Chapter 36
North Stafford High School
Stafford VA
11/21/05
Joey
Another Monday, another trip to the horror show. Thankfully it was a short week.
Joey was just putting his books in his locker when someone stopped right next to him and opened the locker above and to the left of his. Joey looked up and found the new kid smiling down at him. "'Morning prefrosh," he said in that southern accent of his. "Mind your head."
Prefrosh. Great, a brand new insult.
Joey didn't say anything, even though he did mind his head. He just stashed his bags and headed off to homeroom. Of course, once he was settled in his seat he saw that the new kid had come in behind him and was talking to the teacher. The bell rang and everyone more or less settled. "Everyone! Everyone!" The teacher was trying, why everyone had to be so rude and not listen he never did understand. "Everyone, this is Thom. He's new to the area and new to our school, so everyone make him feel welcome." Yeah, right, good luck with that. If the new kid hadn't clearly already hit his adult height and weight he'd have the shit kicked out of him before lunch. As it was, they were probably just checking him out first.
And then, of course, the new kid came over and sat right next to him.
And then he sat next to him in IB L-Lit
And then he sat next to him in AP US History.
And then he sat next to him in AP Calculus.
"Are you following me?" Joey hissed at him before class started.
The new kid flashed him a charming smile. "Naw prefrosh, we're just on the same schedule."
Up until now the new kid hadn't answered any questions in class. The two teachers they'd had had let him off easy today so he could catch up with the class. But Mrs. Allen never gave anyone an easy time of it. "Thom, can you come up and answer this one?" She gestured to the overhead.
The new kid stood up slowly, as if a little unsure. But when he got up there he confidently wrote: =3x1/3+3In|x1/3-1|+C
"Um, you need to show your work." Mrs. Allen said.
"I did." The new kid replied.
"I mean you need to show the steps you took to get there."
"I did." He replied again with a gentle smile. Then the bell rang and everyone was moving.
Joey was shocked. Either the new kid had known the answer somehow and memorized it or else... "How did you do that?" Joey asked. Because nobody just got solutions like that but him. Nobody. Not ever.
"Is it time for lunch yet?" The new kid replied.
Jesus he was creepy.
Joey hurried off to the lunchroom. Once through, and with no sign of the new kid, he went to sit with his crew at the back table, Bernie, Kim and Chuck. The other nerds. The other geeks. The other weirdos. "Have you guys seen the new kid yet?" He asked them.
"We have a new kid?" Bernie asked.
"Yeah, he…"
"This seat taken?" came the now familiar drawl.
As they looked up the new kid sat down across from Joey. He was a foot taller than the tallest kid at the table, and built like an athlete, which they were so very not, and had a kind of quiet confidence that had everyone whispering. Joey was still impressed by the guy's muscles, like serious showing muscles in his arms and under his t-shirt.
And he was sitting at their table.
"Name's Thom; pleasure to meet you all," he drawled. Then he had a look at his tray. "Is this supposed to be food?"
"So they tell us." Kim said.
"Hey." Said a light, female voice. They looked up to see Kelly Miller, easily one of the prettiest cheerleaders, standing at their table. Their table. "You're new." She said to Thom.
"Yes, that I am." He replied.
"Matt wanted me to bring these over." She handed him a couple of pamphlets. "He said he hopes you come to the meeting this afternoon."
She was preening and posing, clearly trying to catch his eye. But he was as coolly polite as he had been to the teachers all morning. "Well, I'll have to take a look at them and consider it. But thank him kindly for me, for the invitation."
"I will." She cooed before moving away.
"Man, she was totally in to you!" Chuck said.
"Yeah, I know." Thom was eating as he took a look over the pamphlets, "Fellowship of Christian Athletes?"
"Yeah," Joey replied. "Only it's not all Christian athletes, it's only the ones who go to Matt's Dad's church. They don't think anyone else is a real Christian."
But Thom was looking over the other pamphlet, with a set jaw and anger in his eyes. "Because that's what Samuel Stoddard preaches." He said, his mildness replaced with something cold. "I'm surprised Matt isn't being homeschooled."
"The rest of his family is." Bernie told him. "His Dad sent him here to preach to us."
"Preach?"
The loudspeaker whined to life. They looked over to see Matt and his crew and some cheerleaders standing on the small stage at the front of the room. "It's time for the Fellowship of Christian Athletics daily bible study." Matt said into the mike. "Anyone who does not want to participate should leave now."
"I thought this sort of thing was illegal in the public schools." Thom said.
"It's legal if the students are putting it on." Kim replied. "And it's not mandatory if you stay."
"Let us pray." Matt said, and he began leading the group with him in prayer.
"But if you don't stay then Matt and his crew find you and beat the crap out of you." Bernie added.
"Really?"
As the prayer droned on Joey and the others watched in astonishment as Thom gracefully unfolded himself from the table. He slowly walked over to the tray return station and dropped his tray on the stack with a loud WHAP, interrupting the prayer and getting all eyes on him. Then as he and Matt locked eyes he very deliberately tossed the pamphlets into the trash and slowly walked out.
Joey was shocked. They were all shocked.
Bernie leaned over and whispered. "Matt and his crew are going to kill that kid!"
Joey looked at them all, suddenly scared for someone he didn't even know. Then, as the prayer resumed he swallowed hard and very, very quietly scuttled out.
He found the new kid, Thom, sitting on the steps right outside the cafeteria. "Tell me something prefrosh." He said, that light, polite attitude back. "Do you think that counted as throwing the first punch?"
That's it. He was done. "Okay, who the fuck are you? And what the fuck is a prefrosh anyway?"
Thom unfolded himself, got up and nodded for Joey to follow. "Can you keep a secret?" He asked.
"Yeah," Joey replied. "Why?"
"Because my guardian and I decided to keep our mouths shut so as not to make the teaching staff around here feel poorly over their lack of education." Thom was pulling out his wallet as they walked. "Now what I am is your big brother, and since you haven't formally checked in to your House yet and so are not yet a freshman, you are prefrosh." He handed Joey some kind of card and smiled.
Joey stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. There was no way he was seeing what he was seeing. Because what he was seeing was a key card to Galois House at CalTech and it had been issued to one Doctor… Joey swallowed hard, looked up at Thom and for the first time saw what he could someday become. "Whoa."
"Yeah," Thom smiled and took his card back. "Let me tell you prefrosh, when you get there you are going to have the time of your life."
All of a sudden Joey could believe that. "What are you doing here?"
Thom sighed, and for a moment looked hurt. "It's a long story, and the word 'custody' is involved. Let's leave it there."
That Joey utterly understood, had ever since his parent's divorce some years back, "Yeah, but why high school? I mean, you already have a doctorate."
"Shhh. Not eighteen. The state says I have to be looked after during the day."
"What's your doctorate in?"
"Mechatronics." Joey's heart started beating triple time. And Thom must have known it because he slowly smiled. "Yeah, now where is your robotics lab?"