Struck by Jennifer Bosworth Read Free Book Online

divisions now: Followers sat with Followers; everyone else sat with everyone else. Roughly half the tables were white. Seeing the Followers massed together like that, I was shocked at their numbers.
    I didn’t spot Parker, but I did notice Rachel Jackson sitting at a table near the windows, surrounded by Followers. The light pouring through the glass made their white clothing seem to glow so bright I had to turn my eyes away.
    I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten school lunch,but the smell of hot food, even though I knew it came out of an industrial-sized slop bucket, made my stomach cramp with hunger. Still, I felt like I should go look for Parker. After what we’d witnessed that morning—and what had happened in the lounge—I was worried about him being on his own. We needed to stick together.
    But I was almost to the front of the line, and I didn’t want to lose my spot. Most likely, Parker had tracked down his friends and they were on their way to the cafeteria. He’d be here.
    I was turned around, looking for Parker, when I felt a nudge at my back. I faced forward and suddenly there were two girls in front of me who hadn’t been there before, a tall one and a stocky one, both with tangled, greasy hair and a sour smell coming off them like they hadn’t showered in a while. I said a silent thank you to the plumbing gods that our water had been on that morning.
    The girls kept their backs to me.
    “Hey,” I said, and was ignored. “ Hey .” I tapped the tall one on the shoulder.
    “What?” She glanced back, annoyed. I recognized her and her friend. They were pitcher and catcher on the softball team, emphasis on were . Maybe they hadn’t figured out yet that their season was over.
    “You cut in front of me,” I said, thinking that if I called them out, they’d leave.
    “We didn’t cut,” Pitcher said.
    “Yeah, you did.”
    “Prove it.” She snarled the word with such unnecessary viciousness, it made me take a step back, bumping the person behind me. Pitcher had a look I recognized, feral, likethe pack of boys from that morning. A look that said she would stomp anyone who got in her way.
    She faced forward again as we reached the front of the line and she and Catcher grabbed their food trays from the stacks.
    I bit my tongue and told myself to let it go. There were only two of them. I’d get my food, only a few seconds later than I would have. Still, it wasn’t fair. I glanced at the people lined up behind me. They looked angry, but too tired to do anything about it.
    “Hey, you guys, over here!” Pitcher waved, and several more of her friends joined her, enough of them to fill a dugout.
    I bit my tongue harder as what was left of the softball team grabbed their trays. Apparently I had been wrong about the usual cliques dissolving. The softball girls were tough, a force to be reckoned with, and they knew it. If they stuck together, very few people would dare to mess with them. Or stand up to them.
    It’s not fair …
    The heat began to gather in my chest again, and the sound of forks scraping on plastic faded until the only thing I could hear was the rush of hot blood parading through my veins, pounding in my ears.
    Let it go , I told myself. It doesn’t matter. Let it go .
    But it wasn’t fair … Parker was right. People shouldn’t be allowed to do whatever they wanted. To take whatever they wanted simply because they were bigger and stronger and ran in a pack.
    Fire crackled like static in my heart, and I felt myselfreaching for Pitcher, even though the more rational side of my mind had questions.
    What do you think you’re going to do to her? The same thing you did to that man back in Lake Havasu City? He didn’t deserve it and neither does this girl. Let. It. Go .
    I sighed, knowing the voice was right. The crackling fire in my heart stilled. I let my arm drop as I was distracted by motion in my peripheral vision.
    About half a dozen kids approached the line-cutters. The group