Reject High (Reject High: A Young Adult Science Fiction Series Book 1) (21 page)

“How do you know all this, anyway?” I asked him.

“The crystals are radioactive isotopes that keep me and Welker alive. There are things I’ve done that I can’t explain, and. . .I’m not crazy. My mind is as tight as a violin string.”

Losing your memory sucks. It’s like waking up in a dark room and trying to find the light, except the light’s location has changed along with everything around you.

When my blackouts happened more often, I couldn’t remember the basics – what time I got up in the morning, or what class was about. Thinking clearly was even harder than if I’d never taken Adderall.
Peters and I have something in common, which is weird to even think about a teacher.
 

“Wait a second. . .these are
radioactive?”
Rhapsody asked while pointing to her necklace.

“Yes,” he admitted. “An isotope – I call it ‘ice’ for short. It won’t hurt you. Not even Welker knows why you’re immune to the emissions.”

“Excuse me, but people are dead,” Sasha said. “We should call the cops.”

“And tell them
what
?” Peters asked. “It wouldn’t matter. Spivey’s in Welker’s pocket, anyway. He’d head off anything suspicious, especially if it has to do with you four. He’s why you were never brought in about the car accident, Jason. Your fingerprints and DNA were probably all over that scene.”

He had a point – we were
screwed
. I never planned ahead this far, and today was no exception. We couldn’t go back living our normal lives, not now. Rhapsody needed more green ice – and if sickness drained their power, George would, too. We were low on time and options. “Where’s the ice you took?”

Peters grinned. “I’ll show you.”

Although I could have taken everyone on one trip, I didn’t want to risk my powers fizzling out at a crucial moment.

I was still pretty mad at Sasha, but not dropping-her-from-the-sky mad. She and Selby had a connection that she and I didn’t have. We wouldn’t have it anytime soon. It put our short relationship in a strange place and I wasn’t sure we could get out of it.

Rhapsody, who knew me better than Sasha did, gave me an evil eye when we landed because I didn’t ask my girlfriend if she was okay. She was still shaken up by the scene at the Selby’s, whether she said so or not.

The four of us stood on familiar ground – a hill overlooking the side of North High. To our right was a huge, flat plot of dirt. Three churning cement mixers stood by. Peters waved us forward. We were high enough to see everything, but low enough to not be seen.

Sasha held her right index finger to her lips and shushed us. In a flash of light like a camera bulb, she cloned herself. Original Sasha, in her white t-shirt and skinny jeans, wandered around the side of our hiding place.

Worried, Clone Sasha glanced at Peters. He acknowledged her fear by nodding his head “yes” and mouthing to us, “they’re in the pit – that’s how they grow.”

Rhapsody was in danger. George would die if we didn’t do something. Our principal would plant the green source in the school’s foundation and grow an army, or something worse, if we didn’t stop him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I break my promise

Peters motioned for us to crouch down and to read his lips, which he moved so slowly that even I could read them as he talked.

“I harvested all of the ice on the outer layer of the source,” he said. “I forced Selby to help me do it.”

How could he make Selby do that? Did he really kill his parents and Peters was blackmailing him?

“Once the school is destroyed, Welker will move the source here and bury it in the foundation. The crystallization process will repeat. Eventually, there will be more of
you.
Selby probably hid them here.
”

I didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Be back in a second.”

“Wait!” Peters shouted.

By then, I was already airborne. With perfect timing, I could land on the dirt foundation, snatch most of the green ice, stuff them into my pockets, and jump back before being noticed.

Instead, I smacked into an invisible shield protecting the area. And it
hurt.
Had I mentally dropped my guard, or can something harm me?

Since my leap was more for distance than height, I landed on my feet. No one was around – at least that I could see. It never occurred to me that although we didn’t see anyone on patrol, someone might be on guard.

I funneled all of my strength into punching the invisible shield, and it shattered. A girl screamed in pain from behind the concrete mixers. Part of me wanted to identify her, but I had to reclaim the harvested ice. At the edge of the site, Selby flashed in out of nowhere and stole my necklace.

My confidence vanished just as quickly. Sure, I could still rage my way through a good fight. I wouldn’t win against an opponent who could move hundreds of times faster than I could. Between me, Rhapsody, Sasha, and Peters, only Sasha could help. But
how?

Selby zoomed in front of me, twirling my necklace around his fingers at a height I couldn’t reach if I tried. “Sucks when someone does it to you, doesn’t it? You busted my ribs.”

In addition to the green ice welded onto his metal chain, there were red and white stones. Their glow was fiery. “Sorry.”

My apology caught him off-guard. “You’re
sorry?
”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I’m sorry I didn’t bust more of them.
”

He laughed, fingering his new red stone with his left hand. He closed his right fist around my necklace. “Tell you what,
Freak.
Hit me.” He pointed to his chin. “Free shot.”

I wanted to take him up on it, but a familiar voice interrupted us. “Selby!”

Turning around, I couldn’t tell if the voice belonged to Clone Sasha or not – she wore a sundress. How did she change clothes again?

She strutted up past me and met him, face-to-face. “Leave him alone. Please.”

Girls confuse me. This one seemed to change her mind from moment to moment. First, she wanted to save
him
– now, she wants to save
me?

Sasha drew closer to him and planted a kiss on him that stirred up the bile in my stomach. I wanted to jump into outer space, just to avoid seeing any more of it. My legs were concrete. My eyes glued themselves open. A part of me must enjoy having my heart being ripped open and stomped flat.

Right when I couldn’t take it anymore, Selby grabbed her butt with his right hand and he dropped my necklace. Original Sasha appeared out of nowhere, picked it up and flung it to me.

My eyes throbbed, almost blinding me, and the Sashas dove for cover. I pulled back and hit Selby’s chin with all the power within me. He rocketed backwards in the air until I could no longer see him. That’s when I should’ve calmed down and gotten us out of there, but I didn’t. I had
more.

After donning my necklace, I hopped over to the cement mixers, tore off two tires from each, and tossed them over my head. Then, I reached underneath each vehicle and heaved. One rolled and tumbled into the football field a quarter mile from where I stood. Another flipped into the air and broke both axles on its landing.

The last I almost ripped in half with my bare hands.  The sound of sirens in the distance awakened me to the truth. Peters was right. I didn’t have control. I didn’t care either.

“Jason!” Sasha waved her arms and yelled at me, like she’d been trying to get my attention for hours. I hoped the black sack in her hand held the green ice.

My mind scrambled. Peters and Rhapsody were gone, where did they go? Where could
we
go? How far can I jump? “Where?”

She hopped into my arms, like she had back at my apartment. “Now!” 

I lifted us into the air and hoped for the best.

Given what I’ve been through the past few days, my brain defaulting to Aunt Dee’s house as a destination made complete sense.

She and my mother, Anna, had been sisters, “thick as thieves,” whatever that meant. When Grandma Barbara died, they decided to keep the house in the family, but only Aunt Dee moved in. They’d fight about the bills, the mortgage, and the upkeep for hours, then drink a bottle of wine and agree to disagree.

Whenever Debra and I visited, we didn’t stay long. The memories there gave me headaches. Still, it was the only connection I had left to my birth mother, since no one would tell me where she was buried.   

Neither of us knew whether we’d been seen dropping from the sky, so we hurried around to the front of the building. Aunt Dee’s house was dead center in a row of eight connected homes. Hers was in the best shape, except for the one at the end of the street, which was owned by family friends.

We walked side-by-side. I’m sure Sasha had questions about our whereabouts, but I knew exactly where we were, and it must’ve showed.

Three houses from Aunt Dee’s, Sasha stopped and grabbed me by the hand. “Stop, Jason.”

She’d kissed her old boyfriend in front of me, and there was nothing fake about it. I didn’t want to talk. “For what?” I exploded. “He’s not a bad guy,
right?
How many chances does he get?”

“I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I’m sorry. That’s the only way I could distract him. I didn’t enjoy it.”

She sounded convincing, but I didn’t buy it. “This is my aunt’s house. Let’s go.”

“Will you let me explain?” she asked, reaching around me to ring the doorbell.

“How you kissed a
murderer?
I saw everything. What did I miss?”

Aunt Dee’s bellowed, “Who is it?” before peeking through the peephole and seeing for herself. “Jason?” she asked, opening the door. She looked Sasha up and down. “What are you two doing way out here? Where’s Debra? Parking the car?”

“She’s at home,” I said, not sure what to say next. So, I re-introduced Sasha. “Sasha, you remember my Aunt Dee?”

“Hi ma’am,” Sasha straightened the straps of her sundress and extended her hand. “Nice to see you again.”

“C’mon in,” she said, shaking Sasha’s hand.

My aunt opened the front door, which led into a house that had to be almost eighty degrees. It was one of the final arguments between her and her sister – whether or not to add air conditioning to a sixty-year-old row home. After my mom’s death, though Aunt Dee had terrible guilt, she still didn’t contract the work. So, I fully expected my t-shirt to be damp with sweat by the end of this visit.   

“Please excuse the mess, Sasha.” Aunt Dee gave me the evil eye. “Jason knows I don’t like surprise visitors, but you’re still welcome here. Can I offer you something to drink?”

“Some water would be nice,” she replied. When Aunt Dee disappeared into the kitchen, Sasha pinched my arm.

“We need to talk, Jason and you need to apologize to me. It’s not what you think.”

Every time she talked, it echoed inside my heart. When Ray told me about his affair with Julia, he said some of the same things. “It’s not what you think,” “You wouldn’t understand,” and, “Let me explain.”

Debra said no such thing. She told it to me straight and to the point. “Your father is having an affair with his assistant,” she’d said. “It’s barely been a year but he said he didn’t love me anymore.” The truth hurt, but it was the
truth,
not Ray’s version of the facts.

“Can Sasha use the phone, Aunt Dee? Our cells aren’t working, and it’s not long distance.”

“Go ahead,” she yelled from the kitchen.

I handed Sasha the cordless phone and wrote down Debra’s cell number on the back of a bill envelope. “Call my stepmom and tell her we’re here, and see if she can help us find Peters and Rhapsody.”

“Jason. . .”

“I’ll be right back.” I climbed the staircase and entered the second floor bathroom. Shutting the door behind me, I sat on the toilet seat and crossed my arms.

Protecting the source was more important than my broken heart. I couldn’t do the first thing without processing the second. She said there was never anything to them, that she only dated him to be popular.

If that was the truth, maybe I could believe her when she said the kiss meant nothing? The only way for me to tell for sure they had no connection was to break my promise.

After making sure Aunt Dee kept Sasha occupied, I tip-toed into her home office at the back of the house and pulled up the internet. I typed in every tag I could think of that was related to North High, and then tried “Michael Selby and Sasha Anderson,” until a video hyperlink, titled “Leslie Anderson Show” popped up.

With that title – a mash up between his legal first name and her last name – it was harder to find.
Why hadn’t her parents had it removed? Wasn’t it illegal? She’s fifteen.
I muted the volume and clicked onto it.

The video buffered for thirty seconds before it played. Shaky and shot from behind a set prop window with blinds, the video didn’t show much, at first. Then, the blinds parted further, and you could see
everything.

Selby never looked at the camera, and neither did Sasha. She didn’t know she was being taped. Did he? From what I knew about him, he was not the kind of guy to hide something like that.

I’d seen enough and erased the web history and cookies. The last thing I needed was Aunt Dee seeing that.

I turned around, and Sasha stood behind me – a mixture of hurt, sadness, anger and humiliation on her face. She didn’t know why I’d broken my promise to her, why I
had
to know everything that happened between her and Selby.