Apocalypse Before Finals, Julie Steimle [black authors fiction txt] 📗

laughed with a look to Jeff. "Have you picked one yet?"

Pursing his lips, Jeff shrugged. "I'm at a loss myself. I think I might do a report on Moby Dick, but I think digging through a book about a whale would bore me."

With an exchanged look with Jonathan, Mark said, "That is an understatement."

"Doctor Zhivago," Adam declared, finger raised.

The others blinked at him.

"That's a Russian novel," Jeff said, shaking his head which chastisement.

Pointing at Brian, Adam said, "His is French, and it's allowed."

Their conversation sank into the seven-minute-lull, everyone at a loss either because they were still trying to think of a novel to do, or they could not think of a way to get out of that downer subject. The FBI noted that as usual that the conversation had stuck to the average teenage subjects. Most of it was banter and prattle. They also noticed that Jennifer McLenna took that moment to slip off with her boyfriend Kevin. The couple often sat near the group of friends as Kevin usually did what Jennifer wanted, and Jennifer usually wanted to sit with Zormna. Darren had already slipped off to do homework in the library. He was only truly safe with that group when Zormna was right next to him, and currently she was with the boys. Darren had been once the FBI's most reliable informant before Jeff had gotten to him. Fact was, the FBI were watching Jeff just as much as they were watching Zormna.

As this group of friends was immersed in thought, munching on lunch, the FBI noticed Michelle Clay (the head cheerleader) and her gaggle of gals stroll up to the picnic table, positioning themselves near the picnic table a bit like a firing squad. Their predatory eyes were eagerly set on Zormna and Jeff. The agents on duty shared amused looks, as things were now going to get colorful. One might consider Michelle the cliché head cheerleader, though there was a little more to her. She dressed like she wanted to be a popstar. She loved attention, and she knew how to pull off the narrow balance between sweetness and acidic cattiness in a way that boys hardly noticed but girls felt excruciatingly. In fact, her approach was only noticed by Zormna, and too late.

Seeing Michelle, Zormna braced for another snotty remark about her virginity, or the imagined lack thereof.

"Hi, all," Michelle's voice echoed into their cluster. She flashed her smug smile at all the boys who turned upon hearing her and smiled, while Zormna ducked behind Brian for a shield. Brian chuckled, allowing Zormna hide behind him. It wasn't how she used to be, but he thought it was cute. She had gotten this way ever since she and Jeff ditched school together, which to Brian was proof that Zormna was telling the truth about her claim that she and Jeff had done nothing 'inappropriate' together.

"Hi, Zormna," Michelle said to let her know that she did see her.

Zormna straightened up and returned a fake grin. "Hi, Michelle."

The girls snickered behind Michelle like a fan club. All that snide giggling had increased since Jeff and Zormna returned from their last adventure in Arizona. The girls on Zormna's team raked over her with smug, judging eyes.

"We missed you at the Valentine's Dance last weekend. Why didn't you come with Jeff?" the head cheerleader asked, her face dramatizing shock and curiosity.

Zormna's usually pale face flushed, but then so did Jeff's.

"I was busy." Jeff rose to his full height. His voice went cold and hard. He glared at Michelle in a way that Zormna usually did.

It had an effect upon the head cheerleader that nothing else did. She flushed with embarrassment and stuttered as if she had forgotten what she was about to say, realizing that casting such remarks in front of this particular boy was unwise. Jeff was not such a thick-head.

But Michelle's top lackey, Stacey Price whispered to the other girls, "They were probably busy celebrating by themselves, if you know what I mean."

Their gaggle tittered, enjoying it.

Jeff bristled, turning his glare on the pixie-haired bleached blonde girl.

But Stacey did not pull back, relishing all innuendo like a daredevil, challenging him to refute it. Truthfully, the FBI frequently got an earful of Stacey's risqué talk - and Zormna snapping at Stacey to make her stop.

"So, are you going to Sadie Hawkins then?" Stacey asked, tilting her head to the side. "It will be a regular hootenanny with hay bales and shotgun weddings."

Zormna stared blankly at her, not comprehending most of that sentence as a foreigner.

"You can have a real roll in the hay on that day," Stacey gazed at Zormna with a blink while winking at Jeff.

Jeff's jaw tightened. Stacey really was relentless. Worse than Michelle. But then Michelle had a brain. Michelle was taking this time to regain her composure, letting her favorite lackey to do the talking for her so she could stand haughtily behind her and take credit.

Zormna cringed at her, yet stood her ground. "I might. I might not."

Jeff stepped back, letting Zormna defend herself. She was more than capable anyway. Besides, what could he say? In modern America, normal conversational self-defense for a man had become impossible. He would be accused of sexual harassment, even though Stacey was the one harassing them.

"Well, I hope you do. Joy and Jennifer are planning a group date, and I think it would be fun if you all came with us," Stacey said as if she hadn't just made a crude suggestion about Zormna and Jeff. And she winked again, this time at Brian. Joy was Brian's younger sister, and also on the cheer team with Zormna and Jennifer McCabe. Jennifer McLenna was in flags and not the Jennifer Stacey was talking about.

Of course Michelle's followers snickered as Stacey said this, giving Jeff and his friends longing glances.

 Without another word, Michelle's little gaggle of gals left as quickly as they had come, wandering the redtop to assure their popularity as the most wanted females on campus - Which was nearly true since they were all cheerleaders and dance enthusiasts, and therefore used to wearing skimpy outfits and having people stare at them. Zormna usually avoided them when she wasn't actually doing cheerleading, which the FBI found amusing. They figured Zormna had only joined the squad to give herself some kind of cover.

Yet as the girls trotted off, Brian's freshmen brothers, the Henderson twins Ammon and Moroni, followed straight after Michelle's gaggle, walking prissily and making duck-faces with fluttering eyelashes. They got halfway across the redtop when Michelle's group finally noticed them. Shrieking, the girls chased them away. But Zormna grinned after the pair of boys.

The FBI took note.

That was another family the Bureau had thought about watching. But the Hendersons, like the McLennas and the Streigles, were just another family whom they believed were being used by Jeff and Zormna as cover.

 "Sadie Hawkins," Adam murmured once the pack was gone.

Zormna ran her fingers through her curls, grimly thinking about it. Everyone had been talking about Sadie Hawkins - a girls-invite-boys dance. The only one in the year. The entire high school anticipated it in March, midway between the Winter Ball at Christmas and Prom at the end of the year. But dances meant dresses. And Zormna hated wearing dresses.

Brian cringed. "I hate this time of year."

"Why?" surprised, Jeff regarded him with a laugh, as they all went to the dances. It was tradition.

"I hate waiting to see who would ask me to the dance. Last year Shandra Hensford asked me, and I just couldn't tell that pimply - uh...unattractive chick no." Brian clenched his head while Zormna shot him a dirty look.

"You're too soft," Jonathan said, nudging him in the side. "If you don't like a girl, why don't you just say dating them in against your religion?"

Brian gave him a hard glare. "That's not funny."

All of them cast Brian a shared look. Brian was famously sensitive about his religion. They didn't usually discuss religious beliefs, which was why they got on without much trouble - but they did like teasing Brian occasionally. Everyone considered him fair game.

Mark patted Brian on the back. "Well, boy, just run when the ugly ones get at you."

Brian rolled his eyes at him.

"I personally like the odds." Adam straightened up, grinning. "More girls than guys here. I could go with any girl and have a great time."

Jeff nodded sharply, finishing his lunch. "I agree."

Zormna peered sideways at him. "You do?"

He smiled back, nodding sincerely. "Sure. We'll dance a lot. Eat our fair share of junk food and have a blast. I figure I can have the same amount of fun with any girl I go out with - as long as we don't make it personal."

That, Zormna agreed with, deeply nodding.

Watching him for a pensive moment, Brian cut in, "And as long as you don't ditch her."

Jeff cringed in reflex.

So did the agents listening in the car. It reminded them both of the last major dance when Jeff had taken out Brian's sister Joy - Homecoming - while their undercover agent 'Sam Perkins' had taken Zormna. Jeff had ditched Joy near the end of the dance to chase down Zormna and 'Sam' to make sure the agent would not take Zormna anywhere dangerous. Their agent's cover was blown. And so was the cover of their operation. Thing was, Jeff and Zormna were never quite sure if Brian had ever forgiven him for leaving his sister at the dance.

But when Jeff looked up and caught Brian's amused grin, a teasing flicker was in Brian's eyes.

"Dork." Jeff punched Brian in the arm.

Brian laughed, ducking away.

As the agents in the field were recording a load of useless conversation at Pennington High, the FBI office run by Agent James Sicamore was mausoleum quality that morning. Silent and empty, and a little cold. It had been for some time since their return to Pennington from Arizona. A second time they had lost valuable information to those two Martians.

Yes, Martians. Darren hadn't been wrong - space-crazed or not.

The FBI knew very well that Zormna and Jeff were Martians even though the absurdity of the idea had given them little support in the Bureau in the beginning. They now had loads of support from the agency, but there was one snag. The boy called Jeff held the leash on the project, and he had decidedly tied the dog of the operation to a tree.

Agent Sicamore stared at all the facts and figures, photographic and audio proof of life on Mars, churning over and over his encounters with the two teenagers from another planet in his head. He stared and read and stared more, thinking about what he was dealing with, searching for options.

And what was he was dealing with? As the FBI understood it, they were dealing with two unusual, extra-terrestrial beings - who were somehow human. They had taken DNA samples. They had blood samples. It was irrefutable and stood in the face of evolutionary theory like an ugly pimple. But also, these two alien-humans were incredibly important.

They had discovered Zormna Clendar first.

According to all the combined information they had gathered, besides being a knockout-gorgeous military brat they had learned that Zormna Clendar truly had been raised in a military school, but she was currently the equivalent of a captain within that military... or had been before she came to Pennington Heights. She had been orphaned with a backstory fit for a Dan Brown thriller. Her entire family had been murdered in one way or another, and Zormna had come to Pennington Heights to live with a great aunt...who was unfortunately dead two years before she had arrived. Also murdered. The FBI had been trying (miserably) to solve her great aunt's case for two years when Zormna had come into the neighborhood. And none of this was a secret except for her 'captain' status. Everybody who knew Zormna knew this about her.

But as for Jeff Streigle, the FBI did not even know he was a person