True Talents(6)

He wasn’t alone. There was another kid with him. He barely came up to my shoulders. I was pretty sure, based on Torchie’s description, that the other kid was Lip. Lip was so ugly I had a hard time taking my eyes from his face—it was like staring at a traffic accident.

Bloodbath glanced over at Torchie, then tilted his head slightly. He didn’t say a word. But Torchie got the message. He swallowed, blinked a couple of times like a puzzled turtle, and took off. He started out walking, but broke into a jog as soon as he got a few steps away. I had the impression he couldn’t wait to leave. What a pai. Yup—we roommates sure stick together.

Bloodbath turned his attention back to me. “Welcome to Edgeview,” he said, putting a large hand on the doorframe next to my shoulder. A small silver ring dangled from his left nostril. I had this crazy urge to reach out and yank the ring off, but I knew if I did, it would be my last act on planet Earth.

I waited, figuring that, just like Principal Davis, Bloodbath had plenty more to talk about.

“Ding dong,” Bloodbath said. “You hear that? That’s the school bell.”

As he said school bell, he gave me a shove, pushing me into the empty classroom. “And guess what?” he added as the two of them followed me in and closed the door. “It’s time for your first lesson.”


NOTE RECENTLY ADDED TO LESTER BLOODBATH’S PERMANENT FILE





The top of Lester Bloodbath’s desk





TEACHING WITHOUT A LICENSE

I thought of a million things to say. The problem was that out of those million things, there were probably at least nine hundred thousand that would instantly get me on Bloodbath’s bad side. Chances are, he didn’t even have a good side. He seemed like the sort of kid who’d hurt his friends as quickly as he’d hurt anyone else. I figured the best thing to do was to let him think I was a spineless wimp who’d stand there and take whatever he did to me.

“Lesson one,” Bloodbath said, moving very close to me. “This is my school. The teachers might think they run it, but I’m in charge. Got it?”

“You’re in charge,” I said. As ridiculous at that sounded, the parrot routine seemed the safest way to go. It took a lot of effort to keep my voice from sounding like I was mocking him. But so far he hadn’t knocked my head off, so I guess I was doing okay. He reminded me of those explosives that blow up if you touch them the wrong way. Sometimes they even blow up without being touched.

“Two, anything you get, you share with me. You get a package from home, you share with me.” He moved even closer, pressing his chest against mine. I tried not to gag as his breath washed over me. “Understand?”

“No problem,” I said. “You can have everything I get from my folks.” That was a painless promise. I wasn’t expecting anything. Mom might have a moment of weakness and think about mailing me a box of cookies or something, but Dad wouldn’t let her do that. you don’t reward bad behavior, he’d say to her.

Bloodbath was so close now, I could count the hairs in his eyebrows. “Three, you tell anyone about this and I’ll kill you. Got it?”

I nodded. I didn’t trust myself to open my mouth. One wrong word and he’d kick the crap out of me. And if there was anything I had a talent for, it was saying the wrong word. Lots of wrong words. The craziest thing is that, as tense as I felt, part of me wanted to laugh in his face.

Bloodbath smiled. “Good. Now, just to make sure you understand my rules, here’s a little something to help you remember.” He stepped back and nodded at the other kid.

“Yeah,” the kid said. His voice reminded me of someone who’d sucked a lungful of helium out of a balloon. He grinned, giving me a view of stained teeth jutting like a fifty-year-old picket fence from his rotting gums. “Here’s a little something to help you remember.” He punched me in the stomach.

My first thought was, Huh? I glanced down at his fist, which was still flat against my shirt, barely depressing the fabric. The kid had the weakest punch I’d ever felt. He’d hit me with about as much power as someone would use to burp a baby. My second thought was that it might be smart if I pretended he’d hurt me. Then they’d leave me alone. But that thought came a couple of seconds too late. If I dropped down now, I’d look as phony as one of those professional wrestlers who spends about five minutes reacting to a kick in the face.

“Lip, how many times have I told you?” Bloodbath asked. He reached out, grabbed Lip’s shoulder, and yanked him aside. “You’ve got to put your body into it. Your whole body. And turn your shoulder. Like this.”