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

“Rah! Rah! Ree! Kick ‘em in the knee!” A group chanted in one half of the stand. “Rah! Rah! Rass! Kick ‘em in the other knee!”

“Boring! Boring!” Echoed other boosters in the stands.

Jeff’s group had long given up conventional cheering and had switched to their traditional jeering. They had started with their You-have-to-be-in-Monroe-when jokes, and ended up singing a number of crazy parodies to entertain themselves when they were bored.

Their team lost.

“It wasn’t a bad game, exactly,” Jennifer said to Zormna and the other cheerleaders when she and Kevin climbed off of the stands after their 21-14 loss. “We did get touchdowns.”

“Good, Jennifer. That’s a way to be positive,” Kevin said while patting her on the shoulder with a pained smile. He glanced ruefully to the score board.

Zormna rolled her eyes at him. He was still a wet blanket.

“It doesn’t matter how much we lost,” Michelle said sourly, gathering her things for the ride home. “The fact is that we lost. Monroe is SO going to gloat”

The other cheerleaders’ murmurs were all in sour agreement, all of them glowering as if they had been sabotaged. The fact that their football team was never great to begin with was a moot point. Most of the Pennington fans were heavily migrating out of the Monroe stadium as if the entire team had died on the field. Brian and the rest mildly agreed with Michelle, but they also agreed that it was time to get out of Monroe territory. And yet, Brian said while heading off to his truck, “Who’s for burgers?”

The cheerleaders scowled more, ducking down in a huddle together, including Joy who had turned her back on Zormna with Jennifer McCabe. Zormna frowned at her and slipped in alongside Stacey who let her in.

“I’m out,” Jennifer McLenna said with a wave and a shrug. “It’ll take me a half hour for me to get back home, and I promised my mom I’d be in at twelve.”

“I’m going with Jen,” Kevin said, though he needn’t have bothered. The gang of boys didn’t care, and neither did the cheerleaders. His other friends had already gone anyway and he had come with her and Zormna to begin with.

Brian glanced at Zormna and the rest of the cheerleaders. Michelle shook her head at him.

“We’ve got plans,” Michelle said, glancing back at the other girls.

Jeff lifted his head the moment he heard this. He looked over at Zormna who was listening intently to Joy’s whispers. Zormna seemed deeply interested, but not altogether sure at what they were saying. Taking the initiative, Jeff stepped from his group and into the crowd of girls, pulling her directly aside.

“I think you should come with us,” he said.

Zormna’s head popped out from the gaggle of girls, already glaring at what seemed to be a command coming from him. Joy also flustered. So did a few others, who were whispering.

“You’re not the boss of her,” Michelle replied, jerking Zormna by the arm to come back with them.

This, however, did not go over well with Zormna either. Being grabbed, pulled, pushed was never something she put up with, let alone pulling her arm like it was her leash. She scowled at both of them, yanking out of Michelle’s grip.

“No offence Michelle,” Jeff said, stepping up to her while gently separating Zormna from the group again, “but I don’t think it is smart for Zormna to go out on a prank war with you and the other cheerleaders.”

Michelle smirked at him, snottily tossing her hair. “What are you, her mother?”

Joy raised her eyebrows. Jennifer McCabe pressed a finger to her forehead and groaned.

Closing his eyes, Jeff said, “Uh, no. I’m male. Besides, I understand her situation better than you.”

Rolling her eyes, Michelle replied back, “Nothing is going to happen.”

The other cheerleaders agreed in a general murmur, their looks almost mutinous on him, though Joy appeared especially put out.

Shaking his head while taking another step closer to the head cheerleader, Jeff said dangerously, “Yeah right. And what if you get caught?”

Zormna had stepped back with the other cheerleaders, just watching them argue. Mostly, she was marveling how she had been completely left out of the decision-making process. She had expected it of Michelle, as that was her personality, but Jeff?

The other girls peeked at her, some whispering, ‘lover boy’ under their breaths. Others whispered ‘I told you so’ to Jennifer McCabe and Stacey.

“If the cops catch you, they’ll take you to jail then call your parents,” Jeff said, explaining gravely. “But with her it’s different. You forget, the FBI is watching her. They might deport her. Did you think about that?”

The girls drew in breaths.

So did Zormna. That scenario had never crossed her mind. Deport her? Or possibly pretend to? A legal kidnapping, maybe? She went pale, as the last time the FBI picked her off the streets she had lost three days of memory, got various cuts on her body and a bullet wound in her leg. In a gape at Jeff, she murmured, “They would, wouldn’t they?”

Jeff met her eyes and nodded, the seriousness of the situation clearly received. “It’s not a good idea for you to run that risk.”

The cheerleaders murmured over how controlling he was, but Zormna slowly nodded to herself. They whispered to her: “He’s just playing you.” But she didn’t seem to hear, or she was ignoring them.

Zormna chuckled in a silent admittance of defeat. “I’ll go with you,” she said and walked toward Brian so she could go with the boys to the truck. “I could use the dinner.”

“No!” several of the girls called out. “Come back! He’s just messing with you.” Yet not all said this. Michelle watched contemptuously as Zormna climbed into the driver’s side of Brian’s truck, followed quickly by Sam who seemed relieved and excited. Joy Henderson and Jennifer McCabe stared after her, shaking their heads. Joy seemed particularly peevish.

Michelle scowled at Jeff who also turned to go. She followed him a step. “She was more fun before you two started hanging out.” 

Stacey chimed in on that one, as did a couple other cheerleaders on the team.

But Jeff just shrugged and joined his group. However, he left with a smile on his lips once he turned away.

Jennifer and Kevin glanced at each other with knowing looks. They decided that it was a good time to take the white convertible and go.

Zormna whispered to Brian when he got into the truck, “Shouldn’t you get Joy to come with us? And what about your brothers?”

Closing his eyes with a cringe, Brian shook his head and stuck his key into the ignition. “Nope. Joy made it clear she was not coming home with me if you are hanging out with us. And my brothers are with their friends so they are fine.”

Frowning, Zormna looked at her knees then reached for the seat belt.

Brian sighed, peeking at her. “Don’t let it bother you. It’s just her fight with the little green monster inside. She’ll get over it and be friends again. Trust me.”

Zormna blinked at the term little green monster—though she understood what he meant.  

*

The D.Z. Burger in Monroe was jam-packed with many students from both Monroe and Pennington high schools, splitting into two sides of the eating floor so that Pennington didn’t mix with the other side much. Jeff and his friends took up two booths. They were laughing about this movie they saw in the mall theater that last weekend, munching on their orders of fries and burgers, with Zormna sitting near the tinted window listening in but not really eating. The dinner Jennifer had packed and been plenty.

“And this guy comes and says, ‘Wait a minute, I thought that was the left one.’”

Brian busted up, nearly spitting out his soda.

“Woah.” Adam held up his hands as a shield. “Thunder shower.”

Jeff laughed with a glance at Zormna, who looked like she didn’t quite get the joke. But then she also seemed tired. It had been a long day.

Seeing her expression, Jonathan let out a disappointed sigh. “I suppose you’d have to see it for it to be funny.”

Mark nodded. He stuffed a few more fries into his mouth while chuckling.

“We could see it again this Saturday,” Jonathan offered, mostly glancing at Zormna, though he also looked to Sam and Adam.

Jeff shook his head, wincing. “No. I think I saw enough of that film to last me a while.”

Shrugging, Mark said, “Well then, how about we see Alien Infiltration? I was told that it was good.”

Jonathan smirked. “Who told you that? Darren?”

Mark lifted up his head. “I saw it. It’s good.”

Glancing back at him incredulously, Jonathan replied, “You saw it? Mark, what other secret habits are you guys keeping? Jeff dances and now you watch wacky sci-fi films…. What’s wrong with you?”

Mark shrugged. “It was good. My cousin took my little brother and me to it last week. I liked it.” Seeing Jonathan’s doubting stare Mark said, “Science fiction isn’t completely for weirdoes, Jon. Brian likes Star Trek.”

“I saw it,” Sam said with a shrug.

Turning to look at him, Jeff laughed. “And it’s good?”

Sam smiled with a nod. “I’d see it again.”

“Alright, we’ll go tomorrow,” Brian decided. And turning to the only girl in the group, he said, “And you’ll be our date.”

Zormna chuckled, amused more than Brian could imagine. She had yet to watch an ‘alien’ movie. After watching Duck Dodgers on TV she just figured any alien oriented movie would be the same kind of dumb.

As the restaurant bell rang under the rumble of teenagers’ voices, five more people walked in. They looked around, perusing the place with grins like they owned the world. Jeff glanced up from his group out of old watchful habit, still laughing until his eyes stopped on the faces of these new figures. Immediately his smile dropped away.

He leaned in to his friends. “Damon is here.”

Brian looked up. He caught sight of the Monroe wrestler/football player with his buddies, most of the wrestlers. Mark also glanced over the people’s heads with Jonathan. Zormna peered over then made a face.

“I don’t get it?” Adam said, peeking over. “Yeah, those are Monroe football players.” Then pointing across another way in the room, “And so are those over there. So what?”

Jeff shook his head, his body stiffening. “They aren’t just Monroe players. They also do wrestling. That’s Damon Pikes and Jared Wheeler. Let’s just get out of here.”

Zormna nodded in agreement, taking in the looks on the Monroe wrestlers’ faces. They were searching for trouble.

The others in their group were about to follow except one of the boys in Damon’s group immediately spotted the Pennington wrestlers and then nudged Jared. Jared nudged Damon and whispered in his ear. Damon turned around, staring directly at Jeff’s group, which was rising together from their booth and clearing off their last fries. The hulking boy narrowed his eyes like a wolf. Then he waved for his pals to follow him.

Without even ordering food, Damon and his four friends strode into the dining area going right up to Jeff as he was dumping his hamburger wrapper into the trash and sliding his tray on the rack above the trash bin. Damon stood two inches taller than Jeff. Gazing down at him as if he were going to squash him flat, Damon said, “What are you doing in Monroe, Jeffey?”

Jeff looked up and let out a loud sigh, clearly aware of Damon. “It’s a public place. I was getting a burger.”

Jared stepped forward now, glaring down at Jeff while clenching and unclenching his fists. A tall boy with rich nut-brown hair, he had deep menacing blue eyes. His peach skin was also acned and plump. He loomed angrily over Jeff with the desire to smash him into the tile.

“You’re real stupid showing up here,” Jared said, cracking his knuckles.

Glancing over his left shoulder at his friends, Jeff smirked. Brian and Mark had quickly stepped to his side. Seconds after, Jonathan joined them. Sam and Adam followed to see what was going on, but Zormna