The Waking Moon

Chapter Twelve

I went back to school the next day with one goal in mind: I’d be the Teflon girl. Nothing would stick to me. I wouldn’t let it. If I could just keep my head down for now, I thought, they’ll get bored with me and find someone else to torment. 

I arrived early to look for my school books in lost and found. They were there, and I got them back along with a lecture about being irresponsible. When I got to my locker, the halls were still mostly deserted. I was relieved to see that the janitor had painted over the graffiti on the door. Beige on beige.  I hung up my coat and sat down on the floor, hurrying to finish my algebra homework before the first bell. Gradually, students began to file in. A slow crescendo of shouts and laughter echoed off the walls, and the air grew drafty and cold from the constant opening of the doors.

I was nearly finished when I glanced up to see the short blond from my algebra class walking by with two friends. They turned and scowled at me as they passed. Just then, Rhodes arrived looking like a cartoon movie gangster, with a pinstriped suit and a green fedora tilted over his eye.

“Who is that girl?” I asked. “The short blond?”

Rhodes groaned, working the combination to his locker. “Carrie Linde,” he said. “Queen of the Cows and her swine-in-waiting. I despise them.”

“Do you think she’s the one who wrote on my locker?”

Rhodes pulled off his jacket and hung it on an actual hanger. “She gets others to do her dirty work.” He hung the hanger up in his locker and began unbuttoning the cuffs of his vintage long-sleeved shirt. “But I’ll bet she was behind it.”

I stared down the hall at the usual pulsing sea of hormonal bodies. “How do you think she knew about my mom?”

Rhodes raised his eyebrows in surprise. He carefully rolled the sleeves up to his elbows. “Are you telling me something personal, Paulette…? I mean, Paulie.” 

I didn’t respond. The first bell rang and the hall monitors began to bark. “Come on, people! Get to class! Let’s go! Let’s go! Move it!” Rhodes grabbed a few books and flipped his door closed with his foot.

“Her dad’s a judge in the criminal courts,” he said. “They say he’s a real hardass. And if your mom came through the courts, he would know.”

I took a breath. “I’ve got to get to class,” I said, slipping in my ear buds to drown out the voices around me. But before I could turn on my music, Rhodes waved a piece of paper in front of me.

“Directions to my house,” he said. “Come by around seven, okay?”

My hands were full. “Just email it to me,” I said, turning to go.

Rhodes gave me a look of disdain. “I don’t do computers, Paulie. Or cell phones. They’re the scourge of the earth.”

I thought he was kidding at first. “So, what do you write your school papers on?” I asked.

“I have a typewriter.”

“A typewriter? You’re not serious.”

“I really can’t believe you’re surprised,” he said flatly.

“How do you do your research?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of science journals? Published dissertations? Microfiche?”

“Microfiche?” I burst out laughing.

“You think kids are smarter now than they were fifty years ago?” he asked, without sarcasm. “Just take the paper already.”

When I got to class, Carrie Linde and her two friends were already in their seats, arms crossed, watching me with smirks on their faces. They laughed when I accidentally sat down in the wrong desk and had to move to the one behind it. Since the algebra teacher didn’t seem to care much about anything, I left my ear buds in throughout the class, drowning out every muffled giggle and whispered barb with Belle and Sebastian.