Outcast (Ricky's backstory)

Chapter One
I was about ten when it all started. This whole blasted mess that turned out great in the end. For as long as I can remember, everyone I've ever known has had some mortal enemy who was looking to kill them. I never thought such things really happened though. Folks really killing each other because of such stuff, I mean.

Well, I'd heard of this kid at school who got into a fight with another kid cause of some old grudge that neither one really even remembered anymore, and they both ended up suspended for a week, which wasn't even necessary; they were beaten up so bad they didn't come to school for two weeks. But that was the worst anything ever got, at least in my world.

Now that I look back at it, I was real sheltered. I never knew anyone who died until I was ten. My brother Randall wasn't as lucky, he was seven when it happened. After that, I hated myself for everything I ever did wrong, not for my sake, but for his.

My parents were the kind of people who could be real considerate and loving at times, but more often that not, I think me and Randy were just burdens to them. I don't know. I'll never know. Maybe I was too young to understand.

But I wasn't too young to understand what death meant. Nobody on Kalfaara is. Elementary-school kids go through more on Kalfaara than most college kids at the advanced universities on Asfont will ever understand. Or maybe it's not what we've been through. Maybe it's the mindset of the folks on the planet. The same mindset that killed my parents when I was ten. Stop at nothing. Accomplish your goal, no matter the pain or cost. Don't show any sign of emotion or weakness. And most importantly, a promise is to die for. Literally. You make a promise, you better keep it until the day you die. Even if the promise brings that day around a whole lot sooner than would be otherwise.

It was that promise my parents made to one of their old friends that caused everything. That Perrys had their ship wired, so that it would explode halfway to their destination of Asfont. My parents wouldn't have gone along...except that they'd promised. Promised a half-year ago that they'd go along when the time came. And you see where it got everyone. Nowhere.

I remember hearing the news, that they'd died and me and Randy were on our own now, and I wondered why I wasn't crying at all. It was probably that mindset again...showing no emotion or weakness. I hadn't cried in a year, and I wasn't about to break a perfect record. A 'perfect record' that I didn't break till I was eighteen.

I still don't remember who told me the whole blasted thing was Perrys' fault, but I must've heard somewhere, cause what I do remember was me finding his ship. Don't ask how the heck I knew any of this, or if it was just a coincidence. But what happened next wasn't a coincidence, I can assure you of that. I really don't know why I lit that stick of dynamite, or why I was carrying it around anyways, and I don't know why I tossed it into the ship. That part of my memory's real blurred.

And then after that, a bunch of the cops showed up and started asking me a ton of questions about what I just did and why and how and was I really just ten years old. That was the only reason I got out of being arrested. Me being ten. They honest-to-goodness didn't believe a ten-year-old kid could do such a thing, so they left it as that. But they told me next time I pulled a stunt like that, I'd be in real big trouble. And I was. Three years later.

Me and some kid who I hadn't known until that morning.

He had been standing in the doorway of the classroom I was supposed to go to next. I told him to get out of the way, leave right this instant.

"Oh, and I suppose it's you that's gonna try and make me leave?" he questioned.

"I will too make you leave," I snapped.

"Go ahead and try!" he smirked.

That was it. I'd had enough. I pushed him out of the way, hard, and got into my classroom. It was empty. I walked over to the window, and couldn't see anything but snow outside. That's normal for this place. But I wanted to see if anything was going on outside that was preventing folks from coming in. And apparently, there wasn't anything I could see, so I turned around to leave.

"Oh, so now you wanna leave?" the boy asked.

"Shut your trap and get lost!" I yelled. Maybe that wasn't the best thing to have said.

"Look here, I came here to have a little time to myself, 'cause everybody is watching them prep the field for the football game tonight."

"Who are you anyways?" I asked.

"Riley Davis. In case that don't ring a bell, I'm captain of the football team. And so, I don't want more people askin' me a bunch of questions. Like they been doing all mornin'. So go away."

He looked too small and scrawny to be the captain of the football team, but then, so is everyone around here. The biggest player on our team didn't even look like he could tackle someone his own size. But he could...everyone around here can.

"Maybe you should go out there and see if there's anythin' you can do to win a game for once," I said dryly.

Riley glared at me.

"I'd have ya know that we've won more games since I came than before I did!" he practically screamed in my face.

"I know. One game in two years. Y'know, it probably ain't a good idea to have a kid like you for team captain. You don't look strong enough."

Riley dashed behind me and put me in a firm choke hold.

"Oh, yeah? How's that for strong?"

"Ain't good enough," I laughed, pushing him away.

Riley suddenly turned around and slugged me in the jaw. Awful hard. I gasped. Nobody-I repeat, nobody-hits me without facing the consequences. In Riley's case, this was being thrown full force into the plaster wall. Needless to say, it broke. He scrambled out of the wall and turned to face me.

"What the heck is wrong with you?!" he yelped, then ripped a good-sized chunk of plaster out of the hole and threw it at me. I caught it in the air and threw it back at Riley...just as Mr. Cruise, the principal, walked around the corner. It was a pretty bad throw. It missed Riley by a foot, and shattered an inch away from Mr. Cruise instead.

"Goodbye!" Riley yelled and started down the hall at top speed, but I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him back. If I was gonna get arrested, he was coming with me. He started it anyways.

Half an hour later, me and Riley were sitting in a prison cell, waiting for our twenty-four-hour sentence to be over. The place wasn't really that bad, it had metal walls and was lit real good by the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. If it wasn't locked, and Riley wasn't in there with me, it would've actually been pretty blasted nice. It was better than sitting in a classroom listening to a boring grammar lecture. Yeah, I hate school that much.

After three hours of blankly staring at each other, I finally managed to say something.

"Okay, Riley, guess who's fault it is we're in the cooler."

"You were the one who busted the hole in the wall," he stated.

"Yeah, but you were the one who started the fight, buddy. You don't do that and get away with it. Even if it was nothin'."

He grinned slightly and pointed at my jaw.

"Well, look at your jaw. Looks like I did somethin' more than you give me credit for."

I looked at my reflection in the door. Poor Riley was pretty proud of himself for giving me such a large bruise. And he could hit mighty hard, I had to give him that. I rolled my eyes.

"Know what you should do when we get outta here?" he asked.

"No, what?"

"Try out for the football team. Honest, you'd make it. You caught that piece of plaster pretty good just now, and you could definitely tackle someone..."

"Yeah, but I didn't throw the thing well, did I?" I laughed.

He shrugged. "Whatever, it's just an idea. We could use you."

I leaned up against the metal wall, looking at Riley out of the corner of my eye. He seemed an okay guy, about as okay as me, or maybe more. But should I trust him?

That's probably one of my main weaknesses. I have an awful hard time trusting anyone. Even people I obviously should trust. I couldn't tell with Riley.

Oh well. I had twenty more hours in here with him, and we better not try and break out, because there was a security camera in the corner. If it wasn't for that, we'd probably have been out of there.

I curled up in the corner, pulled my leather jacket around me tightly, and fell asleep.

Chapter Two
The next day we finally got home. I found out that Riley-or Solo, as his friends call him-had a younger sister two years older than Randy. And she and Randy knew each other from a few of their classes. (Randy skipped a grade, so he took his classes with the older kids.)

Me and Riley both skipped school that day. It was the first time either of us had got into a big fight at school, and we wanted to talk some things over. He ain't such a bad kid, really. Just needs his time alone-hence the nickname.

And I had to admit, despite myself, that he was pretty darn good-looking.

When Randy came home that day, I asked him what he thought about me maybe trying out for the football team. He looked excited.

"I bet you'd do real well," he said. "They could use ya too."

I shrugged. "I still don't know, I might make a fool of myself."

He laughed. "Oh, and you're friends with Riley's sister Maddie, right?"

I nodded. "I guess so, yeah."

"She's on the team too. With Riley. Oh, and one other thing you'd probably like to think over. Luke Scott's also on the team."

I rolled my eyes and groaned. Luke had had this huge crush on me since third grade. He wasn't a bad kid at all-sweet and gullible, don't know how to tell someone no or stand his ground. But that was his problem-he was far too trusting. And not tough enough. That ticked me off. The kid needed to be more independent, to not rely on his friends for everything. And he was so sweet, I bet if he got jumped, he wouldn't bother to even defend himself.

I decided to give the team a shot. Just go for the practice the following day.

Once I got there, I was pretty suprised. I counted ten kids on the team. No wonder they never won any games-they plain old didn't have enough people to field a proper team. Now I saw why Riley wanted me to join so badly.

I'd already met several of the folks, and I bet this was going to be an...interesting experience, to say the least.

Riley's sister Maddie looked somewhat like her brother, and could be pretty mean if she wanted to. But that was nothing compared to Robert. Just talking to him for five minutes made me look like a nice girl. And everyone knows that's not true in the least. Robert was tough, and cold, and strong, and mean, and hard, and everything else I am, except slightly more extreme. And to make matters worse, he went through the entire practice barefoot. In the snow. I had to respect him, I guess.

Then there were the twins Dalton and Jonathan. Dalton screamed when Robert accidentally stepped on his foot. He screams over everything. John basically hid from everyone when he wasn't on the field. Reminded me a bit of Randy.

The other two girls on the team were sisters, Chloe and Kayla. Kayla was a year older than Chloe, but it wouldn't be easy to say one was a better football player than the other. Blast, they might've been even better than me.

Tyler was Riley's best buddy, even though they were always butting heads and fighting. I could see why. The two of them were the top students. We were in seventh grade already, and at the end of eighth grade, the best student would get a scholarship to the fancy high school in Ritnon, Kalfaara's capital. After that, there were many opportunities to get a scholarship to one of the colleges on Asfont. A place that neither of their families could afford.

One of the boys would get the scholarship to Ritnon...the question was, which one?

Then there was Steven Jackson. He was the funny one, always making jokes and sometimes going overboard. Maybe a little wilder than the rest of us. He was the kid who went to all the parties with kids he didn't even know, got into all the trouble with grownups, got sent to the principal's office for stupid practical jokes, and all that junk.

But surprisingly, he didn't have a police record. The only two kids on the team who did were Riley and Robert, which was surprising, for our planet. Almost everyone over the age of thirteen's been in jail sometime or other. Oh, and on this planet, you aren't treated any different for committing a crime if you're a kid than if you're an adult. Which is why the cops try to stay away from arresting kids under ten.

And of course, there was Luke. He stared at me the whole time, with his large, sweet blue eyes that could melt anyone's heart. Except mine. I thought he was pathetic at the time. Even though I had to admit, I loved his haircut (or lack of one) and his long blond hair in general.

As I was walking home from the practice, I had some time to think over joining the team. It would be a good experience, maybe even look good on my resume. I might stop being the outsider at school, the kid nobody liked, if I could help them win a few games.

I didn't bump into anybody on the street who wanted a good fight-which I would've been fine with-so I got home earlier than I thought. Randy was waiting by the door, with a cup of coffee for me.

"Thanks, Randy," I said, and gulped the whole cup down in two mouthfuls.

"How'd everything go?" he asked, frowning at the empty cup.

"Great. I think I'm joinin'."

"So fast?"

Sometimes I thought Randall was older than his ten years.

"Yep," I said.

"When can I join?"

I paused for a moment, trying to think. "Um...I think you hafta be at least eleven. Middle and high school ages, I guess. So you gotta wait another year, kid."

Randy flipped his blond hair several times, trying to get it out of his eyes. Even with the way he overdid it on the hair gel, he couldn't ever get it to stay where he wanted it. And at the same time, he didn't want anyone to look him in the eye. He was a complicated little thing.

"Yeah, it'll hafta wait," Randy answered, heading for the kitchen with the empty cup.

I flopped down on the couch and threw all my stuff onto the floor. Two laser blasters, my switchblade, pocketknife, the whole pouch of dynamite sticks...now where was the the lighter? I always carried it in my small belt pouch, with my knife...

A beep sounded from the side pocket of my jeans, and I pulled out my IGC. (It stands for Intergalactic Communicator. It's sorta a phone, but it don't need any connection to work, and is used for long-distance calls. Long-distance, as in light years.)

"Yeah?" I answered, trying not to sound like I was upset about having just lost my lighter and didn't have anything to light the sticks of dynamite. (Shoot, not that I really use the explosives that much...)

"Hey, Ricky."

I jumped, expecting any other voice in the galaxy. Just not him. Not Ryan. Not Mr. Show-off, the kid who looked at me like I was trash. Just rubbed everything in. To make matters worse...he was my cousin. From Asfont.

"What do you blasted want?!" I yelled, then heard a crash in the kitchen. Uh-oh, I thought. We ain't got many cups...if Randy broke one...

"I want nothing from you, and never will. I was just wondering if you would be so kind-which of course, you probably won't-to tell me exactly why five hundred dollars are missing from my bank account, and why they were traced back to Kalfaara."

"You ain't got no evidence to prove it was me! And why would I take all the trouble to pull five hundred bucks from your account when I could get it from someone here without all the fuss?"

It's easy to fool Ryan. He's not real logical. And I had to fool him, so I could repay the money to him soon. I'd almost got it all back now. And I'd add in ten bucks for the trouble it caused.

"How would you get it from someone on your planet? Use that fancy switchblade of yours? Or maybe the dynamite, huh?"

I was getting angrier by the second. Ryan had come to visit once, just after my parents died. He had looked around the house disdainfully, then asked if we had gotten half the furniture out of the junkyard. Then I had asked him how he knew what a junkyard was. 'Oh, I didn't, until I came to this miserable planet,' was his response. I nearly snapped his neck. We don't even have any junkyards around here. The most money-saving option is recycling the stuff, and I told him so.

'What, are you gonna pull your blade on me now?' he had asked sneeringly.

It was at that moment that I decided I had had enough. I sent him back to where his folks were, at the spaceport. I had to go with him, cause he was just nine at the time. How a nine-year-old could talk that way, I don't know. But he obviously hadn't outgrown that stage. Just cause he skipped a grade, and had been on the A average honor roll for six years straight, and was attending this fancy school that cost a fortune to attend didn't mean he could talk that way to me.

Randy rushed in from the kitchen, holding the broken cup.

"Ricky, I broke it," he said fearfully, and held up the three pieces.

"It's fine," I told him. "We'll glue them together."

Then I turned my attention to Ryan.

"Look here," I snarled. "If anyone on this planet's smart enough to hack into your account, they should be smart enough to know they won't get away with it. They'll probably return the money-or, on my honor, I'll help you look for them."

"They had better return my money!" Ryan yelled, and slammed down the receiver on his end of the line.

"It ain't like he really cares about the money," Randy said quietly. "And we're putting it back in his account tomorrow, by the way. He cares about the principle of the matter-you just don't steal things like that."

"Okay, Randy, look here. Technically, his money ain't really his. It's his parents. And technically, they're my legal guardians, so technically, I have a right to the stuff."

"Don't get technical on me!" Randall exclaimed. "You're giving him fifteen percent interest, just for that!"

I did the calculations in my head.

"No way do I have seventy-five bucks to spare!" I gasped.

"Oh yes you do. And I know what you're doing with them."

I shook my head. Saving up the money for that ship I wanted so badly was gonna be tough.

Chapter Three
I spent the next five minutes looking all over for my lighter. It's not that I really use it for anything (other than occasionally lighting an explosive) but I felt insecure without it. It's like my switchblade-just there for show.

Randy finally suggested I retrace my route to school and see what I could find there. I agreed, mostly because it was boring in the house. I mean, what can you do in a four-room house without half the electronics some other folks have?

When I got to school, it was getting dark. I looked up at the sky and sighed. Maddie had told me, just a little while ago, that she had gone with her dad to Danten the day before. She'd seen stars and a sunset for the first time. I was slightly jealous.

Maybe we folks on Kalfaara are written off as hard and uncaring cause there's nothing here to care about. Why do people say we don't appreciate beauty? There ain't any on this planet! And I wondered why the heck, on Asfont, where the sky isn't ever clouded up with smoke from factories (that don't even exist there) and overcast all the time, the people light up the place so much you can't even see the stars at night.

More than anything in the world, I wanted to be able to see something natural. I'm tired of brick and concrete and smoke and asphalt. I'm tired of living in this city that don't even have anything to offer. The best thing about Asfont is that you can work your way up and get out of a place you don't want to be. Folks here are stuck. If you aren't filthy rich, you aren't getting off the darn planet. Simple as that. And the folks who are so rich don't need to get off the planet. Which is why we're led to believe rich folks are always just a bunch of snobs. I knew that wasn't true. I hate stereotyping people.

But i was just thinking how awful life here is. On Danten, an orange glow in the sky in the evening means sunset. On Asfont, the same sorta glow means the lights are turning on-basically, people are still hard at work. Another good thing about the planet-the folks are hard-working. Hard-workin snobs, but at least they aren't lazy. Here on Kalfaara, that kinda glow means some fight's gotten way outta hand and a fire's started. That's another reason a lighter can be so important. You turn it on near someone's face, and they run off. It can be more intimidating than a knife or blaster. If you pull it on the right person, that is. Pull it on the wrong person, you can get a fire started, and you're in the slammer.

I shook my head and brought myself back to the real world, just as someone ran right around the corner of the building and crashed into me. Robert.

"Hey," I said, as he got up. "Whatcha doin' here so late?"

"Detention," he answered, leaning up against the wall. "Mrs. Elger got ticked off at me again. For no reason. You know, right? You got her for language arts, too, don't ya?"

I nodded. Mrs. Elger had been in a bad mood lately. Robert's attitude probably didn't help it.

"Wouldn't you have skipped practice for a detention?" I asked, leaning up next to him.

"Naw, they need me at practice more than I'm needed sittin' in some classroom," he grinned, then looked at my belt. "Where'd your blasters go, kid? It ain't exactly safe to go walkin' around at night without weapons."

"Oh, I got weapons all right," I said. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my blade and regular knife.

Robert nodded. "Did I show ya my knife?"

I shook my head. "How long is it?"

He pulled out a six-inch blade and flicked it open. "Here. Just look."

I grinned. My regular knife's longest blade is seven inches. Robert definitely had a problem.

"Oh, Robert?" I asked.

"Hmmm?" he replied, closing his knife.

"Have you seen my lighter anywhere? I normally carry a pouch of explosives with me, but I ain't got nothin' to light them with now."

"Oh, I understand that. Look here."

He opened a pouch on his belt, and pulled out a small can of kerosene.

I nodded approvingly. I was starting to like this guy.

"Oh...that would make this yours," Robert stated, pulling a medium-sized lighter out of his pouch and tossing it to me.

My eyes widened, and I caught it.

"Yeah, we better be gettin' back home," he said, flipping his blond hair out of his eyes. I grinned slightly.

The best thing about Kalfaara is the way almost all the guys have longish hair. The folks on Danten and Asfont think it makes them look hard and sorta rebellious, but they obviously never saw Luke Scott. He couldn't look hard to save his little life. Folks judge us based on kids like Robert and me, when actually, a lot of the kids are like Luke or Randy.

"So where do you live?" I asked.

"Why, you wanna be a stalker?"

"No, I wanna walk you home."

I grinned again and winked. Robert faked a look of terror, then laughed as we started walking.

"Um, you know where the factories are, right?"

Most of the money here comes from the steel and iron factories located here in Sector 8. (We got fifteen sectors on the planet, each manufactures something slightly different. The sectors with the heavy manufacturing are 1,5, 8, 11, and 14. The only place with a nice climate here is Sector 3, which stretches around the equator, which is where all the government folks and 'filthy rich' people live.) And to save space, a lot of the houses are built right on top or in between the factories. The factories in S8 are all in the southeast part, Quadrant 4, which means anyone from there-like me and my friends-gets written off as trash. For absoultely no reason. Even if they don't live near the factories, they've still got the bad rep. Maddie and Solo do, although they live about as far from the factories as you can get and still be zoned for the same school I go to.

I nodded.

"I live there too," I said. "So..."

He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"What house?"

"8430."

Robert looked suprised.

"Oh, you live just across the alley from me then," he remarked. "I'm at 7334."

"So I can walk you home," I smirked.

He groaned. "I never said that, did I?"

We were halfway to our 'neighborhood' when we took a turn into a back alley and bumped into a bunch of kids. I thought I'd seen them before-yep, they were some of the kids from Quadrant 2, the high-income (at least to us) quadrant. Life's funny. If you're seeing the star system as a whole, the folks on Asfont look down on us on Kalfaara. On Kalfaara itself, it's the people in S3 who act all snobby and proud. Here in S8, the snobs are (mostly) in Q2. I guess folks behave that way cause they're insecure. But what about us? We ain't got anybody to pick on, so we just beat each other up to vent our anger. It's the way most people on Kalfaara see like, anyways. A video game on survival mode, with just one life and no retry button.

One of the kids who was in our way walked up to Robert and flicked open his knife. Robert bit his lip and frowned. I could tell he wished he was a bit taller. Even on Kalfaara, where 5'6" is average height for a guy, Robert was rather small. And I could see he hated it. Especially when several of the younger girls are taller than him. So I guess he tries to make up for it (which he don't even need to do) by acting all tough and mean. He doesn't hafta do that either.

"Go away," Robert snapped. "I'm tired of fighting, and I need dinner, and I wanna go to bed. Gimme a break."

"Yeah," I butted in. "I'm walking the kid home. He's sorta lost or something. By the way, that's a cool knife," I added, knowing a lot of people fall for that sorta trick.

"You like it, huh?" he asked, in a more calm voice.

I nodded.

"Heck, it's longer than mine," I grinned.

He nodded, with a slight smile, and moved over to the side and motioned for me and Robert to go through. Once we got out of the alley, we raced back to the factories at top speed.

"I don't believe you told the guy you were walking me home cause I was lost!" Robert snapped once we reached near the factories. "That was overdoing it."

"Well, I got you out of it, didn't I? Go home and eat dinner and go to bed."

We were at his house by now. There was a bridge that lead right over the alley, right over to my place, and I wondered why I'd never seen him before-either at his place or at school.

"See ya, kid," Robert said.

"Bye," I answered, and took a step closer to him. His eyes widened.

"Well?" he asked impatiently.

I took another step, even closer, right next to Robert, and impulsively kissed him. Then I nodded at him, and walked back to my place, across the bridge. I finally heard him close his front door as I was opening mine.

Randy was still up, sitting in his bedroom, waiting for me. I told him goodnight, and that I knew he'd been texting Maddie for about half an hour, to quit playing video games, that I found my lighter, that I knew the kid who lived across the alley from us, that I'd return the money to Ryan the next day; I had it all, and that I'd also got almost enough money to buy the ship I wanted.

He was asleep, and my throat was slightly sore, by the time I'd finished.

Chapter Four
The next day at school, Robert came up to me and pulled me aside. He looked slightly worried.

"Um...Ricky? You, er-did you, um, know, I-er..."

I rolled my eyes.

"Robert, just say it."

"Fine, but it ain't gonna be what you wanna hear."

"Whatever. Tell me."

"You do know I have a girlfriend, don't you?"

I rolled my eyes again.

"Yeah, who's the lucky thing?"

"Kayla Anderson."

I gasped. Uh-oh. From what I'd seen of Kayla yesterday at football practice, she wasn't a girl to be messed around with. Now I was insanely jealous of her.

"Well, we'll just hafta see about that," I said, trying to play it cool.

I wasn't sure if Robert looked more scared or flattered.

Lunchtime came quicker than ever, and I found a seat between Steven and Robert. Steven was cracking jokes as normal, and Maddie was unsuccessfully trying to shut him up. Riley and Tyler were fighting again, this time over who got better grades in math class, even though they both had the same average grade. Luke and Dalton were sitting across the table from each other, throwing pieces of cereal at each other until Johnny and Chloe yelled at them to stop.

Then Kayla showed up, with a lemonade and sandwich. The moment she saw me sitting next to Robert, her mouth dropped open.

"Move!" she hissed. "There's a seat open next to Dalton and Chloe. Leave Robert alone! You got that?!"

I grinned and shook my head.

"Sorry, Kayla. Robert's mine."

She unscrewed the cap on her lemonade bottle and splashed the whole thing all over me.

"That should teach you!" she snarled. "Now move, jerk!"

I frowned.

"Nobody talks that way to me. If you wanna fight, fine. But don't yell at me."

"Fight? Fine!"

Kayla grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the lunchroom. I gulped.

When it comes to fights around here, it's the girls who are especially rough. Not like girls other places who scratch and bite each other. We really beat each other up. Worse than the boys can.

I'm a darn good fighter, but I wasn't sure about this place. The moment we were out of the lunchroom, Kayla took a swing at me and had me cornered against a brick wall. I knew I didn't stand a chance, especially with my head all clouded up. I couldn't find a good way out, so I just tackled her and hoped in vain I'd weigh enough to make her give up. I weighed more than her, but she was nearly as strong as me, and after we'd both given the other around five bruises and cuts, Kayla finally managed to slam me against the wall. I was out cold.

The next thing I remember was her shaking me and asking if I was okay. I wasn't sure how long it was, but apparently she had waited just long enough so she'd miss math class and I'd miss history. Needless to say, I was grateful.

"Well, I'm sorry, Rick, but it looks like I won," Kayla said when I finally came to.

"Don't rub it in," I growled.

She grinned and looked at her watch.

"It's almost time for school to end. What's your last class?"

"Gym."

"Oh, well, you can't miss that. Go wash your face and get to class."

I paused for a second before leaving.

"Do we have practice tonight?" I asked. Kayla nodded.

"You joinin' us? Then I got a bit of an initiation for you. So come early-Coach doesn't know about this."

I grinned. It sounded good.

That evening came around, and I arrived at the football field a half-hour early. Nobody was there except Dalton, and he looked like he was pretty bored. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he jumped and turned around.

"Okay, Ricky. This means you're basically swearing your loyalty to us, and you can't back out of this. Even if you're physically unable to stay on the team, you'll still be one of us, as far as it counts."

I nodded, realizing this was a bit more than just joining a team. My eyes went straight to Dalton's left hand. He was holding his pocketknife.

"You ain't scared of blood, are you? This could get a bit messy."

I laughed and shook my head.

Dalton flicked out the largest blade on his knife and pulled up my left sleeve. Without another word, he slashed a rectangle with a diagonal line through it over my shoulder. I winced. It didn't hurt too terribly much, it just felt rather weird.

Riley walked up and stared at Dalton.

"Did you even wash that blade first?!" he yelped.

Dalton nodded.

"Yes, and I sterilized it too," he groaned.

Riley stepped up to me and poured some kind of antiseptic over my shoulder. The pain went away quickly, and he wrapped a bandage around it. I was still in a slight state of shock, for no real reason, except that everything had happened so quickly.

The whole team was here by now, and I pulled my sleeve down and pretended nothing had happened. The practice went well, and I got home on time.

A few days later, my shoulder had healed completely except for the scar. I learned that all the kids on the team had the same mark on their shoulders. Maybe Luke was a bit tougher than I thought.

One night, I came home late and found Randy sitting in the living room, reading a letter with a terrified look on his face.

"Where were you?" he squealed. "Don't you know not to leave me alone for this long?"

"I was at Robert's place."

Randy's eyes widened, and he gave me that look that never failed to intimidate me slightly.

"It ain't what it sounded like," I reassured him. "I was there with Riley and Maddie to help him with some paperwork."

"What sorta paperwork?" he asked fearfully, his hands shaking.

"The new laws for 84. They've been introduced everywhere else. Or at least, they will be next year."

"So you know. Well, here's our copy," he whispered, shoving the letter into my hands.

I read through the first paragraph of the letter, and my heart almost stopped. This was clearly not the form Robert needed help with. Or anything to do with it, for that matter. Our copy of that form was on the table.

The form was talking about how the billing had gone up for TV, radio, lights, heat, and all that, and what price package we wanted to purchase for all that. This letter was telling us that all kids still in school who lived with only their younger siblings (which is, sadly, about 10% of the population) were required to move in with an older working relative or close family friend. (Unless they had a bad record with the cops; then they'd have to go to a detention center.) Either that, or one of them would have to get some form of certified job and, by doing so, they'd be fine.

Randy was trembling and shivering. I pulled off my jacket and handed it to him.

"Look here, kid. It's gonna be okay. Got that? Randy. Stop. We'll take care of you."

"That's what I'm afraid of," he whimpered, sounding like a little puppy. "You've got a pretty bad police record, so you might not be allowed a certified job. I'll hafta move in with Ryan's folks, and you'll go to a detention center somewhere."

"A detention center would be too good for me. And I've only been charged with three crimes-"

"This is real, and it's gonna happen!" he sobbed, and curled up on the chair, still reminding me of a puppy. I had to do something.

Chapter Five
There was just one thing to do if we didn't want to go live with Ryan's folks. I'd have to get a part-time job, and quit behaving like a hoodlum. I was fine with the job, but man, it was gonna be hard straightening up my act.

When I told my friends the next day, Robert bet me fifty dollars I'd be back in trouble by the second day of my new job. Riley asked me if there was any job I could do. Luke said he needed a job as well. For the first time, I seriously thought about ninth grade maybe being the last year of my school. I don't get real good grades or anything, even though I try. I guess Randy got all the brains in the family, and I got all the muscle. It's the way life works, at least for me.

The next afternoon, Luke cornered me outside the building as I was leaving.

"Hey, remember you were saying you needed a job?" he asked.

"Yeah. What, you got one for me?"

"Sorta. And, I think it's something you can do!" He was excited now, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Er, what is it?"

"I left the booklet at home. Something about flying the goods from the factories to other sectors and planets. It pays well, and you don't hafta worry about your police record, 'cause you ain't been in jail for longer than forty-eight hours at one shot."

"I needa see that booklet."

"Meet me for dinner somewhere tonight, and I'll have it there."

I sighed. Luke sure was tricky, but that was a good sign.

"Okay, Luke. Where do ya wanna go?"

He shrugged.

"Maybe try out that new restaurant downtown. The one that serves the food from Danten? It sounds good."

I grinned and nodded.

"Okay! Oh, you buy your own dinner, I buy my own dinner. Deal?"

"Sounds good! See ya there!"

That evening, we met up outside the restaurant. He had the booklet in his hand, and we looked over it while we ate. I ordered cornbread and sausages, while he had a salad. Luke said he'd be trying out for the job as well, as there were twenty-six openings and he was a pretty good pilot.

"You eat more than me," he remarked, as I finished up my second plate of cornbread. "You always eat this much?"

I shrugged.

"I don't know, I'm sorta hungry."

Luke looked down at his half-eaten salad and shrugged and pushed it to the side.

"I guess it's good for you I'm buyin' my own food, huh?" I teased.

He laughed, and we started looking over the positions available. We'd have to just work after school and on weekends, but we needed to fit in the football games too. The salary was pretty good, and if we applied together, we might get to use the same ship. I could already see the ship I wanted to fly.

It seated five in the cockpit, and two in the gun room. Excellent radar and tracking systems. Two powerful gun turrets. Large storage compartment and lounge. And a couple of office rooms.

I'd been saving up for it for a long time, and I had almost enough money. If I got a loan from the bank, I'd be able to pay it off fairly quick.

"So whaddya say?" Luke asked.

"Let's try this."

Our first football game was the next evening, against Westchester 84. All of us met at Luke's place before the game to finalize plans and such stuff. Football games here get pretty rough-especially cause it's not against the rules to tackle someone by hitting them really hard. And to boot, we don't have all the padded uniforms and gear. (We just wear T-shirts and jeans in our school colors.) So it isn't unusual for someone to get pretty badly hurt during a game. In the team picture from the year before, Robert's got a huge cut across his forehead, and Chloe had several bruises on her face.

"Who's expected to win?" John asked as we were getting ready to leave for the game.

Steven shrugged. "Westchester's got a much better record, and they've beat us every time we've played them, but that was before Luke and Rick joined the team."

"Am I that good?" Luke asked as he put on his shoes. "I mean, I'm not that strong..."

"You're the fastest runner on the team, and that's what Westchester doesn't have," Maddie replied. "You know you beat their team at the track meet last spring."

"Yeah, I guess so," Luke said, still not sounding convinced.

We arrived at school half an hour before the game started, and quickly started preparing. The team had lost their first game of the season when Riley was in jail with me, so this would probably be our last shot of the season for a chance in the system finals. All the football teams from Asfont, Kalfaara, Danten, Cehe and Railon have a shot at winning the championship, but normally it's a team from Kalfaara or Danten. Our school had never won a championship, ever. The kids here are mostly too busy working to play football. The year before, one of the Asfont teams had made it to the semifinals, and everyone was stunned. One of the Danten teams beat them real bad, though. And Westchester beat that team in the finals, and won the championship. But their star players had both left the team after that, so we had a chance of beating them.

To tell the truth, I don't really remember what happened at the game until the final quarter, with thirty seconds left in the game. One of the girls on the Westchester team had just scored a touchdown, and they were winning 20-14. Tyler passed the ball to me, and I was running towards the end zone. I had no idea I could run that fast, but then, Robert was watching me. One of the guys tackled me just as I got there, but I was still in. Six points for us. The whole team was cheering. We had time to try for a field goal. The wind was blowing just right. Johnny was in a surprisingly confident mood. One more point for us. The clock ran out. 20-21. In our favor. First game the school had won in a year. The crowd went wild. I was just standing there, taking it all in. Technically, I'd won the game for them. I felt beat up, but great. We were all jumping around and yelling, we were so excited. It was below freezing, but it felt like we were burning up. Riley was looking at me with a strange look on his face. He hadn't scored a single point in the game, and he looked slightly disappointed.

Chloe and Kayla took all of us out for an ice-cream soda after that. Randy tagged along with us, and much to my suprise, hit it off real good with everyone.

The moment I got home, I dialed Ryan. I couldn't wait to tell him what had happened.

"What's wrong now?" he asked as soon as he answered the call.

"Do they play coverage of the Kalfaara games on Asfont?" I asked.

"Uh, certain ones, why?"

"Well, I scored the winning touchdown in the game tonight. Against Westchester."

"Oh, wow!" he exclaimed. "That's not bad! I'll see if I can get the coverage."

Ryan was a slight nut over football, but his friends didn't know. He still thought the game was dumb, but liked it anyways. And I could tell he was gonna go read up about how the game went tonight on some news website. He'd be suprised, I thought. Football is played different here than on the other planets. The rules are much simpler, but it's harder to play.

I put down the IGC, just as a knock sounded on the door. Randy got up and opened it. Riley Davis. He had the same awkward look on his face he'd had all night.

"Hey, Ricky? Can I talk to you alone?" he asked.

"No fair!" Randy grumbled as me and Riley stepped outside the house.

"You know, you scored that touchdown today, and everyone's talking about it."

"Aww, you need eleven players on the field at any given time. I just gave y'all a chance to do something. I play my best-"

"It ain't just that!" Riley exclaimed. "If you wasn't so bad academically-no offense-all the pre-colleges in the area would be tryin' to give you athletic scholarships. And only one kid per year gets the scholarship from any one school. You'll probably end up getting a scholarship to some trashy school. I mean, not that I want any of that to happen to ya..." he trailed off.

"Riley, you okay, buddy?"

"No, I ain't okay!" he sobbed. "They're gonna give out one academic scholarship and two athletic scholarships when we finish ninth grade, and that's in two years, and I'm gettin' burned out, and you and Scotty and Ty are gonna get the scholarships, and I'm gonna be stuck here for the rest of my darn life!"

"Riley, calm it! You think too much. You'll get something. Sometime..."

He wasn't listening. His eyes were focused on something behind me. I didn't know if I should turn around or not.

Chapter Six
I took a deep breath and turned around. Someone stepped out from the shadows. Steven. Riley looked as if someone had just let all the air outta him.

"You scared me..." Riley whimpered. He sounded like Randy.

"I think you're sick, kiddo," Steven stated. "By that, I mean, mentally. As in, you're finally goin' crazy."

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Came over to check on Riley. He's been acting weird. Even for Riley."

"If anyone on the football team's weird, it's you, Steve."

"Guess what, girl? Only Maddie can call me that!"

"Does it look like she cares?" Riley muttered. "I think we're in some sorta trouble, like, after that game...no wait, it was after yesterday..."

Me and Steven gave each other a funny look. Riley was clearly not thinking straight.

"Come here, Riley. We needa get you home," Steven said.

"That way..." Riley pointed off the edge of the factory, and Steven laughed slightly.

"Naw, buddy, we're usin' the stairs. Come on. Bye, Rick."

I just stood there, in a blur. Poor Riley. He needed to be off Kalfaara. It wasn't good for him. Riley was tough, but that alone never kept anyone alive. He was losing the will to live with every problem that faced him. I opened the door and stepped inside. Randy was drinking a cup of coffee in the kitchen, and getting ready for bed. He didn't say anything as he opened his door, stepped inside his room, and closed the door. Another knock sounded on the door. I opened it. Robert was there, with his hands in his jeans pockets and his knife sticking out of his coat pocket. In short, he looked as great as ever.

"Ricky? Did ya hear 'bout Kayla?"

"No, and if anything happened to her, it ain't my doing."

"Well..." Robert sighed. "She insisted I'd been cheatin' on her, and she broke up with me."

I tried to hide the excited look on my face. Even though he didn't really seem like a challenge when he didn't have a girlfriend.

"Were you?" I asked innocently.

"You know me better than that! The only person who would've ever even crossed my mind in that manner is you, and you know nothing happened between..." Robert stopped, and his eyes became twice their normal size.

"You're fine," I grinned. "I mean, I'm not upset."

"Of course you ain't. Your sole purpose in life is to break hearts and inanimate objects."

I laughed, then quickly changed the subject.

"So why are you really here?"

Robert sighed again, and looked directly at me. He stepped outside the house, and I followed, closing the door behind me.

"You know, on this planet, nobody really feels any sorta emotion for each other. Like, my mom and dad keep fighting with each other cause they just married each other for their looks. They really ain't compatible."

"Compatible? That's a rather big word."

"Meh, maybe I do get somethin' outta language arts class."

"So you're over here cause you're tired of them fighting?"

He shrugged and nodded miserably.

"Oh...and one more thing," he added.

"Go ahead."

"Ricky...are you and me compatible?"

I stared at him. I didn't have the heart to tell Robert I wanted him real bad, so bad that there wasn't any room for me to care about him at all. But I didn't hafta tell him; he seemed to understand.

"You couldn't love me, could you?" he asked after an awkward pause.

"Man, I can't love anybody. I didn't know you could either."

Robert swallowed nervously and looked at his shoes. "Well, I didn't know till just now, and I felt I had to tell ya..."

I'd heard enough. Folks say everyone on Kalfaara is exceptionally good-looking. Robert was a knockout. I grabbed him and kissed him, then backed up to the door.

He just stared at me. I guess he felt sorta awkward. He was only fourteen, anyways, even though he looked seventeen. But everyone on this planet gets married real young. It's probably never too early to prepare. My mom was seventeen, and my dad was fifteen. Then, again, so many folks get killed in fights or accidents that the average lifespan here is about 28. We don't even get a chance at a good life, we just spend the few years we got breaking rules and beating each other up and getting thrown in jail. There's gotta be something more. And it's not being a stuck-up snob like Ryan. Who gives a darn if you're successful but your heart ain't in the right place. Emotionally, Ryan's probably as bad as me, even though he's got way more feelings. He don't use them right. I don't know if it's better to have emotions, and be hurt all the time, or go through life cold-hearted, so nothing can hurt you.

Robert took a couple of steps towards me. For a moment, he didn't look like the tough, mean guy he seemed to be. He looked like a little kid, with the street light shining on his face that way.

"Rick, I'm sorry if that sounded bad," he said finally.

"No, you're good."

"I mean, really. You wanna know the reason I always said I'd never love anyone? The fact that you don't get loved back. The fact that every girl I've ever met thinks I'm just another overly attractive guy. Bein' good-looking ain't always an asset."

"Another big word. You should brush up on your grammar and you'll sound real smart."

"Ricky..."

I traced a pattern in the snow with the toe of my shoe. It was getting worn out anyways. I needed a new pair. That gave me an idea.

"Hey, Robert, you wanna come to the store with me? My feet are freezing off, and these shoes don't help. We can talk on our way there."

"Sounds cool," he shrugged.

In a few minutes, we were on our way to the department store. Stores here don't close till real late. And when it comes to shoes and jeans and jackets, there's no difference between the guys' clothes and the girls' clothes. Now that I look back, it's kinda funny. Back then, we didn't know any other way life went and everything was normal.

"Robert, you gotta understand. I don't have that sorta emotion," I started.

"So you'll never get married? Good luck with that."

"I never said that, did I? I'll find some good-looking guy someday, who's compatible with me."

Robert shook his head. "You got it all wrong...maybe you don't understand there's more to a guy than how tough he is and how much muscle he's got and how he does his hair."

"I get that, but I don't feel that way. Nobody here's supposed to fall in love like that anyways."

"Aw, come on, what's the thing we do best? Break rules. I can fall in love if I want. Who's gonna stop me?"

I pulled Robert in between two of the buildings and looked into his blue eyes.

"Maybe you don't know what you're talking about. Where'd you learn about love anyways?"

"Ricky, you might not know this, but I read a bunch of danged history books. You know how we got to this planet anyways? Some folks came to this star system, like, a hundred years ago from some other star system. It was their planet's government cover-up. Those folks were the real smart, snobby ones, and they settled on Asfont, cause its got good weather. Some other folks came along a year or so later. They were from some nice friendly place, they chose Danten. Another bunch of people came over, they were from a tropical climate, and went to Jaxa. They had charge of a bunch of criminals from their planet. A bunch of kids, basically. They wanted to get rid of them, they dumped 'em on Kalfaara. And that's how this blasted place came to be. Heck, it's all about survival. But I don't wanna survive like I've been doin' since I was three years old. Stealing stuff and beating up folks and being a jerk. I wanna live. And I looked in some more history books, and they talked about how people fall in love and it changes everything."

He looked out of breath.

"You're fourteen years old, buddy. You're a kid. So am I, so is everyone. We're too young for this junk."

"Yeah, but by the time we're old enough, we're dead."

I couldn't argue with that. Where did I get my ideas about being too young for stuff anyways? Suddenly, the planet felt so big and lifeless. Maddie had shown me a picture of how Kalfaara looked from a starship flying above the planet. Totally cloudy. Then as you got closer to the surface, she had explained, lights became visible. The whole planet was lit up. At the same time, we don't have 'light pollution' problems the folks on Asfont and some parts of Jaxa have. I guess it's the clouds...but I wouldn't know. Everything was so hopeless all of a sudden. I looked at Robert again. He was staring off into space, but he looked like his normal, cold-blooded self again. Not the hopeless romantic I'd thought he was turning into earlier that night.

I heard footsteps behind me, and both of us turned around, expecting to get jumped at any moment. But it was Tyler and Chloe, and they looked out of breath.

"What are y'all doing here?" Robert asked.

Tyler shook his head. "Riley's doing pretty bad. He's in the hospital now. He just wants to see you two right now. We went over to your place, Robert, but your mom chased us off and said she didn't know where you were."

Robert rolled his eyes. "She's not in a real good mood right now."

"Then we went over to your place," Chloe continued. "And Randy said y'all went to the store."

Frankly, I didn't want to know how long Randy had been listening to us from the other side of the door, or what other bits of our conversation he'd heard.

"I got my hovercraft around the corner," Tyler said. "I'll take y'all to the hospital if ya want."

"Forget those shoes," I said, and Robert grinned. "We can go now."

Chapter Seven
We arrived at the hospital shortly. I made a mental note to skip school the next day, as it was already midnight. Luke was outside, and he walked in with us.

"He's been on the brink of this for quite a while," Tyler explained to me as we headed upstairs. "Riley just ain't cut out for this planet."

We reached Riley's room and were met by a nurse who told us we couldn't go inside.

"Why the heck not?" Robert demanded.

The nurse looked slightly worried.

"Well...your friend there was getting delirious. He insisted that he was seeing lights on the ceiling, and strange people by his bed. Then he just started crying, and wouldn't stop. This is more of a mental case than anything. He isn't sick, just so stressed out he can't think straight. We had to sedate the guy pretty heavily, just because he couldn't stop screaming, and it was hurting his lungs and throat. He's asleep now. I'll let y'all in, but you can't wake him up."

We agreed, and were led into the dark room. I turned on the lights and looked at Riley. He was curled up on the bed, motionless. Robert reached out and spread a blanket over him, and Luke just sighed. I ran my hand through Riley's black hair, and then the three of us walked out slowly. Tyler stayed in the room, just looking out of the window and shaking his head.

We found Chloe waiting in the hovercraft outside. She took me and Robert back to our neighborhood, we thanked her, and left.

Robert started walking back to his house, but I stopped him.

"Robert? You any good at mechanical stuff?"

He turned around, flipped his hair, and nodded.

"Lemme guess...you want me to help fix the heating system."

I grinned and nodded.

"Well, come on." He turned around and ran all the way to my place. I followed.

I swung open the door of the house, and groaned. It was about fifty-five degrees in there, and the temperature was falling fast. Robert turned on the lights, and we made our way to the heating system. It was in the living room, next to our TV that we never really use.

Robert got up under the unit, but he hadn't been able to do anything yet when something fell out of the system and hit him in the chest. He pulled himself out, back into the living room, and I grabbed the object. It was a knife. The blade was about five inches long.

"Who did this?" I snapped.

Robert shook his head, and I noticed his shirt was torn from the collar almost to the bottom hem. He pulled it off and tossed it in the corner, then took the knife from me.

"Someone put it in there while we were gone. Your kid brother could've been in some trouble. Lucky they targeted this thing instead." Robert tossed the knife on top of his shirt on the floor. "You're smaller than me, Rick. Tell me if you can see what's wrong. Get in there."

I scrambled under the unit and looked at the place where the knife had been. Someone had chucked it in from the outside. It hadn't hurt anything real bad, just enough to stop the system from operating by tearing a wire. That was the problem.

I got out and explained the situation to Robert. I thought we could use electrical tape to fix it; he thought we needed a new wire.

"The tape'll do for now, I guess," he said after we'd gone back and forth for a while. "You got any?"

"Yeah, in the kitchen. It's in the top drawer. You go get it, I'll see about this."

Robert got up and ran into the kitchen. He was back with the tape in a minute. I took out my knife and cut off a piece of tape, then slid under the system again. Robert cut off another thing of tape, and handed it to me. I had the wire taped up shortly. We then turned on the warm air, and the house slowly lost its chill.

I turned and looked at Robert. I was grinning a little too much. Maybe I could've helped it, but I'd lost all my self-control.

"You okay?" Robert asked, not seeming really concerned. He moved over to the sofa and sat down.

"Yeah..." I replied, walking over to sit next to him.

"No, I mean, you don't look okay. Not you and Riley both, please."

"I'm fine!" I hissed. At that moment, something must've snapped in my mind. Robert wasn't looking my way. I shoved him down onto the sofa and flipped him over so he was facing me.

"Ricky...what the heck...let go!" he sputtered, trying to push me off. I don't think I was in control of myself for the time. And I didn't know I was stronger than Robert, either.

"Just...whaddya think you're doing?" he yelled.

I didn't know. All I knew was what I wanted, and I got a habit of trying too hard to get what I want. It can be both good and bad. There's no telling what would've happened if Randy hadn't stepped in at the moment. His jaw almost dropped to the floor.

"Ricky!" he snapped. "Let him go!"

I rolled off the sofa, and then realized what I'd almost done. My face turned red, and I wished I'd just vanish. Robert was giving me a weird look. He walked over to the corner, picked up his shirt and jacket, and came back to where I was sitting on the floor.

"I'm sorry..." I managed after a moment. "I really didn't know..."

"You're supposed to be a good example for me," Randy muttered. "And you're failin' big-time."

Robert pulled me up, and motioned for Randy to leave. He stormed out, and I felt totally messed up.

"Hey...Ricky...calm down, will you?" Robert asked. "I understand. You're fine. Just be glad Randy stepped in when he did."

I sighed. "There's no excuse...I can't help being such a bad person..."

Robert shook his head. "Well, don't say you can't help it. People can change. Besides, now that I know what you're capable of, I'll make sure it don't happen again."

I just stood there, feeling like an idiot.

"They got better ways for you to vent your emotions, just not in violent ways," he continued.

"It's not an emotion."

"Oh, really? Of course it is. Pure logic don't got that sort of feeling."

"Logic and emotion ain't always opposites."

"In this case...they are. Just promise me you'll stop bein' so impulsive! Really! You know what would've happened to you if you'd tried that on some other guy? He might've hurt you real bad. Or you could've seriously hurt him. Just behave!"

I couldn't believe my ears. Robert was way more responsible than he acted and looked.

"I guess I need help..." I muttered.

"Naw, you're fine, you just need to talk about how you feel before you react."

"Whatever. Maybe Riley's condition is contagious."

"Stress? Your problem ain't stress." Robert rolled his eyes slightly.

"Okay, okay, you go home, it's nearly one." I opened the door, but he didn't move.

"Ricky. I got an idea. What happened here, stays here. Okay?"

"Gotcha. If Steven finds out, we're gonna be in trouble."

"If John finds out, he'll be scared of you and disdainful of me."

"That's the third big word you've used tonight!" I yelped.

"Okay, so I'll go tell Mrs. Elger that I'm getting stuff out of her class." He stuck out his tongue at me.

"Robert, what kind of grades do you get?" I asked suddenly.

"A's mostly. Except for math. I'm failin' math. I got a C, almost a D. I got A's in history, language arts, logic, music theory, gym, and a B in science."

I stared at him. He didn't seem like the academic type to me, and definitely not the kind who'd get good grades in language arts and logic.

"So you're planning on going to college?"

He nodded.

"I'll pay for it myself, I guess, what about you?"

I laughed and shook my head.

"Man, I've got an A in logic and gym, B's in math and science, and F's in everything else. There's no way, even though I try. I just can't get good grades in anything that isn't cold hard facts." "You're good at math?" Robert asked. "Maybe you could help me."

"I would, but..." I stopped and closed the door, staring at him. "I really don't think I needa be spending so much time around you. I'll snap again, like I did just now. And believe me, I don't want anything to happen between us."

Robert nodded.

"It's just that...well...I don't wanna end up like everyone here. I'm gonna be someone. And I need help. There, I admitted it. I need some help."

"So do I," I said with a grin. "Need help controlling what you call emotions."

Someone knocked on the door, and I reached over and opened it. It was Tyler. He looked totally discouraged.

"Is Riley okay?" Robert asked.

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Ty said. "I just found out I made a bad grade on my math test. Nothing you should worry about."

"What did ya make?" Robert asked curiously.

"Ninety-four," Tyler muttered.

"I'd give anything to make that sorta grades in math," Robert scolded. "Don't worry about that!" Tyler shook his head. "What if Riley gets the scholarship next year, not me?"

"Then you'll be happy for him...I hope," I replied.

"But then I'll hafta stay on this planet for the rest of my little life!" Tyler protested. "I won't take that."

"Ty, what're you really here for?" Robert muttered.

"No need to talk that way!" Tyler protested. "I just don't feel like going home."

"So you're spending the night in my living room? No way. Go sleep in a back alley," I snapped.

"What's your problem?" he asked quizzically.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a bit shaken up by some stuff," I replied, glancing over at Robert. "You can stay here if you'd like. I'll stay out here, you take my room." "I'm fine, just get me a pillow and a glass of milk," Tyler grinned. "And thanks."

"I'll go now," Robert muttered, raising an eyebrow at me and walking out.

"What happened between y'all?" Tyler asked. "I think you're softening him up."

"Nothing happened. I'm just worried about Riley. I'll go get your stuff now." I ran into the kitchen and came back with a glass of milk for Tyler, then want to my room to get him a pillow.

"I'll leave first thing in the morning," he promised. "Don't worry."

I smiled, told him goodnight, and went to my room. It had been the best and worst day of my life. Good thing tomorrow was Friday.

I fell asleep as soon as I flopped down on my bed.