Read The Battle of Jericho Online
Authors: Sharon M. Draper
The Battle of Jericho
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2003 by Sharon M. Draper
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part
in any form.
Book design by O'Lanso Gabbidon
The text of this book is set in Trade Gothic.
Manufactured in the United States of America
4Â Â 6Â Â 8Â Â 10Â Â 9Â Â 7Â Â 5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Draper, Sharon M. (Sharon Mills)
The Battle of Jericho / Sharon M. Draperâ1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: A high school junior and his cousin suffer the ramifications of joining
what seems to be a “reputable” school club.
ISBN-13: 978-0-689-84232-0
ISBN-10: 0-689-84232-5
eISBN-13: 978-1-43911-520-6
[1. ClubsâFiction. 2. High schoolsâFiction. 3. SchoolsâFiction. 4. Cousinsâ
Fiction. 5. DeathâFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.D78325 Bat 2003
[Fic]âdc21 2002008612
For Larry,
who understands it all
The Beginning of The End: January 28
The Beginning: the First Week Of DecemberâThursday, December 4
Thursday, December 4 âAfter School
Thursday, December 4 âAfter School
Thursday, December 4âEvening
Saturday, December 6â10 P.M.
Monday, December 8â11:30 P.M.
Tuesday, December 9â1:00 A.M.
Wednesday, December 31 âNew Year'S Eve
Thursday, January 1 â12:30 A.M.
Wednesday, January 28âIn School
Wednesday, January 28â8 P.M.
Wednesday, January 28â10 P.M.
Wednesday, January 28â10:15 P.M.
Thursday, January 29âEvening
Friday, January 30âAfternoon
Friday, January 30â11:30 P.M.
Saturday, January 31 â12:00 A.M.
Saturday, January 31 â2 A.M.
Saturday, January 31 â3 A.M.
Saturday, January 31 â 3:30 A.M.
THE PLEDGE MASTERS MARCHED THE FIFTEEN
pledges to the middle of the soggy yard. The ground was muddy and squished as they walked, and the frigid air whipped across the pledges' wet T-shirts. Sharp needles of rain stung them as they stood there silently waiting for instructions.
“Kneel!” Rick Sharp shouted to Jericho.
Jericho wanted to disobey, but instead he knelt immediately. Cold mud soaked through his jeans in seconds.
“Take off my boot, Pledge Slime!” the six-foot, broad-shouldered senior shouted to Jericho over the noise of the pouring rain. He glanced down at Jericho, who huddled at his feet.
Jericho shivered as the rain came down harder and made him sink deeper into the mud of the desolate warehouse yard. His fingers were wet and stiff, but he reached for Sharp's big, black army boot and slowly began to untie the laces.
“Hurry up, Pledge Slime!” Sharp shouted. Jericho dejectedly struggled to untie the wet lace of the pledge master's boot, his fingers aching. He wasn't sure what to do when he finished. He had no idea how to get the boot off Rick's foot.
He glanced over to see, if he could, the line of the other pledges, also kneeling in the mud at the feet of their pledge masters. But the rain and the darkness made it difficult to see very much. Jericho could barely even see Josh, who was closest to him in the line, but he could hear Mad Madison shouting at him in the darkness. Jericho couldn't see Kofi or Dana at all.
“All of us have been where you are tonight,” Sharp told Jericho. “A Warrior of Distinction is not afraid to lower himself for his brother. A Warrior of Distinction does not show fear. Are you afraid, Pledge Slime?”
“No, sir,” Jericho replied. “I'm not afraid.”
“Then get busy! The rest of your pledge class, slimy and disgusting as they are, seem to be doing fine. Do you want to let them down?”
Jericho inhaled slowly. It was all of them or none of them. “Can you lift your foot, Master Senior Sharp, sir?” Jericho asked timidly. As he raised his face to look at Sharp, he gasped as the icy rain stung his eyes.
“Did I give you permission to speak, Pledge Slime?” Sharp snarled. Jericho said nothing, but Rick lifted his right foot, using Jericho's head to balance himself.
Jericho pulled the boot off with difficulty. He was afraid that he would fall or would make Rick fall as he tugged at the boot. Either would have been disastrous, but he managed to get the
boot off smoothly. The stench of Rick Sharp's foot was enough to make Jericho choke.
“Now take off the sock,” Rick barked.
Jericho hesitated and hoped they would be able to go home soon. He slowly peeled off Rick's sock. Rick's foot reeked of sweat.
“Place the sock on the ground, then set my foot down on it. Make sure not a speck of mud touches my foot,” he commanded.
Jericho did as he was told and Rick Sharp removed his hand from Jericho's head as he lowered his foot to the ground. Then he bent down and whispered into Jericho's ear, “You havin' fun yet?”
Jericho didn't dare tell the truthâthat he had stopped having fun long ago.
“You really want to be a Warrior of Distinction?” Rick asked.
Jericho nodded. He thought of the prestige of having one of those black silk jackets, the admiring glances in the halls at school, but mostly he thought of Arielle. He tried not to think of the rain and the mud and the stink of Rick's feet.
“Are you willing to do anything to be a Warrior of Distinction?” Rick demanded. “You have permission to answer.”
“Yes, sir! Yes, Master Senior Sharp, sir! I am willing to do anything to be a Warrior of Distinction, sir!” Jericho repeated the words that he and the other pledges had been chanting automatically since the whole process began. But he wasn't sure if he meant them anymore.
“Are you willing to do anything to help the others become Warriors of Distinction?” Rick demanded.
“Anything, sir.” Jericho just wanted it to be over.
“Then suck my big toe.”
“Sir?” Jericho wasn't sure if he had heard correctly.
“If you want to be a Warrior of Distinction, you must suck my big toe. Now!”
Jericho looked around desperately; he had no idea what the others were being forced to do. As he lowered his head close to the mud and closer to Rick Sharp's foot, Jericho wondered miserably how he could have sunk so low.
“HEY JOSH, WHAT YOU GETTING YOUR GIRL
November for Christmas?” Jericho asked as the two headed for a table in the hot, crowded cafeteria. The lunchroom, stuffy with the odors of pizza, salsa, and sweat, was especially full today because the weather was cold and blustery, and nobody chose to eat outside.
Josh laughed as he squeezed his long legs under the cafeteria table. “Oh, you know, the usualâdiamonds and gold jewelry!”
“So I see you plan to shop at the dollar store again this year!” Jericho teased his cousin. “I don't see how November puts up with you.” Jericho's hefty body barely fit in the small cafeteria seat. He hated feeling squeezed inâhe liked his jeans baggy and his T-shirts extra large.
Josh grinned. “She knows she's lucky. She gets to walk in the glow of my light. She's thanked me every day since
ninth grade when I first let her hook up with me!”
'That Rice Krispies-colored hair you got does make you kinda look like a lamp on top,” Jericho joked.
“November loves itâthat's all that matters. She clicks my switch and turns me on. And then I let her walk down the halls with me so she can share in my glorious light!”
“You better not let her hear you talk about her like that, or she may put your lights out!” Jericho warned as he ate his cafeteria pizza. “November's like a deep lake, and you're a bowl of goldfish water!”
“How you figure?” Josh asked.
“When's the last time you volunteered to work with little kids at a hospital?” Jericho continued to eat the pizza, even though he thought it tasted like cardboard covered with red sauce.
“I used to
be
a little kid,” Josh replied. “Does that count?”
Jericho laughed. “Maybe that's why she hangs with youâyou're just another project for her to work on.”
“She can work on me all night long!” Josh answered with a grin.
“You know, this pizza tastes more like the plastic they wrap it in than real pizza.” He licked the plastic just to make sure. Even though he didn't like the pizza, he ate four pieces.
“I don't know how you can eat that stuff, Jericho,” Josh commented as he bit into a cold Big Mac that he had bought the night before.
“Look who's talkin'!” laughed Jericho. “At least I don't
go with a girl whose mama named her for one of the coldest months of the year!”
“At least I got a girl!” Josh shot back as he stuffed the rest of the burger into his mouth. “She was born on Thanks giving Day. I'm just glad her mama wasn't drunk that day. She coulda named her Turkey!”
A tall, thin boy wearing wire-rim glasses sat down with them. “Hey, whassup, Kofi?” Jericho greeted him. Kofi Freeman's face was covered with the zits and scars of an ongoing battle with acne, but Jericho noticed that he never seemed to have a problem talking to girls. “What took you so long?”
“Long line.” For lunch Kofi had purchased a large bag of french fries and a Coke. He dipped each fry into his drink before he ate it.