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

could inflict on her new slave. Undoubtedly Michelle, like many others, held pent-up aggression towards her. Apparently their new head cheerleader had the ultimate humiliation planned.

The beginning of it was costumes.

The senior cheerleaders took their slaves for the week into the cheer locker room and dressed them up in the most humiliating costumes they could imagine. Michelle had Zormna change from her pajamas into her PE clothes. Then she went to work.

When the first hour bell rang, Zormna marched grumpily to Science class in swimming flippers, a baby bib with a pacifier, while wearing green bows tied all over her short curly head of hair. Jingling bells swung from the long strands that ran in front of her ears, newly braided. And to top it off, eyeball antenna wobbled from the crown of her head, sticking out of a sparkly green headband. Michelle had coated Zormna’s face with green and orange Halloween face paint. It had such horrific luminescence that it gave her a headache. Most had to avert their eyes after one look. When Jessica saw her, she stared in amusement.

Zormna slumped into her chair, shoving the wobbly alien-eye headband so they swayed farther back on her head.

“Don’t say it.” Zormna scowled, tugging on the strings to the baby bib around her neck to loosen it. She tossed the pacifier to the side so it would not get in the way.

“You’re the one who wanted to be a cheerleader.” Jessica snickered.

Zormna moaned, resting her head on her desk. The wobbly eyes clanged immediately against the particleboard.

“You should have warned me.”

“I thought Jennifer would do the honors.” Jessica snorted with an additional snicker. Then she sniffed, “What’s that smell?”

Zormna groaned, propping her head up on her hand and huffed. “Fish oil—and Jennifer did warn me—somewhat. Only too late.”

Jessica repeated her justified laugh with even more chuckles as she opened her folder.

More people came in, cast Zormna a look, then averted their gaze—though Brandon’s crowd got in a good laugh first.

Thinking for a while, pressing her lips together, Zormna eventually glanced over at Jessica, wondering something. Jessica was in a new acid rock shirt, her hair with freshly dyed streaks of purple and blue. The black even seemed blacker. Jessica was also wearing a jacket of black leather with spikes on it. It reminded Zormna of something that had never been far from her mind. And, while being so ridiculously green at the moment, Zormna decided it was time to address the question.

The same moment Mr. Keller walked into the room, Zormna whispered: “I have noticed that you and Jennifer still do not talk to each other. Why is that, really?”

Jessica frowned. She lifted her eyes from her homework with a flickering peek to Mr. Keller who was now calling roll. He had already covered the A’s. “We were friends once when we were kids. Then she changed. I could blame hormones, but really she just got so stuck up. She started to act like she was embarrassed to be seen with me—so I punished her for it.”

Zormna’s mouth popped open. Jennifer had once said Jessica was a back-stabbing jerkoff, but she had never elaborated exactly what had happened.

“Now we are just from different cliques, that’s all. Preps and Goths don’t associate—finito, end of story.”

“Preps and Goths?” Zormna leaned closer. The bells jingled as they swayed from her head.

“Zormna Clendar?” Mr. Keller called out.

“Here!” Zormna hardly looked up, still watching Jessica. Where her head had been on the desk was now a circular green patch. Noticing it, Zormna scrunched up her nose and tried to rub it off.

Mr. Keller continued calling roll.

Jessica coughed to hide a laugh, glancing once more at the teacher up front. “I keep forgetting that you’re still new.”

Mr. Keller called a few more names, but was now glancing over at them. His eyes flickered several times on Zormna’s green-and-orange alien get-up.

“Ok, every school that I know of has cliques,” Jessica whispered. “You know—social circles. Here at Pennington we have the Jocks and Cheerleaders (the same clique). Then the Preps, Goths, Greasers, Brains and all the nobodies. All the nobodies usually try to break into one of the groups—since nobody wants to be a nobody. Mostly, though, there are a lot of Preps. All the goody-two-shoes become Preps, usually. Jennifer is a Prep. I’m a Goth.”

“Kind of like a caste system.” Zormna nodded, though her brows knitted together as she wondered. “And I would be a Prep or a Cheerleader now, right?”

“You?” Chuckling, Jessica glanced up and down Zormna’s PE clothes, the flippers and all that green and orange greasepaint. She shook her head. “Zormna, you are in a class by yourself.”

Zormna stared.

Rolling her eyes, Jessica explained, “You may hang with those meathead wrestlers at lunch, and with Jennifer and her preppy boy-toy, Kevin. But you are, like, scary smart. You’ve got this don’t-hate-me-because-I’m-beautiful thing going on. And you are also a foreigner with a ‘tragic past’. That makes you something else entirely.” Jessica shook her head. “Besides, that geek Darren Asher thinks you are an alien. And Jennifer secretly calls you a super-ninja. And rumor has it, the FBI is following you. You are so mysterious. ”

Mr. Keller called Jessica’s name. Jessica raised her hand without saying anything.

“Mysterious?” Zormna rubbed the desk more vigorously, feeling her face go hot. Already her hand was turning green. Sighing at the futility of it, Zormna wiped her hands together to thin the color out. It was one thing to look ridiculous, quite another to leave a trail. “Is that bad?”

“Nah, but that makes you dangerous.” Jessica smiled. “I like that.”

Mr. Keller had stopped calling roll. He was now writing their reading assignments on the board.

Zormna closed her eyes. “Dangerous, huh?”

Jessica smirked, nodding.

“That wasn’t my intention…” Zormna murmured, sulking now. Apparently it was impossible to lose that reputation after all. It had followed her to the U.S.

“It doesn’t matter.” Jessica whispered back. “At least you’re not boring, like Jennifer McSnotty-face.”

Zormna lifted her eyebrows.

“So…” Jessica whispered even quieter, her eye on the teacher. “I heard a rumor you are going to Prom with Todd. Is that really true?”

Nodding, Zormna stared up at the ceiling. “Yep.”

Jessica huffed with disappointment. “You’re kidding me.”

Zormna shook her head. “Nope.”

“Why?” Jessica hissed. “He’s like oatmeal. Yeah, he’s an all-American boy, but so boring. I could have sworn you would have showed up with someone like Jeff Streigle, or something.”

Lurching against her desk, Zormna stared back at Jessica—slack-jawed.

“He’s totally your type,” Jessica said.

“Take that back,” Zormna hissed.

“Uh-uh.” Jessica shook her head. “No way. The guy is just like you. Freaky past. Running from danger. A scary guy in a fight, and waaaay smart.”

“I broke his nose and caused that scar on his face,” Zormna said. “He kicked me in the face for revenge. I hate him. He hates me.”

“Really?” Jessica stared wide. “That wasn’t just a rumor then?”

Zormna nodded sharply. 

“Quit talking, you two.” Mr. Keller tapped his chalk in the center of his palm.

Both girls leaned back into their own chairs. As soon as they were apart, their Science teacher went back into his oration over the final chapter in the textbook.

“I think he’s hot…” Jessica murmured. “He’s got that total vampire vibe.”

Zormna slumped in her chair, groaning.

“Jeff and Alex both work at an auto garage on Pete’s Hill Drive near the doughnut shop. He repairs cars,” Jessica whispered. “I wish he’d repair my car.”

“Enough!” Mr. Keller snapped, his face going red with exasperation.

Zormna agreed.

*

The entire thing with the cheerleaders was a show. And Jennifer had to admit, she was enjoying the spectacle. It was a grand musical-comedy. Throughout that Tuesday, she watched Zormna struggle with all her five-foot might to avoid classmates stepping on her swimming flippers while she navigated through the halls. For a normal person, of course, it would have been impossible. But Zormna was a ninja, and somehow she got around. Most who dared step on Zormna’s flippers did it purposely. They were trying to make Zormna fall on her face. And the little blonde tripped about seven times—before she figured out how to smack people in the rear with a flipper. After that, no one came close to treading on them.

Currently, during lunch hour, Michelle Clay was making Zormna memorize the words to a song called “The Martian Hop” while Joy’s master had her sing an embarrassing rendition of “Joy to the World”. And though Joy was like Brian in that she could carry a tune, Zormna warbled “The Martian Hop” so off-key that everyone begged Michelle to make her stop.

“Alright!” Michelle snapped at the others, shooting a glare at the tone-deaf blonde.

Zormna barely hid her relief.

“Get in formation, ladies!” the current cheer captain called to the new cheerleaders.

 While belting out yet another verse of “Joy to the World”, Joy skipped over the grass, bumping around in a huge acorn costume that had a hula-hoop in middle (it was a pain to wear at a desk while in class). “Joy is a squirrel whose nuts fell down on Earth for just a fling!”

She bumped into another recruit named Stacey Price. That girl was stuck in spike-heeled sandals and a pink tutu. Joy barely missed knocking down another girl while avoiding Zormna’s flippers. All of them were struggling to perform one of the cheer formations they had learned the week before. Of course, the week before they were dressed normally. And Joy hadn’t been so obnoxious. “And every part had broken up. She’s cracked in the head you see….”

Their masters jeered rowdily with the graduating football players, finding fault with everything the girls in costume were doing. The rest of the student body gathered around the edge to watch. And though it was funny, it really wasn’t fair.

“Shut up!” Stacy looked likely to throttle Joy. Stacy stomped her heel into the grass, struggling to keep her tutu down over her green polka-dotted shorts.

“…Yes, cracked in the head as can be…” Attempting to do a back flip, Joy stumbled against Jennifer McCabe who waddled into position while wearing a huge sumo wrestler costume someone had dug up.

Jennifer McCabe mostly rolled on her side, screaming, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Zormna jogged to her spot, lifting her knees high enough that her flippers did not trip her. They had been attempting to perform that cheer perfectly for the seniors through most of the lunch hour. Half the time they tumbled in a heap on the grass with Joy cackling hysterically, singing the crazy verses to her song.

While kicking a flipper out and sticking out her arm, another of the girls knocked into Zormna and sent her backward onto the grass. Joy toppled over soon after.

“What was that?” the current head cheerleader called out with a mock look of fury. “You call that cheering? Start over, from the beginning. No mess ups!”

Almost every one of the new cheerleaders moaned as the crowd hooted, though Joy continued to laugh. She was having way too much fun.

Zormna struggled to her feet, dusting the grass off her rear end.  

“Nice outfit, Zormna.”

Zormna closed her eyes and clenched her teeth.

Jennifer looked to see who had said that. And she saw him, standing next to the tree on the north end of the lawn, the only person who dared mock Zormna in the state she was in. Jeff Streigle. He stood there in his black leather jacket, grinning way too smugly and too comfortably for anyone sane.

Zormna opened one eye sharply.

“I never saw you dressed better,” he called. His grin hooked up on one side. In his eyes was pure enjoyment.

Those around him laughed, jabbing him in the ribs—Mark especially. He slapped Jeff on the back, clearly happy that Jeff was not avoiding Zormna anymore. Todd and the others were a little more wary, though. Despite that, they chuckled. Brian glanced at Jeff sideways like he didn’t think it was too wise to taunt Zormna at present.

No kidding. Like the proverbial camel hit with that last piece of straw, Zormna kicked off her flippers. Then with one leap forward, she