King Of Bad [Super Villian Academy Book 1] by Kai Strand Read Free Book Online Page A

Jeff’s
dresser and picked up each item and examined it.
    Even Pucker seemed wary of the bulky boy stumping
around the room. She floated behind a clump of fake seaweed on the far side of
the fishbowl.
    “What’s that all about?” The kid pointed to Pucker.
    “My sidekick.”
    The kid scrunched his meaty brow, deep in thought.
    “Get the hell out of my room!” Jeff said.
    The kid shrugged and left.
    Testing his nose for a break, Jeff mumbled to Pucker.
“What was that, anyway? Official villain greeting?”
    * * * *
    According to Tubs, the teachers’ quarters and the supply
rooms were off limits. Intending to turn in the opposite direction if he saw a
mop, Jeff left to explore the academy.
    The first place he purposely sought out was the cafeteria.
His stomach had been growling since their airplane landed and his throat felt
like a desert. Tubs had explained the cafeteria stocked food and drink 24 hours
a day, but hot meals were only served during standard meal times. It was 7:30
in the evening, therefore not a standard mealtime. A smattering of kids sat in
small groups or alone throughout the large room. They all looked at him when he
entered, but no one greeted him. He selected a sandwich, apple and milk from a
cooler and found a table to sit at.
    “Oh look, a new loser. Who are you?” a zit faced
girl, maybe Jeff’s age, challenged from two tables over. She sat with two other
kids, another girl with blue hair and a pierced nose and a small boy with
rat-like features.
    “Jeff,” he said. It was strange to feel such open
animosity from people. He wasn’t sure how he should act. He snapped right back
at her, “Why, who are you?”
    Rat boy snickered.
    “What’s so funny?” Jeff asked.
    “No one uses their own name around here,” the boy
wheezed in a high, thin voice.
    “What’s your name?” Jeff asked.
    “They call me Cracker,” the boy replied. “That’s
Tears and this is Flame.”
    Jeff looked at the blue haired girl Cracker had called
Flame. “Do you have fire too?”
    The three kids laughed. The zit-faced, Tears, said,
“No, she’s gay.”
    Jeff couldn’t make sense out of what the kids said,
so he ignored them and ate.
    Tears got up and walked to Jeff’s table and slid onto
the chair next to him. “Where you from, Jeff?” She
over-pronounced the J in his name the same way he over-pronounced the M in
Mother.
    “Close,” Jeff answered. “Why do they call you Tears?
Cry baby?”
    Crackers snickered again. Jeff realized the other two
had stealthily moved to his table while he was busy with Tears. He felt like
the prey of a pack of velociraptors .
    Tears smirked. “Who would you not want to see with
their neck sliced?”
    The question took Jeff aback, but he involuntarily pictured
Sandra lying in a pool of blood with her head severed. The image sharpened in
his mind. Suddenly, he was convinced he’d found Sandra like that. His heart
beat fast and his breath shortened as panic took over.
    Tears grinned. “An open book! Oh goody.”
    Jeff blinked a couple times. The image of Sandra
faded and he realized it had been a fabrication. He growled under his breath
when he saw that his hands shook slightly from the shock of the image.
    Blue haired, Flame, stared at his fingers. “Watch out,
guys, he has fire and he’s not afraid to use it.”
    Jeff dropped his smoking sandwich. He concentrated on
a place deep down in his lungs and then gently blew a thin coat of ice onto his
fingertips.
    The three kids gawked.
    “He’s a frickin ’
freak!” Tears said. Disgust dripped from each word.
    Cracker and Flame looked simultaneously horrified and
nervous. The three kids backed away from the table as if Jeff were a cobra
ready to strike. Finally Tears turned her back to him and the other two
followed her out of the room.
    Jeff let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
A cool sensation passed his lips and a layer of frost settled onto the sandwich
in front of him.
    “Great,” Jeff mumbled