Between by Cambria Hebert Read Free Book Online

 
     
    Logan
    I kicked at the pavement as I walked, in no hurry to get home. I was glad that school was out for the day, but unlike most kids my age, I wasn’t that thrilled to go home. At least it’s Friday, I told myself, which meant no homework. That was something to be thrilled about. I hated homework. I hated studying, but if I didn’t bring home a glowing average every grading period, Dad would have a cow. Mom would try to step in and then Dad would yell at her, too, and no doubt the argument would escalate and it would end the way it always ended.
    With Sam.
    He didn’t even live with us anymore, yet every single thing I did that Dad didn’t approve of somehow always came back to him. Dad never said his name. It was like the minute he left with Sam and came back without him, we were all expected to pretend he never existed. Like all the times we played football in the backyard were something I made up. I was supposed to forget the time I took Dad’s watch off his dresser to pretend I was 007 and accidently broke it. Sam took the blame, the lecture and the punishment for me.
    The sound of running feet came up behind me and, inwardly, I winced.
    “Hey, look,” an obnoxious, familiar voice said from behind. “It’s Loogie.”
    Laughter followed the words and I did my best to ignore it and keep walking. I guess I should have moved a little faster to put more distance between me and the school. It was a tough call sometimes deciding which place I wanted to be at less. Home or school?
    A rough hand shoved me from behind. “Hey, dorkface. I’m talking to you.”
    I sighed, stopped, and turned. “What do you want, Brent?”
    The guy in the center of the foursome looked at his buddies. Then he smirked. “That paper you volunteered to write for me? It wasn’t good enough.”
    Internally, I scoffed. Yeah, the paper I volunteered to write. More like his buddies held me down last week while he went through my backpack, took it and turned it in with his name at the top. I had to pull an all-nighter just so I would have something to turn in.
    Brent pulled a rolled set of papers from his back pocket and tossed them at me. They hit the center of my chest. I grabbed them and looked at the giant red “B” written at the top. “Ah, what’s the matter, Brent? Mr. Sorrell didn’t believe you wrote this ‘cause the grade was too high?”
    His buddies laughed and Brent’s eyes about bulged out of his head. I knew I shouldn’t have said it. Antagonizing him only made things worse, but I had some pride. Getting tortured everyday was one thing, but taking it so easily was something else entirely.
    As expected, Brent launched himself at me and I swung my book bag out and hit him in the stomach, causing him to fall to the side. Yeah, that wasn’t smart, either, but I had been feeling edgy all day and I wasn’t in the mood.
    “That was stupid,” Brent snarled, partly hunched over from my hit. “Get him!” he yelled.
    The three stooges (I knew about them because my grandpa used to watch them all the time) rushed me and though I tried to fend them off, it was three against one, and it didn’t take them long to have my arms pinned back, holding me in place.
    Brent smirked and picked up my discarded book bag. I tensed my muscles, getting ready. The bag slammed into my stomach and all the breath whooshed out of me. I would have doubled over if not for being held.
    White-hot rage filled me. I hated them!
    Then his fist connected with my jaw and my head snapped back. I prayed it wouldn’t leave a mark. I could only imagine my dad’s reaction to his son being beat up on at school, when I should be the one beating up on everyone else.
    I watched as Brent unzipped my bag and dumped the contents over the road and into the dirt. I didn’t mind so much because this part usually meant he was done and was about to leave.
    “The next time you write a paper for me, get an A,” Brent shouted, then walked away without a backward