Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (57 page)

Da
ng
,
it was cold this morning
.
Ice pricked her skin so deeply that h
er
teeth clicked together
.

“Brrrr!”

“My, my,” said Mrs. Spud, eyes opened wide as she looked h
er
up and down, stopping at h
er
feet
.
“Aren’t we eager to get to school today
?
”

“Wha
t
?
”
Glory
looked
where Mrs. Spud was looking
.
“I forgot my shoes!”

“And that’s not all you forgot.”

That’s when she noticed that t
he bus was eerily quiet
and all eyes were upon her.
Expressions ranging from shocked, nervous, amused
,
and astounded hung on the faces of her bus mates.

Clash
was there, e
yes wide
, as if the Blob that Ate Fort Jennings had stepped onto the bus from some sci-fi flick.
She
quickly made her way to the middle
seats.
Cold touched her skin
…everywhere
.
That’s when she looked down and realized
to her horror
that
she was
stark naked
.
The only item on her person was a bird necklace.

“Whah!
”
Glory’s a
rms
and hands
shot
to her chest
and to
her
private area
.

The
necklace
suddenly grew
hot
,
as did
t
he
rest of her.
If a full
body blush was possible, she was sure she looked like a big
fat
apple.
Somehow
,
she knew the silver bird could
end
her ridiculous
predicament
.
Unfortunately, she need
ed
to move strategically placed
hands
to blow it.

Clash
rushed towards
her
offering
his coat, but someone tripped him
along the way
.
A boy let out a hoop
.
Another whistled.
The bu
s
erupted into a mad frenzy
—
k
ids standing
, kids
hollering
, kids
shoving
and throwing things
.

She tried mak
ing
a hasty escape out the bus doors, but the aisle had filled with craziness.

“Glory,” she recognized
Matthew
’s voice.

Somehow
,
he
had
charged through the aisle to wrap her in his coat
.
S
he couldn’t have felt more gratitude.

Mandy Fil
more
stepped over
Clash
to
grab
at the coat
.
Glory
fought to hang onto it. Winning a game of tug-a-war had never been this important.

“What’s wrong with you—
Glory Alley,
coming on the bus
all naked
?
” Mandy
said in her superior way.
“
Are you high on drugs?
”

“Let go,”
Glory
said in
desperation.

Mandy
frowned the way men
frowned
at Dad when he fell down drunk in public.
“
Y
our daddy
’s
a lush,
Brandon’s
a
druggie
, your
other brothers are going to end up
in
prison,
and your sister’s a
slut
.
No wonder
you don’t know any
better than to go around
in the buff
.”

“Yeah,
Glory
don’t know any better,” one of
Mandy’s friends joined in
.
“
She
’s a loser like the rest of the
Alley
s.
”

“
Can’t you let up for even a minute, Mandy
?
”
Olivia Wingfield squeezed in to face Mandy. “Something terrible must have happened to her. Show some compassion.”
Olivia
turned to Glory. “Com
e
on, sweetie, I’m taking you home.”

The scene
seemed to
move in slow motion
.
Olivia steered her
toward the bus doors, using her own body as a shield against spitballs and flying pencils. She glanced behind her to see Clash fighting off classmates who had turned into vicious animals, hungry to humiliate her fu
r
ther. Matthew Cloude had taken position in front of Olivia, bouncing classmates out of the aisle.
“Get out of our way
!
”
When he spoke, other boys stepped aside.

“Home,”
Glory
said
.

“
It’ll be all right
,
”
Olivia tried to comfort.

“Her family is so poor they can’t even afford clothes
,
”
a
girl pointed and laughed.

“But by the looks of things, they can afford donuts,”
another faceless girl said
.
“
Did you see
that roll of blubber
?
”

More heat rushed to Glory’s cheeks.

Glory
shrank
inside
,
as t
he laugh
ter grew louder
,
and the taunts crueler
.
E
ach jibe felt
like
a
hammer
to her gut.

“Why are you helping an Alley?” Mandy said, trying to pull Olivia away
.
“
Her father had my uncle arrested.
If you step of
f
that bus with her, then you’re no friend of mine.”

“Please, don’t be mad at me,” Olivia said, giving Mandy an apologetic look
.
“But I
...
it’s the right thing to do.”

Mrs. Spud looked at her watch, then back to the
Alley
house which sat far from the road
.
“
F
or goodness sake
s
,
somebody give her some pants
.”

“
Fatty, fatty, two-by-four, can’t
get out bus four’s door. Her
mama’s dead, and her
daddy’s poor
, brother’s a dunce, and her sister’s a whore
.
”
T
he chant rose somewhere from the back of the bus, violating her ears.

She could never
face any of them again
.

Matthew clear
ed
the way
toward the door, shoving
boys aside who were trying to pinch her rear.

“Open the
friggin’
doors!
” Matthew
called out to the bus driver
.
“
Hurry
it
up,
Spud!
”

By the time they got to the bus steps, the four of them were a mesh of a
r
ms and legs trying to escape the chaos. As Glory’s feet
brac
ed
for the feel of
asphalt
against bare
soles
, she felt empty air instead. A moment later
,
she
landed
on
sandy ground. The u
nexpected softness made her stumble
to her knees.

She
rested in doggie position for a
few seconds,
clenching
sand between her clenched fists
, as
knowledge of the
Elboni
and Wybbil
s r
eturn
ed
.

“
Son-of-bum
,
I’m back in the Bamboozle
.
”