Page 10

He took one step toward her, and in that same, even, unflustered tone, said, “Then leave her alone.”

Elise narrowed her eyes, stomped her foot, and walked away. The crowd around us buzzed for a second then started to scatter, everyone talking under their breath, all of us shocked at what this new kid just said.

I looked at him. “Do you know what you just did?”

He shrugged. “Seen her kind before.”

“Yeah? Where?”

He looked away and shrugged again. “You shouldn’t let her talk to you like that.”

I faced him. “That was Elise Cline.”

“So?”

“So, she’s got a⁠—”

“Hey, freak!” Elise’s brother, Chet, appeared in the doorway. He was two years older than Elise and me, and a whole lot bigger. He wore the standard Silverwood cowboy boots and hat, but unlike the other boys, Chet wore a huge silver belt buckle to make sure everyone in school knew he was a high school rodeo champion.

He started walking toward us and Noble moved in front of me. Like I was the one who needed protecting.

I didn’t, not from Chet, but my stomach started to bubble anyway.

“What’s your problem?” Chet spat.

“No problem, just going to lunch,” Noble said.

Chet snatched the brown paper bag out of Noble’s hand and opened it. “New kid’s got—” he pulled the sandwich out of the bag and then out of the plastic— “peanut butter and—” he peeled the bread apart— “nope, just peanut butter.” He looked at Noble. “What, no money for jelly?” He took a bite of the sandwich, glaring at Noble, chewing slowly like a cow in a field.

“Whatever, man,” Noble said.

“My sister said you were rude to her,” Chet said.

Noble laughed. “She deserved it. How do you live with her?”

Chet’s face instantly turned red, like he’d just been slapped. I looked down and saw him squeeze his fists shut.

I put a hand on Noble’s arm. “Hey, let’s just go.”

“Yeah, go, freak. You should listen to her,” Chet said, shoving him back a step.

Noble righted his feet and stood his ground. He narrowed his eyes at Chet. “Don’t touch me.”

“Oh, you’re gonna get touched, you disgusting goat licker,” Chet said, pushing him again.

This time, Noble pushed him back, hard enough for Chet to lose his balance, drop the sandwich and the bag, and put out a hand on the lockers across the hallway to catch himself from falling.

Huh. New kid was stronger than he looked.

“Now you’re dead,” Chet righted himself and grabbed Noble by the shirt, shoving him back up against the opposite lockers. Chet stood five inches taller and outweighed Noble by a good twenty pounds. Noble struggled to get loose, but couldn’t.

Chet got right in his face and said, “Nobody wants you here, freak. So why don’t you just mind your own business and go back to wherever it is you came from. Oh, wait. Nobody wants you there either.”

Chet ripped Noble to the side by his shirt, and he lost his balance, fell into me, and knocked me to the ground, books spilling out of my hands again.

Chet towered over the both of us.

“Yeah, help your little girlfriend. Next time I won’t be so nice.” He punched the locker above us and walked over toward his friends, who I’m pretty sure all collectively shared a brain.