The Summoning (working title)
Chapter One
Thomas plunked himself onto the cafeteria bench. “I’m so
going to get my ass kicked.”
Erick barely looked up from his sandwich at the
announcement. Thomas was prone to creating drama out of nothing, but as his
friend, Erick felt obliged to show interest. “How come? Did you fail your bio
test?”
“Worse than that.” Thomas fingered the plastic bag
holding his sandwich while his eyes darted around the crowded cafeteria as if
looking for someone. Seemingly satisfied by what he saw or didn’t see as the
case may be, he looked back to Erick. “I wrote down all the wrong answers and
Ryan copied them. He’s going to get an F.”
Erick shrugged. “So you both get Fs. Big deal. Maybe he’ll
find someone else to start cheating off of.”
“You don’t get it.” Thomas shifted on the bench, his eyes
focused on his hands. “I changed all my answers to the right ones while he was turning
in his test.”
Erick paused, sandwich halfway to his mouth. “What?” he
finally said because he must've misheard. There was no way anyone would
intentionally cross Ryan. But the look on Thomas’s face told him otherwise.
Erick briefly closed his eyes while setting his sandwich down. “Why?”
Thomas scowled in response to the reproving tone. “I don’t
know.” His words tumbled out. “I study for those tests, and Ryan thinks he has
the right to use my answers. It’s crap.”
His shoulders slumped as he tossed his sandwich back into
its paper sack. “School has really sucked since October. Figures he’d be put in
half of my classes. Wish I was smarter and in the geek classes with you.”
Erick bristled. He knew he
shouldn’t be so sensitive, but minus the glasses, he thought he made a pretty
good poster-child of the stereotype; book smart, but not so good at normal
stuff like sports, socializing, and, well, girls. “Honors classes. They’re
called honors classes.”
“Yeah, yeah, honors, whatever.” Thomas brushed off Erick’s
comment. “What do I do?”
The desperation in Thomas’s voice smoothed down Erick’s
hackles. Thomas wasn’t this good of an actor, and had really stepped into a
pile this time.
Blowing out a breath, Erick ran his hand through his
hair. “When does the test usually get graded?”
“Mr. Konig usually has the grading done the next day.”
“Try to stay around as many people as you can tomorrow
and Friday. I’ll meet you at the front gate right after school to walk home.
Don’t let yourself be alone for any length of time.”
“That might work.” Thomas gave Erick a weak smile. “Maybe
by Monday Ryan will forget.” Thomas crumpled the brown bag containing his
uneaten lunch. “Maybe getting beaten up won’t hurt much. Hell, it might even be
worth it to get his sorry ass expelled.”
“It’ll be okay,” Erick said, even though he had his
doubts.
***
With his backpack slung over his shoulder and gripping
the strap, Erick hurried through the deserted hallway to get to the main doors.
He was late getting out of class and knew Thomas would be waiting. They’d
walked home together every afternoon since fifth grade.
Erick gave his head a shake, trying to make some sense of
what happened earlier. He’d often long for something to happen to liven up the
day to day routine that summed up his life, but this was so not the way to do
it. Of all the people Thomas could piss off, he would pick Ryan Warner.
Everyone knew him. From day one his name swiftly filtered through the student
body. Erick had no classes with Ryan, but that didn’t stop him from hearing the
stories.
It wasn’t the pseudo anonymous attention grabbing pranks,
like letting off a smoke bomb during a homecoming rally, or stopping up toilets
to flood the bathroom that had students laughing in the halls. Incidents linked
to Ryan were personal and usually involved pain.
Did you hear? Derek needed stitches in his head after
making a crack about Ryan Warner’s hair. Kevin missed two weeks of practice
because his shoulder got wrenched after taking a swipe at Ryan. Cameron got an
elbow rammed in his gut just for stepping on the back of his shoe. Mess with
Ryan Warner and you’ll get hurt.
Ryan was easy enough to recognize on campus and, even
though Erick assumed him to be sixteen as well, hormones had obviously been
unfairly kind. He was big enough to be a starting running back on the high
school football team, and earn all the jock fame and cheerleader entourage to
go with it.
This wasn’t the case and certainly wasn’t the reason
Erick took notice of him; there were a lot of big guys wandering the halls,
after all. It was Ryan’s self-assuredness, an unwavering confidence that
elevated the gossipy rumors to a divine truth. The common knowledge held by
everyone that Ryan was somebody to avoid was a fame all of its own, but earned
none the less.
Erick was sailing by a restroom when a familiar voice
stopped him cold.
“No, man, I wasn’t setting you up.”
Erick pushed open the restroom door to see Thomas backed
against the wall with Ryan towering over him. Large hands placed on either side
of Thomas’s shoulders formed an inescapable cage around the smaller boy.
“Then why’d I get an F and you got a B?” Ryan leaned
forward bringing himself closer to Thomas. “It looked like you were changing
answers, so I talked with Mr. Konig at lunch. He showed me the tests after I
gave him a bullshit story about not feeling well today and how you’d helped me
study.” Ryan paused, dropping his voice. “Good news — he’s giving me an extra
credit assignment. Bad news — I found out what you did.”
While this exchange went on, Erick felt the temptation
licking at his nerves to take a step back and let the door close. It would be
easy. He hadn’t been seen and no one would know.
Did you hear? Thomas had his head stuffed into a
toilet because … Erick Porter was there, but the coward just … Mess with Ryan
Warner, you …
Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Erick tried to silence each thought as he crept into
the restroom. He slowly shrugged off his backpack and let it come to rest
silently on the floor. He didn’t know what he would do, but found the school
wide conflict resolution policy sorely lacking in real world application right
about now. Although he seriously wasn’t considering jumping Ryan, a distraction
could be the compromise needed to buy Thomas enough time to escape.
Erick spotted two backpacks lying on the dingy linoleum
floor. He recognized Thomas’s navy pack, so the black one must be Ryan’s. He
scanned the backpack and noticed something electronic visible through a mesh
pocket. An iPod. He took a couple of steps and reached forward with a trembling
hand. You’re being a complete idiot, he thought as his fingers closed on
the thin rectangle and wrenched it free.
“Now I’ve got to figure out what to do with you.” Ryan
seemed to take pleasure in his cat and mouse taunting of Thomas.
“I … I won’t do it again.”
“Oh, I know you won’t after I’m done.” Ryan’s hands
shifted to grab two fistfuls of Thomas’s shirt. He whirled him around only to
stop short when he saw Erick.
Erick stood at the outside corner of the bathroom stall
closest to the door. His right arm extended behind him at an odd angle so he
wouldn’t be trapped in the stall. The iPod dangled above the toilet.
“Let him go.” Erick wanted the words to have some bite,
but found his mouth dry, leaving his tongue thick and hard to maneuver.
Ryan’s eyes narrowed as they darted between Erick and his
iPod. “This is none of your business.” His hands unclenched slightly on Thomas’s
shirt, giving Erick a sign that somehow this would work.
“He’s my friend, so I guess it is my business.”
“You really don’t want to mess with me, so put that back
where you found it and get the hell out of here.”
“I’m not messing with you. Just
let Thomas go." Erick thought it came out more like a plea than a threat.
“You got it,” Ryan said, but the tone was far from
conciliatory. He let go of Thomas’s shirt, then gave him a quick shove that
sent him landing on his ass. Ryan’s eyes locked with Erick’s. “It’s you and me
now.”
Erick stared back while his heart pounded in his ears.
This was not going the way he’d envisioned only seconds before.
Thomas turned over and scrambled to get himself off the
floor. In his haste, his shoes couldn’t get a grip on the worn linoleum.
Ryan took a step toward Erick just as Thomas’s foot shot
out from under him, right into Ryan’s path, causing him to stumble forward.
Erick jerked back to avoid the impact, but felt a sharp
pain in his right shoulder as his movement was stopped by the stall partition
wall. The pain caused his fingers to relax enough for the iPod to slip through
and make a dull plop as it hit the water.
One long second passed for Erick to see his empty hand,
then instinct took over. He swore as he darted over Ryan’s sprawled form,
wrenched open the restroom door, and ran. Clearing the door, he could hear Ryan
scrambling up, cursing.
Erick sprinted down the empty corridor and slowed only
enough to round the corner bringing him to the main doors. Running full speed,
he banged against the doors, pushing them out of his way, and launched himself
into the warm spring air. He never broke stride as he darted through the large
metal gates and past the staring students still waiting for rides.
If he was thinking clearly, he would have gone into the
safety of the office. His only thought was to run. He crossed the street,
barely casting a look for oncoming cars, fleeing into the weed-strewn vacant
lot across from the school. Erick’s eyes zeroed in on the small stand of trees
beyond the edge of the lot, the last vestiges of a natural landscape overtaken
by suburban sprawl, and like himself, living on borrowed time.
He ran toward the trees. If he could just make it to
them, he’d be okay.
The foolish thought was extinguished when he heard the
crunch of feet behind him. The fast-paced footfalls grew louder.
A masochistic curiosity drew Erick’s eyes over his
shoulder. He saw Ryan swiftly closing the distance between them.
Erick’s chest burned, and blood pounded in his head as he
willed himself to go faster. The effort was futile. Ryan wasn’t going to give
up.
He pumped his arms harder. The edge of the wood came
nearer.
Just inside the line of trees a small area shimmered in
the dappled shade, like heat waves coming off blacktop in summer. Erick felt
drawn to the gentle distortion that beckoned to him as if it could protect him
from the mess he created. He ran toward it.
Panic grew as his strength waned, and he now could hear
Ryan’s heavy breathing. He stumbled only a few yards into the quiet woods, and
the strange haze engulfed him. Suddenly, he felt the hard clap of a hand coming
down like a manacle on his left shoulder. Erick’s knees buckled, then he was
falling.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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