RENT-A-KID Chapter 3
Chapter 3
I didn't hear the knocking on my door. Which is why Luke felt justified walking through the door to wake me up. He was lucky my para-power wasn't super strength or kickass reactions. He'd be toast.
As it was, he got to put up with my whine, which was probably worse than getting punched. He unlocked my door from the inside and let Lucy in, then closed and locked the door again.
"Ok Sam, spill it." Luke pulled my covers off me and crawled into my double bed next to me. Lucy joined him on the other side. If I didn't totally think of Luke like a brother, I'd be way into him. He was the hottest guy at school and somehow immune to Mary's powers, much to her never-ending chagrin. But, I could never see the tall, tanned buff boy as anything but a brother. Pity.
"I mouthed off to a client, and he punched me." They both looked stunned. Luke looked at Lucy, and she nodded her head.
"She's telling the truth, more or less. But she's definitely not telling us the whole story."
"Hey, quit reading me!" I lightly punched Lucy on the shoulder. Having a best friend who can always tell if someone is lying or withholding something is a bigger pain in the butt then you can imagine. I pulled my red comforter over my head, as if that would keep her out of my secrets. No such luck.
"Sam, what's going on? You seem troubled, and you've never talked back to a client before. Not even that guy who kept undressing you with his mind, and then dressing you back up in his wife's lingerie."
I'd forgotten about him. He was a real winner too. Trust me when I say that no one should ever have to see themselves naked in the mind of a pervert.
"Tell us." Luke spoke our secret language. A language we three created as children so we could talk without other kids spying on us. It had evolved over the years to include thousands of words. So I told them everything. About the assignment. The molester. Tommy. Mary at the hospital.
"She's such a bitch," Luke said. Did I mention how much I love Luke?
And then I told them about the boy on the stretcher.
"Sam, you cannot get involved in whatever that is. You know that, right?" Lucy looked worried. They both did.
"Yeah, I'm not. It was just weird is all."
Lucy shook her head. "Not totally the truth, though I think you believe your own lie at the moment. Just promise me you'll talk to us before doing anything stupid?"
"I promise."
They both seemed satisfied at that, so we turned on our favorite movie, "X-Men" of course, and settled in to some mindless entertainment. While I pretended to ignore the voice in the back of my head that spoke of things best left forgotten.
~~~
The next day at school was…awkward. I kept my sunglasses on and generally hid behind Luke as often as possible.
When I bumped into him for the fifth time, he turned to face me.
"Sam. I love you. And I know you are embarrassed, but if you bump me again, I'm going to walk through a wall to make it to class on time. Got it?"
I nodded and mumbled an apology. He softened and put an arm around me. Lucy flanked me on the other side.
"It doesn't look that bad. Honest."
"Lucy, I don't need to be able to read minds or tell when someone is lying to know that's a big fat one."
"Well, I mean it could be worse. And it will get better. You should just ignore it and go on like everything is normal. People are only staring because you are acting so weird about it."
She was probably right. But with a mild case of OCD, I couldn't resist popping into people's minds as we walked down the halls to English.
"Wonder what happened to her?" "Heard she got punched by a client." "Looks painful." "She must have really screwed up." "Did Higgins punish her, I wonder?" "I heard she got into a fight with a new kid, and he's been in the infirmary ever since."
That last thought stopped me. Were they thinking of my mystery boy? I searched the crowd of teenagers to see who had that thought, probing minds as I did. Everyone was busy getting books out of lockers and heading to their next class before the bell rang. I couldn't pin point the person I was looking for, but it gave me hope. I kept scanning minds hoping to get another clue about this guy.
Lucy pulled me along. "What's the matter? We're going to be late."
"Sorry, just caught a stray thought that bothered me."
"Don't worry about what people are saying. You'll be old news in no time flat. Besides, you won't even be here much longer, and none of this will matter."
I heard nothing more about the boy for the rest of the day, so I just ignored everyone and hid in the bathroom when Lucy and Luke weren't around to make me behave normally.
I was touching up my makeup, well, more like cover up, when my hiding place became a trap set by Mary and her pack.
"If it isn't the little kiss ass hiding in the bathroom. What? Afraid you might scare the younger kids with your new look?"
"What is your problem, Mary? Honestly, what do you gain by tormenting me? Does it stroke your fragile self-esteem? Are you so pathetic that only hurting other people makes you feel better? Well, you know what, I don't really care anymore. Say what you want, it makes no difference." Her face looked shocked. I'd never stood up to her before, but I just had no energy left to take her crap. Her two lackeys held onto frozen sneers, waiting to see what would happen.
"And here's a tip for you. Don't mess with a girl who reads minds. I can pull out every thought you've ever had. What do you think I'll find if I do that?" My voice was ugly. I hated who I had become in that moment, and yet a part of me felt the raw righteousness of feeding her the bile she always spewed at us.
Her face collapsed and she ran out of the bathroom, followed by her friends. I went to the nearest stall and sat on it, shaking. Out of fear, rage, guilt? I couldn't tell. I just knew that standing up to her like that didn't feel as good as I thought it would. Did that mean I had to let her bully me to feel ok about myself? No. There had to be a middle ground. Something that gave me a backbone and still allowed me to keep my heart.
When the day from hell finally ended, I ran to my room and locked myself in. I didn't feel like myself and didn't know what to do about it. Was the prospect of leaving somehow changing me? Had I just snapped from too many assignments or too much pressure?
I paced my spacious room restlessly, moving picture frames and misplaced CD's around with no real thought. My room was messy but not dirty. I picked up some dirty clothes and threw it into the hamper in my walk in closet. Turned the stereo on, then off again. Tried a movie. It didn't provide sufficient distraction either. I looked at the collage of pictures on my bulletin board. Me smiling brightly at the camera, friends around me. Different school events. I looked happy. But in that moment, I didn't feel happy.
I unmade my bed and threw myself into it.
The rest of the night was a blur, kicking the covers off me and then shivering and pulling them back on, hot and cold all at once.
That night I ran a very high fever and eventually passed out. I didn't wake up the next morning.
