Souls in Peril (14 page)

“
I guess you thought wrong.
”
Max may not
know about all
the beatings JD
’
d gotten, but he doubted
Tim
would risk it.
Tim
scurried out the door like the rat he was.

The anger eating at Max surged through him now, never once did he feel any fear out of JD at his confrontation with the evil one. Nor did he care. He
’
d been cheated. He lost his Em. He
’
d lost his parents. And he
’
d lost his life. He
’
d lost everything and he was stuck in the lumpy body of the world
’
s biggest wimp. Max went and took a fifteen minute shower to calm himself down.

Only i
t didn
’
t work. He got dressed and sat on the bed feeling sorrier and sorrier for himself. He yelled out for Gabe, but he never showed. Max
tossed
what few belongings JD had around. He grabbed all the clothes out of the dresser, chucking them helter-skelter across the room. He dumped out the garbage can, kicking the trash everywhere. He tore the mattress off the bed and shoved it up against the bedroom door. Every time he thought about losing Emma, losing his family,
it
renewed his anger. He didn
’
t stop destroying
the
room until he was completely exhausted.

He sank to the carpet, panting as if he
’
d run five
hundred
miles. He lay back against the topsy-turvy mattress, not caring one iota about the disaster
lying
in front of him.

“
Self-pity is exhausting,
”
he murmured to himself. For
a moment
he was glad his parents weren
’
t around to see what he
’
d done.

A green square about the size of a large shoebox caught Max
’
s
eye from under the upturned box springs
of the bed.
He
crawled over to it and tugged it out from
beneath
a winter jacket
probably
stored there for the season. He pulled the lid off
. On top was an admission form for Columbia University, completely filled out.
Max wondered why JD never mailed it.
He set it aside.
The rest of the box held
notebooks, at least ten of them. On the
cover
of each was a date, written in pen, and a title of some sort. Some went back five years, others were new, the newest being dated last September and had the words
Junior
Year
written on it.
T
he neat handwriting
,
border
ing
on calligraphy
impressed Max
. He set it down and picked up a blue one with a l
arge dragon drawn on the cover, and the title “
The Princess Emma
.”
He opened the notebook to a random page and began reading.

At first, he didn
’
t understand what he
read
. It was like a book with dialog and sc
ene description. As he read,
the story
impressed him
. He smil
ed
at the clever discourse. For the life of him, he couldn
’
t understand why JD had copied pages and pages of a book. Surely his life wasn
’
t that pathetic that he
’
d spend hours copying a book?

Max turned the page and discovered a drawing of a princess. She had long blonde hair and wore a billowy blue dress. The label
Princess Emma
was printed underneath it. On the opposite page stood a knight, dressed in steel from head to toe. He was tall
with broad shoulders
and held a long sword in his hand. Underneath was printed the name Jayden.

“
These aren
’
t words copied from a book, these are stories written by JD.
”
Max picked up another notebook and read a different story
,
just as impressive. In each story, the main character, the hero,
worked to save
the world from some sort of evil, whether it be a large, fire-breathing dragon, or a small, evil man.

Max
picked up
the
notebook
dated last September next. This one was different, this one was a journal. He briefly thumbed through
it
. It chronicled times he hidden in the dumpster, or walked to school to avoid being abused on the bus. In some of the margins, he
’
d drawn hearts and added Emma
’
s name. JD had a serious crush on her from the looks of it.
Max flipped to the last page dated the day of the accident.

“
Got whipped with the extension cord by
Tim
when I got home. I still can
’
t find his pen. He told me I
’
d better find it after dinner or I
’
d be getting another beating. But I can
’
t find it anywhere. Maybe mom will come home early and he won
’
t be able to hit me again today. Tomorrow I
’
m going to empty my locker out. It has to be in there.

“
Talked to Emma in Journalism class. She
’
s working on a big story about the rats in the cafeteria. I wanted to tell her I
’
d help her
finish
it, but I couldn
’
t get the words out. I
’
m such a loser.

Max
Sánchez
talked to me today too, outside my locker while I was looking for the pen. Max
Sánchez
! I couldn
’
t believe it. At first I thought he wanted to call me more names, maybe even hit me, but he apologized for calling me
and Izzy
The Ten
. Max
Sánchez
apologized to
me
, Lumpy Larry,
the
school loser. He even asked me if I wanted to
work-out
with him. But I c
an
’
t. He goes to that fancy gym in town
. T
here
’
s no way my mom could afford that place.

“
Maybe tomorrow I
’
ll see if I can eat lunch with him and his friends. If everyone thinks Max
Sánchez
i
s
my friend, maybe then they
’
d stop hurting me all the time.

“
Who am I kidding? He was probably just being nice. Max would never be caught dead eating with Lumpy Larry. At least he talked to me. That
’
s something. Max
Sánchez
talked to me.

“
Got to go.
Tim
’
s calling me and he sounds mad.
”

Max shut the book to keep his tears from spoiling the pages.
“
JD, I
’
m so sorry. I
’
m so very sorry.
”
Max buried his selfish face in his hands and wept.

Chapter
9

Max woke in a good mood for once. Then he remembered
.
“
It
’
s Saturday.
”
JD didn
’
t have to worry about the bus or being terrorized in the school halls, or having to dumpster
-
dive after school. He stood and stretched his stiff body. Between his temper tantrum and jogging yesterday, he
’
d used muscles JD hadn
’
t used in a
while
,
if ever.

He padded into the kitchen and scrambled up some eggs. Mel
was getting ready for work
and that meant every man for himself in the kitchen this morning. While his breakfast cooked, Max unwrapped a square of faux cheese and set it on top of the eggs to melt.

“
How am I supposed to lose weight eating all this processed crap?
”
He sneered at the faux cheese as it melted, sort of,
globingly
over the eggs.

After forcing the eggs and orange glob down, he drank a full glass of milk hoping to balance out the meal a little.
Tim
wasn
’
t home yet, and he hadn
’
t come home all night. As Max put JD
’
s room back in order, he overheard Mel talking to someone about
Tim on the phone
. She suspected he cheat
ed
on her and was beside herself with worry and hoped he didn
’
t plan on leaving her.

Max
di
dn
’
t understand why Mel put up with a loser like that. She worked her herself ragged while
Tim
did nothing but play poker, eat their food, and cheat on Mel.

But he couldn
’
t think about the craziness right now. He had a job to do.
After Mel left
,
he implemented his plan to help JD build his body.
“
Okay, JD, let
’
s give you some upper body strength.
”
Max scoured through the cupboards for some cans to use as weights since JD didn
’
t have any dumbbells. He found two large cans of tomato juice in the back.

“
These will do great.
”
He stood in front of the small window in the living room hoping to check his form in the reflection. It took all he had to look at himself in the filmy window. Shame and guilt haunted him for the way he
’
d treated JD, and no doubt others like him, when he was alive. His parents had taught him better, yet he pushed aside their words and absorbed the va
i
n praise of everyone around him, filling his head with self-aggrandiz
ing
comments.

Was he not the star player of the baseball team? Wasn
’
t it his talent that
had
gotten them into the championship series? Did he not date the hottest cheerleader?

In shame, he thought of Emma. Her kind, thoughtful nature was one of the reasons he loved her. But why did she love him? Certainly not because of his compassion. For once it was Max
’
s emotions that brought him down instead of JD
’
s.

Stiffening his spine, he raised the cans to his sides, shoulder height, and then raised them straight up to the ceiling.
This is for the delts, JD, your shoulder muscles.
He counted out the repetitions, or reps as he called them
,
for JD, giving him pointers on which way to face his hands to get the greatest results. He didn
’
t get many reps in
when
the
evil one
came home.

JD
’
s body went into flight mode. He wanted to take off out the back door. Max stood firm
.
I
t wasn
’
t easy. The urge to vomit about choked him.
No, JD, not anymore.
Max hoped after yesterday
,
Tim
would be a bit more careful around JD now.

Tim
shoved the door open and stomp into the house wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday. He smel
led of body odor and cheap perfume
. He sneered at Max.
“
What do you think you
’
re doing?
”

Max thought of a dozen smart-mouth comebacks, but JD wouldn
’
t allow any to leave hi
s mouth.
“
Exercising,
”
he said.
Max found it difficult
to speak
with JD
’
s fear shaking his body so hard.