The Secret of Zormna Clendar by Julie Steimle (best ereader for pdf TXT) 📕

Zormna just shrugged. “I cannot remember. All I know is that I am hungry.”

Brian nodded, handing her another doughnut. They had bought several. “It’s like the end of Fast Sunday.”

“Shut up! This isn’t funny.” Joy elbowed him in the side. She turned to Zormna. “You don’t remember anything?”

Jennifer glanced at Joy. Joy watched Zormna as the blonde mulled over it in her head then cringed, shaking it off.

“Nothing,” Zormna peeked at her bandaged hand and bruised arms with one eye closed. “My head hurts when I try.”

The first bell rang. All four looked up.

“I have to go,” Joy said, getting out of her chair.

“Same here,” Brian said. He patted Zormna’s hand then gave her his last doughnut. “You keep it. Just don’t get sick.”

Zormna shared a weak smirk.

“Nice to meet you at last.” Joy cast her that characteristic Henderson smile. She and her brother both walked out the door. “I’ll see you around.”

Jennifer didn’t want to go, but already people were filing into the room, taking their seats. Brandon Fry eyed Brian and the junior varsity cheerleader as he they went out. Their friends all gave these Pennington High preps and jocks the evil eye. After all, they were in unfamiliar territory.

Todd squirmed with the same discomfort, yet he did not move. “Zormna, do you need us to pick you up after class?”

“She’s back!”

Peering over her shoulder, Jennifer recognized Jessica. Goth as ever. Jessica spotted her also and immediately let out a contemptuous sigh. However, Jennifer nodded to herself. Jessica—despite being a backstabbing jerk-off ex-best-friend—did like Zormna. And that meant Zormna would get the help that she needed.

 The Goth girl shoved past Todd and took her seat next to her unlikely friend, showing genuine concern. “Where have you been?”

Jennifer glanced over at Todd. Thinking fast, she said, “Zormna’s been sick, and she’s still not feeling well. Will you walk her to Mr. Parker’s after class?”

Jessica blinked in surprise, startled that the exchange was civil. But when she looked back at Zormna, she replied, “Yeah, sure.”

Todd sighed. Shooting his sister a sharp look, he started his way up the aisle. “I’ll pick you up at Parker’s and then take you to Ryant’s. Ok?”

Nodding appreciatively, Zormna sighed. She leaned back into her chair as if it were a recliner. Safe.

Jennifer looked around the room at all the kids she usually avoided and chuckled to herself. Weird that safety came in such a place among such people. But there was no way an FBI agent would be able to sneak in among them. They’d kill him.

“See you later,” Jennifer said, waving. Yet she added, “We’ll finish our discussion from this morning later.”

Zormna gazed wanly at her, yet she nodded.

Todd waved also. Both he and Jennifer left the classroom with full confidence that things would be fine.

*

Zormna finished her doughnut, only thinking of the donut. It made it easier to lose her headache. And, the donut was particularly filling.

The second bell rang.

Mr. Keller strode in soon after, setting his briefcase onto the desk. He looked up, taking roll. As he gazed over the room, ticking off absent students, his eyes stopped on Zormna. He smiled.

“So, you’re back. Do you have a note?”

Pushing off her desk to get out of her seat, Zormna stood up on her painful feet. Jennifer had graciously forged a note, which by her understanding looked authentic. Unfortunately, as soon as Zormna took one step on her bad leg to bring it to him, pain shot through it.

Closing her eyes, Zormna clenched her teeth and hobbled towards the end of the row. She didn’t open her eyes until she felt a hand on her shoulder, and one helping her up.

Pale, Mr. Keller’s face stared into hers. “Are you all right? Do you need to go to the nurse?”

Zormna almost laughed. Her eyes watered. She shook her head, trembling. The idea of seeing a school nurse was agonizingly ridiculous. She stuffed the excuse note into his hands. “I’ve been sick.”

“I can see that. Let me help you back to your seat.”

The class murmured. Watching Mr. Keller lend her an arm as he guided her to her chair, they didn’t know who looked more ill.

Zormna rested back in her seat. Her teacher handed her note back with her things, not even looking at it. It took a while for Mr. Keller to regain his composure, but the teacher drew a few breaths and started into his lesson as soon as he could manage it.

Every eye was on Zormna despite how Mr. Keller plowed through the subject. It was an oppressive, heavy sensation that pressed on her like a lead blanket. They all wanted to know what had happened, and they were merely waiting for some kind of break in the lesson so they could ask. Several of them were texting each other under their desks. As soon as the dismissal bell rang, Jessica was the first to ask Zormna directly. “What happened to you?”

Zormna shrugged her shoulders and weakly stood up from her desk, bracing against a cringe. “I can’t remember.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Jessica leaned in. “You can tell me. I won’t rat on you.”

Zormna moaned, setting her head in her hands. “I’m telling the truth. I don’t know what happened. One minute I’m heading to my house, and the next I’m waking up in an alley. The weekend is a blur.”

Jessica and the others who listened nearby whispered amongst themselves. No one wanted to leave until they heard the entire story.

“That’s just like the crazy lady,” one boy hissed, beckoning them all to walk together into the hall. Mr. Keller had waved for them to vacate their seats. He had another class to teach the next hour.

“She vanished the same way,” one of Brandon Fry’s friends said. “One day, ranting like a lunatic and trying to put a satellite dish on her house so she could speak to space. The next gone. And then back again, moaning the government had kidnapped her.”

Zormna blinked and rubbed her eyes. “Really? She said that?”

“She was nuts,” that boy said.

But Brandon Fry shook his head. “No. No. Man, I saw the FBI at the crazy lady’s house. I live three houses down from that place. They were real.” He then turned toward Zormna. “It was the FBI, wasn’t it? They kidnapped you.”

Zormna grimaced with a shrug. She didn’t want to think about it. It brought on a headache.

“Is Darren-the-weirdo right? Is the FBI following you?” Ritchie, one Brandon’s other friends, asked.

Zormna sighed then finally nodded. “They have been trailing me for over a month. They even came to the McLennas’ to question me,” she admitted. “They claimed they were looking for my great aunt’s killer, but I don’t know what they were really after.”  

The last part was a lie, of course. If the FBI had taken her, then she knew the real reason they would pick her off the street. She had always believed their so-called investigation of her great aunt’s death was a cover for something more sinister.

Keeping her promise, Jessica helped Zormna to her Math class—along with Brandon and his other friends. They lifted Zormna off her feet and carried her down the stairs. It was like a parade, she being the celebrity that everyone was heaving on to victory, though there was nothing victorious about math. Thankfully, they set her gently into her seat. But all of them took places around her so they could listen for more details about what had happened those three days. Their chatter was mostly wild speculation.

“All of you, shaddap!” Mr. Parker bellowed once the tardy bell rang. “And open your books before I have to return to the old schoolhouse way and take a ruler to your heads!”

Everyone straightened up immediately, staring at him. Mr. Parker gave Zormna the slightest of looks.

For the first time, Zormna was grateful Mr. Parker was so strict.

When the hour was over, Todd met her as promised. And he had plenty of help getting her up to the fourth floor to Mrs. Ryant’s room. Mrs. Ryant greeted her with the same degree of concern as Mr. Keller had.

“Can you tell us what happened?”

Zormna looked at the rest of them, frowning. She didn’t want another interrogation session, so she said, “You probably heard I got into an argument with Jennifer’s parents, admittedly, about the mark on my shoulder. They were upset and they overreacted. I…admittedly, panicked, and ran away.”

They all stared at her.

“I had twisted my ankle, and scraped my hand when I fell,” Zormna lied. “And I spent the whole weekend at my great aunt’s place, hiding from everyone in that family. So Jennifer did not know where I was. I’ve been also down with the flu, which is why I stayed away longer.”

“Oh.” Mrs. Ryant frowned with some disappointment. “Well, you should have come to me if you needed a safe place to stay. I understand that it can be hard for you being on your own so much. But you can trust us. If next time you have a problem, please come to me. I want to help.”

Feeling a little ashamed, Zormna sunk in her chair. It was hard lying to a woman like that.

“Well,” Mrs. Ryant set a hand on Zormna’s shoulder, a gesture that had always made Zormna squirm due to the proximity to the mark in her skin, “I’m immensely relieved you are back home and safe. Now let’s get to our study topics.”

Everyone sighed, pulling back into their seats. Less scandalous of a story, her classmates’ interest diminished enough so they would not question her—allowing her to study the copy of The Odyssey Mrs. Ryant had lent her last week.

That is…her classmates left her alone until someone from her first hour class whispered to his tablemates what really happened. Then the rumor spread from there. They all eyed Mrs. Ryant, watching for when she would take someone back to her office for one of her famous one-on-one chats.

This time, she took Ann Cramer.

“What really happened?” Sparky Jones demanded, scooting his chair right next to Zormna’s. “He said you were kidnapped by the FBI.”

Zormna rested her head on her desk. “Leave me alone. I’m tired.”

Michael Peterson leaned in closer. “Come on. Just tell us.”

“We saw Jennifer at the dance looking for you.”

“She was crying.”

“She was with Darren Asher.”

Zormna lifted her head. Jennifer hadn’t mentioned that. “She what?”

Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, we saw her sopping wet at the dance with that freaky weirdo looking for you. I overheard her saying she checked that house for you and you weren’t there.”

Clenching her forehead, Zormna closed her eyes. “I don’t know what happened, alright? I have a headache. Leave me alone.”

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you in your seats?” Mrs. Ryant’s voice called over the din.

Her classmates scattered.

Zormna heard the thump of her teacher’s heels on the carpet then felt a gentle hand on her back. Mrs. Ryant’s voice was soft when she spoke into Zormna’s ear. “Just rest. You don’t have to read today.”

Gratefully closing her eyes, Zormna did as she was told and wrapped her arms around her head, trying to forget that something had gone terribly wrong.

Todd picked her up for PE. Jonathan came with him, offering to help carry her into the girl’s locker room. But Todd swatted him on the back of the head, frowning in disgust. Coach Baker greeted them at the door then handed her off to the girls’ PE coach so Zormna could dress out for the class.

But really, as she limped out the locker room in her tee shirt and shorts, Zormna wished the coaches had followed Mrs. Ryant’s example and let her sleep on a bench inside the locker room rather than force her to sit on the bleachers outside where she had to watch the rest of her classmates play soccer. It was a sport Zormna knew with no doubt she would have enjoyed. Enviously, Zormna’s eyes followed the play on the field, wondering how long it would take for the puncture wound in her