk for alertness with one hand. “I’ll go to her house after school and see what I can do.”

“Can I come with?”

She glanced at him, her eyes a mess of thinking. “Sure, I guess. Why?”

“I’m kind of curious about it all. You know.” He wiggled his fingers in front of his face. “You are under my power. You will do all of my homework forever. Ha!”

“It doesn’t work like that, but I guess you can tag along, if you must.”

He thought he must.

***

“Can you keep up little skater boy?” Julia asked as she hopped on her bike and peddled down the sidewalk.

The October afternoon’s temperature felt mild, and Tanner examined the Tangleforest neighborhood, thinking how it had been around long enough to allow time for the trees to grow tall and full but new enough that the houses looked modern. Well, except for Poppi’s house. That made him wonder if Julia knew Poppi.

They rode for about six blocks and turned the corner. Julia stopped. “She lives over there.” She pointed down the street. “She should be coming around this corner any minute now.”

He nodded. They stood there for a moment before he asked, “Hey, do you know a girl named Poppi?

“Poppi? Wow. I haven’t heard that name in, like, forever. How do you know her?”

“She lives across the street from me.”

“You moved into Old Man Doo’s house?”

“Old Man Doo?”

“You talked to her?”

“I walked over there last night, and her grandmother or someone started shouting and—”

“Miss Myra.”

“Does Poppi go to our school?”

“Not anymore. She did up until I was in third grade. She left to go live with her grandmother. The last thing I heard she was being homeschooled. I think her friends tried to visit her, but the grandmother scared them away. I don’t know, the kids say she’s a witch and cast spells on them, and that Poppi is her prisoner.”

“Tuh… that’s stupid. A witch.”

“It’s what I heard. She wasn’t my friend or anything. She’s two years ahead of me, the same class as Zachary. All I can remember about her was she had this long blonde hair, and all the boys were star…ry. Eyed.  Yep, exactly how you are now.”

“What?”

“Never mind. I guess that much hasn’t changed.”

“What?”

“Remember, I’m an ex-mind-reader.”

Tanner felt his face grow hot and knew that if she hadn’t read it before, he had just given her a news flash.

Julia said, “Be careful. If Miss Myra did half the stuff she is rumored to have done, I think it would be best to steer clear of her yard and especially her granddaughter.”

“Get out of my way, you freaks.”

They turned, and there stood Ashley with her arms wrapped around her books.

“Oh, Ashley. Hi.” Julia took a step toward her. “We want to talk to you for a minute.”

“I’m not talking to you slackers.”

“Fabulous,” Julia moaned and scratched the back of her head. “I understand what you’re thinking, but I want you to think back to the time when you were the most popular girl in school.”

“Yeah, right. Me? I’m nothing compared to Darla. Do you know that she’s planning on being a train engineer or something?”

Tanner tried to hold back his laugh with a cough.

“No, Ashley. You’re the most popular.” As Julia said this she touched Ashley’s wrist. “Don’t you remember? You wear the best clothes. Darla is trying to take your place. Look at what you’re wearing. Look at your hair. This is not you.”

A deep frown settled across Ashley’s face. “No,” she said, touching her pony tailed hair. “You’re jealous. Darla told me you would try to use me to get Zachary back.”

That time Tanner did laugh out loud. “Sorry,” he said.

“Well, you can forget it.” Instead of walking around them, Ashley took a step towards them, obviously intending on walking in between them.  “Get out of my way, you losers.”

Julia nodded to Tanner to let Ashley pass. She strutted down the sidewalk, her long ponytail swinging from side to side.

Julia shrugged her shoulders in frustration. “I don’t know what happened. That should have worked.”

“What should have worked?” Tanner said, completely confused. “You didn’t do anything.”

“I did. You just don’t understand. But I did. It’s called anchoring. I guess I didn’t do it right. It’s been a long time. It didn’t work. Now what am I going to do? Maybe I didn’t really want to help her since it’s kind of fun seeing her so unaccessorized. Hmmm.”  She held a distant stare as she said, “I don’t know. She kicked the kickstand on her bike and started walking beside it.

Tanner picked up his skateboard and walked beside her. “Now what? Are you going to let her stay like that?”

“I don’t know. I guess I can try later. She would kill me if she knew I let her walk around wearing knee socks with sandals.”

“Yeah,” Tanner said. “So hey, is there anyway I can get your e-mail, phone number or something?”

She stopped and stared at him, like she thought he was hitting on her or something.

“I mean, in case, you know, in case I need to get a hold of you. In case they try to… you know…do hocus pocus.”

“Sure. Let me see your phone.” He retrieved it out of his back pant’s pocket while she grabbed her phone out of her backpack. “I’ll put my info in yours… do you want mine? She held out her cell phone. They switched phones. Tanner punched in his phone number and email address. 

After switching back, they continued to walk down the street. Tanner said, “I guess this means that if they get me, you won’t be able to help.”

“To tell you the truth, I’m surprised you’re still your own person.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, like I said before, most of the kids just bought into this shared reality. Followed along with what became normal. To fit in, you know.”

“You think I’m a follower? I’m not a follower, and why would I want to fit in here at Strange High?”

“It’s just strange to you because it’s not like the other schools you’ve been to.”

“Wait a minute. You’re saying that this is okay?”

Julia’s jaw tightened and her eyes squinted into slits. “I’m saying, it’s something that I can’t fix all by myself. I’m saying, I need to accept it.”

“But it’s not right. Look at Ashley.”

“Funny thing about Ashley, she’s just acting the same way she has acted since kindergarten. The Ashley you met, the one who is friends with me, that’s fake Ashley. The real Ashley looks down at everyone who isn’t like her. So what about you Tanner? Have I met the real you? Or is he hiding in order for you to fit in?”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Look at you. You don’t look the way you’re supposed to.”

“Excuse me? Are you saying that just because you think the crowd I hang… hung out with are nerds, and because I make good grades and care about my future, that I should dress a certain way? This is how I express myself. This is
exactly
how I’m supposed to look. What do—”

 “You’re right. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Tanner cleared his throat and smiled. “You know what?  You’re one of the most interesting and unique girls I’ve ever met.”

Julia turned her head quickly but not before Tanner saw the smile. So she did have something in common with any other girl he had known—she melts with a simple compliment.

Chapter 8

“Tanner,” his mom called from the bedroom doorway. “Are you awake?”

“Mooom, it’s Saturday. Let me sleep.” He rolled over and put his pillow over his head, trying to avoid the light his mom had turned on.

“I would, I really would, but I need you to watch Bonnie while I run some errands.”

“Can’t you take her with you?”

“I’m going to the post office, and she gets so restless waiting in line. Come on, help me out here.”

“Fine.” Throwing his pillow and blanket aside, he asked, “What time is it?”

“After eight. She’s downstairs having some cereal. I’m sure she won’t be any problem. I’ll be back around noon.”