Finding Hope in Texas Read Online Free PDF

her little religious club, and now that wasn’t even going to
happen. And I’m sure God was oh-so-happy to see his good
reputation mired by the likes of them. Hopefully, if I kept an
even lower profile, this would blow over and I could live the rest
of my life at Jimmy Carter HS in peace and quiet.
    That wasn’t going to happen, though. I
arrived in computer tech class to see that my previous day’s work
had been erased but by what the teacher could only guess was a
“strange malfunction.” In my mind I gave it a name, the Jody virus , a vicious self-centered egomaniac that, with its
minions, attacked its host until there was nothing left. Sadly
enough, I was the host. Things didn’t relent in gym class either,
as I was tripped not once but twice accidentally when someone
inadvertently stepped into my lane. The first fall hurt as I hit my
knee hard against the track’s not so very rubbery rubber. The
second attack finished what the first one had started, leaving my
knees bloodied and bruised. The coach didn’t seem to see either
catastrophe, but was kind enough to let me lick my wounds in the
stands for the remainder of class. How very thoughtful. Why in the
heck we have to run outside, anyway, was beyond me, but it was
Texas, which never seemed to get less than eighty degrees.
    As I sat there with bandages over both knees,
I tried to figure out what I could do. Maybe I should have
apologized to Jody? I did talk to her camping buddy after all, even
though I didn’t even know who he was. He was cute though and
in some way I guess I could see why she was irritated. But I wasn’t
anything compared to her. She had everything going for her, the
looks, the popularity, and the high school glimmer that I could
only be envious of. All I had was wavy red hair and a strange aunt.
Anyway, I didn’t understand it. How could someone just take it that
I was flirting with her boyfriend without getting my side of the
story? It was that skateboarder’s entire fault. If these bloody
bandages should be blamed on anyone, it would have to be him. No! He was just an inconsiderate jerk. This was worse than
that. I know I was from a New York prep school and probably that
alone was enough for this Texas group to see me as an easy target
to take their gun toting rage out on, but it was totally sophomoric
to act like this without all the information, and they were
supposed to be juniors. Still, was it going to last the next year
and a half of my life? Ugh!
    Mom wouldn’t have stood for it. I would’ve
told her about being picked on and she would have told me to “be
strong” and to try and work it out as best I could, and if I
couldn’t then she would. She hated bullies, we all did. Mom and Dad
looked at bullying every day in the courtroom: a big interest
company doing everything it could to hurt the little guy. They had
taken a stand against it a long time ago, so why couldn’t I
now?
    I went to the locker room first, cleaned up
and got dressed, hoping to meet Jody and her gaggle as they made
their way into the showers. I would confront them; tell them that
Brad had just helped me off the floor and that she had nothing to
worry about. They would understand, probably give me a hug, which
girly girls like to do, and invite me back to their table tomorrow.
My one day of being voted off the island would be over and then I
could survive in their shadows, which would be just fine by me.
    Leaving the locker room, I turned the corner
to meet Jody and her gang face to face. The feeling of infinite
smallness came over me as they approached. It had to be something
like what mom and dad first witnessed when they entered law,
peering across the aisle at a bunch of high dollar suits that
wanted to do nothing but destroy them in the most legal way
possible. Jeez, do I really want to be a lawyer? Their eyes
connected with mine as they came to a halt.
    “Um, Jody. I just wanted to say that–“
    “What? That you were talking to my boyfriend
even