The New Kid Read Online Free Page A

They sometimes had mouths or eyes there. But Steadman’s hand was as rough and dry as a chunk of tree bark. Will left the office.
    He passed dozens of kids as he made his way down the hall to his locker. They all stared at him and did their usual whispering and pointing thing again. He stood out like an orange on an apple tree. Does everybody know everybody else in this school? wondered Will. Of course they do. It’s your typical small-town, inbred, socially incestuous scene.
    He found his locker and as he did he saw a crowd of boys gathering down the hallway, fidgeting with anticipation. Oh God , thought
Will, not another lame locker prank. What’s it going to be this time? At Wellington High School in San Diego they’d filled his locker with pizza dough. At Kennedy in Corpus Christi they’d used rats from the biology class and Will remembered how angry he was, not because he was embarrassed but because they’d injured one of the rats and he’d had to take it to the vet. In Greenhaven, North Carolina, at Jordan Manning High they’d used an “anatomically correct” inflatable doll (always a favorite) and at Steele High in Brunswick, Vermont, they’d used horse manure. So of course nothing would surprise him. Knowing this sort of thing was inevitable and not wanting to disappoint the doofuses down the hallway he slowly dialed the combination and opened his locker. Out tumbled two dozen water-filled condoms. How original . The goons down the hall fell all over themselves laughing and high-fiving each other. Will sighed, trying once again not to let this kind of crap get to him. But it always did, deep down. He knew kids did stupid stuff like this to make them feel better about themselves; he understood the psychology, but it didn’t soften the blows.
    “You’ll have to clean that up, William,” said Principal Steadman as he crutch-walked up to Will. “Don’t take it too personally. This happens with every new kid. Just buck up.” Steadman patted him on the arm and crabbed his way down toward the faculty lounge.
    Will disposed of the condoms in a nearby trash can and then headed for class as the first period bell rang. He followed the school map Steadman had given him and walked with his head down and took a left at the second hallway past the trophy case. He noticed a commotion in his peripheral vision and told himself to just keep on walking. But he knew there was trouble in the air and he was drawn to trouble like a shark to blood. There was a banging noise coming from the boys’ restroom and two chiseled thugs stood guard by the door like gargoyles, muscular arms folded. As he walked by Will heard muffled voices and the straining high notes of someone who was not at all happy. Will stopped. He knew at this point he should
just ignore whatever juvenile games were being played. Something told him this wasn’t a game, but he decided to ignore his instincts and walked on past the boys’ room. Let whoever was in trouble go ahead and suffer. It wasn’t worth revealing himself for.
    He was almost to his chemistry class when he heard the scream.

Chapter Two: Rescuing Rudy
    W ill stopped, turned around, and walked back to the boys’ room where he eyeballed the thick-necked gargoyles.
    “The restroom’s closed,” said Thug One.
    “Yeah, it’s out of order, so take a hike,” added Thug Two. Will stared at them.
    “Hey, are you deaf?”
    Will stood his ground and stared at them.
    “We said there’s nothing in here, just keep your butt moving!”
    “If you know what’s good for you!”
    Will almost always knew what was good for him, but he rarely followed that path, the one of least resistance. Ever since he could remember he’d more or less been forced to follow the path of most resistance. He pushed right past Thug One and Two and though they were much taller and outweighed him by a combined forty pounds, something about this New Kid told them they’d better back off or suffer.
    Entering the restroom