Aberrant Trilogy 1: Super Charged Read Online Free Page A

on my permanent record. That could cause a whole lot of problems including when you start looking for a summer job.”
    I want to continue protesting, but Mom speaks up for the first time.
    “We will take the thirty days,” she says. She comes over to me and grips my shoulder tightly. I can feel her nails digging into me. “Is that all?”
    The principal nods.
    “That is all. We will reassess your situation in thirty days, and I hope for your sake that you have made some improvements.”
    Mom nods and pulls me to my feet.
    “Thank-you very much,” she says, and then she drags me out of the office.

4
    Wit’s End

    “I am without words.”
    Mom grips the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles are white. She doesn’t look over at me as she speaks. Her eyes are glued straight ahead and her back is rigid with her shoulders squared. She seems like a panther ready to pounce on its prey.
    “I am just without words,” she repeats herself.
    That’s a lie, I think as I bring a hand up to rest my cheek on. The roadway blurs by me and the buildings become one giant mass of gray and blue.
    Mom always has words. She just doesn’t know how to begin.
    I try to start something, to cut her off and lessen the blow, but she talks over me this time.
    “Don’t start!” she says. “What in the world has gotten into you?”
    See? I knew that the words were coming.
    “I don’t know what got into me,” I lie. I know exactly what got into me. I wanted to make my latest video and get closer to Dad. The only way to get closer to him is to get up as high as I can. But, I’m not going to tell her that. She will think it’s stupid and a lie and that I’m covering up the real reason. So, I stay silent on the subject. I look back out the window.
    Mom shakes her head roughly.
    “What possessed you to go up on the roof?” she continues. “Don’t you know how dangerous that is? You could have fallen over the side and broken your neck, or worse! I don’t need a phone call telling me that my son is paralyzed. Or that I lost you, too…”
    Her voice breaks up for a moment and my defensive position breaks as well.
    Her jaw is trembling and I can see the tears brewing in her eyes. They stem over, falling down her cheeks like streams.
    I sigh.
    “I’m sorry,” I say. Really, I am. I brought this hurt upon her. She’s dealing with enough - we both are. But, she’s dealing with the most. “I shouldn’t have gone up there.”
    Mom isn’t listening. Her mind is elsewhere.
    She pulls onto a side street.
    “I’ve had enough of this…” she says, using the back of one of her hands to forcefully wipe away the tears. “I really have.”
    What am I supposed to say now? There’s nothing that will make it better.
    Mom glances over at me now and her eyes lock on the broken iPhone clutched in my hand.
    “Your phone is ruined now, too,” she says. “You might as well have thrown hundreds of dollars off the roof.”
    I clench my teeth. She’s right. My phone is now a very expensive paper weight. I need to give her some sort of explanation for the destruction.
    “I was filming a video,” I say. “It was for my Youtube channel.”
    “That again,” Mom says, really emphasizing the that . Again brushing beneath her eyes with the back of her hand, though there are no more tears. “You think making those videos are going to give you a good future?”
    That stings. I didn’t expect it to, but it feels like a knife in my gut. I look away.
    I have nothing more to say.
    Thankfully Mom seems to be done as well. The rest of the car ride is driven in silence.
    We pull into our neighborhood not far from the high school. The sun is just starting to get low on the horizon and the small lawn is bathed in an orange glow. The windows on our house appear to be on fire with the light.
    Mom parks on the street, puts the car in park and turns off the engine. But, she doesn’t get out.
    Instead she grips the top of the steering wheel and lets out a