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

and suffering. And that all of us are very imperfect and need help, uh, transcending the animal part of mankind and becoming something more holy.”

The boys stared at him, as no one expected such things to come out of the mouth of the boy famous for fighting in schools, rumored to have been in a Chicago gang. Kevin especially stared, though for a different reason.

But Zormna peeked up, cautious.

“What religion do you belong to?” Sam asked.

Jeff blushed. “Actually…”

Zormna popped to her feet, quickly in search of a trash can.

“…I’m still looking,” Jeff said.

“You can always come to our church,” Jennifer suggested with a perky smile. “It is non-denominational.”

But Jeff shook his head, watching Zormna out of the corner of his eye. “Nah. To me, that seems noncommittal. When I choose to follow something, I do it to the end with a clear idea of what I am getting into.”

Mark chuckled, nodding. So did Jonathan who gave him a thumbs up. After all, Jeff had attended Brian’s church on a number of occasions, and he had been a guest at Passover at Jonathan’s house not long before Zormna had arrived in town. But he had never said he was actually seeking a faith.

“What about you, Sam?” Brian asked. “Since you brought up the subject.”

Sam blushed, hunching his shoulders as if it could make him smaller. “Did I? I thought I was just commenting on our homework.” Seeing their looks, he added, “I don’t really believe in fate or God.”

“Agnostic.” Kevin raised his hand.

Jennifer blinked at him, leaning back. “Really?”

Kevin nodded sheepishly, though he shot a meaningful look to Sam.

“My folks are Evangelical Christians,” Adam offered. “But honestly, I’m with Mark. I sort of grew up with the stuff. But I don’t know if it is just stories people tell you, or if it is really true.”

“What about you, Zormna?” Sam asked, deflecting the question from himself. “Fate? God? What’s your stance?”

She had just returned, peeking once to Jeff who was growing annoyed with Sam’s nosiness. All eyes on her, Zormna shrugged. “Fate? I don’t even know that means. I understand the laws of physics, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. But…no stars run my destiny. I am with the guys on free will.”

“What about God?” Sam asked.

Jennifer peered up at her also. 

Zormna shrugged. “What does it matter?”

Jeff stared, his eyes widening in genuine surprise.

“What do you mean, what does it matter?” Brian murmured. “It matters. It…it decides what you do in life. How and why you act.”

“No. No…” Zormna shook her head, smirking at Brian. “That’s not what I meant. What I meant was, what does it matter me telling you? I’m with Jeff. That is private. And I am not evangelical. I’m not seeking converts like you and Joy, or Adam’s parents. Besides, why is it so important that Sam knows what my religious beliefs are? That was not part of our homework assignment.”

Sam paled. “I…uh. Just curious. You just didn’t seem the type.”

“The type?” Zormna frowned, looking even more confused, if not offended. “What do you mean by that?”

Ducking his head, Sam peeked at Jeff. “Honestly? Neither you nor Jeff seem like…”

Jeff chuckled, nodding. “Not religious, huh?”

Adam, then Mark along with Kevin nodded. Jonathan raised his eyebrows, cringing a little as he had also thought so until summer at camp. To him, Jeff had always seemed vaguely curious, but not really interested.

Jeff shared a look with Brian. “They don’t really know me, do they?”

Smirking, Brian said, “Nah…but then we really do avoid religious discussions because we all have such different opinions.”

“But what makes a person look religious?” Zormna asked, peeking again to Jeff. She sat next to him on the bench.

“Always talking about it…” Jennifer murmured with a shrug.

“Being non-scientific,” Sam added. “Believing things without proof.”

“Being overly prude,” Adam added.

But Jennifer laughed when she heard that, because Zormna had been called prude on a number of occasions. Tthe boys who had known Zormna longer, tried to smother laughs, though Brian just shook his head at his friends.

“Ok, this conversation is over.” Zormna turned around and walked away. She went up the hill to the school building.

“What’d I say?” Adam looked around to the others. Only Sam wasn’t snickering at him.

 

Later that day, just after the pep rally, Sam sought Zormna out from among the cheerleaders and apologized to her for making her uncomfortable at lunch. He had caught her just outside the gym where the mobs of people were heading back to their last class.

“It was insensitive. I really wasn’t thinking. I just…just thought that you might have thought the same as me. You seemed to have a more scientific mind than…” His face was a faint shade of pink and he looked at the ground a lot.

“Than whom?” Zormna watched him fumble over his words, standing stiffly as some of the other cheerleaders listened in. “Brian? Jeff? The other girls? Don’t fall back to a cliché like that. And stop trying to pit science against religion. They aren’t opposites. Science is merely a tool and only serves the purpose of exploring the physical world, whereas the things religion focuses on is entirely metaphysical and therefore unmeasurable by physical terms. It is like trying to give energy to a laptop by lighting it on fire.”

“Woah,” Brian popped up with his other friends. “Say that again. That was cool.”

“What?” Zormna blinked back, noticing all of them had come down the stands with Jeff.

Jeff chuckled, shaking his head as he attempted to move the group along as they were causing a traffic jam near the gym doorway. “I’ll write it down, Brian. You can use it in a meme later. Post it online.”

Joy was not far off, watching them all with Jennifer McCabe and a few others who were whispering about Zormna and Sam. Rumors were already spreading that Zormna and Sam were now a couple and Jeff and Zormna were no longer an item.

“Holy cow,” Sam murmured, backing up and raising his hands. “I had no idea religion was such a touchy subject.”

The crowd nearby murmured with snickers.

“You didn’t?” Jonathan glanced to his other friends in amusement. “Dude, religion is probably the touchiest subject on planet earth. Why else are people screaming anti-Zionist stuff and anti-Muslim stuff everywhere all the time?”

“Or saying you can’t say Merry Christmas on the holiday of Christmas?” Brian added. His sister Joy nodded a couple steps away. As did their twin brothers who ran by.

Sam’s arms flew in surrender. “I got it! I got it! Consider me rebuked!”

He hurried off with a peek to Mark before they got onto him harder. Mark just shrugged, mouthing I-told-you-so, then got out of the way for the crowds.

Darren also walked by, eyebrows up as he looked to Zormna. Most people moved around them and she continued on, shaking her head, especially thinking about Sam’s full retreat.

But Adam lingered. Peering at Zormna as they walked on, he asked, “So, you don’t believe in fate and stuff. Does that mean if I asked you what your sign is, you won’t know?”

Zormna’s face contorted with confusion. She glanced to the others for an explanation, but Joy and Jennifer McCabe rushed away, shaking their heads in exasperation at her. Though Jeff rolled his eyes.

“Please stop,” Brian said, shaking his head at Adam.

Jonathan and Mark followed, mimicking Brian.

*

School let out. Zormna and Jennifer McLenna rushed home. Zormna darted straight up the stairs to her attic room to get her pompons and cheer outfit. Unlike most of the varsity cheer squad, Zormna had forgotten to bring her warm cheer outfit for the away game at Monroe High. As she did that, Jennifer packed a quick dinner for them to take along. Her mother didn’t say anything at first as both of Jennifer’s parents had completely backed away from tormenting, let alone talking to, Zormna since the night of Jeff’s visit. Since that night, Zormna had contacted her lawyer, and Jeff’s social worker did come by the house to make sure Zormna was being taken care of well. That had been a sobering visit. Ever since that time they kept a cool peace in the house. Zormna wasn’t even required to eat there anymore, which suited her just fine.

“Where are you going, Jennifer?” Mrs. McLenna finally asked, glancing up the stairs where Zormna had gone.

Jennifer looked up and stuffed another granola bar into her bag. “I told you this morning, to Monroe. There’s an away game, and a bunch of us are going.”

“A bunch of us? Whom are you going with?” Her mother looked more concerned than usual, still glancing up at the stairs.

“Just a bunch of us,” she replied. But still reading her suspicion, Jennifer sighed. Lifting her eyes up at the roof to think, she counted, “Jeff, Brian, Mark, Jonathan, Kevin, Darren, Sam, Adam, Zormna and me.”

Her mother’s mouth dropped open, completely exasperated at what she was hearing. “You are going with eight boys? What happened to your girl friends?”

Jennifer rolled her eyes. “I don’t really have girl friends. My ex-best friend Jessica turned out to be a back-stabbing a jerk, remember? Besides, I always used to hang around with boys, Mom.”

Mrs. McLenna shook her head and enumerated her own list on one hand. “What about Michelle and…uh…Tammy from church and that girl who lived on Murray Road?”

“Michelle is a cheerleader, and she stopped talking to me when Kevin and I got together freshman year. And Tammy is a snot. I never hung out with her. She just tagged along with Jessica and me. And Jessica was the one who lived on Murray Road. Zormna is pretty much the only girl friend I have right now.”

So much exasperation filled her mother’s posture as she said, “You need more girl friends.”

Jennifer shook her head, knowing there was no pleasing her mother. She glanced up the stairs. Zormna was coming down, fully dressed in fancy steampunk pirate regale of red, black and white with a bandana on her head. She was in some slouchy faux leather boots with a more tennis shoe like sole. She looked amazing.

“Hanging around those guys is fine,” Jennifer continued, packing up the rest of the snacks for the game. “Besides, knowing Brian Henderson, his sister is coming, and they just might bring dates. So I won’t be the only girl.”

Mrs. McLenna’s frown eased, hearing Brian’s name once more. The Hendersons were a respectable family with whom they did things with on occasion. The parents had high standards and expected their children to behave, at least in public.

“You are coming home before twelve o’clock?” Jennifer’s mother asked, glaring at Zormna on the side. Zormna had reached the ground floor and was looking up at the ceiling while acting like she was whistling something.

“We need to get going,” Zormna then whispered to Jennifer from behind.

“I’ll be home by twelve o’clock,” Jennifer managed to promise. She started toward the door, bag in hand.

“Watch out for drunks!” Mrs. McLenna called after them, just before they stepped out the door.

Jennifer acknowledged her with a nod as she rushed out after Zormna who had taken the lead. Zormna didn’t even look back.

They jumped into the car as quickly as they could, Jennifer getting behind the wheel. With a broad grin, Zormna glanced at Jennifer when she got into her seat. She returned the excited look. They were in for some fun.

*

The game was not going well. The Pennington team was down by six points and the crowd that had come to cheer them on was wearing thin on their own cheers. They hated losing to their rival, and this game had not gone well from the start. The cheerleaders were nearly hoarse from cheering, trying to get the people in the stands to do the same. It wasn’t working.

“Jump! Let’s shout! Come on Pirate Team, let’s fight out!” The cheerleaders bellowed and clapped. They hadn’t had a touchdown for nearly fifteen minutes. The only thing their team had managed to do in that time was force the other team