Bones in the Sand, Julie Steimle [best books to read for students .TXT] 📗

living in some unsuspecting neighborhood for a while now," Janelle said to Kyle.

He nodded and let out a sigh.

"I'd hate to think what those two have planned," she murmured.

Kyle shrugged as he gazed at the two teens watching the ship's unearthing. "Perhaps they're just wishing to make it to the next grade."

She glanced sideways at him. Shaking her head, she walked away.

He continued to watch them though, wondering at her very question. Why were they there?

"Well, we have the box," Zormna said. "Do you think we can convince them to let us put the bones in it?"

Jafarr opened the lid of the box and felt the lining. "Let's hope so. If you keep insisting to that brawny guy that has his eye on you, I'm sure you can get him to at least store the bones in this box out of respect for the dead."

Zormna's dark eyes fixed on him. "You know, it is rude to assume that they will bend over backward for me simply because I'm - "

"Beautiful?" Jafarr smirked, one eye on her. "Come on, Zormna. Let's not pretend. They aren't blind. Besides, the guys at school drool over you for the same reason these men stare. If you hadn't been publicized by the FBI as jail bait, you'd have to fight them off."

Her ears turned red, along with her cheeks. Jafarr couldn't tell if it was a blush or just her getting angry at his remark. He had known long ago that Zormna didn't like boys looking at her, especially when they were grown men much older than her. It was her pet peeve.

"Shut up," she snapped.

He smirked. "They do treat you better than they treat me, you know."

"They do not," she retorted, but she knew it was true. Despite being known 'aliens', many of the boys bent over backward for her. Jafarr could never illicit that effect.  

"I can't see what they think is so attractive," she grumbled. Then looking up at the sky, she said, "I'm only getting burned in this sun. And the kids back home are going to start calling you tomato again if you don't get into the shade too."

She lifted her short sleeve on her right arm to compare the tan line. It was already pink against white and that was all. Zormna never tanned. Jafarr colored the same way. And neither person freckled, which was also common among their people.

Jafarr glanced at the line. "Yep. You'd better put more sunblock on. You'll burn like a lobster, and that is much less attractive than being plain white. I hope you packed enough."

Zormna scowled at him as he chuckled to himself and walked down the hill toward the ship. She stayed with the box, sitting on it at the top of the hill. It made a decent stool, tall enough to house a skull and pelvis, and long enough for a femur. She hoped it would be ok for a coffin.

Pulling out the bottle of SPF 40 sunscreen from her side shorts' pocket, she squeezed a quarter-sized dollop of lotion into her palm. It had become a daily routine by then. She usually coated her arms and legs and face after breakfast and then again after lunch and once more at around four o'clock. It was nearing four, and her sunscreen was wearing off as usual. She didn't like it. It made her feet greasy.

She rubbed the sunscreen on her face first, touching her forehead, nose and cheeks the most. She then started on her bare white arms, bringing the last of the lotion to her shoulders and neck, rubbing it in those places very well since her short hair exposed the base of her neck and back. When she started on her legs, she saw one of the college students walking up the hill towards her.

It was Kyle. He was holding the metal spatula and meat fork for the chicken and hamburgers the students were cooking for dinner. She continued to wipe lotion on her legs, getting the tops of her feet the most and the back of her calves where she often burned, glancing up at the young man occasionally as he walked closer. She wondered if he was coming up to ask a question. By the time he reached her at the top, he lifted the meat fork in his right fist, staring intensely at her.

The glint of the second flashed infinitely in her eyes. Kyle thrust the meat fork toward her chest.

Reacting, Zormna instantly slipped off the box, grabbing the pronged fork as it came down and quickly redirecting it to the rocky earth at her side. The spatula in his other hand grazed past her head as Zormna dived to the right, shoving away from him with her feet against his chest. She blocked the full strike with her free arm. Leaping away, she stood back from the man on the rocky hill. "Have you gone insane?"

Winded as he knelt on his left side, Kyle jerked the meat fork out of the ground. His ice blue eyes fixed on her. Jumping up, he ran at her again with the meat fork. Zormna leapt out of slashing reach, tottering on the edge where the hill sharply dropped while seizing his wrist. She wrenched the pronged fork out of his hand. It fell, clinking metallically against the rocks as it skidded to a halt out of reach in the sand. He swiped at her with spatula, but Zormna grabbed that arm and twisted his wrist hard, pinching a nerve within it. He dropped the utensil.

"Agh!"

Zormna kicked the spatula down the hill, ducking under his arm to higher ground instead of her lower position on the hill. Kyle turned and grabbed her ankle, jerking it out from under her. Zormna fell to the sharp earth, rocks jabbing into her bare skin. She kicked back, striking him in the face. It knocked him sideways into the ground. Zormna scrambled over the rocks to get up. So did he, in pursuit.

When he lunged at her again, Zormna was not taken off guard this time. He was down on the earth after three minutes, squirming under her hold. His eyes were wide in shock at what had just happened.

"What is wrong with you?" Zormna growled in his ear, applying pressure in her pinch hold so he could not fight back.

Kyle pressed his lips together, fuming more at the sound of her voice. He strained to get loose but was unable to budge a millimeter without causing pain.  

"You know," she said more peevishly, like she thought he was an idiot. "You probably spoiled dinner for the rest of your group by coming up here. Now you have to wash off your kitchenware and salvage the burnt chicken."

He flinched, groaning under the pressure. But he was still unable to move.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Zormna asked, leaning heavily on his back.

"Get off!" Kyle bellowed, wheezing.

Shrugging, Zormna did, leaping back five feet where she landed, waiting to fight him again. Her posture reminded him of Bruce Lee a little and he involuntarily shuddered.

Kyle rose, pushing off the ground. He wiped the dirt and the sweat off his chin and shirt. His venomous glare on Zormna, clenching his teeth, he shifted to face her for a second assault.

"Zormna!" Jafarr's voice echoed across the desert, coming from near the ship below.

She turned once to look. Kyle lunged at her then, seeing the opportunity.

Yet she wasn't distracted for even a second. She didn't even look at him when she seized his shoulders and used them as a vault, flipped her entire body over his head where landed behind him then kicked him off his feet. Kyle tumbled dizzily, rolling back to his feet tried and pushing off the ground to ram her like a linebacker with his full weight.

"Zormna!" Jafarr plowed up the hill.

Kyle dived at her.

Yet she merely jumped back farther, getting out of the way.

Jafarr crashed into Kyle like a bull, shoving him down the hill. He halted, swaying next to Zormna. Both teenagers watched Kyle tumble down the small rocks and sand into scrub below. Kyle didn't stir for a second. Then he lifted his head, groaning. The watching crowds of working students and FBI agents gathered around where Kyle lay.

"Zormna." Jafarr grabbed her rolled-up right sleeve and jerked it down to cover her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Zormna looked to where Jafarr had adjusted her sleeve. She felt sick. Had it been up the entire time? That chill of dread sunk into her stomach, and she peered down the hill.

"He's...?" She started but couldn't finish the thought.

Jafarr nodded. "Apparently so."

"He was actually trying to kill me?" Zormna said breathlessly, staggering as if she would faint.

Grabbing her so she could stand, Jafarr nodded. "And you thought he wasn't?"

Zormna shrugged, going back to the box and sitting down. It had been kicked to the side in the fight. "I thought perhaps he had gone crazy - sunstroke or something. But a High Class man among them? He really tried to kill me."

"And failed." But Jafarr nodded, looking down the hill. Kyle was getting up, checking his scratches. He was only dizzy and stunned. Those that gathered around him gazed up the hill at Jafarr and Zormna with horrified eyes. Someone in the crowd even murmured 'chupacabra'.

"I guess we had better calm the natives." Jafarr turned from her and tramped down the hill toward the crowd surrounding Kyle.

The FBI operatives who had been working on the ship with the other students rushed up the other side of the hill to where Zormna sat still in shock. Some of them peered down to where Jafarr had gone.

"Are you all right?" Agent Palmer asked, bending down to her.

She cringed at the sound of his voice, and to temple.

"Is she all right? What about Kyle? Shouldn't you be seeing if he is all right?" Janelle said, pointing down the hill where Kyle was already going into a dramatic explanation to the crowd.

Agent Palmer lifted his eyes toward at Janelle. "Your friend Kyle was attacking Zormna here with a steak fork. I think your friend down there has some explaining to do."

And he was very busy at it. Kyle came up with a colorful story spun around, declaring that Zormna had attacked him with his own meat fork and spatula when he had simply come up to invite her and Jafarr to eat with them. He was a dramatic and convincing story-teller, making it full of alien weirdness. Thing was, Jafarr just stood there as Kyle spun the lie, folding his arms with a fathomless glare for the college boy. Jafarr didn't say a word.  

"...And then the kamikaze kid comes up the hill and shoves me down thinking I was trying to hurt her," Kyle said, rubbing his bruised elbow with a dirty look at Jafarr who lifted his chin while remaining stoic. "But I wasn't."

"What is this?" Agent Sicamore marched over the campground with Agent Powell and the Professors right behind. They had barely heard the ruckus.

"That girl attacked me," Kyle said before Jafarr could speak, pointing to where Zormna had been.  

Agent Sicamore quickly peeked at Jafarr. "What did you say?"

An odd, sharp grin spread across Jafarr's face. Jafarr decided to let Kyle speak freely. His arms tightened in their fold as he waited, listening to Kyle recount everything that he had just told the others.

"...And then this kid here knocks me off the hill because he thought I was trying to hurt her - which I wasn't," Kyle said, still rubbing his elbow.

Sicamore looked at Jafarr. "Is that what you saw?"

Jafarr smiled and bowed politely. "I saw this boy jumping at Zormna, yes. I didn't see the bit about the steak fork or the spatula. But if Zormna wanted to stick someone, I doubt she would miss."

The crowd of college students gasped. A rumble of angry remarks passed through them like little bombs.

Professor Pratte gaped. "Are you saying that girl did nearly kill