ExtraNormal (6 page)

Keddil was probably right, for once. I asked.

Mom replied. .

Which left the biggest question of all.

Mom streamed.

I sat up taller, slipping my legs underneath me, my stomach churning nervously.

Mom’s voice was full of enthusiasm.

I thought of my dad, and how much he adored the Stones. It was hard for me to imagine the Stones as anything but iconic geniuses. At least, it would have been before sitting in Dr. Alison’s class. Still, how was I supposed to find evidence strong enough to convince people on Nreim of something so outrageous if a trained agent hadn’t done it in twenty years?

Mom replied.

 I thought of questions—one after another, until curiosity began to chink away at my armor of anger. I streamed—

It took Mom ages to answer. Possibly because she didn’t know. Though she sounded sincere, and even choked up, when she answered.

Her sincerity only made me more angry. And confused.

Tears of frustration began to well up. I blinked them back.

After another long pause before Mom answered.

I repeated the phrase sarcastically to myself before responding.

I remained quiet for several moments, listening to Mom’s breathing on the other side of the door. I finally streamed.

I wiped away a tear.

“Mira,” Mom said out loud in a gentle voice. “You know my first job is being your mother. I’m always just a thought away. You don’t have to prove anything to me.”

I didn’t—couldn’t—respond through the lump in my throat.

“Mira…my girl…”

I pulled myself up and went to the door, put my hands and cheek against it, where I could feel the warmth of my mother’s concern, and let the armor fall away.

I unlocked the door, opened it, and fell into my mother’s embrace.

 CHAPTER EIGHT

The next day I sat in the back of Dr. Tom’s classroom avoiding all eye contact. Even when I realized Lacey was in the class, I focused my attention on Dr. Tom, keeping a memorized record of the class. Though sadly he didn’t say or do anything remotely suspicious. Not that I expected him to.

In choir, I did my best to avoid looking at Choir Boy, even though he glanced at me several times. I didn’t feel a thing when Mr. Chavez called out his name: Jesse Mecham. That’s what I told myself anyway. He was not evolved enough to stir up emotions inside someone like me. The flutter in my stomach was caused by my new diet. I was an island. Above the rest of the immature, under-evolved humans.

I kept my self-imposed isolation right up until lunch break. It was the one concession I would give myself in exchange for staying on Earth. I hadn’t even asked Mom if I could return on the transport. Instead, I’d decided to remain a social outcast for the entire school year. I’d spend the year watching the Stones as if my life depended on it. I’d even spend my afternoons doing unhygienic slave labor—the better to fulfill my assignment of watching Nreim’s most respected residents.

But I would not survive exclusively on bland vegetables. Not when there was a world of wonder I had only one opportunity to enjoy before returning home to a lifetime of putrid nutrition cubes.

I hung back when gym class ended—studying a banner with the school mascot that hung from the wall, as if it were the most fascinating thing I’d ever seen—even though Lacey was obviously waiting for me. Lacey eventually left, reluctantly, and I went by myself to the cafeteria. I was tempted to try another cheeseburger, but selected a plate of spaghetti instead, just for the variety. I also selected a slice of chocolate cake, along with an oblong piece of bread, a carton of milk, and a bowl of red gelatin, which I knew was absolutely void of any nutritional content. I just couldn’t resist the jiggling.

After paying the woman at the register, I purposefully went in the opposite direction of the table I’d shared with Lacey the day before. But the girls were seated at a table directly in front of me. I hesitated. A cruel snicker came from the table behind. The Skinnies were at the old table, of course. I’d forgotten their demand the day before that my friends find a new table.

Lacey waved and called my name. I suspected Lacey’s friendly persistence was based more on curiosity than kindness. But to ignore her now would only draw attention to myself. People would think I was angry with Lacey, which could spur a plethora of rumors. I put my tray on the table across from Lacey, next to Serena, vowing to only open my mouth to eat.

“No way!” Serena exclaimed with her pink smile. Tight curls poked from her head in random lengths, adding intensity to her excited expression. She leaned toward Lacey, pointed with her chin to a table behind them, and lowered her voice. “Don’t look.”

Lacey turned anyway and looked at the couple that had captured Serena’s attention. She turned back to Serena, her eyes wide. “They’re holding hands. That is so sick.”

“She could so do better than that,” Serena whispered under her breath. I used my fork to push the spaghetti noodles around my plate while observing the inane discussion. I rationalized that it was good for me to listen to conversations like this, at least until I stopped using words like
plethora
and
inane,
and started speaking like a real Earth teenager.

The moment they were quiet I put a bite of food in my mouth.

“So how do you like Los Robles High so far?” Serena asked.

I was so caught up with the texture and taste of spaghetti that it took me a second to realize the question was directed at me. A noodle dangled from my mouth. “Fine,” I mumbled and slurped it in.

“Any boys you have your eye on?” she asked.

I dropped my gaze to my plate of food.

“Aww…” the two said in unison.

“There
is
someone!” Serena exclaimed.

“Tell us!” Lacey added.

I put a cube of gelatin in my mouth, determined to keep quiet.

Serena pounded the table rhythmically with her fists. “Tell us. Tell us,” she chanted. Lacey joined her. A girl at another table looked our way. Then another.

I had to say something, just to get them to stop. I could have just made up a name, but lying wasn’t in my nature. Besides, I really did want to know more about him. “His name’s Jesse,” I blurted.

Looks of surprise registered on their faces. They stopped pounding the table and glanced at one another. Their moods darkened significantly. “You mean Jesse Mecham?” Serena asked in an ominous tone.

“He is
way
cute,” Lacey said. She picked up her fork, suddenly interested in her own spaghetti.

 I knew I should let the conversation die, but my curiosity got the better of me. “But…” I prodded.

 Lacey looked worried. “But…you should be careful.” She looked at Serena with a raised eyebrow.

Serena nodded a silent reply. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought they were streaming.

Lacey put her fork down. “He kind of had a breakdown last year. At school.”

“I saw it!” Serena said in an excited whisper, her head low and jutted over the table. “He was all yelling and running around.” She shuddered at the memory. “It was freaky.”

“So what happened?” I asked before I could stop myself.

Lacey shook her head. “Not sure. Somebody called 9-1-1 and they hauled him off in an ambulance.” She glanced conspiratorially at Serena. “Rumor is that he spent the summer in a mental hospital. They just let him out this week so he could come back to school.”

I slurped my milk through a straw, feeling oddly deflated. That explained the odd way he looked at me. He wasn’t interested in me, he was just disturbed. Mentally ill. But it didn’t matter—not to an island. I shoved a big bite of the chocolate cake in my mouth.

And gasped.

An unexpected rush of euphoria went up to my brain and down to my toes. I closed my eyes and rolled the smooth frosting around my mouth with my tongue, which contrasted brilliantly with the chewy texture of the cake. My breath quickened.

“You okay?” Lacey said.

I nodded. A hint of a tear crept into the corner of my eye. I blinked it away and took another bite. “This is just really good,” I said, though it didn’t sound anything like that since my mouth was stuffed full.

“You realize it’s cafeteria food,” Lacey said.

I took another large bite. Then another.

Serena picked up a plate of cake from her tray. “You want mine?”

I looked at it longingly. There were only crumbs left on my own plate. “Can I?”

Serena set it in front of me. “You know girl…I’m trying not to hate you. If I ate like that I’d blow up like a blimp.”

I swallowed and wiped my mouth with a napkin. “I don’t usually eat like this.” I couldn’t exactly explain that I usually eat cubes that resemble chunks of grass.

Luckily, Camille distracted the girls by crashing her tray onto the table. “You guys
have
to see this.” The tiny human collapsed into a chair, her feet barely touching the floor. “I had to go to the office to change a class. And there was this guy there. He said his name’s Everett.” She stuffed a bite of spaghetti in her mouth, then rushed on with her mouth full. “And you would not…I mean…like…you totally have to see him.”

“Slow down,” Lacey said.

Camille gasped. “Look!” She pointed to the door.

The boy standing in the doorway was not what I was expecting. I’d seen hundreds of boys that met his basic description: about six foot two, brown hair, brown eyes, strong features. But apparently there was something special about this particular boy that only humans could see. Like wave caps in an ocean, the heads of the students in the room moved in his direction as the boy glided to the far side of the cafeteria, then back again. With no direction or focus, he smiled and nodded to the tables he passed.

Every student—every single one—had stopped eating to watch him. I felt a chill from the overdose of awe and wonder that permeated the room. Especially when I realized he was heading to our table, where he finally stopped.

“Hello, ladies.”

Camille blustered and giggled. I felt embarrassed for her.

“Didn’t I just see you in the office?” Everett asked.

She laughed again, ridiculous and high-pitched.

“You look familiar too.” He nodded at me and pulled an empty chair out, spinning it around and putting his leg across it in one swift move. I stared at my empty tray and hoped he wasn’t referring to me. Camille was still giggling. Serena put her hand over her mouth. Everett put his elbow on the chair back and rested his chin in his hand. He looked around the table with a smile. “They sure grow ‘em pretty in California.”

All the girls giggled this time, except me of course. I just kept wishing that he’d disappear if I didn’t look up. But no luck.

“You sure I don’t know you?”

He leaned closer and I noticed the familiar sensation of his em-field repelling me—like being near a male quasar force back home. I’d had the same thought about Jesse, except that I’d imagined the gentle pull of a geo force. Was it possible humans had em-fields the same as nafarians? I’d never heard of such a thing, and Keddil hadn’t mentioned it. There had to be some way to figure it out, but it wasn’t the kind of thing I could find on the Internet. Asking Mom was out of the question, since I wasn’t supposed to be this close to boys.

“She’s new,” Lacey offered when I still hadn’t responded. “From New Mexico.”

“No kidding! Me too! Which part?”

I felt the combined taste of spaghetti, gelatin and chocolate cake in my throat, which wasn’t at all pleasant the second time. Once again, Keddil had been wrong. “Albuquerque.” My voice cracked.

“Albuquerque!” Everett exclaimed. “Which part?”

 I looked at the clock on the wall and jumped up. “I’m supposed to be…somewhere.” I moved as quickly as I could without actually breaking into a run. Weaving around tables, I sensed the gaze of the boy on my back. I made it to the doorway and fled to my empty fourth-period classroom.

When students filed in, they were all talking about the same thing: Everett, the new student. The excitement in the air was so palpable I suspected even the humans could feel it, though they probably didn’t know enough to put a name to it. I wondered if maybe this was how they always reacted to new students—except I hadn’t felt it yesterday, when
I
was new, at least not to this extent.