The Secret of Zormna Clendar by Julie Steimle (great reads .TXT) 📖

what exactly.

Jennifer shuddered, virtually feeling the chill that passed between Zormna and Jeff. She glanced at Brian who stood right next to her.

Exhaling, Brian murmured under his breath, “What is up with those two?”

Jennifer decided it was not wise to answer. Brian would not be any more open to stories about aliens in Pennington than Todd would be. Besides, rumor would reach the FBI’s ears, and they did not need that. Instead Jennifer got up, said her good-byes then urged Zormna to get to class.

Zormna nodded, glancing at Jeff before leaving with her.

Brian watched them rush off, blinking in wonder.

*

“Hey, Jeff. We need to talk,” Brian said in PE as they were stepping out of the locker room through the back doors towards the playing fields. Brian made absolutely sure Zormna was far away with her PE class so she wouldn’t notice.

Jeff responded with a shrug. “Yeah, what is it?”

Brian took Jeff aside to a recessed spot along the wall where they would not draw attention. “What is going on between you and Zormna? Something has changed.”

“What do you mean?” Jeff pulled back, not so much with guilt, yet Brian could tell that he knew exactly what he meant.

“She won’t hang out with us when you are around—which is…normal, but lately you’ve been leaving again. What happened?”

Jeff took another step back. The look on his face hardened. “Brian, this really isn’t any of your concern.”

“Isn’t any of my concern?” Up until then, he had thought Jeff was an upstanding, though haunted sort of guy. And normally he would not have pressed the issue, but Brian’s disappointment in his friend flooded over him. “I care what happens to Zormna. If you did anything to her that—”

“Nothing like that happened!” Jeff raised his hands in defense. “I never—”

“Zormna’s body language says she had been molested.”

Jeff looked at the ground. “I touched her shoulder.”

Brian blinked at him, not sure he heard him right. It was so anticlimactic. “You what?”

Meeting Brian’s eyes, Jeff repeated it. “I put my hand on her right shoulder. You know, the one with the funny mark we saw during the Olympics. I wanted to see if it was real.”

Brian went a little pale, since he had also wanted to see if the mark was real. “And that bothered her.”

Wincing, Jeff nodded. “I’m sorry.”

Glancing around for a second, Brian came back with a confused stare. “Have you tried to apologize?”

Jeff looked apprehensive. He glanced away, unable to respond for a moment, and certainly unable to meet Brian’s eye. “It’s sort of complicated.”

“How complicated can it be?’ Exasperated, Brian threw up his hands. “You just go up to her and say, ‘Zormna, I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable. Will you forgive me?’ That’s all.”

Jeff just shrugged. “I can’t even get near her. She runs away. Besides, I don’t…really…want—”

“You don’t want to apologize?” Brian moved in.

Jeff straightened up. “I didn’t say that. I just don’t think I could get near enough to her without getting my head kicked off my shoulders. Our past is just too complicated. ‘Sorry’ will not be enough for her.”

“Ok, you two. What are you doing over here?” Their coach marched up, fists on hips. He peered down on them both, his eyebrows crushing together in the middle of his forehead.

“Just talking.” And Brian quickly departed to the playing fields.

Jeff followed suit, casting the coach a weak smile.

The coach watched them. But then he sniffed the air around that corner and searched the ground for dropped cigarette butts.

 

Brian figured Jeff would continue to avoid the problem, so at lunch he took the matter into his own hands. He recruited Mark and Jonathan to keep Jeff from running, while Todd made sure Zormna came to the red top for lunch rather than eating with Jennifer. Todd thought it was a great idea.

Jeff practically flew out of his seat when he saw Zormna walk down the grass. Both friends seized each side, pulling him back down.

Alex wasn’t there again.

“Calm yourself. Let’s just get this over with,” Jonathan said.

Jeff shot a glare at Brian who maintained a take-charge stance. Glancing at his other friends, Jeff glowered until giving up with a roll of his eyes. He waited for when Zormna herself would react.

“What is this?” Zormna snapped the second she saw him, turning to Brian who was obviously the orchestrator.

Jeff lifted his eyebrows to say ‘I told you so’.

“Tell her you’re sorry,” Brian said to Jeff with a nod.

Zormna flustered and pulled back. “What for?”

“Not you. Him.” Brian jabbed Jeff in the side to speak. Jeff had been averting his eyes, his face getting redder in embarrassment.

But she did not wait for ‘sorry’. Zormna shook off Todd’s grip. “You told him what happened?”

Jeff’s head jerked up. He looked honestly shamefaced. “Yes. And I’m sorry I touched your….” He could not continue.

“You talked about that?” Zormna pulled her arms to herself.

“Yes, stupid!” Jeff’s embarrassment swept off. He was now angry for some reason. “In American culture they can talk about shoulders. Shoulders! Shoulders! Shoulders! You make it sound like I—”

Zormna slapped him.

Her shouting echoed over the red top. “Stay away from me! I don’t care what you think you were doing! But if you ever lay a finger on me again I will flatten you into the ground so hard there won’t be another Zeldar to fill the history books!”

She stomped off.

In the echo of her exit, Jeff stared at the ground. The guy looked shaken. All eyes in the schoolyard watched, waiting for what would happen next.

Brian gave an embarrassed wave and nudged Mark to do the same.

Jonathan blew kisses.

“What was that?” Todd murmured as Zormna stomped into the school building.

“She hates me,” Jeff said in a weak voice that was so not him.

All of them turned and stared.

Looking up at their faces, Jeff shrugged. “Nothing new. Just worse. That’s all.”

He left their table and crossed to the trashcan, dumping the trash from his lunch in.

Todd murmured, his eyes following him, “You know, though. He actually seems to care now.”

Brian nodded. And he knew he could not let the situation end here.

“What was that?” Mark repeated, shaking his head.

Jonathan laughed and slapped him on the back. “Who knows?”

*

Brian’s attempt at making peace between his friend Jeff and their ‘Irish’ celebrity had been an abysmal failure. Jeff continued to avoid the lunch table at the red top. So did Alex. Alex had claimed it was auto shop taking up his time, but Jennifer noticed that the boy had merely found a convenient excuse. In spite of Zormna’s warnings to stay away from the Streigle brothers, Jennifer had spied on Alex in the auto shop at school to make doubly sure neither boy intended to harm her family’s houseguest.

Alex had seen her. And waved. But he wasn’t working on any cars.

Jennifer had ducked away from then on.

As for Zormna, she kept plugging along, pretending she was nothing more than a normal teen who wanted to become a varsity cheerleader. After school on Friday, Jennifer found the impossible blonde talking with Joy about what would be expected on Monday if she made the team. Joy bubbled over fittings for their cheer costumes, recited (with due diligence) the fees they had to pay, and shared with extreme enthusiasm about cheer camp in the summer. Joy’s face glowed while recounting all the pranks they pulled on their rival, Monroe High. Then Joy spotted Jennifer.

Joy ducked her head a mite, understanding Jennifer was uncomfortable with Zormna’s friendship with her, yet she continued talking. “…But on Monday, if you get in, which I think you will—”

“Unless she breaks her ankle,” quipped a passing girl while practically sneering at Joy as she walked by.

But Joy had an amazing talent for ignorning jerks. “—we will get our schedules for practices and the games, which you have to get your parent (or guardian in your case) to sign.”

Jennifer cringed on that thought, cutting in on the conversation. “That might be a problem.”

Zormna looked to her and lifted her eyebrows slightly. “You think so? I figured if I paid for all the expenses, your parents would not mind. I told them all about this. And this would keep me out from underfoot—so to speak.”

“Yeah, I guess so….” Jennifer shrugged. Then she turned, waiting for Zormna to follow. “Well, anyway. We gotta get home.”

Zormna glanced back at Joy with a parting smile. It was more relaxed than the ones she usually gave Jennifer, another reason to be jealous.

“Uh,” Joy followed them a few paces. “Tomorrow, do you want to come to the park and practice with me?”

“Uh, well,” Zormna glanced to Jennifer. “I don’t know. What are we doing tomorrow, Jennifer?”

Saturday…

Jennifer’s mind went over all her plans and promises. She froze, going white. “I totally forgot. Tomorrow I have a date with Kevin. I promised him one full day…you know, with just us. It has been so hectic since…you know.”

Zormna was already pale. “I see….” But Zormna only nodded slowly. “And Todd has track practice.”

“And Mindy has campfire girls, and Andrew is going to a birthday party.” Jennifer waited to see if Zormna really was ok with that. It meant she would be leaving Zormna all alone with her parents. Not since her return had Zormna spent one second alone with the McLenna adults, or even by herself at her other house. Just the mention of it made Zormna freeze.

With a peek to Joy, who stared with complete bewilderment after them, Jennifer cringed. It was never clear how much Joy knew about the goings-on with Zormna. Joy never actually gossiped, despite how much she talked, so Jennifer never heard her view on one thing or the other.

But then the most brilliant idea came to Jennifer. “Do you mind if Zormna hangs out with you all tomorrow?”

Zormna gazed at Joy, thinking about it.

But a grin cracked wide across Joy’s face. “Yeah. That’d be cool.”

Again they started to part ways, yet Joy spun around again with a lurch. “Oh! But I’m babysitting my younger brothers and sisters tomorrow while my parents go to the temple. Do you mind hanging out with a bunch of loud obnoxious kids all day?”

Joy looked hopeful though, that wry smirk not gone.

“Not a problem.” Zormna chuckled with relief. “It will be like going home.”

Jennifer blinked. Surrounded by loud obnoxious children was like going home? What kind of military was she from anyway? Then again, Jennifer realized that perhaps Zormna had not lied about coming from a military school.

Joy waved as she hurried off.

And Jennifer and Zormna went on home…sure the FBI were following.

*

Saturday morning, Jennifer dropped Zormna off at Pennington Park on her way to Kevin’s house. Joy was already there with six kids very much from the same gene pool—all brown haired, tan, and with mischievous grins on their robust faces. Joy introduced them as they played.

Zormna stared mostly at the twelve-year-old twin boys who looked a lot like Brian—Ammon and Moroni. She had seen them the first day in Pennington long ago and they had helped Mr. McLenna with the removal of the large beam from her great aunt’s home. Now, they tossed a Frisbee with their younger, ten-year-old brother Daniel, while their two sisters Ruth and Makayla—eight and six—crawled all over the jungle gym. Zormna had about a thousand questions for Joy after she met them all, the main one being why in the world her parents had so many children.

Joy just laughed in that off-hand sort of way of hers and said, “Some people just do.”

Brian showed up with Todd around noon, and together they all played an impromptu game of tag. At the end of the game, Brian urged all his younger brothers and sisters to the family van where he had them squeeze in, including Todd and Zormna, so they could go home for lunch.

“McDonalds!” Makayla shouted loud once she was strapped into her booster seat. Zormna squeezed onto the padded bench next to her while the twins wrestled over the back seat and the other two did rock-paper-scissors over who