Shucked (7 page)

"Oh
sorry," she said, covering her mouth with a perfectly manicured hand.
"I thought you were ready."

"I
wasn't." I said it through gritted teeth. She'd just confirmed everything
I thought about these small town kids. I looked at the other girls, but only
Callie would look me in the eyes. There was some sympathy there, but why bother
to standing up for me when she was surrounded by her friends. "You ready
for that taekwondo lesson?"

I ran
at the girl who'd tossed me, grabbed her right wrist and twisted her arm behind
her back. With just a teeny amount of pressure applied to her bent wrist, she dropped
to her knees whimpering. I knew it hurt, but only a little, and I also knew it
wouldn't break anything, just tell her not to mess with me again.

"Tabitha
Smith!" Mrs. Jordan yelled across the gym as she returned from her office.
I released the girl, who was now crying, mascara running down her face. She
crumpled on the floor, holding her arm as if I'd just tried to tear it off.
Little kids in taekwondo learned that as one of their first self-defense
techniques. It was only meant to stop an attack so they could get away. Not
because it would actually hurt anyone.

I threw
my hands up. "Hey! She tossed me first. She tried to hurt me. I was just
defending myself."

Mrs. Jordan
shook her head. "I have to send you to the principal's office. And I'll
need to call your grandmother. I can't tolerate this kind of behavior in my
gym."

"But
I –"

Mrs.
Jordan held up a hand, cutting me off. I knew better than to argue. I'd already
lost.

"Kailey
is one of my best cheerleaders and a straight-A student. She'd never purposely
hurt anyone." Mrs. Jordan kept talking, but I couldn't hear a word of it.
So that's who she was. The girl Alex broke up with yesterday.

Over
Mrs. Jordan’s shoulders, I could see Kailey screw up her face, mocking the
teacher who had put so much trust in her. She fluttered her eyelashes toward
the ceiling and held her hands in a circle above her head. Angel, my ass.
Kailey was paying me back for taking her boyfriend. One I hadn't even
officially talked to for more than three seconds.

"Fine."
I grabbed my gym back and flung it over my shoulder. "I'll go there and
wait for Mimi."

As I
stalked out of the gym, I heard Kailey whisper loudly, "Aw, she calls her
grandma Mimi. What is she, three?"

Bitch.
I mumbled it under my
breath, not needing to get in trouble for anything else. I didn't know how to
fit in in this place. It was worse than a jungle filled with malaria and
poisonous frogs. When the tears started to burn my eyelids, I pulled my hoodie
over my head, hiding inside, hoping this morning would just turn out to be a
bad dream.

Chapter Nine

My
first visit with the school therapist. What did the universe have against me?
After getting caught defending myself, and really how is that a bad thing, the
principal said I should spend some time with the school counselor. He said that
maybe I had some feelings of abandonment due to my mom just leaving me here.
So, yeah, she'd basically abandoned me. So what? I was better off here.
Everyone else here said her job was too dangerous this year. Just because I
thought she was holing up with my dad in some British love nest of fish and
chips didn't mean I wanted to beat up other girls.

They
came after me first. They tricked me and I showed them exactly what a black
belt could do. C'mon, we all know ignoring a bully doesn't do any good. You
have to stand up to them and that's what I did. There's no shame in that.
Certainly nothing that qualified sending me to see a therapist.

So
there I sat, slouched in a fluffy floral chair with Mimi silently next to me, glaring
at posters of smiley faces, kittens, and potbellied pigs. It was insulting and
embarrassing. For the most torturous thirty minutes of my life, I sat there
listening to him spout words like "responsibility" and "fitting
in" and "taking a joke." I didn't even try to explain what
happened because I knew he'd assume, just like Mrs. Jordan did, that those
wonderful, perfect girls hadn't meant to hurt me.

My foot
tapped up and down, jostling my knee against the chair until I thought I'd have
a bruise.

I
nodded. I agreed not to use my lethal limbs on anyone at school ever again. I
guess he'd heard about my little thing with Alex the day before too, but I wasn't
being punished for that. It wasn't until his last sentence that I really perked
up. I held myself in a slumped pose and kept the scowl on my face.

Mimi
nodded and left without saying a word to me.

As I
skulked out of his office, I couldn't help but smile. I'd been kicked off the
cheerleading team, effective immediately. I had three weeks to join another
club or sport to fulfill my requirements.

No more
cheerleading? Best news in a long time.

I
slipped into health class, hoping to be unnoticed, but immediately Becky
accosted me.

"I
can't believe Kailey tried to hurt you!"

I shot
her an angry glance. Seriously? My one friend doubted me too?

"I
don't mean it like that. Keep your crazy face to yourself. I just can't believe
you got in trouble for defending yourself. This place is whack. I mean,
seriously. They only got special treatment because Kailey's mom is sleeping
with the therapist." Becky glanced around to make sure no one heard her.

"Seriously?"
I asked. "I mean, he's really disgusting. I haven't met her mom, but
wow."

"That's
what my mom heard and my mom hears everything and she's almost never wrong. You
just got shucked."

“Shucked?”

“You
know…” Becky glanced around. “Screwed, shafted, the f-word all mixed together.”

“Nice
word.” A huge smile broke out on my face. I just couldn't hold it inside
anymore.

"Why
are you smiling? Did he brainwash you? Or did you hit your head when you fell
because I can't think of any other reason why you'd be smiling so much."

I held up
a hand, cutting her off. "I have the best news ever. You won't even
believe it."

"What?"
Becky bounced on her butt in her chair. Her braids danced around her shoulders
and she had to keep pushing her glasses back up her nose. "Tell me before
I burst!"

"I
got kicked off the cheerleading squad!" I whispered it, hoping no one else
would overhear how excited I really was. They didn't need to know. Let them all
think I'd been broken. Becky and I low-fived under our table.

"So
now what? I wish you could join band, but you don't know how to play an instrument."
She pouted, then smiled. "Hey, I could teach you! I play clarinet and it
isn't that hard. It is kind of squeaky when you first start and if you bite the
reed you'll break it and need to buy about a billion more before you learn how
to control yourself while playing, but it would be so much fun and we could
hang out more."

"I
don't know what I'm going to do. Does the school have a website with all of the
organizations listed? I could check that out and decide for myself instead of
letting another teacher choose for me."

"There's
a website, but it only has the school calendar and a picture of the school
from, like, 2002. It's ancient. I don't know if anyone keeps it up
anymore." Becky pulled her health book out of her backpack and opened it
to the assigned page. A huge picture of Fallopian tubes stared at us.

"Lovely."
I got mine out too. "Don't they separate the boys and girls when they go
over this stuff?"

Becky
shook her head. "They used to, but then there was one class where five or
six girls got pregnant. The school board decided everyone needed to know
everything. They thought tossing us all in a class together would make it hard
for any of us to look each other in the eye afterward."

"Has
it worked?" I asked, really curious. In most of the places I'd lived no
one hid sex. It was just a part of life, especially in the remote villages.
Procreation was the difference between life and death. To make kids embarrassed
and afraid went against everything I’d learned out in the real world.

"Nah,
kids are gonna do what they're gonna do. Plus a lot of the girls take road
trips to Planned Parenthood for free birth control. They're a little smarter
now, I think. Or maybe they saw how the other girls' lives were basically put
on hold while they had their kid and then raised it."

Our
teacher walked in, halting all conversation. Ms. Jennings was young, but she
was tough. I learned that yesterday. If no one else talked or joked in her
class, I wasn't going to either. I'd had enough drama for one lifetime over the
last two days.

"Okay,
students. Today we're learning about the female reproductive system."

I
spaced out for the rest of the class. This was one topic I was pretty sure I
knew all the answers to. I helped deliver more than one baby out in the bush,
animals and humans. I could probably teach today's lesson plan. Instead of
taking notes, I doodled about different activities. Maybe if I couldn’t find
one at school I could come up with a new club. Japanese kite fighting.
Ceremonial henna tattoos. Crocodile wrestling. Anything would be better than
yearbook or track or knitting club.

"Hey,"
Becky whispered, "want to come to knitting club with me after
school?"

I shook
my head. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I had to meet with Alex today. I'd
received a note from the office saying I was required to meet with my tutor
before the end of the day. I decided that one minute before school let out
would be the best time. If he wanted to talk longer than one minute, then it
was up to him to find time for me.

He
probably had basketball or soccer or knitting club, for all I knew, after
school. I wouldn't want to keep him from anything important.

Chapter Ten

I sat
down at my desk in math, ignoring Becky and Alex. All I wanted was to get on a
plane and head out of town. I couldn’t face math, and not with a boy who had my
insides doing backflips.

"After
class we need to talk," Alex whispered to me.

I
ignored him. He probably only wanted to taunt me about his ex-girlfriend
tossing me this morning. I didn't want to relive that, especially not with him.
He'd probably gloat and I'd feel even worse.

"Tabitha,
we have to talk about tutoring," he reminded me.

My head
dropped onto my desk. Holding back a groan, I nodded. During class I shot
daggers at the SMART board, hoping Illinois Jon would impale himself on his
retractable pointer. Then I'd have a good excuse to skip math tutoring.
Oh gee, I can't. My teacher accidentally
killed himself in class and to honor his memory, we won't learn any new math
for the next year.

But I
wasn't that lucky. The bell rang, signaling the ten minutes kids had to empty
their lockers and catch a bus. I was supposed to be on one, but this stupid
tutoring meeting would probably make me miss it. Then I'd have to call Mimi and
she'd have to come to school for a third time today.

The
classroom couldn't have emptied faster than if they were running from a zombie
hoard. That left Illinois Jon, Alex, and me in the room, all looking awkwardly
at each other, which meant I was the one who had to make this easy on everyone.
What was wrong with them? It's not like I was a crocodile or something. I
wouldn't bite. Well, not that hard.

"Okay,
so what do I need to do?" I asked, my arms crossed over my chest and a
scowl on my face. It was the best I could muster after the day I'd had.

"Two
sessions a week for the next month," Illinois Jon said, "then I'll test
you and see what you've picked up. If you're up to speed, then great. If not,
you'll have to continue to meet. Is that okay for both of you?"

Alex
nodded, but I couldn't agree so easily. "Why can't Becky tutor me?" I
didn't look at Alex. I didn't want to know his reaction.

Illinois
Jon shook his head as he packed up his satchel. Strange, it was really similar
to one my mom carried. But there had to be a million brown satchels out there.
Maybe they'd both gotten them in college or something. "Becky talks too
much. She's smart, but I worry you wouldn't learn anything. I'm trying to help
you academically, not socially."

"Don't
worry, Mr. Fenton, Tabitha's in good hands." Alex slung his arm around my
shoulders.

Illinois
Jon sighed and laced the straps of his satchel. "If I even think for one
second the two of you are dating, I'll find another tutor."

I
slipped out from under Alex's arm, even though part of me just wanted to melt
into him. For only one second. And no one would ever know, not even Alex.

"That's
not going to be a problem," I answered. "Alex isn't my type."

Except
he was. Tall, dark, Asian, exotic. Hotter than hot. My heart pounded and my
hands got all sweaty. I quickly shoved my arms behind my back, sticking my
hands in the back pocket of my jeans. No one had to know how I was reacting. I
just needed time to get it under control. Or find something I hated about him
that would turn me off in a second.