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

but it came with the job as an advisor to the President. Agent Sicamore did his duty and informed the public of nearly everything he knew about the people involved in the war above. Mostly, he rehashed all his Pentagon presentations for the viewing public.  Then later, he was coaxed into being part of a min-series exposé about the Mars Project itself and how they cracked the Martian secret wide open and protected the American President. It sounded noble and dramatic, and people lapped up each episode. A chunk of the program was dedicated to the secret of Asiah Clendar - the woman who had never hid her Martian identity and had been considered a lunatic by her neighbors - leading straight into her scandalous murder. In the interviews, Agent Sicamore even admitted his unwitting part in that. He talked a great deal about how he had discovered his own Martian heritage... outlining it like a tragedy.

Each episode was presented like a mystery. The episode of the abrupt arrival of Zormna Clendar had left viewers dying for more, especially when it brutally exposed the McLenna family to the media spotlight as the best hidden secret of Zormna Clendar. Agent Sicamore admitted that he had never suspected them of any Martian connection. The episode describing all the information the FBI had found on Jeff Streigle, a.k.a. Jafarr Zeldar, had been a favorite. People liked hearing about Jeff's perfect alibi, seeing pictures of his scarred back (which reminded them a great deal of the PM brutality and drew in a lot sympathy for Jeff, more than Sicamore had intended), and listening to how the FBI unraveled each piece. And the thrilling episode about how Jeff's cohorts had slipped through the FBI's fingers and had gone who-knows-where. There was a lot of speculation about the organization Jeff was part off. There were so many episodes, most of America (as well as the rest of the world) listened enraptured. And the final episode, which had been filmed at Pennington High during the reconstruction, summed it all up with a final mystery: Were Jeff and Zormna good or evil?

Darren Asher was soon surrounded by TV cameras and television news microphones, since the boy had been exposed in the documentaries as the one who had known the truth before anyone else. The moniker 'Space-Crazed Loony Boy' was making way for the new title of 'Martian Expert.' And Darren finally opened up.

 "When did you first find out your neighbor was a Martian?" one woman reporter asked as he stepped on the grounds of his high school. They had already been in class for a couple weeks, and though Darren had not become popular, he had most certainly gained the respect of many.  Darren's face still had the scars from Dural Kelz's beatings, yet the ointment the Surface Patrol officer had put on them helped them heal better than expected.

Darren puffed his chest up, his eyes shamelessly saying I-told-you-so to the world. Answering her, he rambled on like he had before Jeff had threatened to have him killed and left for dead in Pennington Forest.

"... Of course no one believed me. Everyone thought she was crazy," he said, finishing his long oration about Asiah Clendar. "Even when her own people killed her, everyone believed the FBI did it. I was the only one who knew the truth."

The news reported nodded, angling her microphone closer. "And when did you find out that your classmate was a Martian?"

"Which one?" Darren asked, chuckling.

The woman smiled in amusement and replied, holding the microphone to her mouth, "How many did you know about?"

Darren blissfully counted on his fingers. "Let's see... if I counted Zormna, I knew right away about her, and Jennifer... but Jennifer told me. We thought Zormna was in danger with Jeff, but well...."

Brian and his friends watched from a distance, shaking their heads at the still geeky boy as he enjoyed the attention. The camera crew had tried to corner them once, but they had ducked away and said, "No comment." And though they bore their scars like Darren, they did it without the pride Darren seemed to take in being so disliked by the enemy. Jennifer stood with them, watching the scene wearily. And though she was to a degree glad Darren finally got to be exonerated as the one who knew the truth, she though he was being a little ridiculous.

"There's your old boyfriend." Mark waved over to the cafeteria entrance where Kevin was standing with his friends, watching the news crew also.

Moaning, Jennifer closed her eyes, shaking her head. Brian bopped Mark on top of his skull. Kevin no longer came near them, let alone looked at Jennifer. He had taken personal insult to the secrets Jennifer had kept from him, regardless of the fact that he never would have believed her if she had told him. They had broken up, officially.

"Hey," Jessica called to Jennifer, waving her over to the walkway leading to the main building. "We've got that project with Miss Bianchi's class coming up. Did you sign up for anything, or did she not let you?"

Smiling, Jennifer shook her head and walked over to her old best friend, who now for some reason had decided they ought to be best friends again. They were still so different, yet bonded by their fondness for Zormna Clendar. It took an alien invasion, but finally were able to let go old hurts from Jr. High. Outside of Brian and the gang, Jessica was the only one out of her old friends who still treated her like a person. Everyone else looked at her as if she were trash.

And as proof, one of their schoolmates called out, "Don't stand to close to her, Jessica. You know they're carrying alien diseases." It was someone Jennifer did not even know, though it did not hurt any less.

Jennifer shrank in herself.

But Jessica snapped back, "Racist, much!"

"It's not racist!" the girl snapped back. "The whelp is white!"

"Racism has nothing to do with only one color of skin," Jessica shot back. "You just hating her because - "

"Oh shut up! You're traitor to the human race!"

Jessica balled her hands into her fists.

Yet, Jennifer weakly chuckled as she murmured, "I'd hate to break it to you, but Martians are human. Zormna herself said so."

That girl unloaded every foul word she could think of in just a few seconds, spit flying. But Jessica turned with impressed surprised toward Jennifer then faced their verbal attacker again.

"I don't care what you say. You don't know her. You don't know me," Jessica said. "That make you prejudiced."

"Does not!"

"Pre-judge," Jessica shot back. "That means making a judgement before knowing anything."

"Shut up you - !" and she used about every other crude word she could come up with to describe the pair of them.

"Cut out that language." Brian butted in, glaring down at the girl who was verbally abusing Jennifer and Jessica. "Our school still has an honor code."

The girl retreated from Brian then the other boys as Brian and friends pulled Jennifer along, making sure the TV cameras would not find her. Since Agent Sicamore's mini-series, harassment against her family had risen again.

School was finally got back into its regular pace. Prom had not been cancelled. In fact, the administration was actively encouraging them all to go to the dance, perhaps as a testament that they had survived. So posters were everywhere, as well as ticket sales. Renewed campaigning for Student Body President started up again. Some of the candidates were new. And despite all their clean-up efforts, the school halls and classrooms were now strewn with flowers and pictures of students and teachers that had been killed during the People's Military occupation. In fact, a cairn was erected where 'the Heap' had been. Flowers covered that, as did pictures. But in general things were the same - sort of.

Mr. Humphries taught the last novel of the semester and collected book reports from his classes, staring at the empty seats that Jeff and Zormna had once occupied. That part of the room felt expressly empty and forlorn since they resumed school. But in his manner, Mr. Humphries avoided sticky subjects, and no one talked about the two teenagers that were no longer there.

Miss Bianchi still dressed up in strange clothes, but she had lost some of her vigor when she tried to talk about superior American forces. She soon dropped the argument completely and turned the class discussion to the 60's and peace marches, glaring on occasion at Jennifer McLenna as if she had personally invited the People's Military to their school. Jessica sat with her like a savage guard, making sure her classmates did not mess with her best friend.

Mr. Zeigler went into conniptions when Jennifer entered his classroom then slept though the rest of his review, which covered evolution again. He didn't stop the other students from calling her dirty names when she finally said it was a waste to learn such nonsense. And when Jennifer got angry and yelled that she was happy she didn't evolve from a monkey, he let them throw things at her. Jennifer spent the rest of the hour in Mr. Vicklser's office.

Honestly, she felt it was better that way.

Chemistry was very different for Darren. Without Zormna, his experiments took longer. But many of his classmates whispered to him, asking for his advice. He felt genuinely popular since the end of the war. Of course Brian's group did not quite walk with the opinion of the other students. Mark still called Darren names. But Brian interfered more often, and so did Jonathan.

By lunch on most days, they were watched with awe and great regard... except for the fact that they had bailed Jennifer out of detention and protected all the 'whelps', which puzzled everyone extremely. Michelle Clay, who had rarely taken notice of Jennifer before except as a parasite hooked on to Zormna, was especially vocal about it.

"I can't believe you even talk to that trash!" Michelle snapped at them during lunch, her petty gaze most especially fixed on Brian whom she had started to take personal offense to. She had her usual entourage of girls, short her favorite who had been killed by a People's Military officer. Stacey's absence was acutely painful for her.

Their tableful of refugees pulled back while Brian's friends bristled.

Brian stood up with a glare for her. "Jeff was right about you. You're a jerk."

"I'm a jerk?" Michelle flushed, her shoulders squaring indignantly. "It takes one to know one, Brian! You're hanging out with aliens, and... and...."

Jonathan stood up with Mark. Both of them bristling, knuckles going white in their clenching fists. Their faces stiffened, jaws clenching with dirty looks such as Michelle had never gotten from them ever.

"You forget that I am Zormna's friend," Brian said. "An alien." But then he shook his head. "But you have always been cruel to Zormna. Jealous, really. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything else from you."

Pulling back with her gals, the head cheerleader gaped at him. Her eyes wildly taking in Brian and his gang, she then snapped her mouth closed and glared at them all.

"You are all traitors to the human race!" she shrieked and stomped away.

Jennifer flushed, as did the others they were protecting. Amanda Dumas was there along with Denae Smith. And they had convinced Rupert Jaanson to come back to school with them. They all had been having a bad time of it. But Brian and his friends shook their heads and waited until Michelle Clay was out of sight. Then they sat down.

"I never realized how jealous Michelle was of Zormna," Jonathan murmured.

"I did," Brian said. "I just never thought she was all that bad. In fact, thought she'd be more compassionate after Stacey's death."

The group of them nodded.

Adam Arbor walked over to them slowly across the redtop. They had not seen him for over two months. Apparently it was his first day back at school, and he had come back mid-day. He looked