The Millennial Box by Julie Steimle (snow like ashes .TXT) 📖

"You spend a lot of time with him, you know," Stacey interjected.

"He can bite my neck anytime," the first said.

Zormna groaned, clenching her hair.

Joy lifted her eyes in a stare at her, but only for a moment.

"You've never kissed a guy?" Jennifer McCabe cut in, chuckling incredulously.

"She's lying," Michelle said back to her, shaking her head smugly. "I bet she and Jeff make out every chance they get away."

Zormna clenched her fists, struggling to keep her temper under control.

But Joy put her hand on Zormna's shoulder, meeting her eyes. "Do you swear nothing happened?"

Making sure Joy could see she was telling the truth, Zormna placed her hand on her chest and bowed to Joy. "I swear on the graves on my mother and my father, and all the ancestors that preceded me, I never had sexual relations with Jeff in even the minutest sense."

The girls hushed.

Joy looked a little more thoughtful. She peeked at Jennifer McCabe then smiled. Jennifer lifted her eyebrows as if to say, 'Well, what do you know...you're right.' Joy smiled to herself then gazed apologetically to Zormna.

"Of all the melodramas." Michelle rolled her eyes, hanging her shoulders. "'I swear on the graves of my mother and father...and all my ancestors'. Get real. Last week you showed your true colors as a skank. Live with it, you liar. You just don't want your reputation as a girl in control tainted. The fact that you got laid by the guy you have been pretending you don't have a history with is just...you know...obvious."

Stacey smirked, nodding.

"Just own it," Michelle said. "And move on."

The other girls around still talked in giggles and snippets, peeking more at Zormna.

Joy stood alone in feeling sorry for her. But even Jennifer McCabe looked at Zormna as if she believed Zormna was just pretending to be chaste to remain on less awkward terms with Joy and her brother Brian who were both Mormons and didn't approve of free sex.

In normal circumstances, Zormna would have pounded on Michelle as Jeff had done to Bradley Hershott. But it wasn't just Michelle, it was everyone. Feeling her stomach sink, an unexpected change went over her. She felt sick. Her face went hot, her ears ringing. But more...tears came.

Zormna swallowed and looked to Joy, who returned a sad, yet sympathetic glance. Though Joy now believed her, it was not enough. Attempting to regain control of her composure, she blinked away the tears - or tried to. But it was too much. Scowling, the tears flowed freely.

"You cockroach!" Zormna slammed her PE locker closed and ran out of the room.

The girls watched her. Most in the locker room laughed, whispering louder as she rushed by.

She was heard crying in the bathroom from one of the stalls for the rest of the hour.

Zormna ditched her computer class.

But she was determined to meet with Jeff, as they still had work to do relating to their trip to Florida. So she stood outside the detention hall and waited for him.

They both walked to the parking lot in silence. The entire school seemed to be watching them, so much that Jeff and Zormna walked a little closer together. They didn't even see their friends who had also waited for Jeff to get out of detention. Jeff and Zormna just walked by, eyes on the asphalt in silent tunnel vision.

They stopped at Jeff's motorcycle. He climbed on and gunned the engine.

"Do you want a ride home?" Jeff asked, lifting his eyes to her.

Zormna looked up. She could see all the staring faces that watched them. Indignantly lifting her head higher, she nodded. "Yeah."

It was difficult for Jeff not to smile. Her defiance was gratifying. If they were going to have a ruined reputation then they might as well deal with it in dignity.

Zormna climbed on behind him and clung to his jacket, placing her school bag in between them so her books would not fall out. As they rode out of the parking lot, it was as if the entire school was watching and saying to themselves, "I can't believe they're leaving together after that. They're so cool."

But really, not everyone was saying or thinking that. The damage had been done. It was impossible to reverse it. Though, since then, Jennifer McLenna, Jessica from History class, and even Joy Henderson, attempted to correct the rumors. As for Jeff's wrestling buddies who had also been Zormna's friends, they decided not to mention it at all. And what they thought, they kept entirely to themselves.

Wednesday started pleasantly for the most part. It was the day before Thanksgiving, for starters. The entire student body quickly learned not to confront either individual about what they thought had happened between them in Florida - yet the background gossip continued to murmur through the school whenever they passed by.

The most noted change was that Jeff was no longer as mellow as he used to be. Besides still sporting the black eye, he now held a grudge against anyone who said or suggested anything bad about Zormna within earshot. He finally decided he didn't care what they said about him. That was the funny thing. Up until then he would have let Zormna defend herself without his help, but this was now personal. He saw her as the hope his nation, his queen, and it was his duty to protect her.

Currently, Jeff brooded in English, listening to Mr. Humphries lecture to them about the art of sonnet making. They all knew that Mr. Humphries thought Shakespeare was a genius. The man nearly worshipped old William as a god. But it was not until then that he vocalized why.

"It takes great skill to create a well-written sonnet. Which is why I think you all need the practice," their teacher said.

The class groaned together. They could see where this was going.

"Therefore, your next assignment will be to write a sonnet - a good, well thought out sonnet about something you really care about," he said. He then looked out at each of them, trying to drive the point home. "I want you to think really hard about this project. This one I will grade strictly, and it will be read in class. And it will be due by the end of the year, no exceptions."

The class groaned again.

Mr. Humphries then turned around to his desk and picked up his text. "Now, onto the next sonnet." Gazing down the rows of students, his eyes stopped on Zormna.

"You, Miss Clendar. You haven't read in a while."

Someone wolf-whistled.

Zormna sighed and stood up, holding her heavy text in her arms so she could see. She read:

                   Let me not to the marriage of true minds

                   Admit impediments. Love is not love

                   Which alters when it alteration finds,

                   Or bends with the remover to remove:

                   O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,

                   That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;

                   It is the star to every wandering bark,

                   Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken,

                   Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

                   Within is bending sickle's compass come;

                   Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

                   But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

                   If this be error, and upon me prov'd,

                   I never writ, nor man ever lov'd.

She sat down, but not after hearing more snickers in her direction. Jeff glared that way.

Mr. Humphries smiled. "Thank you. That was a good reading."

More rude giggling erupted in the room. Joy looked up, annoyed, and so did Brian. Mr. Humphries did not seem to notice.

"What..." the teacher asked, giving them time to think, "...do you think is the message of the poem?"

Zormna knew that he meant for her to answer before he left the question to the class. He always did that.

She stood up again. "I think is talking about true love. Real love. Real love isn't damaged by change or time. The poem says it is an ever-fixed mark." Zormna glanced at the poem and added, "I think, possibly, that he really does know what he is talking about."

Then she sat down.

Mr. Humphries smirked. It was an old argument he and Zormna had had about Shakespeare (or rather Romeo) not knowing what real love was.  

Adam Arbor raised his hand. "But what does the ending mean? I don't get that."

Jeff chuckled now.

Mr. Humphries looked over at him. "You wish to say something, Mr. Streigle?"

Jeff stood up. "I was just thinking about my old girlfriend. It just would have been interesting if she had read this poem."

"How so, Mr. Streigle?" Mr. Humphries asked, leaning on his desk.

Jeff took a breath, rocking on his feet. "Well, we broke up over, well - you know - her father's death. I was just wondering if we would get back together, or if it really was over. Call me stupid."

Jeff sat down.

Mr. Humphries smiled. "Though your case is a tragic exception, most teenagers don't really see beyond boyfriends and girlfriends. And when they do, one begins to wonder if they are rushing things." His eyes barely flickered to Zormna who had sat down and was trying to ignore the snickers in the room. Apparently he had heard the rumor as well, though Zormna didn't want to think about what he was implying. After pausing a moment, the teacher added, "However, to answer Mr. Arbor's question, is there anyone who would like to respond?"

Most of the class shrugged to themselves.

A girl in the back raised her hand and then stood up.

"I think it means that if he's wrong about what he said then possibly no person has ever been in love," she said. Then she sat back down, blushing.

Mr. Humphries smiled at her. "That's a possible interpretation."

He straightened his tie.

"Your writing assignment..." he began as the class groaned once more. "Your writing assignment will be to tell me about something you are devoted to. I would like you to show me how you coped with persecution or pressure to stop your devotion and how you coped - or in some cases, how you gave in."

He placed his text down and walked to sit behind his desk. The class knew then that the rest of the hour was theirs to write.

Jeff looked up at Zormna who was pinching her brow, trying hard to think of something she could write without exposing their secret. She was not imaginative when it came to making up stories. Her mind was more into machinery and practical, physical things like sports and computer programming. He looked back at his own blank sheet of paper. It would be a doozy of a lie, but then nearly all his papers had been.

The rest of the day sort of rumbled by. Zormna's History teacher, Miss Bianchi, held a small party in her classroom - her mock Thanksgiving - while the students discussed the influence of Andrew Jackson on the Native Americans that were forced out of their lands to Oklahoma. It was a particularly depressing lesson in general. Miss Bianchi kept ranting that all the settlers in the end really just wanted the gold on the Cherokee's land, no matter what the Cherokee did to adapt to the white man's way of life. Everyone left the class with an upset stomach, which Zormna was sure was intentional.

The other hours were just as painful. Whispers continued around Zormna as she walked through the halls. Michelle and Stacey were both in particular smug toward her in PE, though Jennifer McCabe had joined Joy in defending Zormna from the rude remarks of the other girls as Joy was her best friend. Bradley Hershott was avoiding Jeff, of course. He couldn't afford to end his high school career losing his position on the football team. However, the other boys in the locker room still peeked at Jeff as if he had conquered the untamable beast but he was too much of a jerk not to tell them how to do it themselves. Besides that, Jeff had turned cold and angry half the hour. He barely spoke to the others when he exercised,