2. Teddy
TWO
TEDDY
“Aww, man!” Cash whines, slamming his plastic tray the color of an evergreen tree onto the counter. Everything in this school is the exact same shade, from our uniforms to the lockers. Even our mascot is a green cartoonish spartan. “It’s our last Mongolian Monday.”
Giving him a sideways glance, I roll my eyes, shuffling down the line to scoop a ladle-full of white rice onto my plate. I’m eyeing the steaming egg rolls when someone bumps my shoulder a little too hard to be considered friendly. And since Cash is my only friend in this school full of entitled pricks, then I know without looking who it is that’s attempting to torment me.
“Figured you’d be in jail, freak. Don’t ya know, nose beers can kill you?”
Plucking an egg roll from its nest amongst the others with shiny silver tongs, I plop it next to the scoop of rice on my plate, ignoring Brant. His little prank cost me dearly. After the cops had left and Dick had ordered my mom to her bed (because, thank fuck, they don’t share a room), he’d cornered me in the dimly lit kitchen and explained quite thoroughly how much of a disappointment I am and that I would need to repay his kindness of keeping me out of prison. I’m meeting him tonight at some warehouse on the outskirts of downtown Seattle. The little explanation I was granted let me know I’d be working for his son Daniel this summer.
Joy.
Continuing to ignore Seattle Prep’s golden child, I toss a pile of orange chicken onto its bed of rice. Mongolian my ass. Our school reaches for diversity and falls flat on its face every single time.
“Hey, freak, I’m talking to you,” Brant harrasses, following me to the corner of the cafeteria where Cash is currently moping over it being our last Mongolian Monday. I sit across from him, keeping my back to Brant. The last thing I need is more detentions and required meetings with the guidance counselor. That fucking bitch has it coming, too, and I cannot wait to carve her pretty face to shreds. If Brant keeps going, if he tips over into the realm of evil, I won’t think twice about ending him. The only thing I will think millions of times about will be how I want to do it.
“Tedster, not to alarm you or anything, but you have a stage five clinger begging for your attention.”
I snort, stabbing at a piece of chicken. Cash’s eyes dance mischievously, shaded thanks to the mop of his dark brown hair. “I’m well aware, thank you. It must be tough, because he can’t share his real feelings with me, ya know?”
My tone is smothered in sarcasm, and before he can bash my skull in with his own tray, Brant is called back to his table across the cafeteria, his groupies hooting his name. I glance over my shoulder, offering him a parting wink, and he steps backwards, pointing at me threateningly. With a sneer on his reddening face, he spits, “Just you wait, fucking freak.”
He turns on his heel, ramming straight into a petite figure. She gasps, her tray hitting his arm full-force, sending all of her food flying onto her pristine but patched uniform. Brant gives her a look of pure disgust before storming off, leaving little Miss Eden Clemm to stand in the middle of the space, the cacophony of voices simmering down as everyone hisses in whispers to their friends.
If Cash and I are freaks, then she’s the untouchable queen of misfits.
Sleek black hair braided down her back, ivory pale face turning pink in embarrassment, she stands amidst the mess of rice and orange chicken, her starched white button down now smeared with the sticky sauce and becoming more and more translucent by the second.
No one offers to help her. Not even the guidance counselor or the principal. Something nudges me to stand, to extend kindness to someone who doesn’t ever receive it. But I don’t, and the voices call me a coward for it.
Lips pressed together, her chin begins to tremble, and with her hands balled into fists at her sides, she storms out, leaving the mess behind.
“Ouch,” Cash mutters around a mouthful of food. Everything returns to normal, the janitor slinking by with his mop in tow. “Poor kid. Mom isn’t supposed to say shit about her patients, but her dad is on death’s door.”
My eyes cut to his, something twisting painfully in my heart. Eden always kept herself shrouded in mystery, and what few classes we shared together over the years, she never spoke to me. Hell, I don’t think she ever even looked in my direction. The voices tend to calm in her ghostly presence, though, the haunting allure she exudes enrapturing. She’s an enigma, and to a man like myself, that’s very, very dangerous.
“With what?”
Cash slows his chewing, a sinuous smirk snaking its way onto his lips. There are two holes underneath his bottom lip that match mine. We’d pierced each other one night with safety pins while bored, and received a month’s detention the next day for displaying them proudly. “Why so interested, Tedster?”
Leveling him with my own smirk, I say smoothly, “Just curious.”
He rolls his eyes, pushing a piece of chicken around saucy rice. Just as quickly as our fun has started, it evaporates when the smile vanishes from his eyes. Cash has a big heart but plays the asshole jokester to keep everyone at bay. We both know one another’s deepest secrets, though he thinks mine are way cooler.
My heart gives a heavy thump in that pause.
“Cancer. Pancreatic, I think. Terminal and near the end. He refused chemo or something.”
My mouth fires off the next question before I can stop myself. “Where’s her mom?”
He shrugs.
“Not in the picture, I think.”
“Why?”
Slapping his hands on the table with an incredulous laugh, he snorts, “Jesus, Teddy, why do you care so much all of a sudden?”
I don’t know why, and it’s bugging the hell out of me.
I shrug, feigning nonchalance. “She’s a freak, too. We know what it’s like.”
He crosses his arms and glares at me. “No.”
“No, what?” I ask, brow crinkling. He motions to the doors she escaped through moments ago.
“ No , she’s not turning our duo into a trio the last few weeks of school. I have to draw the line somewhere for your compulsions.”
Fucker.
“Then you’ll understand they’re obsessive, too, right?”
He grits his teeth, jaw flaring as he does.
“No.”
I hold my palms up in surrender. “I have no choice.”
“Yeah, you do. Get medicated like the rest of us, asshole, and stop catering to your impulses.”
“Sounds boring,” I say, looking at my cuticles. Cash huffs. He enjoys being my getaway driver far too much to deny me anything.
“Fine, whatever, but keep her away from me. She’s freaky. As in…probably speaks to the dead and dances naked in the moonlight worshiping Satan freaky.”
The smile that curls on my lips is predatory in nature, and I see it reflected in Cash’s eyes.
“Perfect.”