Saving Montgomery Sole (21 page)

I ran until I couldn't feel my footfalls, just a thundering pounding beneath my waist. In the distance, I heard a tweet from the football practice on the far field. I took off around the school, scanning the horizon for the Reverend White. I could feel him striding toward me, legs stiff, arms out, like some sort of Christian Frankenstein.

I circled back toward the south parking lot—and ran right into Kenneth White.

It was like a particle collision, a burst of energy that sent us both flying back and onto our butts. I scrambled to my feet as fast as I could.

Kenneth pulled himself to his feet, dusted off his hands. “Watch yourself,” he said.

“Watch
myself
?” I gasped. “Are you serious?”

Kenneth shook his head. Walked over to his bag and picked it up.

The gravel slid under my feet as I paced.

In sight

not see

black light

not be

Kenneth looked up.

“Excuse me,
preacher
,” I spat. My heart was beating so fast I could hear it in my lips.

“Don't…” Kenneth said, his voice low.

“Don't
what
?” I cut in, stepping forward, reaching to wrap my fingers around the Eye. “You got something to say?”

Kenneth shook his head, dusted off his bag. Coolly. “Nope,” he said.

“Montgomery!” Thomas and Naoki, in chorus, came running around the corner.

“What's going on?” Naoki gasped.

“Yeah. Tell them.” I pointed at Kenneth. “Tell them why you were pointing at me. Tell them why you were pointing me out
to your dad
!”

Kenneth looked at Naoki and back at me. He was still holding his bag over his shoulder.

“I was walking,” I said, turning to Thomas, “down the hall and this homophobe
pointed me out
to his
father
.”

Thomas kept his eyes steady on me like he was trying to read my insides.

“Tell me that's not true,” I said, pointing at Kenneth. “God's honest truth. That's a thing, right?”

“
Augh!
” Naoki threw her bag down. It made a terrible, crashing, glass-breaking noise.

“Oh,” Thomas said.

Naoki knelt down and opened her bag. Inside were thick-cut, broken pieces of glass. “It was a crystal ball,” she said, to the broken pieces mostly.

Kenneth stepped toward her. “You okay?”

“How about you just get out of here?” I barked. “No one wants you here. Why don't you just go back to church and get homeschooled or whatever it is you do?”

Naoki stood over her bag. “What is wrong with you?” she whispered.

She was talking … to me.

Naoki's eyes searched my face. Her cheeks were all flushed and pink. Her voice rose. “Why are you acting like this?”

My eyes were practically popping out of my head.
Now
she was taking
his
side? Actually standing there, in front of him, and calling me out?

“You know what?” I sneered. “When it's your family that people are attacking, then maybe you'll get it.”

“You don't know what you're talking about,” Naoki said. “You think you're the only person who's ever been oppressed or hurt or treated badly because of who you are?” Naoki pressed her hands to her face.

“Naoki,” Thomas whispered, reaching over to touch her shoulder.

“
No!
” Naoki pulled away, glaring at me. “
You!
” Naoki's voice hit a shout. Then got quiet. “
You
should know better.”

Then, I swear to God, she walked over to Kenneth and said, in a regular, non-mad voice, “Let's go.”

“You know what?” I screeched, “You suck! I should know better? The only thing I clearly don't know is how to pick a
friend
.”

I turned and started speed-walking away from the school, away from Naoki and everyone else at Jefferson, as fast as I could.

I didn't hear Thomas running behind me until he was right by my shoulder.

“Okay. Let's go,” he said. He grabbed my arm, steering me across the street.

I tried to tug my arm out of his grip. “What are you doing?
Hey!
”

Thomas stopped. “I'm taking you for a talking-to, Montgomery Sole,” he said. “Now, let's go.” He picked up my arm again, this time gently, and turned us toward the park. “This is the part of the movie where we get serious.”

*   *   *

We went to Thomas's favorite park. Breakup park. The park where I took him for all his breakups. A tiny park of no more than twelve square feet of grass and a few trees. A bench of warped wood and iron.

Thomas dumped me onto the bench, then sat down next to me, folding his arms. “Okay. Now, tell me what's happening.”

I stared at the cuffs of my pants, which were covered in dust. “Well, Naoki just yelled at me.”

“Montgomery.” Thomas adjusted himself so he was sitting cross-legged, facing me.

“What?” I spun around.

A gust of wind must have filled Thomas's lungs and exploded out of him.
“Jesus, Montgomery, what is going on with you?”
Thomas sat back. “Okay. I'm sorry. I shouldn't yell. Just, tell me what is going on?”

“Well,” I fumed, “let's see. We've got someone who thinks we're all going to hell postering the city with, like, ‘Save the American Family' crap. Which you don't think is a big deal.”

“What does that have to do with Kenneth?” Thomas asked.

I jumped up off the bench. There was so much electricity stabbing at my insides I couldn't keep still. “Kenneth White is the
son
of Reverend White. Does it seem all that far-fetched to you that the son of the hater of gays would eventually have
something
to say about the queers at Jefferson High?”

“The Reverend White…” Thomas started.

“No one at this school will care about us getting screwed but us, Thomas!” I started to pace. “Crosses up on the lockers, no one cares. Matt Truit calls you a fag, no one cares.
No one
cares,
no one
at Jefferson High is going to do anything about it.”

A bunch of little kids were playing in the park on the swings. The sky was turning gray. A little ribbon of cold wrapped around my neck. I plonked myself back down on the bench and tried to pull my legs in to get warm.

Thomas sat, quiet. Then he said, “Did you do something to him? To Matt? That day?”

“I didn't touch him.” Thomas's eyes were boring little holes in my soul. I looked down. “I mean, it's possible that the Eye might have done something, but…”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Eye…”
The Eye what?
I thought.

Thomas's eyes narrowed. “The Eye? What happened to sharing your insights with the Mystery Club? I thought we were exploring the bounds of reality together. I thought we were all going to
wield
.”

“We're painting sets this week,” I said.

“Okay, well, now I'm all ears. Tell me about your Eye.”

“I don't know what it is. Sometimes, when I'm mad. And I hold it. Stuff happens.”

“What stuff?” Thomas leaned forward. “Monty.”

“It only happens when I'm wearing the Eye.” My hands flailed, then dropped, useless, into my lap. “I don't know exactly what
it
is.”

I told Thomas about the last few days. The images in my head were scattered on the floor like some sort of terrible collage. What happened first? What happened after the box arrived? Then High Bun disappearing off the bleachers? And Matt? How did I even know what was happening?

Thomas furrowed his brow. “So
it
happened more than once.”

I bowed my head, which was suddenly like a brick. “I guess.”

Naoki would understand
, I thought.

Then another thought hit me like a movie punch to the stomach.
No, she wouldn't.
She was probably hanging out with Kenneth right now. Talking about me.

Thomas appeared to be deep in serious thought. He stared at me like I was an exam. I got the feeling that he was ready to chase me down if I made a break for it. “Where is it now? The stone. The Eye of Know.”

“Safe,” I said.

Thomas nodded. “Okay. Okay. So get rid of it.”

“What?”

“Montgomery.”

I shook my head.

“Montgomery, if you do, in fact, have a stone that is causing harm to people. In
any
way. Why would you hold on to it?”

Two girls with ice cream cones stopped in midwalk and midlick to stare at Thomas and me.

So we stopped for a sec.

Till they kept licking and walking.

I stared. At Thomas. “I'm not getting rid of it.”

It didn't even occur to me it was true until I said it. Because even if I didn't understand what the Eye was doing, I felt like it was going to keep me safe. Because even if I didn't understand why, it felt powerful. Protecting.

And I was not safe. Maybe no one I loved was safe. Not with all this stuff going on. Not with “Save the American Family,” not with Kenneth. Maybe I was never safe. Not ever.

I needed it.

“Okay,” Thomas snapped. “Here's the thing. I don't know what this stone is or does or this Eye or whatever. But it is clear to me that you
think
it might be doing bad things to people. And it is freaking me out that that is
not
freaking you out. And let's just say that this—
this
—is exactly how being a villain starts. Villains are people who are pissed off and who get enough power to do something about it. And then they
do that thing
even though that thing is
hurting someone
.”

My cheeks burned. “I'm the
villain
. Seriously? You can go to this school and deal with this crap and think that
I'm
the villain? That's messed up.”

There was a long silence, during which the temperature dropped at least one more degree.

“I know it's bad sometimes, Monty.” Thomas reached forward. I scooted back. “But it doesn't make things any better to … hate them, like this. It's just … it's a black hole, Monty. It's not worth it.”

“Well. I hate them anyway,” I said.

Thomas looked up to the sky. “You know, I vowed long ago never to let some stupid kids make me bitter at a young age. That's why they don't touch me. Because I won't let them. You shouldn't, either.”

Thomas scanned the park, presumably taking in the little kids playing. The moms and strollers. The citizens of Aunty. “Do you remember when we first met?”

“Of course.” It was right after the Jefferson Middle School and High School merged. I was in seventh grade, and he was in eighth grade, but I saw him in the halls, walking to class, all the time. He had this crazy jacket on that was black and white checkers. Long, skinny black pants that were so tight I thought they were leggings. Lots of other kids thought they were leggings, too. Sometimes he wore a top hat. Sometimes that top hat had a feather in it.

It was his circus phase.

“You know, of course, that I did not want to be here. And that saying ‘I did not want to be here' is a gross understatement.” Thomas shook his head. “When we moved to Aunty I remember pummeling the front steps of the house we moved into like, ‘This is
not
San Francisco!'” For dramatic effect, Thomas shook his fists at the sky.

“Tragedy,” I mumbled.

“Don't mock. This is a serious story, Montgomery. Listen to my tone. Very serious. So. I thought I was doomed. Kicked out of the synchro team Olympic pool and dumped into a kiddie pool of Target shoppers.”

“That's being kind.”

“I thought the possibility of finding signs of intelligent life here were slim to none,” Thomas continued. “But then there you were. My miracle.”

“Yeah.”

“So I was not expecting you, and there you were.”

I squinted, turning Thomas into a blur. “So what are you saying?”

Thomas shrugged. “I'm saying, I don't know, you can't know everything and everyone, Monty.”

My insides were bubbling.

“Oh yeah? How about this? The first time we met, you were sitting on the steps, crying. Because some idiot drew a picture of you in the bathroom. Remember that?”

It was drawn in thick black marker. Thomas in his tight leggings and his big pompadour hair. And they had written,
Thomas blow jobs for $5!

Thomas took a deep breath. Blew it out slowly.

“Tell me things have changed. Tell me I'm wrong about the good students of Jefferson High.”

“Okay,” Thomas said, his voice teetering on exasperated. “Okay. Well, how about this? I'm not saying he's the greatest guy in the world, but it seems to me like you're pissed off at Kenneth White for no reason. As far as I can see, all Kenneth is trying to do is pass math. I don't think he's the one who glued the cross to your locker, and I think you need to chill out on Naoki, who just wants to be his friend because she knows what it's like to be the new guy.”

I pulled my knees up to my chin. “Naoki just wants a boyfriend.”

“I don't think it's like that,” Thomas said. “Naoki is your friend, Monty. So am I.”

I stood up.

I could feel the tears streaming down my cheeks and catching the cold of the wind. “My sister, Thomas,
my sister
is praying with one of those White crosses now! This whole world is just too messed up. I'm not a villain, Thomas. I'm just the only person who can see…”

“What?” Thomas asked.

What's coming.

My phone rang. Moms' call.