The Rule of Won (10 page)

I guess she could tell I didn't feel like talking, because she went on ahead with the rest of the crowd. Soon, I was alone in the gym, taking in the empty space, not really knowing what to feel.

Realizing I wasn't going to decide anytime soon, and realizing I still had to drive everyone home, I turned to leave, but before I did, I glanced back at the seats. I was still imagining Ethan and Vicky hugging, I guess, but I noticed something else. Erica's book.

It was totally bizarre that she had left it there. For Erica, it was kind of like leaving your head behind. I nabbed it.

And yeah, of course I looked at it. I was secretly worried she'd left it behind on purpose for me to find, and there'd be some sort of note for me. Not an I-love-you note, more of a how-dare-you-look-at-my-journal note.

But I flipped through it anyway. Y'ever see that horror movie
The Shining
, where Jack Nicholson's wife finds the novel he's supposedly writing, and it's just the same thing written over and over again about how all work and no play made him a dull boy, and this proved, in a really creepy way, that he was totally psycho?

Well, there it was, right in front of me, page after page after page after page, the same thing over and over again, in Erica's small but immaculate handwriting:

I will pass my next algebra test.
I will pass my next algebra test.
I will pass my next algebra test.
I will pass my next algebra test.

I mean, it filled the
entire
book.

• I would still like the greatest gaming system in the world, the Xbox. A 733 MHz Intel main processor and 233 MHz graphics processor from nVidia create photorealistic graphics in real time. A huge hard drive stores saved games and characters, and a built-in Ethernet port enables super-fast multi-player online gaming over a broadband Internet connection. —Landon

• My brother Dave is overseas. He taught me everything I know about skateboarding. He can do a terrific ollie. Lately, they've been sending him to some hot spots. We IM each other once a week when he's at base. I have to get up at 3
A.M.
to do it, but we were always really close. A friend of his got killed by an IED last week. When I tried to talk to Dave about it, he got all weird. So, screw the skateboard move, if this book actually works, what I really want most is to have him back home safe and sound, job done. —Alex

• Shoes, check, tank top, check, but really, I've been feeling a little selfish lately, so now I'm thinking I should be worried a little more about all the problems in the world. I think we should work on world hunger or world peace or global warming or world something. —Beth

• So is
The Rule of Won,
like, a miracle or what? School funding! Basketball winners! I was so excited about the game, I ordered this custom version of the “1” pin made of gold with some real diamond dust in it. It took all my allowance for a few months, but I'm not worried about that! The universe is one of eternal abundance! I don't even know what to want next! —Grace

• I have a friend hooked on crystal meth. He's in the hospital now, and they say he might have some brain damage. I want him to be okay. —Jacob

• The
Rule
rocks! My boyfriend and I are back together and I was made weekend manager at Barry's Books! Everyone says my outlook has improved and I'm smiling all the time. Okay, so I haven't gotten the little red Porsche I've been trying to imanifest, but I know it's just a matter of time. —Colleen

• I will pass my next algebra test. I will pass my next algebra test. I will pass my next algebra test. I will pass my next algebra test. I will pass my next algebra test. I will pass my next algebra test. I will pass my next algebra test. I will pass my next algebra test.
I will pass my next algebra test. I will pass my next algebra test. I will pass my next algebra test. I will pass my next algebra test. —Erica

• I couldn't believe it. I heard some kids in the hall razzing
The Rule
, like it was something they knew anything about. It got me so furious, I slammed my books against the wall they were leaning against, and they scattered fast. I'm not supposed to make fun of people's beliefs, right? So why should I put up with it when someone makes fun of mine? —Dylan

• Yeah, Basket Cases! And thank you all for my last shot! I know it's probably not a big deal to anybody else, and I'm fine if someone else comes up with something that can help everyone, but I could really use a raise at McD's. I need some repairs on my car. It's got like 215k miles on it, but I think I could get it running for a couple hundred bucks. —Mike

• I'd really just like to be able to move on with my life, forget the past, and focus on the future, whatever it may be. —Caleb

• The election is in four days! I'm up for whatever, but I just hope everyone remembers to vote—and to remember me when they do! I'm sure I can do a lot of good for the school and for our Crave! —Vicky

• The whole basketball thing has me weirded. I mean, did we give those guys the flu? I'm going to take a break to try and think
some of this through. Doesn't look like you'll miss me much, what with all the new members. —Dana

• That stomach flu was amazing! Nicole got it and was out for a week! Her damn iPhone is still chugging along, but I think I'm getting closer. —Sophia

• My party was totally absolutely terrifically amazing! I managed to clean up before my folks got home and even replaced what we took from their liquor cabinet. So my Crave this time is for another get-together soon! Lock and load! Hey, did we win the game? —Jane

• I really want to thank everyone for saying hello to me whenever they see me; it really lifts my spirits! After being so unpopular for so long, I am so happy to have a bunch of new friends, and I'm thrilled about the basketball team, too! —Olivia

• I just want to say that whatever the group decides, I hope we're careful in a way to phrase it so that no one else gets hurt, like with the flu, even if they do wish it upon themselves. Patience and peace for everyone! —Will

• So I got that date with that girl and it was going absolutely fantastic until the very end, when I guess I was so busy thinking this was a dream come true and I could finally have whatever I wanted, that I misread her signals. She got pretty upset and told her parents. I'd really like that part to just go away. —Jeff

• You guys should be careful what you wish for. Now that I have the guy I thought was the love of my life, frankly he's turned into kind of a pain, following me all over the place, IMing me constantly, embarrassing me in front of my friends. I still like him, I guess, but I really want some time to myself. Do you think maybe we could all work on making him back off a little? —Kathleen

• Can you freaking believe it? My mother gets the freaking raise, but instead of taking some freaking time off like she said, so I could have some time off from babysitting, she all of a sudden freaking announces she wants to use the money to go back to college, which means more babysitting time for me! Really, after I spent all that time chanting for her, I deserve better. That money's really mine, in a way. —Hailey

• Better cafeteria food! This slop makes me sick! —Benjamin

• I'd just like everyone to be really honest with themselves and take a good look at what's going on around us. I think it's great that we're doing all this good stuff, and how much the club is growing, but I don't think we need a special salute in the hallways. —Anonymous

• I really want people to stop thinking I'm gay. There's nothing wrong with it, but I'm not, you know? Just because I like art and Broadway shows does
not
make me gay. That is such a stupid stereotype. —Andrew

• I still have the dreams. I don't think the meds are working, and the guy in the lunchroom saw me looking at him and now he keeps staring at me, like he knows I'm thinking he's a killer. Now I'm worried that maybe the dream is trying to warn me about him, and that maybe I should carry a knife to school to protect myself. But I could never get it past the metal detectors. Could I? —Lauren

It can be tough work being a slacker. Yeah, that sounds ridiculous, but really, there are times when it takes more effort not to do something than to do it. Like, over the next few days, I really had to fight with myself not to grab Vicky and demand that she tell me what was going on with her and Ethan. I also had to stop myself from demanding that Erica do some actual studying, because she was totally freaking me out.

Doing either seemed like a bad idea, though. I pretty much knew what was going on with Vicky and Ethan. And Erica? Aside from the fact that it was ridiculous for someone like me to tell
anyone
to study, how could I even suggest
The Rule
might not always totally work? Wasn't I just being a wussy doubter anyway? Hadn't we all just seen it, big-time, twice?

Anyone who hadn't seen it sure heard about it. Ethan, Vicky, Grace, Landon, Dylan, and the others made sure of that—hanging posters all over the place, bragging about our successes. As a result, the Crave was getting so big it made me
nervous, especially since some of the posts on the board were getting creepier than Erica's notebook.

I mean, the funding was just kind of fun to think about, and the basketball game was, well, a
game
, but Erica was messing with her future, and the posts were getting serious and seriously weird. Like that twitchy girl Lauren, who was thinking of bringing a knife to school. I tried to talk to her about that, but every time I got near her, she just huddled up and walked away, like I was a serial killer waiting to happen.

So there I was, Super-slacker, struggling not to act. At times the only thing stopping me was a firmly held belief that there was nothing I
could
do other than think of my spork and chant, “Everything's gonna be just fine. Everything's gonna be just fine.”

Instead of easing my mind, the construction only added to my newfound spiritual anxiety. Everywhere I went, classroom to cafeteria, I heard popping nail guns and whining drills, the singsong of our fallen gym wing rising from the grave:

Pht! Pht! Zzz! Zzz!

Every day by midday, I had one freaking big headache.

Did I mention Vicky won the election? Surprise, surprise. And ever since, Madame President didn't have any free time—not for me, anyway. I noticed something else about her that just made me sad. I don't know if it was because she was president now or because she was worried about what Ethan thought, but she clipped her nails and stopped painting little pictures on them.

At least I didn't vote for her.

(To be honest, by the time I remembered there was a vote, it was over.)

It was all getting to be too much. But like it or not, life goes on, or went on, or slouches on, until one day, as I walked toward bio, desperately trying to imanifest some aspirin for myself, a new sound wheedled its way above all the
pht!
and
zzz!
A sound that would change things, for me at least: the sound of paper being yanked off the wall.

Rip, rip, rip.

Mr. Eldridge, our “tough” math teacher, was tearing down Crave posters, one after the other.

Frankly, it seemed . . .
unholy
.

Kind of stunned, I walked up and stood at his back. I was so close that if I'd stretched, I could have touched my chin to the top of his shiny dome head. Not that I'd want to.

Rip, rip, rip.

“Mr. Eldridge?” I said. “Whatcha doin?”

He nearly leaped out of his skin.

In tried-and-true
Rule
believer mode, I got all offended and annoyed. I stared at him, like, “Well, young man? Do you have an explanation for this?”

Usually he has this calm look, like he's heard it all and nothing some student could ever say would faze or interest him, but now his face looked a little red, maybe from embarrassment, like he thought he was secretly invisible, and no one was supposed to notice he was tearing down posters.

“I . . . ,” he finally said, clearing his throat. “I just don't think it's right for some club to take credit for our team's hard work
or our new grant. You kids have enough trouble making it out there without putting your faith in crap like this.”

Eldridge wasn't the sort to fail me in trig just because I stood up for myself, so I tapped the pin on my collar. “I don't think it's crap. Thirty million people don't think it's crap.”

“Unbelievable,” he said, more to himself than to me. “Science teachers can't mention God
or
teach evolution without an uproar, but something this patently absurd slips in right under the radar and no one blinks. Perfect for someone like you, eh, Dunne? Everything supposedly comes to you without you having to lift a finger.”

Now he wasn't just attacking
The Rule
, he was after my slacker ways. The little adrenaline rush was just what I needed to clear my head. All of a sudden, I was totally sure about everything.

“I'm passing trig without lifting a finger, aren't I, Mr. E?”

“Yes. So far. You're facile, Dunne, that's clear. But don't confuse being facile with being smart. Things come easily to you so you're not used to working for them.”

“Is it smart to be afraid of new ideas?” I said, nodding at the papers in his hand.

I thought I got him with that, but he just smiled. “You think
The Rule of Won
is a new idea?”

Fortunately, I'd read the book and even remembered some of it. “Well, technically, no. Knowledge of
The Rule
is ancient, but it was concealed for centuries, to keep people down, to oppress people.”

“Dunne, the only reason anyone needs to oppress people
is to get something they want or to keep something they have: security, control over limited resources, wealth. If, like your
Rule
insists, everyone can have whatever they want whenever they want it just by asking, what's the point in keeping it secret?”