Dead Rules by Randy Russell Read Free Book Online

Christmas Eve. She’d bought her Ken doll a complete ski outfit, had wrapped it, and was going to throw a little party for the two of them. You couldn’t do that in front of other people. They wouldn’t understand a thirteen-year-old playing with a doll.
    Before Jana met Michael, Ken and the people in movies had been her only friends.
    A Slider walked behind her and bumped Jana’s shoulder. She turned in her chair. He was already walking back to his kennel of shaggy brethren. He had touched her back lightly with his hand, just above her bra clasp. His touch was warm, as warm as Mars’s hand had been when he had reached for her notebook in the hall.
    It must have been a dare from the others.
    â€œWhat is this, third grade?” she said out loud. As a practiced dramatist, Jana knew how to project her voice without shouting, without turning her head.
    The table of boys snickered. Jana studied her list and wrote one more thing to do.
    4. Find out why Mars Dreamcote stares at me.
    There was something different in the way he looked at her. It was like he’d known her before and was waiting for her to remember. Or like he was waiting for her to catch on. Catch on to what?
    She’d ask him. First chance she had. Mars didn’t scare her even a little. As far as Jana was concerned, she was still Webster and Haynes. She had backup.
    Michael must be thinking about her constantly.
    He likely couldn’t sleep. He would use the extra time to think of a way to find her. She was still here, after all. She was right here.
    Jana didn’t want Michael to kill himself instantly. But the sooner the better, she supposed. For both of them. He would live an empty, mournful life until then. He’d find a way to be with her somehow. He had to.
    She finished her list:
    5. Come on, Michael. Find me!
    Mars stood poised at the edge of the swimming pool in the school basement.
    Two Risers loitered nearby, watching him. They were waiting to use the high dive. Once Mars had spent his time in the water and climbed out, they’d turn on the pumps that circulated water from the bottom of the pool into power surface jets to either side of the diving board. This kept the surface of the water roiling in the diving area. Hitting the flat surface of water just right could break your neck.
    Just jump in! Mars wanted to say. You can’t be afraid of everything. You’re already dead.
    Most Risers, though, didn’t have the courage to break the rules. They wouldn’t even leave campus. They wanted to know what would happen before they did anything. Not knowing was the point. Finding out what would happen was the adventure. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but the cat learned something first.
    What kind of life did you have if you never found your way around a few fences? Okay, Mars thought, life wasn’t the right word. But just because you were dead didn’t mean you were supposed to stop using your brain to figure out something new. That’s why Dead School existed in the first place. You had to see some things for yourself. You had to touch them, to figure out how they worked.
    Mars dove in from the side of the pool. He pushed himself underwater with powerful kicks for as long as he could, pushed himself further than his breath would allow. Mars was stronger than they were because he worked at it. “Anything worth doing,” his father had said, “is worth doing harder.” Then he’d taken the belt to Mars.
    Touching the far end of the pool, he came up for his first breath. Mars lifted his head through the surface of the pool and let the water run from his eyes. He swam to the middle. Two quick breaths, and he slipped underwater again. Allowing the air to escape his lungs in a rapid ascent of bubbles, Mars dropped to the bottom of the pool and sat there.
    This was his one place to be entirely alone. No one could touch him here. No one could talk to him. He could cry underwater if he