Born Again

Chapter thirty four

The next school day, Thomas had a surprising (or not so surprising) meeting with Principle Janson while the others had lunch.

"Thomas," Janson said, gesturing to the chair in his office. "Thank you for seeing me."

   Thomas sat, folding his hands in his lap.

   "We'll just need a moment to chat in private, away from the others," he continued. "I just have one question. What do you remember about racing?"

   Thomas didn't answer, knowing that's not what he did in the dreams. Besides, what would he say?

   "You're not in trouble," Janson continued. "I'm just trying to understand."

   "Understand what?"

   "Who's side are you on?"

   Thomas scrunched his eyebrows, confused. He knew that's what Janson was going to say but it didn't make any sense.

   "What do you mean?" Thomas asked. "I'm on this side. My school's side."

   "Then why did you fall?" Janson accused, leaning forward. "You did it on purpose and ended up in last place."

   "I—I did it for my friend, Minho," Thomas stuttered. "So he could win."

   Janson stood, nodding. "Thank you. That's all I needed to hear."

   "So I'm fine?"

   "On the contrary," Janson said, walking around and opening the door. "You're removed from the team. We only need people who will take racing seriously."

   "What?!" Thomas exclaimed, standing up. "You can't just—"

   "This isn't up for discussion," Janson cut in, holding up a hand. "Goodbye, Thomas. You may go join the others for lunch now."

   Thomas picked up his backpack and stormed out the room. He couldn't believe Rat Man would just kick him from the team like that!

   But despite his frustration, Thomas would've done it again. Minho deserved to win for Alby. Nothing would change that.

~~~

Thomas sat down at lunch, joining his friends. Newt, Minho, Ben, and Winston were all there. He took a seat next to Newt on the end.

   He sighed, picking at his food.

"What's up with you?" Newt asked. "You look like a depressed piece of klunk."

"Thanks," Thomas muttered. "Janson kicked me from the track team."

Newt glanced at Minho, who was having a loud conversation with Ben and Winston, before looking back at Thomas.

"Is this because you let Minho win?" He asked.

Thomas nodded glumly.

"Stupid Rat Man," Newt said, shaking his head, disgusted. "I swear I'm going to—"

"Hey," Minho interrupted, turning towards them. "I don't know what you guys are talking about, but if you're hurting Rat Man, I'm down."

"Me too," Winston offered.

"Same," Ben agreed. "We all hate that guy."

"Tell me about it," Winston said with a roll of his eyes. "He made us bisect a pig once. Worst part is he said I was good at it." He shuddered. "I guess my dad would be proud though."

He must've noticed the confused expression on Thomas' face because he explained.

"Sorry," Winston said with a grin. "Thomas, right? I'm Winston. Anyway, my dad's a butcher out in the country. He tried to teach me his way but." He shuddered again. "Not my thing."

Huh, Thomas mused. Guess that's because he's not forced into a situation where he has to provide meat for 60+ boys.

"Anyway," Ben said, snapping Thomas out of his thoughts. "Why do we hate Janson at this specific moment?"

"He kicked me from the track team," Thomas answered. "Because of, you know, the trip."

Minho frowned. "Are you serious?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

Minho and Ben muttered some swear words under their breath as Winston shook his head in disbelief.

Newt sighed. "Well, he's just a bucketload of klunk. You were great, Tommy. Actually." He smiled. "We never got to celebrate. Sonya is making Gran bake cookies later. I don't think she'll mind us borrowing some to congratulate you guys."

"Sounds awesome," Minho said. "Your grandmas cookies are the best."

"Thanks," Newt said. "You guys in?"

Ben shook his head. "I'm busy."

"Me too," Winston said. "My dad's coming to town. Gotta spend some quality time with him, ya know."

Newt nodded understandingly. "What about you, Tommy?"

Thomas sighed. "Got nothing else to do, I guess."

~~~

Later, in science, Frypan wasn't there so Thomas was, unfortunately, paired with Aris.

Not that he didn't like Aris. Frypan was just easier to work with. Plus, he seemed to be having the same problems as Thomas.

He kept wanting to ask about Rachel. He wanted to know how Aris was able to move on so easily but he found the topic hard to bring up. Plus, it was hard to think of anything while he was trying to copy the experiment Mr. Spilker was teaching them.

Luckily, Aris started the conversation for him.

   He sighed. "Rachel was always better at science than me."

   "Yeah," Thomas agreed. "I'm pretty bad too," He thought for a second before he asked the next question. "How close were you guys?"

   "Very close." Aris paused, and for a second Thomas thought the conversation might already be over, but then he continued. "Actually, we were way more than close. We knew each other as kids. She moved but then came back a few years later. We remembered stuff. Made new memories."

   Thomas knew Minho would've laughed his face off at that last comment, but to him it sounded like the saddest three words he'd ever heard. He felt like he had to say something—offer something, but Aris continued.

   "It's alright though," he said through a smile. "Sonya and Harriet are still here. Sonya even invited us over today to eat her Gran's cookies. They used to be Rachel's favorite so we're kind of honoring her by eating them again."

"Newt invited me and Minho too," Thomas blurted out. "If you don't mind us coming along."

Aris beamed. "Of course not. It's great actually because I can—"

"Boys," Mr. Spilker, their teacher, coughed. "Focus on your work, please."

"Yes, sir," Thomas and Aris mumbled in sync.

But, as soon as Mr. Spilker turned around, Aris leaned over, whispering. "I can tell you about the time Rachel and I snuck through the ventilation. That was a real story."