The Death Series: A Dark Dystopian Fantasy Box Set: (Books 1-3) (10 page)

“
Damn” disappeared.

Pulse to Mr. William “Billy” Peterson, history teacher at Kent Middle School.

I pressed my thumb on the pad very lightly—Mom would kill me if I put my thumb through another pad— and thought,
Sleep
.

The screen went dark except for the green clock numbers glowing in the lower right corner.

My pulse was stuffed in my back pocket and digging into my ass. I whipped it out and pressed the pad. The pads for the pulse-cells were a lot tougher to wreck. I thought,
John Terran
.

Green letters appeared:
Initializing.

John Terran:
Hey, butt-wipe! Finally got around to pulsing. Busy with Jade? <
Laughs
>

Caleb:
No, numb-nuts. If you must know, I just finished my PE
.

John Terran:
Past Event?
Yeah, I figured you'd finally get your butt kicked and do homework.

Caleb:
Are you ever gonna edit your name to just your first like everybody else so I don't have to see your whole name every line?

John Terran:
I like it this way. It irritates everyone.
 

Caleb:
Nice.

Caleb:
I was talking with Jade, and we may do better to lasso Jonesy with doing the cemetery thing with the douche duo.

John Terran:
Why?

Caleb:
She knows Brett, or did, and she thinks he'd never let it go, be bent on big-time payback, baby
.

John Terran:
How does she know Brett? Besides, ya know Jonesy. He's got this thing buzzing around in his head like a hornet with a bull's eye.

Caleb:
Yeah, I was afraid you'd say that
.
She and Brett were actually friends a couple of years ago. I guess his dick-headed-ness is a more recent development
.

John Terran:
Huh... really?

Caleb:
Yeah, I guess his dad makes her dad look normal
.

John Terran:
No, <
profanity block
>
!

Caleb:
Yeah, no <
profanity block>!

Caleb:
Well, I guess, we'll just have to ratchet Jonesy down as much as possible just in case he gets outta control
.

John Terran:
Okay. Good luck with that.

Caleb:
Yeah. Hey, where is Jonesy? I haven't heard from him
.

John Terran:
He got his <
profanity block>
busted over homework and can't pulse
.

Caleb:
How do you know?

John Terran:
Because I pulsed him and his mom answered.

Caleb:
O
uch
.
Well that blows goats

John Terran:
<
laughs
>Yeah.

Caleb:
Okay, see ya tomorrow.

John Terran:
K, see ya.

Before I could even hibernate my pulse, Mom hollered up the stairs, “Caleb! Bed!”

“K!” I yelled back.

I tore off my clothes, making a tight ball and went for the three point shot into the hamper. I flopped on my bed and grabbed my book. I liked to read before I fell asleep—not the chump stuff the school assigned but cool authors, like Stephen King.

CHAPTER 12

I lifted my face off the pillow, which contained the Lake Erie of drool.
Gross!
I did an abbreviated push-up and hopped out of bed, swaying a little as the blood rushed to my head.

I glanced at the alarm and smacked it just before it blared. I couldn't believe I had gotten up before the alarm. I leaned over the laundry hamper and looked in at last night's clothes. I grunted. Jade would certainly notice if I wore the same thing two days in a row. Girl fashion radar.

Dejected, I stalked out of the room, wearing nothing but boxers. I thudded down the stairs. Mom was leaning against the counter and holding a steaming cup of java.

“Hey now, you look a little rough.” She smiled.

That was rich coming from her, Miss Queen-o'-Beauty in the mornings. I threw her a sullen look and made my unsteady way to the laundry room.

Mom followed.

“Caleb, don't go back there and start foraging for clean clothes. If you'd actually wash some, this would not be an issue.”

I ignored that and plowed forward. There, in a dim little corner, were all the mismatched clothes. I rifled through the pile and pulled out a vintage AC/DC T-shirt littered with holes along the bottom—a theme with my shirts—and yanked it over my head.

Mom put out her hand. “Maybe a shower would liven you up.”

I scowled, then a vision of Jade popped into my head. She always smelled like a vanilla bean, and I smelled like I woke up in a pool of drool. I grabbed some mismatched socks and the last pair of boxer
briefs
then took off for the bathroom.

I took an extra-long time in the shower and even cleaned my feet. Feeling super spiffy and primed, I stood in front of the mirror. The glass was fogged, so I swiped it with my arm. I searched carefully for signs of my impending manhood. Seeing nothing—I think I had, like, three armpit hairs—I left the sauna of a bathroom.

After getting dressed, I went down to the kitchen.

I sat down in front of a fried egg sandwich. “Huh, what gives?”  I asked Mom.

“I thought you could use a little pick-me-up.”

For today she was absolved of her sins.

Dad strolled in. “Hey, pal. You showered!”

I scowled. A national event.

Parents.

Dad winked at me. “Caleb, I was thinking that we try some experimentation in a controlled atmosphere, one in which there isn't a charged, emotional dynamic. The cemetery would be good for that.”

Mom put her hands on hips, which were encased in pajamas, her favorite outfit. “I want to be included, too.”

“I read most of the papers that John gave me,” I said. “The main scientist, Daniels something...”

“Byron, Byron Daniels,” Dad interjected.

“Yeah. He said that if there were another Parker, that the kid would be limited to what certain groups wanted.”

Mom sent Dad the
oh shit
look, and he gave a minute shake of his head
.

“You know this Dr. Daniels?” I asked Dad.

“I know
of
him. He works in related fields.”

I looked at the clock and stood up, Mom gave me a hug.

“I haven't died, Mom,” I said, pulling away.

“I understand,” she said, “but sometimes moms just want to squeeze their boys.”

***

The school commons was a humongous room with circular tables. Lockers flanked the entire room and bled down into the halls leading to our classes. Eighth graders had the commons lockers, but the sixth and seventh graders had to deal with lockers in the crowded hallways. We all hung out in the commons and stalked each other's activities.

I had time before Morginstern's class and could hang with the Js before and, if I got really lucky, Jade.

I spotted Jonesy right away, but I didn't see John or Jade.

I walked over to where Jonesy stood.

“I heard you got nailed for skipping homework.”

“Yeah, I had to make up, like, ten CE's.”

My mouth hung open. “My parents would've
executed
me for that many missing current events.”

Jonesy looked down and shuffled his feet. “Yeah, no pulse for now.”

“No pulse?”

Incredible.

“Yeah, but my mom knows I am going to hang with you all day Sunday so I either didn't do that,” NOT an option for The Instigator to be absent, “
or
no pulse for a week.” Spreading his hands out,
sacrifices must be made for the greater good.

I clapped him on the back. “Well, thanks for that.”

“No problem.”

Carson and Brett came over to us.

Carson said, “Hey, queers, how's it hangin'?”

Brett said, “Dumb question, Carson. That's all they know, how each other is hangin'.”

They laughed manically at our expense.

But Jonesy gave me that knowing smile. I was tired of them. I hoped Jonesy got them good. Jade appeared, making a wide berth around the chumps. She put her hand in mine and turned a contemptuous expression on Carson and Brett.

I was distracted. Jade did actually smell like a vanilla bean. Then Brett interrupted my sniffing.

“Not exciting enough for ya? Gotta use Jade as a cover?”

“A cover for what?” she asked.

“Their
fagness
, obviously,” Carson said.

Jade rolled her eyes.

Girls were uniquely talented in the rolling-eyes department.

“I'm not a cover for anything. By the way, dumb asses, haven't you figured out that you guys aren't important enough
to worry about covering for?”

Brett moved forward until he was two inches from Jade's nose. She stepped back.

“Hey!” I yelled, shoving Jade behind me.

Brett got in my face, poking his finger in my chest. “Keep your slut in line there, pal, or I will.”

We stood eye to eye, that small growth spurt putting me right where I needed to be.

I grabbed his finger and twisted it. “She isn't a slut, mouth-breather.” I gave him a hard shove.

“What's going on here?” Morginstern said from behind me.

Brett and Carson gave him sullen expressions, which didn't faze Morginstern one bit.

The teacher moved to stand between our two groups. “John told me you were having an issue out here and may be late to class. You know that I frown on the first-period slouch.”

Huh, clever John had been cookin' up a way to get us out of this little disaster. Nice.

“I wasn't trying to be late, honest. I got distracted by Carson and Brett's interesting dialogue.” I threw a glance their way, digging their identical expressions of confused dumbness.

Morginstern folded his arms across his chest and stared at us.

Pointing a finger at Jade then Carson and Brett, he ordered, “You  go
now
to your respective classes.” He watched them walk away.

Jade looked back at me over her shoulder. I smiled at her.

Morginstern gave his attention to Jonesy and me. “I think I caught sight of a skunk, and I smelled a skunk, so there must
be
a skunk.”

I had heard that before from Gramps
.
It was time to purposely misunderstand the expression. In other words: The Dumb.

“What do you mean, Mr. Morginstern?”

Jonesy was busy giving me the wide-eyed,
figure this out
.

Morginstern's eyes narrowed. “I think you know exactly what I mean. I have to go teach class now, but”—he stabbed a finger in my direction—“I know there is discord between you and Carson Hamilton and Brett Mason. I know.”

The laser eye fell on Jonesy. “And
you...
you're always around when these situations erupt.”

Jonesy made some vague effort to look innocent, but he almost always looked guilty.

“Come to class, boys, and no more loitering. I'll be watching.” Morginstern stalked off to the classroom.

When we went through the door, the last bell already rung, and every kids' eyes were on us. John made strangling motions around his neck. I gave him the slashing index finger across the neck gesture.

Jonesy and I sat at our table and Morginstern went to the front of the room. He explained to the class that he was unexpectedly delayed due to an incident out in the commons.

All eyes swiveled to us. Love that
.

Jonesy caught my grumpiness like a cold and gave it to John. All three of us grumped together in silence, sanding our boxes.

John whispered, “Listen... I know it wasn't cool for Morginstern to break that up, but would it have gone to plan if you guys had let it fall apart before the cemetery?”

No, it would have
so
not been cool. It would have ruined the Aqua Net Payback.

Jonesy looked abashed. “I want to do this on Sunday.”

“I knew that. That's why I made an executive decision,” John said.

“A what?” Jonesy asked.

I explained, “He means that he decided, on his own, what was best for our group.”

“You guys have to learn idioms.”

Jonesy was utterly confused. I was gonna show off.

“It's not really an idiom, ya know.”

“Yeah, it is,” John shot back.

I shook my head. “No, an idiom is an expression that is not literal to its meaning.” Mom was a word-freakazoid and had drilled that stuff into me.

John's brow crimped. “Okay... so what you're saying is that I really am the executive of the group, and my decision was allowable.”

Uh-oh. I hadn't thought about the consequences of taking on John's Undeniable Logic.

“Well, Jonesy and I have not formally appointed
you
the executive, but the expression ‘executive decision’ is not opposite to its real meaning.”

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms.

A slow grin spread over John's face. “Pretty damn clever, Hart.”

We bumped fists and that sealed our coolness. We resumed the Dreaded Sanding.

***

Friday droned on without further incident. Jade and I hung with the Js while eating lunch. Jonesy got Carson on board and gave him the time to meet on Sunday. We whipped out our pulses and
thought
our reminder chimes.

Later in the afternoon, the speakers blared a message about the upcoming tests. Mrs. Calvert added, “Be sure to get a good night's sleep and a proper breakfast.”

We rolled our eyes.

I gave Jade a hug before she left for class. I watched her walk away. The Js watched me
watch
her.

Jonesy shook his head. “Man, you got it bad.”

John nodded. “Yeah, he does.”

I smirked.

“Oh, and you two are going to be any different when you like somebody? Pfft.” I dismissed them with a wave of my hand and headed to class.

They were right, though. Even Miss Rodriguez's hotness didn't entice me anymore. With Jade as my girlfriend, English was just another class. In band, I made the mistake of telling John how I felt.

He looked at me in horror when I explained the new dynamics.

“Miss Rodriguez is still completely hot. You having a girlfriend
so
doesn’t change that, dude.”

“Well, maybe she
is
still pretty hot, but Jade is plenty distracting. I bet all I'll pull out of that dumb class is a B.”

“Yeah, your parents will have a shit fit if you get a C.”

John laughed, but I didn't think it was that funny. Not all of us could just have a heartbeat in class and get an A. I mentioned that most obvious fact and he shrugged. That was John.  He wasn't going to admit he was smart.

Mr. Cole came over and asked John to play a measure or two on the piano. John stared at the sheet music and began tapping the keys. The adults called John a natural.

The notes floated out of his instrument. He used all the dynamics, gaining volume and softening at the correct times.

When he approached the fifth measure, Cole stopped him with a raised hand.

“Okay. Today I want you to work with Alex. He needs some fine tuning.”

John went over to where Alex was sitting. They were both awkward turtle, yet... it worked. A few minutes later, that cop from the accident walked into the room. My heart began hammering in my throat.

John looked up from helping Alex, catching sight of Garcia and about  crawled up his own corn cob.

I set my guitar down and stood.

Garcia went over to Cole. “Hey, Tony, I just wanted to borrow Caleb for a sec.”