Tompkin's School (For The Extraordinarily Talented Book 1) by Tabi Slick Read Free Book Online Page B

regular group of guys were there, including that guy named Amadeus. I would make sure not to look directly at him. Leslie and a few other girls from the drama club were there as well.
    “Okay,” Lee said, “looks like we’re all here. We thought we’d go get some food and then decide what to do from there.”
    “Awesome!” Kia said, enthusiastically.
    “We’re taking my truck and Amadeus’,” Lee said, walking around to get in.
    “I’ll need to stop for gas,” Amadeus’ liquid voice said.
    The sound of it slithered through my ears, seeming to create a strange and painful stab of heat to my skull. I winced and my eyes caught a glance at Kain, who was looking at me strangely. Maybe I was imagining things.
    “There’s a gas station in Davis," Lee replied, “come on, Izzy!”
    I smiled and took the front seat. Kain, Laurent, and Leslie filled up the back seat and soon we were leaving the campus, for the first time since we had arrived. We drove back down the same way we came when we first got to the Academy, speeding down the road. Once again I was surprised at how unpopulated the area seemed to be. I only saw a few signs along the way. There was a sign reading Catfish Kitchen , which sounded...adventurous. Then we actually had to slow all the way down to a stop because we had to wait for sheep to cross the street! Seriously, there was a flock or a herd of sheep crossing the road. What? Were we in Switzerland? I asked Lee about it and he said that that house always had a ton of random animals, including a huge white watchdog that seemed to never move. As we neared Davis there was an SHR Construction business, an Arbuckle Sports Center , and a Chevrolet dealership that looked sadly out of place. We passed two banks and then pulled up to the Shell station. Lee parked the truck at the side and we got out to wait. Some went into the gas station to get snacks for later, but I stayed by the car. It was such a small town!
    “Not what you’re used to, huh?” Lee asked.
    “Not at all,” I laughed, “I can’t even believe this is called a town! More like a little village.”
    He laughed, nodding in agreement.
    “I mean, there’s even a barn thing next to the gas station!” I said.
    “Oh, that’s actually Bill’s Bar-BQ serving everything from catfish to Mexican foods," he replied.
    “Barbeque, catfish, and Mexican food?” I gasped.
    I looked at the red barn more closely and realized that that was exactly what the sign said. Not only that, but it gave a list of other foods it served, including “Chester” fried chicken, “Hunt Brothers” pizza, “Ribeye” steak, “Cou fried” steak, BBQ ribs and brisket, country hamburgers (whatever that meant), and, of course, catfish.
    “Does every place serve catfish around here?” I asked.
    “Apparently,” Lee replied.
    Just then the group came back from the station, all laughing at something. Kia was guiding Kain back to the car, who wore the most disgusted look on his face that I’d ever seen.
    “What happened to you ?” I asked.
    “We dared him to eat one of the station’s pickled eggs,” Kia giggled.
    “He’ll be fine, just give him a few minutes,” Laurent laughed.
    “He had a pickled egg, didn’t he?” Duran called from the other truck, “Don’t worry, man, it’s a rite of passage.”
    “Wow, that was⎼” Kain coughed a laugh, “ awful !”
    We all laughed and then got back into the truck. As I put on my seatbelt I finally noticed that trucks were very popular in this area. They were literally everywhere!
    We drove more into the town, passing a Sooners grocery store, a Sonic, Burger Land, and a Gordon White Lumber yard. We also passed a gas station which was called the Soonerette that also served barbeque and a lot of other random things, obviously including gas for your car. We stopped at the only red light, which was conveniently right next to the City Hall and Fire department. There was a coffee shop called La Brue’s that didn’t