Midnight for the Broken by Michael Roux Read Free Book Online Page A

don't even think about it. I'm comfortable around Nurse Jennings. I would trust her with any secret.
    “That's a pretty name.” She wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket. She's trying to be discreet and hasn't noticed that I've seen her. “How did I do today?”
    I look at the clock. “Twenty minutes.” Was it really that long?
    “I'm sorry I was so slow. Detention again?”
    I nod as I put my shirt on, then stop speaking as I realize I'm in for another hour with Mr. Montrose. The room fills with silence that lingers longer than I had planned. As I turn to leave, Nurse Jennings reaches around my waist and squeezes me close. I feel her breath shaking with fear. What is she not telling me?
    “Take care, Ryan.”
    “I will,” I answer. “Thank you.”
    She holds me for a moment and then pulls away to resume her cleanup from my visit. It feels good to know someone cares about me—I haven't known that for so long—but her reaction bothers me the entire walk back to Biology. This time, I stop in the bathroom and collect my thoughts before returning to class.
     
    ~ O ~
     
    Three more days of detention due to bleeding officially make it one of the worst weeks of my life. Copies of the picture of Jessica and me are everywhere. One has been blown up and taped onto a big prom poster in a hall that teachers rarely roam. To add insult to me, someone had marked it with a pen. The caption reads: “Everyone is dying to go to prom. See you in the spring.”
     

Chapter Six: Silence
     
    Tyson Adler is the only player on the Viewmont football team good enough for a scholarship. To say he's proud that he's committed to Nebraska is not saying enough. The guy lives and breathes that school. From his jacket, to his shirts, to the decals on the tinted windows of his Durango, there's nothing that doesn't announce how good he is and where he's going. My usual walk from Geometry to Art takes me past the football team lockers and past Tyson Adler. When I reach him today, Tyson steps in front of me.
    “What do you say, Moon?” he asks me with a snarl. “Once you're dead and gone, can I have her?”
    He opens his locker, revealing a copy of the photo. A picture of Tyson covers my face. Jessica is there, leaning and embracing the soon-to-be Nebraska linebacker.
    He yells at me as I shove past him. “What's the matter, Moon? Give me her number. I think we could get along.”
    Someone snickers behind me and I want to turn around and throw something, but I know better. Half the football team surrounds Tyson, but he wouldn't need them to destroy a guy like me. He once busted the facemask of a running back from Davis. With bare hands, he broke the metal meant to withstand pressure of hundreds of pounds. He'd like it if I picked a fight and I'd be an idiot to take him on.
    Tyson is in my last class that day, and he keeps turning around and making kissing faces at me when Mr. Johnson isn't looking. I've already earned detention, so I tell Mr. Johnson that I'm bleeding and flee to the sanctuary of Nurse Jennings' office for awhile.
     
    ~ O ~
     
    That night, I don't bother opening a chat session. I'm not in the mood and don't know what I would say to Jessica anyway. My head hurts and I'm having trouble focusing. Even the faint florescent lights in the hospital seem too bright for anything. I turn on some music, down my medicine and fall asleep to my lonely thoughts.
     
    ~ O ~
     
    Friday, my hospital breakfast includes two extra pills. When I ask why, the nurse gives me a flat smile and tells me they're for my new symptoms. She doesn't tell me what those symptoms are. I'm used to pills and take them like the others, but these are nothing like I've had before. The first tastes so dry and chalky, it takes two swallows of water to swallow it. I nearly cough up my lungs after swallowing the other. The drugs do their job, though, and I avoid detention at school, which makes the day better than the rest.
    That night, I open a chat session.