Ghost of Spirit Bear Read Online Free PDF

happens now?”
    “Thursday evening the Circle meets with you again,” Garvey said, referring to the community members who had originally decided Cole’s fate when he applied for Circle Justice before going to the island. “Now they’ll decide if your banishment worked.”
    “Will I go to jail for what happened today?” Cole asked.
    Garvey shrugged. “It depends. You had it easy on the island with nobody in your face.” Garvey rapped his fingers on the table. “I went through banishment at your age and thought it was successful until I returned home. And then everything went to hell. I wasn’t strong enough to keep the peace I found on the island. Surviving up there turned out to be the easiest part.”
    “Why were you sent to the island?”
    Garvey didn’t answer. He looked at his watch. “Hey, I have to go. I’ll talk to your principal about this morning, and I’ll see you at Circle on Thursday evening.”
    “Does my dad know about the meeting?”
    “I called him—he said he was too busy.”
    “Sounds like Dad.”
    Garvey looked Cole straight in the eyes. “I’m pretending this morning never happened,” he said. “It better not happen again.”
    But Cole knew it
would
happen again. People like Keith didn’t just stop being jerks.
    At lunch, Keith passed behind Cole as he sat eating. “You’re dead meat!” he whispered.
    Two tables away, Cole recognized the thin, brown-haired girl who had been called a slut the morning before. She sat with her head lowered, trying to ignore two girls who crowded her from both sides, laughing as they grabbed french fries from her plate. Without thinking, Cole walked over. “Knock it off!” he said.
    The girls moved away, making snide faces.
    The thin girl looked up at him fearfully.
    “Those girls are jerks,” Cole said.
    “So are the idiots that picked on you this morning,” she said.
    “Did you see that?” Cole asked, sitting down.
    She nodded. “Why were they picking on you?”
    “I guess I kind of have a reputation. How about you—why were those girls picking on you?”
    “They don’t need a reason.”
    A loud bell signaled the end of the school day. Cole met Peter outside, glad the second day of school had ended.
    “Hey, what happened after I left this morning?” Peter asked.
    “The principal called Garvey.”
    “Was he mad?”
    “He wasn’t happy,” Cole said. “How was your day?”
    “I kept getting shoved in the hallway. Every time Eddy saw me, he knocked the books out of my hands.”
    “Keith told me I was dead meat.”
    Peter grew thoughtful. “This sounds funny, but I think I w-w-was a little to blame for you beating me up.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I was a doormat,” Peter said. “I always let people walk on me.”
    “But you stand up for yourself more than you used to,” Cole said, remembering Peter defying his mother and father.
    “That’s true,” Peter said. “Hey, are you up for carrying our ancestor rocks again?”
    Cole hesitated. “Isn’t there a better way?”
    “Are you scared?”
    “I’m scared of getting in trouble before the Circle meets,” Cole said. “But if you really want to, okay.”
    It was a quick walk to the abandoned building. Cole paused outside. “Hey, Peter, when we carry the bowling balls today, we have to think more about our ancestors and about our past.”
    Peter agreed. “And we have to pretend we’re dropping our anger away.”
    Glancing around, they slipped inside and waited for their eyes to adjust to the dim light. Then they crossed the lobby to the stairwell where they had left the bowling balls. “Where are they?” Cole said, glancing around.
    Peter checked under the steps. “Somebody took them.”
    “Who would steal something like that?”
    “Nobody even knew they were here.” Peter peered down the darkened stairwell that led to the basement. “Maybe they’re down there.”
    “I’m not going there to look!” Cole exclaimed.
    “You big chicken,”