Dread Locks (5 page)

INTERESTING TIMES

I
left Tara’s place that day feeling weird and a little bit light-headed from being with her. She had that effect on you. Nothing terrible or wonderful happened over the next couple of days, so I figured Tara had just said it to be mysterious and interesting—although she didn’t need to say anything to seem mysterious and interesting to me.

During lunch on Wednesday, Tara sat by herself at a table across the cafeteria. Her eyes roved over the other kids eating lunch, and occasionally she stopped to stare through her sunglasses at a select few. I could tell that whoever she stared at suddenly got that creepy sensation they were being watched, then they’d look around to see who it was. When they realized it was Tara, they either got completely self-conscious, or they tried to act cool. But as soon as they responded in any way, Tara lost interest in them and zeroed in on her next target.

I couldn’t see her eyes behind her shades, but I got the feeling that she was doing some kind of mental calculation about the people she was studying. She was making connections, putting together the pieces.

Finally, she looked in the direction of Ernest, the captain of the football team. He sat with Melanie at the center table. Ernest and Melanie always sat together there, as if to advertise the fact that they were a couple.

This time Tara didn’t turn away when Ernest noticed her. I watched Ernest’s expression change. First he seemed nervous and unsure, then he looked flattered, then he boldly returned the look, with just the hint of a cocky smile on his face. It was clear that he had completely forgotten about Melanie’s existence for those moments.

This fact wasn’t lost on Melanie, who tracked Ernest’s gaze to Tara. Nothing was said, but I could tell in that single instant Melanie had lost her boyfriend.

I also knew—or at least I
hoped—
that Tara was just playing. I hoped she had no intention of
really
going out with Ernest. She just didn’t strike me as a football jock’s girlfriend.

The bell rang. Tara stood up and picked up her tray as she left the table. Most of the kids in the cafeteria didn’t know that anything had just happened, but Melanie looked like her universe had just imploded.

The following morning, before class started, I saw Tara talking to Celeste Kroeger.

Celeste was a member of the popular clique of squealing girls that everyone else referred to as the Banshees. The Banshees were as phony as they come. As for Celeste, she was one of the group’s underlings and so tried even harder to be phony, with hopes of rising in the ranks.

I had no idea what Tara wanted from her. I mean, sure, the Banshees were the most powerful force in school. They set the social agenda, picked who was “in” and who was “out.” They were constant boosters of school spirit and constantly mocked their enemies. Why would any of that possibly matter to Tara? Compared to how exciting Tara was, Celeste and the rest of her group might as well have been made out of Styrofoam.

I walked past the two of them. “Hi, Tara. Hi, Celeste,” I said. Celeste gave me an obligatory nod. The weird thing is that Tara did exactly the same. I kept on walking, but I heard a snatch of their conversation.

“I don’t know why you let her tell you what to do,” Tara was telling Celeste. “It seems to me that you’re a lot smarter than she is.”

“Did you know,” Celeste said, clearly flattered, “she nearly flunked math last year—she almost had to repeat it.”

“I’m not surprised.”

I knew they were talking about Melanie, who was Queen Screecher of the Banshees. Melanie gave the orders, and the others followed.

I was hoping to get a chance to talk to Tara at lunch and find out what she wanted from Celeste. I didn’t see her in the cafeteria, so I went to the outside lunch tables.

Tara was sitting at a table with Nils Lundgren, the smartest non-geek in the school, a tall, skinny guy with long red hair. They said he was taking college-level courses in physics and chemistry, but he had a life beyond cracking the books. Even though he bragged that he was one of the only people in the school who knew who to use a slide rule, whatever that is, he could also carry on a normal conversation.

All the true geeks that Nils usually ate lunch with were mumbling to one another a table away, watching with envy as he talked to Tara.

I kept my distance, folded my arms, and watched.

Nils seemed to have lost some of his usual cool around Tara. Like a bad magician doing a stale trick, he kept pulling food out of his bag and offering it to her. First he offered her half of a sandwich, then the other half, then an apple, then a bag of chips, then the apple again. Tara was laughing. Then she asked him something I couldn’t hear, and Nils blushed and nodded.

Tara brought out one of her textbooks and opened it on the table in front of them. He looked over the page and then started explaining it to her.

Tara didn’t seem like the kind of person who would need anything in a textbook explained to her. I had to find out what was going on.

“Hi, guys,” I said, waving to them as I walked up. “What’s up?” I tried to sound like I didn’t really care as I sat down across from them.

“I’m helping Tara catch up to the rest of us in math.” Nils looked at Tara for approval and encouragement. “Her other school used a different textbook, and their curriculum left her about a month behind.”

I didn’t buy it. Besides, if she was really having trouble in math, she could have asked me. “Do you even remember how to do basic algebra?” I asked Nils. “Isn’t that a little beneath you?”

“Algebra is the foundation of all higher math,” he said, missing my sarcasm. “It’s not something you forget.”

“You can stay, Parker,” Tara said, “if you really want to.” “I’m sure you’ll do fine without me,” I answered, walking away from them. “Have fun.”

Was it jealousy I was feeling? If so, I didn’t know why. Tara wasn’t my girlfriend or anything. Not even close. She was just a friend, and barely that.

After lunch, Tara and I both had world history with Mr. Usher. Unlike our English class, though, Mr. Usher believed in assigned seats. I was across the room from Tara, so I couldn’t talk to her. As it happened, Ernest Benson was also in Mr. Usher’s class, and his seat was next to hers. It seemed to me they were way too friendly.

We were endlessly studying the ancient world, and now Mr. Usher was on ancient beliefs in folklore and superstition. “When things went wrong,” Mr. Usher said, “people blamed it on the gods, or fairy folk, or even on their neighbors’ placing curses on them.”

A few kids laughed, probably thinking,
Those dumb ancient people.

“One of the simplest Greek curses,” Mr. Usher said, “is only one word, accompanied by this gesture.” He held up his hand, palm out, then said,
“Na!”

Some of the kids twittered.

“Na!
means
there!”
he explained. “That’s all there is to it, but according to Greek folklore, it’s very powerful and effective.”

I thought it was pretty lame myself, but my mind wasn’t fully engaged in the subject. Now Tara was slouching back in her seat, exactly the way Ernest was, as if they were soul mates. Ernest was very aware of what she was doing.

I forced my attention back to Mr. Usher. “Now, one of my personal favorite curses,” he said, “is the ancient Chinese curse,
May you live in interesting times.
Does anyone want to take a shot at explaining why that might be a curse?”

I raised my hand. I had no idea what I was going to say, but I had to vent some energy or I would scream.

“Parker?” Mr. Usher said, calling on me, sounding more than a little surprised at my sudden class participation.

“I think it’s a pretty good curse,” I began unsurely.
“Interesting
is a very, um, interesting word.
Interesting times
can set you up for anything—from something like a plague or an earthquake to smaller problems, like any kind of... personal disappointment.”

Mr. Usher nodded. “Very good.”

I finally had Tara’s attention. She glanced over at me with a different expression on her face—one I hadn’t seen there before. Could it be that I had impressed her?

The next week flew past. Tara spent more time with Celeste and Nils. She was still working on Ernest, too, although as far as I knew they hadn’t exchanged two words. Tara wasn’t exactly ignoring me, but she wasn’t exactly going out of her way to spend time with me, either. I thought about going over to her house, but that might make me look too needy or pathetic or something. If she wasn’t going to make any effort to see me, I wasn’t going out of my way to see her.

It was none of my business what she did, I told myself. And anyway, I got the distinct feeling that Tara really didn’t care one bit about Celeste or Nils or even Ernest. It seemed to me that she had some other goal in mind, and that she was taking the necessary steps to achieve it.

Something terrible is going to happen,
she had said. Was she actually planning something terrible? And if so, why had she let me
know? Because something wonderful was going to happen, too.
Something wonderful to who? To her? To me?

On Thursday, during snack, I sat by myself in the courtyard, digging through my backpack for a packet of mini-doughnuts, when I felt someone sit down next to me. I figured it was one of my buddies, maybe Freddie or Dante, but it wasn’t. It was Tara.

“You haven’t spoken to me for days,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

“It seemed like you’ve been pretty busy getting your social life in order,” I said. “I didn’t want to get in your way.”

She laughed lightly. “You’re never in my way, Baby Baer,” she said. With hardly any effort at all, she was making me feel like I was special.

Just like all the other people she toyed with.

I pulled away, not willing—not
wanting
—to be one among the others. “You can play that game with Nils and Celeste,” I told her, “but it won’t work on me.”

That only made her smile even broader. “I know,” she said, “and I’m glad. No games between you and me. Okay?”

“Okay.”

I was trying to think of something else to say, something intelligent, but I didn’t get the chance, because right then Melanie stormed up to Tara. She was in tears.

“I hope you’re proud of yourself,” Melanie said. “Ernest is breaking up with me, thanks to you!”

Tara looked up at her with a half smile on her face. It was an expression that some might have called triumphant. “Ernest?” she said. “I’ve barely even spoken to Ernest.”

I didn’t want to be in the middle of this uncomfortable scene, so I stood up and brushed the grass off my pants. “I better get going.” I walked about halfway across the quad, then turned around to watch the fireworks from a safe distance.

“You can’t fool me,” said Melanie. “I’ve been watching you. I see what you do.”

“What do I do?” asked Tara, with only the slightest mocking tone.

“You—you—” Melanie searched for the words. “You look at people,” said Melanie, only realizing as she said it how stupid it sounded. “You look at people and they... change....”

“Oh please,” Tara scoffed.

“It’s the
way
you look at them,” said Melanie, “from behind those stupid shades.”

She reached to rip them off Tara’s face, but Tara’s hand snapped up so fast, you never even saw it move. She smacked away Melanie’s hand before it touched her glasses.

“You
don’t
want to take these off,” Tara said in a very threatening tone. “Trust me. You don’t.”

“You’re a monster,” Melanie shouted, still holding her ground. “A monster!”

“Hey!” someone else said. I looked over. It was Nils, followed by the entire Geek Brigade. “Leave her alone.”

At the same time, from the other side, Celeste and the Banshees were also closing in.

“Melanie,” Celeste said sharply, “this is so uncool. We have to talk.” Celeste used a different tone with Melanie than usual. I could tell she was no longer taking orders from Melanie.

Across the quad, Ernest stood with some of his buddies from the football team. They strolled over to see what was happening. I noticed that all of his teammates were scowling or snickering at Melanie.

Melanie turned and looked around. The entire school had rallied. The Banshees, the jocks—even the nerds—whole groups that normally weren’t even on the same plane of existence had taken sides against her.

Melanie crumbled. She tried to escape the quad, an expression of utter defeat on her face.

Suddenly, Tara’s accomplishment was clear. She had lined up allies among the school’s various groups and got them all to work together for probably the first time in the school’s history. She was like a master builder who could bend materials like stone and steel and clay to her will ... except her materials were flesh and spirit.

Before Melanie passed me, she stopped and looked at me, her eyes red and puffy. “Watch yourself, Parker,” she told me. “You’re in way over your head.”

Then she turned away and kept going.

I looked over at Tara, surrounded by her new allies from all the different camps, and she threw me a little sideways wink, making me realize we were in for some “interesting times.”

Something terrible is going to happen,
she had said....

If it was a time bomb, then what she had done that day had started the clock.

7