The Mars Project by Julie Steimle (i can read with my eyes shut TXT) 📕

Taking his book back, Jeff closed it. Though he liked that she was getting more casual with him, less guarded, he didn’t care for the snotty attitude.

He tucked his book away then pulled out blank sheet of notebook paper, trying to recall the topic. Societal pressures, parents, blah, blah, blah…. He wondered what malarkey he could come up with this time. He was running out of plausible lies, and he was sure the FBI were finding ways to look at their homework.

*

“No, I was just thinking that maybe we should be lab partners,” Darren said while following Zormna to the cafeteria after their third Chemistry class that week. The teacher was making permanent assignments and so many of the boys were trying to catch her eye in class for the same thing.

Zormna hefted her now pinned-together book bag carefully under her arm, holding her tray in her other hand. She had long eaten cafeteria food since Jennifer’s parents discovered what family she was from and refused to provide lunch for her, especially since she had money to buy her own. That day they were eating chicken, or something like it anyway. After eating the school fare for three days, Zormna was already wondering if she should do her own shopping and just stop by her house to get it. She had her own fridge and her own kitchen after all. The total logic of it stared her squarely in the face. If only the McLennas didn’t insist that she be home for dinners just so they could keep track of her, she’d be able to control all she ate.

The cafeteria workers placed the green Jell-O cup next to the cup of fruit cocktail and the box of two percent milk. She sighed wishing for something with more nutritional value. Soup, maybe. This chicken looked like it had been raised in a radioactive plant.

“I suppose you could be my partner. You certainly couldn’t do worse than anyone else,” Zormna blandly said to Darren.

She picked up her tray once she got her ketchup packets and walked to the cash register.

“Two fifty-five,” the frumpy, hair-netted cafeteria worker said.

Zormna nodded and pulled out her change then placed it in the woman’s gloved hand. Darren followed while frowning when the woman repeated to him the same total. He dug out a five from his pocket and stuffed it into her hand.

The woman gave him his change. “That’s two dollars and forty-five cents change.”

Darren nodded as he gingerly picked up the money she handed him. “What d’ya mean I couldn’t do worse? I’m good at science. I’d hate to brag, but you couldn’t do better with anyone else. ”

She laughed. “Possibly. Maybe for that class anyway.”

Insulted, yet still following since this was just more of the same treatment she had always given him, Darren continued to beg. “Come on. Most of chemistry is math, and I’m an ace at that. And the rest is following directions, and anyone can do that.”

Zormna nodded. “As I said, you couldn’t do worse than anyone else.”

He frowned. Despite that, he started to realize that Zormna was only messing with him. Her sense of humor included dry teasing.

“Just as an added incentive,” he said while he followed her out toward the lawn, “I’ll be the only lab partner would not try to use it as an excuse to hit on you.”

Zormna chuckled, nodding. She headed to the large oak three where last year she ate with Jennifer and Kevin when she wanted to stay out of the sun. He followed.

“So, are you going to go back and forth between Jeff’s table and Jennifer’s tree this year too?” He squinted as they walked out into the sunlight, nearly blind from the extreme change from dark to light.

She shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose so. The boys get annoyed when I’m always at the tree, and occasionally Kevin gets annoyed with me when I am their third wheel—as Jennifer puts it.”

Blushing a little, Darren ducked his head between his shoulders and suggested, “How about we just claim a spot?”

“Because you’re a piece of spewing pus, dork-o,” an unwelcome voice said behind him.

Darren stopped in his tracks and swallowed. He already knew who it was. Bradley Hershott. Apparently since the second day, the football quarterback had decided to target him.

But Zormna shot one disdainful look at Bradley then tugged on Darren’s arm with her slightly free arm for him to follow her. “Come on, Darren.”

Gratefully, Darren let Zormna pull him away from the towering jock. Yet just as she led onward, Bradley grabbed Darren’s other arm and yanked him back.

Feeling the drop in forward motion, Zormna glanced back at Darren and then at the forceful football player who had decided to make her neighbor’s day a misery. Zormna let go. She walked up to the hulking quarterback and peered up at him, cocking her head to the side. “Would you mind letting go?”

Bradley laughed then glanced at the others around him, his regular ‘audience’. “Hey babe, I just want to talk with Darren here.”

Zormna’s dark green eyes narrowed. “You can talk without pulling on his arm, Bradley.”

Grinning, he stepped toward her. Bradly Hershott let go of Darren’s arm, tossing it lightly away.

And everyone watched, apprehending the next events with glee. Because, though Bradley may have forgotten who and what Zormna was, no one else did. Some were already whispering ‘super ninja’.

Taking in the small crowd just outside the cafeteria door, Jeff looked up from his sandwich. He had been keeping watch, waiting for Darren and Zormna to arrive as they always did—and seeing crowds meant trouble.

Jennifer and Kevin peered up from their bench and then glanced at each other once they saw the football player let go of Darren.

“What’s going on?” Sam asked Adam. They had found an eating spot not far from the redtop where they had a great view of the senior lawn and the commotion at lunch. It was bench not far from Jennifer’s and Kevin’s tree.

Adam peered around the tree and shook his head. “It’s Zormna and that guy Darren. They were leaving together from the cafeteria again, and that football player from yesterday grabbed him.”

“Grabbed who?” Sam exclaimed, getting up.

“Darren. He grabbed Darren. Only the football player just let him go, and now Zormna looks like she wants to fight him,” Adam said.

Sam scrambled to look, gaping. “She’s gonna what?”

“Holy cow,” Mark exclaimed from nearby at the picnic table on the red painted asphalt. He stood up. “Brad Hershott hitting on Zormna.”

Jeff rolled his eyes and put down his sandwich. “Not again.”

Sam and Adam stared over at him. Jeff stood with a weary shake of his head and started to march over the lawn a few steps—but he stopped at the tree. Glancing down, he saw Sam and Adam.

“Hi.”

They nodded, and all three boys looked up to watch the scene.

“What are you doing hanging around with this loser, Zormna? I’ve got a spot on the redtop you can eat at if you want,” Bradley Hershott said, leaning toward her and grinning as seductively as possible for his thick jaw.

Zormna wasn’t impressed. “Oh, please. If I wanted to eat on the redtop I already have a table right over there.” She pointed to the table Brian and pals sat at.

Jeff, Sam, and Adam slipped back behind the tree. Brian and the rest, however, grinned and waved back.

“She saw ya, Jeff. Could you be more obvious hiding there?” Mark asked, half laughing.

Stepping back from the tree, Jeff rolled his eyes and nodded.

“Well, they’re cool and all, but I was thinking something more cozy,” Bradley continued, not to be beat.

Making a face, Zormna seized Darren’s arm again and earnestly shoved him towards Jennifer’s tree, hinting that he go on ahead. And she turned to follow him.

This time the football player grabbed Zormna’s arm.

“Oooh, bad idea,” Jeff muttered under his breath, standing back yet still watching without interfering.

Adam and Sam looked up and then at each other wondering how was that bad. It was a classic romantic movie move—the guy stops the romantic interest from leaving, and the touch stirs something in her. That was the scenario, wasn’t it?

But Zormna looked up with such a dangerous shift in her eyes, turning around a fraction to see the one touching her. “I suggest you remove your hand right now, Bradley.”

The football player nearly laughed. “You can’t be serious, Z-babe. Baby, I just want to talk.”

The small blonde’s eyes narrowed into tiny slits. Everyone watched her crouch down like Bruce Banner, trying to hold back her anger—but it didn’t seem to help. Seizing Bradley’s arm, Zormna wrenched it from her shoulder, twisting his arms. In two fluid moves, she tossed the huge football quarterback flat on his back.

“Don’t call me Z-babe! And my name is not Baby either, you moron!” Zormna stood over the boy, her chest heaving.

The quarterback lay there on the grass, staring at the sky. Absolutely stunned, he remained there for a few seconds—before he realized that nearly half the school was watching.

“Wow,” Adam murmured.

Sam stared, as Zormna almost was half Bradley’s height.

Jeff slipped back behind the tree with another shake of his head, sighing with relief as he leaned against it.

“Gee, what did you expect to happen?” Sam asked, turning his eyes to him now.

Adam peered over, expecting to hear also.

But Jeff only got up and walked off. “Nothin’. Nothin’.”

Jeff continued to shake his head while he dumped his nearly empty lunch bag into the trashcan. He picked up the rest of his sandwich. Soon after he had all his things, he walked up the grassy hill to where Jennifer, and now Zormna were sitting. Darren was now consumed with his lunch, daring not to look up from embarrassment at what just happened. Kevin sat behind Jennifer, clearly exasperated with Zormna.

“Bye,” Brian said with a slight wave to his friend, watching Jeff leave.

“There he goes.” Jonathan watched.

Shaking his head, Mark said, “You know, I still think she used to be his girlfriend. I don’t care what he says. There is no way he knew her for only two weeks. Look at him. He is as dutiful as a puppy dog.” Mark then sighed and picked up the remains of his meal.

“I dunno,” Brian murmured. “I think camp changed him. Something happened then. Haven’t you noticed? He’s softer with her now. And she…she’s more relaxed with him. They used to always bristle when they saw each other.”

“But what about that other girl? The girlfriend he told us about?” Jonathan asked, following him to the trash cans.

Brian glanced toward Zormna as the way she watched Jeff approach her, and he shrugged. “I think he made her up.”

Mark shook his head. “No. I don’t think she’s made up. I think she’s just one of those unrequited loves.”

“Un-what?” Brain laughed, leaving the red top to go to the main building.

“Unrequited. You know, he likes her but she doesn’t like him.” Mark picked up his backpack and followed.

Doubtfully, Jonathan replied, “Give me a break, Jeff’s not the type. He dances with almost every girl at school dances. He doesn’t dwell on stuff like that.” He ran after them, downing one last swig of his soda before dropping it into the recyclables.

Nearby, having overheard everything, Adam exchanged a look with Sam and shrugged.

“Zormna, don’t you think there is a more peaceable way of letting Brad know you weren’t interested?” Jeff said.

He sat on the lawn next to her, done with his sandwich. By this time, he was nearly finished lecturing at her. She seemed unfazed at the whole conversation, though.

“No. Bradley is a thick-head. All he really wanted was to pound Darren into the ground. I thought my method was rather effective.” Zormna took a bite of her chicken. After a few seconds she stopped chewing and made a face at it.

“Yeah, I saw. And I think Darren should learn to fight his own fights,” Jeff said, shooting Darren Asher a disgusted look.

Nodding, Zormna agreed. “In