Simon Thorn and the Wolf's Den Read Free Page B

turned his back on the eagle and disappeared into the school. If the eagle wanted something from him, he would come back soon enough. Right now the only thing Simon could think about was exactly how bad today was going to be, and how he was going to survive it.

2
    ANIMAL INSTINCTS
    By the time Simon left his first class, it seemed like every seventh grader at Kennedy Middle School had heard about what happened in the park. Even a group of sixth graders taunted him as he passed, and one boy stuck out his foot to trip him. Simon staggered forward, barely managing to catch himself before he fell.
    â€œWatch it,” said the boy. “These shoes are new.”
    â€œThen maybe you shouldn’t stick them in front of people,” said Simon. Before the boy could retaliate, Simon bolted down the hall.
    As the hours wore on he felt smaller and smaller, until he might as well have been nothing at all. By the time the lunch bell rang, Simon couldn’t walk down the hallway without kissing sounds following him, and he sat down at the only empty table in the cafeteria, right next to the trash cans. He pulled out his book and unwrapped the sandwich his uncle had packed, and laughter exploded from Bryan Barker’s table. Simon glanced up long enough to see Colin sitting there, eagerly hanging on Bryan’s every word. Simon bit his lip and looked back down at his book, trying to ignore them.
    Without so much as a hello, a girl with long dark hair sat down in the chair beside him. Simon froze. There were plenty of empty seats at other tables—and at his, too—but she was close enough that he could smell her hair over the peanut butter in his sandwich.
    He started to edge away. Before he could move too far, however, the girl pulled a book from her backpack. It was exactly the same as the one Simon held. Opening to a marked page, she began to read.
    Simon hesitated. Was she new? He was sure he’d never seen her before. Besides, no one in their right mind would sit with him today—it was social suicide. The kind thing to do would have been to move so that Bryan didn’t see them together, but after the morning Simon had had, the possibility of talking to someone who didn’t think he was a freak was too tempting to pass up. So before he could stop himself, he turned toward her.
    â€œHi,” he said. “I’m Simon.”
    â€œAnd I’m reading,” said the girl without looking up.
    His cheeks warmed. “Sorry.” She must have known about him after all. But while he busied himself with pulling the crust off his sandwich, she spoke again.
    â€œI’m Winter,” she said. “But I’m still reading.”
    She glanced up, and Simon noticed that her eyes were the lightest green he’d ever seen. He wanted to say something else, to show her that he was reading the same book, but he didn’t want to scare her away. For now, he stayed quiet.
    Opening his own copy, he noticed a piece of paper stuck between the pages. It was a note from Darryl. His uncle never wrote him notes, but there it was, written in his familiar sharp scrawl.
    Good luck today. Proud of you. Don’t forget to show them your teeth.
    Simon reread it twice. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make him smile, and he tucked the scrap of paper back between the pages of his book.
    â€œWhatcha got there, Psycho? A love letter from your boyfriend?”
    Bryan Barker snatched the book from his hands. Simon protested and made a grab for it, but Bryan held it out of reach. Flipping through the pages, he found the note and pulled it out.
    â€œDear Psycho,” he read loudly enough for the entire lunchroom to hear. “I love you more than the moon and the stars. Thinking of you. Hugs and kisses. Love, your boo bear.”
    Bryan’s gang roared with laughter. Colin, who stood behind Bryan, turned bright red, but no one was laughing at him. Just Simon.
    A knot formed in his chest. It grew