You'll Know When You Have Kids Of Your Own
Chapter 3
Borderlines
Ani bought a bowl of green Jello and a bag of chips and headed for her usual spot in the cafeteria, where Emily was waiting.
"Hey, Lane," said a sullen girl sitting on the end of a nearby table. Her tray was empty, save for the overcooked, mushy veggies, and covered with bits of what looked like trash. On closer look, Ani saw that it was a shredded napkin and an unfolded paper milk carton. She was with a group that everyone assumed were the school troublemakers, kids who most went out of their way to avoid.
"Hey, Rusty," Ani said back, stopping to face the girl.
She had noticed her struggling through a math book while in detention, and had cautiously approached her to see if she could help. The other kids nearby, who were making no attempt to do anything other than to wait out their time, had shot her hard looks as she approached. Rusty, on the other hand, had looked at her appraisingly in silence, and then nodded. The other kids turned away, some with disgusted looks on their faces. Rusty just shot them the finger and turned back to Ani.
It turned out to be basic Algebra, well within Ani's capabilities. Rusty pointed to a simple equation written on a strip of paper that was serving as a bookmark. "Battery charging formula for a cheap gel-cell battery," she explained. "I keep frying the things and figured I was doing it wrong. Found this online. I should know this shit."
It had taken only ten minutes to get through the basics of how to solve the problem. Rusty had built her own street rail, as she called it; an improvised electric longboard like a skateboard that had a handheld throttle. After they had gotten out of detention, Rusty pulled it out of a worn, shapeless black bag that had been stuffed under her chair.
Some of the other kids stayed around to watch, curious as to why Rusty was hanging out with this brainiac chick. Ignoring them, she unfolded the curious machine, which seemed to be made of sections of an old snow ski, hinges and mismatched bolts. Rusty had painted it all flat black with a rattlecan, which gave it a vaguely military look. The only color on it was what looked like some kind of Army unit insignia on the hump that Ani guessed was the battery and motor cover.
"Made it so it collapses," Rusty explained, tightening some thumbscrews that locked the board flat. It was now twice as long as before. She twisted the nose and clicked it into place, the front wheels now on the same side as the drive wheel. "That way I can bring it into class and stuff; it's an easier ride when the wheelbase is longer. The electronics and motor's out of a busted electric scooter that my dad found somewhere."
Ani had been impressed, to say the least. "This is cool! You have to meet my brother; he likes to make stuff too, but nothing this interesting."
Since then, she had run into Rusty a few times, but all she would get out of her were a few mumbled words and an awkward smile.
This time, Rusty's smile was more open. "Thanks for helping me out, Ani. Finally got that battery thing sorted out. It's been running on the same battery for two weeks now."
"Hey, glad I could help," Ani replied. A few of the guys near Rusty muttered mild obscenities. Rusty lightly slapped the shoulder of the guy next to her. "Lay off, morons. Ani's okay. 'Sides, she could kick your nuts out through your noses if she wanted to."
A couple of them snickered and grunted in agreement. "Guess she could at that," the biggest one laughed. "I'm Erik," he said with a narrow smile. If anyone of these jerks gives you shit, come see me."
"I'll do that," Ani said after a surprised moment. "See you, Rusty."
The girl waved as she turned back to her friends. "Leave her alone, okay?" she said quietly, just barely audible as Ani walked over to the marginalized brain table.
"You should ask that big guy out," Emily smirked as Ani sat down opposite her. "He's kinda cute, in a bad boy sorta way."
Ani glanced back over at him, blushing a bit when he winked at her. "Least he wouldn't be scared of me," she muttered.
"Sure, he's got a hundred pounds on you."
Ani smirked. "Bet I could still kick his ass, even if he was the kind to hit a girl." She raised an eyebrow at Emily's expression. "Don't worry, I'm not that desperate." She unwrapped her sandwich, offering a half to Emily. "Ugly Rat salad sandwich?"
"Your dad told me that it was really chicken," Emily smiled, taking the sandwich.
"Yeah, I know, but you should have seen the look on your face at first." She ate her half, and then began on the Jello.
"Ani, why are you on a Jello kick?"
"I dunno, just trying to figure out what flavor this is supposed to be. I mean, what kind of stuff in nature is fluorescent green anyway?" She pushed the bowl towards Emily, who took a spoonful. "Besides, it's kinda amazing you can actually eat this stuff, considering what it's made of."
Emily stopped, not sure if she should swallow or not. She didn't want to spit it into her milk carton, so she swallowed it anyway. "Go ahead, ruin my lunch."
"Gelatin is a protein extracted from skin, bones, tendons, cartilage and hoofs of pigs and cows, mostly," Ani smirked.
"That's not so bad," Emily smiled. She offered Ani half of her lunchmeat sandwich. "This stuff is made of ground up lips, ears and buttholes."
Ani accepted it and started eating. "No, it's not. That's the stuff they put in dog food."
"Like I said-"
"Shut up, you liar," Ani laughed. "You already tried pulling that with your 'dog food' chili."
"Okay, okay," smiled Emily. "You're still in the lead with that river rat dish, but barely. I never really threw up, did I?"
Their laughter carried as far as a few tables away, where Macy, the Queen of the popular crowd, rolled her eyes in disgust. "God, those two geeks are the worst."
"Yeah, but they're funny," snickered Janine, checking her makeup in her compact mirror.
"They're dykes," snapped Macy.
Janine slipped her compact back into her purse. How do you know? Besides, so what if they are?
"Kinda weird how that Lane chick doesn't seem to give a shit about her clothes and stuff," Jennie offered. "Like, her parents are cool."
"Bullshit," spat Macy. "They're a couple of freaks, just like their weird ass ninja daughter."
Janine looked at Ani and Emily. What the hell crawled up your ass and died, Macy? I kinda like them. Maybe you're just jealous.
Rusty watched from the end of the street as the school parking lot emptied. Kids were sitting on the low brick wall that fronted the dropoff circle, waiting for their rides home. More students headed down to where the buses were loading.
She looked at her dad's old Hamilton watch. She didn't start her job for another hour today, so she pulled out her math book and went back over the day's lesson. If she ever was to get over the crappy hand she had been dealt, she'd have to somehow get into something like an engineering school, and that meant getting her head around math. Ani was right; not everybody could make something like her street rail. She had just thought that it was the only way she could get some wheels; God only knew that she'd never get a car unless she could scrape the cash together herself.
It wasn't fair. Her Dad had enlisted, he'd signed up to do what he thought was his duty. In the end, he got screwed. PTSD, lousy doctors, crap support from the country he gave it up for. It was all he could do to survive, and that was with Rusty covering her own food costs with her shitty part time job.
She thought she saw Ani and Emily climb into a nice car. She had to smile when Ani had talked about introducing her to her brother, like that would ever happen. The girl moved in a totally different circle that didn't include her kind. Still, Ani was alright by her.
Nope, life wasn't fair. All you could do was suck it up and get on with it.
