Something Like Summer Read Online Free

probably still
be too stoned to exercise, Ben realized. That meant Leon would be
relaxing on the sidelines instead of participating in whatever
idiotic sport was the choice of the week. There were a few times
last year when Leon’s stash had run dry, leaving him sober and
transforming him into an active and capable athlete. Ben hated
these times, because it meant he was left alone and defenseless,
when he usually would have been hiding behind Leon’s magical aura
that allowed him to get away with anything. Ben wasn’t sure what it
was exactly, but the coaches seemed to genuinely like Leon, despite
him being a modern day version of the people who protested against
the Vietnam War.
    Ben let out a sigh as one
of these former servicemen came marching into the gymnasium, a
handful of nervous-looking freshman trailing along behind like
ducklings. There were four different coaches who taught P.E., but
the only way to tell them apart was their hair. They were all
stocky with limbs as thick as tree trunks. They might have been hot
back in their youth, but a war and way too many beers had graced
them all with tired faces and prominent guts.
    This coach, the one with
thinning red hair, took attendance by bellowing out each of their
last names. Leon talked all through this, eagerly describing to Ben
his uncle’s collection of Laserdiscs that he had access to all
summer. Film was Leon’s topic of choice. If you knew your movies,
you were his friend.
    “ Bendly?” coach
repeated.
    Ben sighed, knowing that if
he corrected the man it would only make him a future target.
“Here,” he droned.
    “ I see Steyer managed to
graduate from summer school,” the coach bantered, sending a pug
dog’s smile Leon’s way.
    “ Hey, Coach!” Leon
answered happily. “They wanted to send me back to junior high but I
told them I’d miss you too much.”
    Coach smiled and continued
the roll call. How did Leon do it? If Ben had tried that line he
would have been called a queer and told to go run a few
laps.
    The rest of the period
crawled by. Forms for the gym clothes were passed out for them to
fill in and bring back the next day. To Ben’s despair, the mint
green uniforms that always smelled of body odor no matter how many
times they were laundered were passed out too, but thankfully there
wasn’t enough time for them to get changed and play anything.
Instead he spent the period listening to Leon talk about the Star
Wars movies that he took so seriously. When stoned, he treated the
events of the movies as if they were happening in the present along
with the rest of the world’s events.
    “ Yoda has to know that Luke isn’t going to
be able to best Vader. He’s totally just playing the emotional card
and hoping to make Vader break down and cry or something,
right?”
    Ben didn’t have time to
respond before the bell rang. He practically dived off the
bleachers in a single leap in his eagerness to reach the hallways
and look for Allison. Or Tim. Another new period meant another
chance for them to be in the same class. Neither of his targets
were spotted in the hallway, nor were they in his English class.
The next period was his first elective, Spanish, which also failed
to contain either of the people he was looking for. There was at
least an amusing conflict between the teacher and a kid from Mexico
who was looking to earn an easy A.
    Lunch period brought relief
in the form of Allison. He found her at their usual meeting spot,
next to the vending machines in the large cafeteria that linked
both wings of the school. They had their choice of seats since they
both brought their lunches, while most of the other kids were
lining up to buy hot food. As much as Ben was tired of white bread
sandwiches, they were better than any of the food choices that the
school offered. There were legends of neighboring school districts
that allowed the fast food giants to cater for their students, but
this district wasn’t one of them. This “healthier”