A Parthan Summer by Julie Steimle (intellectual books to read TXT) 📕

“Yeah!” Joy rose to her feet. “Exactly! That’s what I meant.”

Zormna’s expression turned thoughtful. “Ok… That makes a little more sense. But what is the point of a princess?”

Jeff stared for moment. “That’s what’s been on your mind this whole time?”

Rolling her eyes, Zormna glanced to Joy as if to say, ‘Do you really want to have this discussion in front of them?’

Jeff coughed. “Sorry. Uh, it’s just it doesn’t seem to fit you. You’re more of a warrior.”

Zormna rolled her eyes again and stood up. She flipped the pan in her hand, catching the handle. She flipped it again with another easy catch. “Funny.”

Jeff took a step back, lifting his hands. He knew she was adept in combat due to her military training.

“What are you doing here anyway?” she asked.

“I’m always welcome here,” Jeff retorted, would-be-casual.

She gave him a dry look.

The little girls protested when she got up, and pulled on her clothes to make her sit again. Zormna obeyed, only because they were in mixed company. Her eye was still on Jeff.

Daniel walked in then, wearing a boy-scout uniform and looking tired. “What’s for lunch?”

“Sandwiches.” Joy rose, ducking away from Jeff while trying to discretely tug off the fancy blue dress from over her clothes.

Grunting, Daniel passed them all and went to get the fixings for his own sandwich.

The little girls went back to attacking Zormna’s hair.

“You can make one too,” Joy said to Jeff, smiling.

Sighing, Jeff nodded. “Thanks. But, uh, where’s Brian?”

Joy shrugged. “Shower.”

Jeff stuffed his hands into his pockets and nodded, looking around. He tried to ignore how Joy continued to attempt to rub off the bright makeup. Besides, he watched Zormna again. Zormna had returned her attention to the TV, staring the movie with a different perspective than before it had started.

“Are you going to stay for Family Home Evening?” Joy asked him with hope.

Shaking his head, Jeff smiled at her. “Nah. Honestly, I was just checking in to see if Zormna was ok.”

Joy’s eyes widened with surprise.

He shrugged. “Don’t tell her, but Todd asked for me watch out for her.”

Joy nodded and turned her attention back to the movie on TV.

It was a lie, of course. Jeff was doing it of his own accord. And for good reason. The same reason Zormna was so irritable about what a princess did and didn’t do. It was a secret between them—and a rare number of others whom they trusted with their lives. Because Zormna was no more Irish than he was. It had to do with why the McLenna parents started to hate Zormna. It had to do with who Zormna really was.

And who he was.

The FBI didn’t even know about it.

Jeff turned away and headed back to the stairs where he hoped to bump into Brian. But he found Brian standing in the hallway, covering his mouth to keep from laughing at what his little sisters had done to Zormna’s hair.

Jeff peeked back.

Her curls were now in two bushy pony tails at the sides of her head. And she looked bored.

“And she just lets them…” Brian murmured.

Walking up to him, Jeff nodded, patting him on the shoulder. “No kidding. The only girly thing about her is that she is gentle with kids.”

“That’s a good thing,” Brian said, nodding in earnest.

Jeff laughed.

“What?” Zormna snapped.

Laughing more, Jeff said, “You’ve never looked better.”

She rolled her eyes then grabbed the nearest throwable thing, which turned out to be an empty plastic tea cup rather than the pan she was holding. She chucked it at him. Jeff ducked barely in time, cackling as he escaped.

Brian backed off also. With both of them further into the hallway, Brian asked, “So, what did you stop by for? Are you gonna stay the night like Zormna?”

Shaking his head, Jeff said, “Nah. I think your house could not stand it. Uh…but I heard a rumor from Jennifer that her parents are thinking about putting Zormna in the foster system rather than letting her be an emancipated minor.”

“No way.” Brian paled. He looked back towards Zormna.

*

The evening at the Henderson home was nothing Zormna had ever experienced. Not that the McLennas didn’t do things together, but there was always so much tension in that house—and the Hendersons were kings at making her feel at home.

Dinner was taco salad. And they let her use her hands if she wanted to. And their so-called Family Night was chaotic fun mixed with religious stuff that Zormna didn’t quite understand. And afterward they made their own ice cream.

When she settled on the trundle bed pulled out from under Joy’s bed for sleep, she and Joy remained awake longer—just talking. It was something she had never experienced before either, as at military school the girls really didn’t want to talk to her. There had been too much jealousy.

When Joy was finally getting drowsy, she whispered, “I overheard that you might be kicked out of McLennas’ house and sent to a foster home. Is that true?”

Zormna blinked out the sleep from her eyes, startled. “Where did you hear this from?”

Joy sighed. “Brian found out about it and told Dad. He was discussing it with him and Mom. Is it true?”

It wasn’t something Zormna wanted Joy to worry about. But she hated lying to her either. So she said, “Yes. If I get them mad enough. They kind of hate me right now.”

She could hear Joy breathing, thinking on that. Then Joy said, “My family has taken in foster kids on occasion. You could move in with us.”

Zormna rolled over and stared at her. “But you hardly have enough space for your own family.”

“I could share this room with you. It’s plenty of room,” Joy said in earnest. “I’ve done it before.”

Rubbing her forehead, Zormna groaned. “But I wanted to be an emancipated minor.”

Joy chuckled. “That’s not safe. Especially in our world today. You need to be with a family.”

“That’s what the McLennas say,” Zormna muttered.

Silence filled the room for a moment.

Then Joy said, “Think about it. I’d be happy if you moved in with us.”

“With the FBI spying on your family twenty-four seven?”

“We’ve got nothing to hide.” Joy chuckled. “Believe me.”

But Zormna thought on that. The McLennas had a mountain of things to hide. And so did she.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Consider camp a test run,” Joy murmured, leaning more towards sleep. She yawned. “We’ll be in the same cabin for a little more than three weeks. If we don’t drive each other nuts at camp, then it will be no problems here.”

Zormna wondered if that were actually true. She wondered what Joy would think if she really knew who and what she was. Because it was driving her crazy. It was one thing to know she was from another planet—as that was where she had come from four months ago. But quite another to finally discover that she was a princess whom the people back Home were waiting for to save them like a messiah.

“There is no security on this earth. There is only opportunity.”—anon—

The morning came early at five o’clock. Joy and Brian were experts at waking early. Their bags were packed, their beds made, and they were eating breakfast downstairs with ample time to stuff in some last minute things they might need for the duration.

“Don’t forget your scriptures,” their father said.

“Got ‘em.” Brian patted his bag.

“And something to do on Sunday, since you can’t come home for church,” their father said.

Joy rolled her eyes and shared a look with Brian who tried not to peek at Zormna, though Zormna found the entire exchange fascinating. “They’re gonna have a church service there.”

“Yeah, I know,” their father said, “But it’s not quite the same…so, I hope you two packed enough to do.”

“Books,” Brian patted his bag again. “Can we go now?”

But their father looked to Joy.

She groaned. “Ugh. I’ve got scrapbooking stuff and stationary, ok?”

“Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy,” their father said.

And both of them nodded, a little tired.

Then they loaded into the car.

Joy sat next to Zormna, giving her an encouraging squeeze of her hand. “We’re off!”

They arrived at Pennington High School around six a.m. The sun was already rising. There were three yellow school busses on the curb already, each loading up bags with kids already claiming seats. Joy and Zormna headed to the bus where the head cheerleader, Michelle Clay, was gathering their team. Michelle was leggy, fashion conscious sort of girl with rich brown hair—the type of girl who mimicked the young rock stars and held her nose a little higher than was decent. Her makeup was to precision fashionable. And when she saw Zormna and Joy arrive together, she seemed to sigh with exhaustion and then hook up her performance smile so she would not look like a snob.

“Finally!” Michelle said, trying to sound playful. She wet-fish-slapped Zormna’s shoulder and took an assessing step back from her. “How many hours did it take for you to do your hair?”

Joy peeked at Zormna, chuckling.

“None?” Zormna replied, bemused. “I washed it. I brushed it.”

Michelle just stared, looking to Joy who nodded. Fact was, Zormna was ready to go in ten minutes. She spent most of the morning waiting in the kitchen while reading a book from off one of their shelves while the others got ready.

“That’s it?” Stacey Price, a perky short-haired blonde, jumped in. “What about moisturizer? Or acne medicine? I mean, I know you don’t wear makeup.”

Zormna just shrugged. Stacey was Michelle’s little…sidekick was too strong of a word. More like devotee. Michelle looked at Stacey in that kind of annoying fan sort of way, but Michelle also liked having a fan.

Then Jennifer McCabe ran up. “Hey! What’s going on?”

She was Joy’s friend from when they were on the jr. varsity cheer team. Different from Jennifer McLenna, Jennifer McCabe was an open sort of girl with brown hair and few pretentions. Zormna liked her, mostly.

Peeking to their drivers who stood outside the busses, leaning on the fronts of their vehicles with bored looks, Zormna drew in a breath and said, “Should we get on?”

Joy nodded, promptly heading to the open door.

“We’re sitting in the back!” Michelle announced, warning Joy.

Merely waving, Joy went in. Zormna quickly followed.

They weren’t the only ones climbing onto the buses. They were going to an all-sports camp, which included the football team, the swim team, the cross-country team, and their wrestling team, who were state champs. The tennis team and soft ball team sat with the cheer team on their bus. But the football team had a bus mostly to themselves. And other busses were coming for the other groups.

 It was also camp with both boys and girls—a legal nightmare some parents said. And it included the four high schools of the area. A disaster waiting to happen, other parents said. So, not all the kids on the teams attended the camp. But most of them did. Because Camp Lake Dale was one of the best camps in the region and hardly anyone wanted to miss it.

Joy went straight to the back. But Zormna peered around at the vinyl benches on the bus, which she noticed had no seatbelts. Choosing a spot in the center for safety reasons, she scooted towards the window and leaned her