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

Nearby, Tammy Davis, a know-it-all who was also in Zormna’s English class, also chuckled. Zormna peered at her, wondering what her deal was. She knew why Jessica was acting the way she was.

The teacher nodded and ticked something off in her book.

“And you are of Scottish heritage?” her teacher asked while perusing her class folder. Her mouth twisted up in thought.

Jennifer slowly shook her head, peeking once at Zormna when she said, “Irish.”

Zormna quickly covered a smirk with her hand. Of course Jennifer had to maintain she was Irish as much as she had. She couldn’t rightly say Martian in the surrounding company.

The teacher smiled with veiled calculation. “I see.” She then continued to lecture the class, though still mostly at Jennifer. “I expect the best effort from you on your projects. Now onto our text.”

The teacher picked up the book and started to explain it, thumbing through the table of contents while mentioning each chapter. Zormna glanced at it while Jennifer grimly flopped it open on her desk. And though history of the nation she was living in was important to learn, Zormna finally decided she was going to dread this class. She realized that her teacher was not really intending to teach history, but to teach her point of view of history. And that, Zormna knew, was a dangerous place to tread.

“I thought she was cool,” Stacey said as she walked out of the room arm in arm with Michelle while practically elbowing Jessica aside. Jessica shot Stacey an ugly look before waving to Zormna as she went off to her other classes. She and Zormna had no time to catch up about their summer vacation, especially with Jennifer so close, so Jessica had promised to explain the ‘transformation’ in Health after lunch—a class they had together.  

Jennifer tried to keep a tight lip, knowing that Zormna might not react well to remarks about her ‘cheering friends’, never mind Jessica. When she glanced over at her ‘alien’ friend to see what Zormna was thinking, she noticed the blonde looked worried and entirely preoccupied. Such an expression had not crossed Zormna’s face since the end of the last school year, and it wasn’t one she usually held after a class. Had she spotted a new FBI agent on campus? Did she find bugs around their classroom? If Zormna worried, then she had to worry also. Because usually, Zormna was smug about her IQ and felt free to brag about how advanced her schooling had been.

But the first thing that came out of Zormna’s mouth was: “How am I supposed to do any of those projects?”

Jennifer blinked at that thought, and stiffened. Of course… But thank heaven it had nothing to do with the FBI.

Zormna muttered under her breath. “I don’t know anything about Irish traditions. I was raised military. And she said she can tell if you are making things up.”

“You can always just tell her that,” a boy’s voice came from behind the gaggle of girls.

Zormna turned around. So did Jennifer. They were surprised to see that same boy that had sat next to them in History. He was walking not far behind them with his heavy books weighing down his arms.

“Hi, I’m Sam, Sam Perkins. I also have English with you,” he said to Zormna, trying to extend a hand while balancing his books.

Zormna glanced sideways at him then gingerly took his hand. “Are you following me to Biology?”

He laughed, shaking his head. “No, my locker is this way.” He then tried to clear his throat. “I…I could work on the History project with you. We could…we could be partners.”

Zormna smiled with a crooked bent at the corners. It was the most polite way a boy had ever hit on her. “That’s very flattering.”

“But she’s with me,” Jennifer said, breaking in. “Come on, Zormna, we’ll be late for Biology.”

She dragged her by the arm, which Zormna resisted, watching the boy with a blushing grin on her face.

Sam watched her go, clearly sighing. He heaved his books and bent towards his new locker.

“That’s a hottie,” a blond boy from the same class said with a similar yearning grin while standing next to Sam. He had also followed them. “I hear she’s hard to get. But for a second there it looked like you almost got her.”

Lifting his eyes toward him a moment, Sam dumped his books inside the locker and slammed the door shut. “Do you think she’s going out with that senior, that wrestler guy with the scar?”

“That’s the rumor.” The blonde smiled. “However, I also heard she once broke his nose.”

Sam choked on a laugh. “You’re kidding.”

“That’s the rumor,” the blonde replied.

Extending his hand, he said, “I’m Sam.”

Taking it. “Adam Arbor.”

*

Health class after lunch with Jessica was enlightening. Besides, finding out that they would have lessons on sex-education in the course, Zormna caught up with her friend.

They sat in the back whispering while the teacher delivered his lecture about the kind of homework they would be doing, including a large paper about contraceptives. The usual faces peeked back at them, or rather at Zormna since many had a hard time remembering who Jessica was. But Jessica finally explained her dramatic change.

“It goes like this,” Jessica said once their teacher turned off the lights and started a short film about the necessity of clean water, “When school ended, I decided to paint my walls black. And Mom and Dad flipped out.”

Zormna scratched the side of her head, agreeing it was a good reason to ‘flip out’.

 “And they sent me to live with my aunt out west in California where she had me work on an organic farm.” Jessica sighed and shook her head as if it had been too much at the time to handle. “I almost ran away, but my aunt took me places and showed me what happens in those makeup places. You know, those manufacturers. And she showed me all the animal testing they did on the animals. And I was like, seriously grossed out. I mean, really grossed out.”

Zormna stared, a little confused.

“And then…I dunno, I realized I was just doing the same thing that Jenny…uh, Jennifer, was doing when I first got mad at her.” Jessica sighed, thinking about it. “You know, going with the crowd. Only the crowd I was following was the Goth crowd.”

Zormna waited, still confused, but sure Jessica would explain.

“You know how last year I said there were all these cliques that kids try to fit into?”

Zormna nodded slowly, listening. The conversation Jessica was mentioning happened when she had asked about what broke up Jennifer and Jessica’s friendship. It was mostly about them both getting mad at each other and parting ways into separate cliques. Yet after that the conversation meandered over to Jeff and Jessica’s odd crush on him. Jessica liked bad boys. Reminded of it, Zormna realized that she never had the opportunity to explain to her that Jeff was a lot more like Brian Henderson and Todd McLenna, whom Jessica had described as oatmeal. At the core, he was a very good boy. He just had that bad boy façade. Zormna wondered if now was a good time to tell her.

“Well, anyway,” Jessica murmured, turning her eyes to the movie screen. “I realized during the summer that I was just fitting myself into another box, and I really wasn’t happy. So…I quit doing the whole makeup thing. And now I am trying to find myself.”

Staring, Zormna felt even more confused.

And Jessica nodded, chuckling at her expression. “I know. I know. It sounds so cliché. But really…I kind of don’t know who I am right now. Or what I am supposed to do with my life.”

That, Zormna understood. Only her problem, she thought with a heavy sigh, was that she had been told exactly who she was and what she had to do with her life. And it was just too much.

“I just don’t like people telling me what to do,” Jessica murmured, huffing.

Zormna nodded. She hated it too.

“Mom wants me to go into activism…” Jessica rolled her eyes. “Dad wants me to pursue art.”

Lifting her gaze, Zormna blinked at her. “You paint?”

Jessica grinned, nodding. “You wanna see?”

Zormna nodded.

Jessica opened up one of her folders and slipped out a small sketchbook. She showed her the pictures slowly, one by one. They were mostly sketches, some realistic, some stylistic. All were beautiful.

“These are amazing,” Zormna murmured. She could not take her eyes off them. “I can’t even draw.”

Chuckling, Jessica said, “I doubt that. Everybody is an artist. Picasso said so.”

“Who?” Zormna stared at the picture, though.

Chuckling more, Jessica shook her head. “You…you really need to get out more, soldier girl.”

*

When school let out, Zormna met Jennifer outside her English class with a towering stack of heavy books in her arms. As they lugged their loads home, Zormna groaned under the enormous weight. “I can’t believe Mr. Zimmer gave us three chapters to read in that chemistry book.”

“Mr. Zimmer was always a hard teacher. I told you not to take him,” Jennifer said, trotting home with a much lighter load.

Zormna scowled. “I didn’t pick him, the computer did. The entire school was messed over by that new computer. In Chemistry, Darren told me he ended up in Wood Shop with Kevin.”

“Kevin is in Wood Shop? He didn’t tell me. I didn’t think he liked the class.” Jennifer picked at her fingernails, thinking about her boyfriend, who, like Darren Asher, was in the know on Zormna’s secret—or, at least part of it. Kevin believed Zormna was a princess from a tiny country in Europe on the brink of a revolution, and secrecy was vital for her survival. They kept the Mars detail out of it. 

“Well, at least this week is half over,” Zormna said, hefting her books higher in her arms.

“It’s Tuesday. Halfway point isn’t until Wednesday.” Jennifer’s smugness seemed to be amplified by the fact that she had no homework and the hardest of her classes would be Biology. “By the way, what did Jessica say to you? I mean about the no makeup half-goth thing.”

Chuckling weakly, Zormna eyed Jennifer. “You know, you could have asked her in History.”

Jennifer shot her a dark look that said, ‘Quit stalling.’

Of course, Zormna knew Jennifer would never purposely talk with her ex-best friend if she could help it. She finally replied, “Jessica said that her parents decided to put their foot down about the Goth stuff—especially after Jessica wanted to paint the walls in her bedroom black. And her mother insisted that Jessica take a break from makeup altogether because of animal testing—I think it was. I am not quite sure how they correlate…”

With a snicker, Jennifer nodded. “Her mom’s all nature and pro-environment stuff. You never pay attention to those issues because you never wear makeup.”

Zormna struggled with her books. They were slipping. “Well, I hope you get that car from Jafarr soon so we can drive our books home instead of carrying them five blocks.”

Jennifer could feel that stab of guilt again. She continued to walk while trying not to acknowledge the fact that Jeff had told her at lunch that the car wouldn’t be ready for at least another week.

They reached the McLenna home. But Zormna halted sharply on the sidewalk. She took a breath and closed her eyes, and for good reason. Entering Jennifer’s home was like entering a battleground. Zormna hated facing it every day.

That summer, Zormna had done everything to get out of the house. The parents had still refused to grant her status as an emancipated minor. But they had also retracted their plan to send her into the foster system after Zormna informed them that the Henderson family intended to pick her up and take her into their home if she went into foster care. Jennifer’s parents didn’t like that. They considered a move to the Hendersons’ a reward for misbehavior. So they went back to just keeping Zormna under their eye—all the time. And though