Unlocked Read Free Page B

at the end of the hall caught Jake’s attention, and he turned toward it. He shaded his eyes against the glare of the sun and realized who it was. “Well, I’ll be …” He chuckled. “I thought Harris graduated.”
    “Who?” Sam scowled, searching the crowded sun-streaked hallway.
    “That Holden Harris guy.” Jake crossed his arms and watched Holden as he struggled closer. “Freak.” Jake snickered. “Pretty face … you know, the queer boy.”
    Holden was doing that weird thing he always did when he walked to class. Hands folded, knuckles close to his chin, flapping his elbows straight out to either side. Every few steps he stopped and his eyes darted to some random spot on the ceiling. Jake sneered at him. “Freak.”
    Sam made a face. “Why does he do that?”
    “Cause he’s a sissy.” Rudy chuckled. “Nothing wrong with him, ’cept that.”
    “Leader of the short bus.” Jake laughed louder, and the others standing with him did the same.
    Holden Harris didn’t look like a special-needs kid. That’s what bugged Jake. It was the part that really got under his skin. Holden looked perfectly normal. No, he looked better than normal. Like some Abercrombie poster kid. A pretty boy with a football player’s build. Not only that, but the kid had crazy blue eyes. Eyes that made the hottest girls turn and stare—even when Holden acted like an idiot, the way he always did.
    “Let’s welcome him back.” Jake motioned to his teammates, and they walked that direction.
    “Hey, pretty boy,” one of them cried out in a mock highpitched voice. Several of the kids crowding the hall between the football players and Holden looked alarmed. They scurried to get out of the way.
    Sam waved big with as much sarcasm as he could pull off. “Hey, freak … welcome back to school!”
    Holden didn’t seem to hear. He stopped short, clearly frustrating the kids walking behind him, and he pressed his fingers to his ears. After a few seconds, he lowered his hands and shot strange glances just above the kids passing by. Never right at them. Like he was counting them in or something.
    “What’s he, the welcome committee?” Jake shook his head, disgusted.
    “Yeah, maybe he’ll run for class president.” Sam chuckled.
    “Sure. President of
Special
Activities?” Rudy gave Sam a shove. “Get it?
Special
activities?”
    “Yeah, that’s it.” Sam laughed harder and punched a few of the other players standing with them. “They don’t get more
special
than that weirdo.”
    Jake let the others do the talking for a minute. Holden walked toward them, and as he did, he started the wing-flapping thing again. Folded hands tucked near his chin, elbows straight out and flapping at his sides.
    “Maybe he thinks he can fly.” Rudy sneered. He shifted so that the group of football players pretty well blocked the entire hallway. “Hey, pretty boy,” he shouted. “You gonna fly home to
    Mama?”
    Holden was only a few feet away, and he must’ve heard that because he lifted his chin and faced them—not exactly at them, but in their direction. His arms fell to his sides and he stopped short. Jake and his boys took up practically the whole width of the hallway, so Holden couldn’t get by.
    “Hey, freak.” Sam gave Holden’s shoulder a shove. “Why you act so weird?”
    Jake waited a few seconds. “Freako, say something!” He pushed the kid’s other shoulder. “You can hear us … I know you can hear.”
    Holden stared to the side of Jake, like there was another person, an invisible person, standing beside him. Holden’s eyes caught the light and he blinked a few times. Those ridiculously blue eyes. They searched the empty walls and rows of lockers —but never their faces —as if he couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Or he didn’t want to understand. He flapped his arms again and nodded a few quick times. Then he set his backpack on the floor in front of him, unzipped it, and pulled out a thick stack of