Infinite Time: Time Travel Adventure Read Free

great deal of tradition among these groups.
    “Founded in the seventeenth century, they are believed to have derived from gangs that consisted of wandering samurai. Today, they are considered some of the most powerful of the criminal underground that exists in Japan. They are divided into many groups—”
    “Like the motorcycle gangs on Sons of Anarchy ?” someone asks.
    Mr. Conrad nods. “Very much like that.”
    “Why the tattoos?” someone else asks.
    “Good question,” Mr. Conrad says, clearly warming to his subject. “These tattoos, known as irezumi in Japan, most likely began as a spiritual symbol, a way for the tattooed person to show the world his beliefs. However, this changed. Tattoos became a way to mark a criminal to show society that the person could not be trusted.”
    Kimi nods her head as if agreeing with Mr. Conrad. Guess she learned about this in her old school.
    “That sucks,” someone says.
    Laughter again flows around the room. I look up, having lost myself for a few minutes sketching one of the tattoos onto a page of my notebook.
    “Thinking of getting a tattoo?” Travis hisses in my ear as he reaches around me and grabs the notebook. “Damn perv picks the prettiest girl to draw. Like he’ll ever get a girl that looks like that,” he says, holding the notebook up where his friends can see the depiction of a wide-eyed, pale-skinned geisha.
    They laugh, but I’m so used to it I don’t even think I care anymore. I just want my notebook back because it has my notes for next week’s test in it.
    “Speaking of criminals,” Mr. Conrad says, marching over to Travis’s desk. “You want to give that back?”
    Travis looks up at Mr. Conrad like he’s the most innocent guy in the world.
    “What? I didn’t do anything, Mr. Conrad.”
    “That’s not your notebook.”
    “Sure it is,” Travis says, closing the cover as he bends to toss it into his backpack. Unfortunately for him—or me, as I’m sure I’ll pay for this later—my name is written clearly on the cover of the notebook in permanent ink.
    Mr. Conrad just holds out his hand. As Travis hands it over, Mr. Conrad says, “Go the principal’s office right now. I will not tolerate any more of your lies.”
    Mr. Conrad hands me the notebook, but all I see is Travis glaring at me as he backs out the door.
    “Okay,” Mr. Conrad says as he returns to the front of the classroom, “if you’ll pay attention, we’ll cover the rest of this material so that your reading assignment for tonight will make sense.”
    Everyone groans. Everyone except Clara. She turns and glares at me.
    “You know he’ll make you pay for that, right?”
    Yeah, I know, and he will have the perfect chance in the next class, PE.
    As if on cue, the bell rings to signal the end of class.
    Everyone hurries out the door except Kimi, who hangs behind. Both Kimi and Mr. Conrad stand in the front of the classroom watching me leave, as if they are waiting for me to say something about Travis spitting at me. There isn’t a chance I’m going to do that.

Chapter 4
     
     
    “Wait up, Parker,” Kimi yells as her Converse sneakers bound down the hallway toward me. I shake my head back in response.
    “Parker,” she says, taking me by my shoulder when she finally catches up to me.
    “What?”
    Kimi takes her hand off me, and looks disappointed.
    I sigh. “What did you say to him?”
    “Nothing. Nothing.”
    “Kimi, you know you suck at lying.”
    Kimi’s shoulders sink. “I… I was just talking about the homework assignment.”
    “Really?” I frown.
    “Yeah. Stop having a go at me,” she says, rubbing her eyes under her glasses.
    Oh no. Please don’t cry, don’t cry. There is nothing worse than making someone else feel bad when they have done nothing wrong. Way to go, Parker .
    I throw my arm around Kimi. “Sorry. Go on, tell me what I am,” I prod with a smile.
    “A jerk,” she says, peeking over her glasses.
    “Yeah, I’m your jerk. It could be