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She pulled her blonde hair away from her face and twisted it behind her head, forming a knot.
 
You could actually sense her weighing her options—screw over her popular former boyfriend or side with this new guy, who obviously was going to dwarf Hastings’ standings in school.
 
She took in every ounce of him and, unless you were blind or dead, you’d be a fool not to see the attraction she was trying to conceal.
 

“It was Mike,” she said to the driver.
 
“He tried to spit on Moore, but he missed and spit on me, instead.”

“Who’s Moore,” the new kid said.

She screwed up her face at him.
 
“Moore,” she said, pointing at me.
 
“Him.”

“You say ‘him’ like you just realized you’ve got a piece of dog shit stuck on the bottom of your shoe.
 
Why not show him some respect and address him by his first name?”

“I don’t even know his first name.”

That was a lie.
 
We’ve been going to school since kindergarten.
 
We’ve known each other since we were kids.
 
I just looked at her and shook my head.

The new kid looked at me and, if I wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of a smile on his lips.
 
“I’m Alex,” he said.
 
“Just moved here from Manhattan, which I’m happy to be out of.
 
At least, I think I am.
 
I thought I was getting away from all this.
 
What’s your name?”

“Seth,” I said.

“Good to meet you, Seth.
 
How about having lunch with me later?
 
I’m new here and could use a friend to show me around.”
 

He looked at Sara.
 
“See how easy that was?
 
I think I might have just made a new friend.
 
His name is Seth Moore, the one who
didn’t
spit on you.
 
The one who
didn’t
call out the guy who
did
spit on you when every finger was pointed at him.
 
I’d say that’s someone worth knowing.
 
I’d say that’s someone I want to be friends with.
 
What’s your name?”

She lowered her eyes.
 
She was trying to play it cool, but it was clear she was shaken by being pressed.
 
He was breaking every rule.
 
This isn’t how their caste system worked.
 

“I’m Sara.”

“Perfect,” Alex said.
 
“So, let me introduce you two, even though I’m pretty sure you already know each other.
 
Seth, this is Sara.
 
Sara, this is Seth.
 
And that guy who spit on you?
 
Until he apologizes to Seth and to you, he isn’t worth being introduced.”

But Hastings didn’t apologize.
 
Instead, armed with his pissed-off face and his set mouth, he looked down the length of the bus and glared at me.
 

It was at that moment I knew I was in for it—he’d come for me.
 
He’d get a group of his friends and he’d get me.
 
He’d find that pocket of time when no one was looking and they’d corner me—God knows, it had happened before.
 
As I sat there looking back at him, I wished the day was over now even though it was just beginning.

First day of school and already, I was looking into the well of my own hell.

CHAPTER TWO

When I stepped off the bus, Alex came alongside me and slapped me on the back.
 
“So, that was intense,” he said, while Hastings walked ahead of us.
 
“That happen often?”

“It’s never not happened.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“I’ve learned to live with it.”

“You’ve learned to live with it?”

“I guess so.”

“Nobody should learn to live with that.
 
My older brother did for awhile and I hated it.
 
I couldn’t stand what people did to him.
 
But then he put an end to it.
 
You can, too.”

“What was his secret?”

He smiled.
 
“At first, it was me.
 
I’ve always been the tall one in the family.
 
But then he found his confidence and decided enough was enough.”
 

He looked ahead at the school.
 
Crowds were moving past us and I was aware of some people looking back, wondering why I was walking with this guy.
 
Sara was one of them.
 
She turned her freshly cleaned face around, tried for a smile, but because I also was there, all she could manage was a face filled with smiling confusion.

“So, lunch later?” he said.
 
“I need to go to the office and sign some papers.”

“Sure,” I said.

“And listen to me,” he said.
 
“Don’t take their crap.”

“Easier said than done.”

“We’ll work on that.”

Behind me, I could hear my name being called.
 
I turned and saw creepy Jim off to the right.
 
What was he doing here?
 
He was sitting on the hood of his beat-up Buick and sipping something tucked in a paper bag.
 
Pure class.
 
He nodded at me and waved me over.

“You know him?”

“Only by association.”

“He looks like a character,” he said.
 
“Let’s catch up later.
 
What grade are you?”

“Senior.”

“Same here.
 
I’ll ask for the same homeroom.”

“That would be cool.
 
See you at lunch.”

I watched him walk away and couldn’t help wondering why he’d been so nice.
 
Was it just because his brother was bullied?
 
Could be.
 
Who knows?
 
Best not to question it.
 
It’s not often that I’m treated with any sort of kindness and if I was honest, I have to admit that I felt uncomfortable with it.
 
Was there an ulterior motive?
 
I thought about it and decided it didn’t make sense.
 
He was new in school.
 
He didn’t know me.
 

Maybe he really was looking for a friend.

I walked over to creepy Jim, who looked like a skeleton hiding behind a gray beard.
 
He looked like hell but truth be told, I felt more comfortable around him than I did around Alex.
 
This is where I belonged.
 
It’s where I’d always belonged.
 
I didn’t belong with the good-looking, affluent crowd.
 
I belonged tight with the likes of creepy Jim and everyone else like him.
 

“What’s up?” I said as I came near him.
 
“What are you doing here?”

“Got something for you.”

Rabies?
 
A staph infection?
 
Tuberculosis?
 
“What’s that?”

“Just something I’ve been meaning to give you for awhile, but haven’t.”

Was he shit faced?
 
Was he messing with me?
 
The only thing creepy Jim had ever given me were the creeps.

“Who were you walking with?”

“I don’t know,” I said.
 
“He’s new here.
 
Name’s Alex or something.”

“Why was he walking with you?
 
Nobody walks with you.”

“Thanks.”

“You know what I mean.
 
I ain’t here to bust your balls, Seth.
 
Just something off about it.”

He was right.
 
It didn’t make sense to me either.
 
I shrugged at him.

“There’s something I want to give you.”

“You’ve already said that.
 
Look, I need to get inside.
 
The bell is going to ring soon.
 
If I walk in late and there’s no seat for me, do you have any idea how that’s going to go down?”

“That’s sort of what this is all about,” he said, reaching into his pants pocket.
 
He pulled out a blue velvet bag and kept it cupped in one hand.
 
With his free hand, he took a swig from whatever was in the brown bag.
 
He coughed and there it was—a rush of whiskey.
 
Six feet separated us and I could smell it from here.
 
“You know,” he said.
 
“I know you have a tough time of it.
 
Not just at home, but everywhere.”

I really didn’t want to hear this, especially from a drunk.
 
I had enough of those in my life.

“But this will help you.”
 
He lifted the velvet bag.
 
“I wanted to give it to you years ago, but you were too young for it.
 
My daddy gave it to me when I was your age and going through the same shit.”

“What are you talking about?
 
Jim, I gotta go.”

“Not yet, you don’t.
 
I want you to watch something.”
 
He dipped into the bag and pulled out a necklace.
 
He lowered his head, put it on around his neck and then I could see what was dangling from the end of it.
 
It either was a flat piece of rock or a piece of bone.
 
It was tough to tell, but Jim was thumbing it.
 
“Been a long time since I wore this.
 
Maybe twenty years.
 
Still give me a little rush.
 
I’d forgotten that.”

What was this?
 
Voodoo?
 
What was Jim going to do next—skin squirrels?
 
I didn’t have time for it.
 
He saw I was about to speak and held up a finger.
 
Then, he turned that finger so it pointed at the students leaving the rows of school buses.
 
“Tell me which one picks on you the most.”

“We’d be here all day, Jim.”

“Just pick one.”

I wanted out of there.
 
I turned and looked over the crowd.
 
Coming off one of the buses was Jake Tyler, who was right up there with Mike Hastings in treating me like a piece of shit ever since I’d first met him in grade school.
 
“Him,” I said.
 
“The one getting off that bus over there.
 
His name is Jake.
 
He’s been after me since I can remember.”

“If anything could happen to him right now—something that would humiliate him—what would you choose?”

Jake was now walking with a handful of friends, all of whom had joined him in turning me into the person I was today.
 
A nothing.
 
A nobody.
 
The last person you wanted to be seen with.
 
The first person whose ass you wanted to kick.
 
Just watching him laugh and walk with that swagger of his was enough to make my cheeks flush.
 
Like Hastings, he’d won life’s lottery.
 
Nothing touched him.
 

Without even knowing it, I said, “I’d like to see him break his nose.”

“You sure about that?”

“Why not?
 
He’s done enough to me and others over the years to deserve it.
 
I also know he’s even dished out a few broken noses of his own.
 
I’d like to see him trip over his feet, smash his face on the pavement and come up crying like a baby while his broken nose bleeds all over his new clothes.”

Jim slid off the hood of the car.
 
He reached out and touched my forearm, and I noticed how warm his hand was.
 
“He pick on you a lot?”

“He picks on me.”

“Wonder what he’d look like with a broken nose?”

“Probably still better than me without a broken nose.”

“Only one way to find out.”

His hand was growing warmer—and then it got hot.
 
I looked at him and he appeared to be somewhere else.
 
His eyes weren’t right—they were shiny, glossy.
 
And though it was daylight, there was something else about him.
 
It was barely noticeable, but he was glowing.

“Watch,” he said.
 
He parted his lips and blew a rush of air.
 

I looked over at Tyler, who tripped over his feet and fell face-first on the pavement.
 
He hit it hard.
 
Those around him stepped back in surprise, then drew closer when he started screaming.
 

I turned to Jim.
 
“What—?”

“Just watch.”

Tyler rolled onto his side and his hands flew to his nose.
 
Blood spilled from between his fingers and dripped down his face, curled over his mouth and chin, and then onto his new clothes.
 

Jim released his grip from my arm.
 
I pressed my hand over the spot where it had been and found it still hot.
 
Unbelieving, I watched one of the teachers rush out of the school and stop beside Tyler, who was crying like a newborn, just as I’d imagined it.
 
His eyes were squinted tight and he was blubbering uncontrollably.
 

Creepy Jim was all business.
 
He took off the necklace and gave it to me.
 
“Put it on.”

“What did you just do?”

“Something I shouldn’t have done, but given what you said, he probably deserved it.”
 
He shot me a sidelong glance.
 
“And you wanted it—don’t forget that.
 
If you ask this necklace for anything, you’d better want it like you’ve never wanted anything in your life.
 
There’s no turning back.”
 
He nodded at the necklace just as the bell rang.
 
“Put it on.”

“I don’t want it.”

“You got a long year ahead of you, boy.
 
Why not make it tolerable?
 
Think twice about it.
 
Put it on.”

“What is it?”

“It’s an amulet.
 
It can help you just as it helped me.”