Bystander Read Online Free

with more swish and swagger. Eric wasn’t sure if that was a difference between Long Island and Ohio, or just part of growing up. By the looks of things, some of these girls had grown plenty. A few of them seemed years older than Eric, and pretty intimidating.
    Eric’s big fear on the first day was getting lost. And BCMS was the perfect school for it, a vast, sprawling maze of hallways. Over the summer Eric had received a packet of information designed for incoming students that included his schedule, a letter from the principal (which he ignored), a sixteen-page curriculum guide (tossed aside), and a map (memorized). Each day he took out the map alongside his schedule, and traced a finger along the best routes. He didn’t like the idea of going in without a plan. Eric liked to come prepared. It must have been all those camping trips he used to take with the Boy Scouts. Back when his father still tried to act like a normal dad. The meals, the clothes, everything planned down to the last detail. Now Eric had a real good idea where he was going.
    The first two periods—math and science—weredecent enough. Eric thought it was good to get those tough subjects out of the way first thing in the morning, before he was really awake. Then he’d breeze through the easier classes in the middle of the day, like PE and art, not to mention lunch and home base, before ending his day with two of his favorites, social studies and English.
    Home base was where he was headed now, at 9:52 in the morning. The hallways pulsed with life. Behind him he heard a body slam into a locker, a muffled
oomph
, and the splatter of books falling to the floor.
    â€œBody check!” a voice announced.
    â€œHallenback,” scolded another voice, “watch where you’re going, buddy. You’re gonna be late for class.”
    â€œYep, yep, yep!” chirped another voice.
    Eric didn’t turn around, didn’t glance back. He kept right on walking, distancing himself from the sound of laughter and the voices of Griffin Connelly and that other one, the Weasel.

6
[hallenback]
    HOME BASE WAS A BIG DEAL AT BCMS. MR. SCOFIELD , Eric’s home base and English teacher, began the period by calling it “the lynchpin of the middle school experience.”
    Um, sure.
    â€œWhat’s a lynchpin?” a girl asked.
    Mr. Scofield considered the question. “Have you ever seen any old Westerns on TV? You know those old covered wagons from
Little House on the Prairie
? Well, they used to put in a pin crosswise through theaxle to keep the wheel from coming off. That’s called a lynchpin. It keeps everything rolling along!”
    Eric noted that approximately six people were listening to Mr. Scofield, and half seemed to regret it. Undeterred, the bald-shaven teacher continued, “A lynchpin is an essential element in the success of a team or a plan. That’s home base.”
    In other words, as Eric figured it, home base was a free period, except you weren’t exactly free. But students were allowed to read or study what they wanted, catch up on homework, talk quietly, hang out. They could even go visit with other teachers, or get passes to the library if they showed they were working on special projects. They didn’t hand out “Get Out of Jail Free” cards, but it was the next best thing.
    The girl who Eric recognized from the other day sashayed into the room a few minutes late.
Mary,
he remembered. She nodded at Mr. Scofield, mumbled something about a jammed locker, and took a seat in the back.
    â€œLet’s not make this a habit, Miss O’Malley.”
    â€œNo, sir,” she answered.
    Eric turned to watch her. If Mary saw him, orcared in the least, she didn’t give any sign of it. She was already saying hello to a few other girls, quickly engrossed in conversation.
    When he glanced back at Mary, Eric noticed a semi-familiar face, like a boy who looked like somebody he once knew.