Verse Read Free Page B

that’s okay.
    I go outside and take a seat next to the wall and unwrap my sandwich and take a bite. The cold slices of ground meat taste flavorless and salty and horrible.
    You should go sit with that girl.
    No, forget it.
    I take another bite.
    Forget it.
    Come on.
    Forget it.
    Forget it.
    Come on.
    Do it.
    Come on.
    All right, all right.
    All right.
    I stand up and go back inside.
    I must look weird.
    No one’s paying attention.
    I grab a tray and a plate and unwrap my sandwich and put it on the plate and set the chips next to it.
    They’re going to wonder why the sandwich already has two bites out of it.
    No one cares.
    I just want to go back outside.
    No, just go sit with her.
    Come on.
    I walk over to her table and stop.
    They’re not paying attention.
    Just keep walking, casually, you meant to go to that table farther on.
    One of the guys glances at me.
    Now it’s weird.
    I say, “Can I sit here?”
    They all look up and that girl from the lab says, “Sure.”
    I sit at the empty seat and they scoot their trays apart for mine. She introduces me to Tricia, Frank, Scott, Corrine, and Malaika.
    Great, now I know all their names but not hers.
    Well, she’s not a potential follower but maybe one of them is.
    I say, “I’m Manuel,” and they all say hi.
    She picks up the conversation they were having with, “Yeah, I can get my cousin to buy beer if you guys want.”
    They’re all enthusiastic.
    She says, “Manuel, Tricia’s gonna have a party in a few weeks for the end of the school year, you should come.”
    I say, “Okay.”
    She turns to Tricia. “He can come, right?”
    Tricia says, “Yeah. Totally. You’re the one who almost drowned, right?”
    I flush and I half-nod and say, “Yeah.”
    That girl says, “You didn’t tell me, how did that happen?”
    I look around at everyone, looking at me, and shrug. “I don’t really remember, I think I just slipped.”
    Scott says, “You were dead, right?”
    I nod.
    “What was it like? Being dead, I mean. Do you remember anything?”
    I say, “Yeah, I saw the next world.”
    Everyone laughs.
    Tricia says, “Do you think that was real?”
    I shrug. “Yeah.”
    That girl says, “I’m sure it was just a dream. Or a hallucination or whatever? You hit your head.”
    Tricia says, “But you were actually dead, right? So if there is a heaven or an afterlife, you would have visited, right? I mean that would make sense.”
    That girl says, “Is that why you said you were the messiah?”
    Everyone looks really embarrassed, but I say, “Yeah. I saw God and he told me I was. That I need to save the world.”
    She says, “I mean does the world even need saving?”
    I say, “I don’t know.”
    “Like save it from what?”
    I shrug. “Evil.”
    “Evil?” She looks around at everyone else.
    Everyone looks confused or awkward, no one says anything.
    That girl starts to speak, then stops, and says, “Well, um, can anyone else get drinks for the party? I don’t know how much Edgar will buy.”
    Malaika says, “I can ask my brother.”
    We finish eating and they chat and I listen until the bell rings and we all get up.
    We walk out of the cafeteria and they all head down the hall to the left and I turn right.
    That girl says, “Sorry about that.”
    I stop and turn to her, standing there, looking at me.
    I say, “About what?” Students are streaming out of the cafeteria and we’re in the way.
    “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
    “I’m not embarrassed.”
    “Okay.”
    I say, “If people feel weird about what I am, that’s their problem.”
    “Everyone wants to be the chosen one, huh?”
    “They do?”
    She says, “I mean most people maybe just want to be a princess or a movie star or whatever. But everyone thinks they’re special. But most people just have to settle for being fans.”
    “I’m not most people.”
    “Yeah.”
    Tricia says to her, “Iris, come on.”
    She says to Tricia, “Yeah, all right,” and then to me, “I hope you