Over My Head (Wildlings) Read Online Free PDF

it. Just because I survived being Tasered, kidnapped and then imprisoned for sick medical experimentation by a private corporation, doesn't mean the drama that is everyday life at Sunny Hill High School is going to take a vacation.
    I'm not paying attention to it until it's too late. I'm just trying to fit myself back into my old world. My own life.
    The elder Wildlings say it's impossible. I'm a member of the Mountain Lion Clan and that's who I am now. That's what my new life is, and they've got all kinds of ideas about what I'm supposed to do.
    Turns out they're right—about me not being able to go back to my old life, I mean—but not for the reasons they gave me. The reason I can't get my old life back is because I totally messed up with my best friend Marina and, without her, all the things that were important to me don't mean very much anymore. Our friendship goes deeper than my relationship with Elzie. Marina and I have known each other forever, and up until a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn't have thought that anything could come between us.
    But that changed after she lied to me. We said we'd put it behind us—and I'm trying—but what we really need to do is sit down and talk it out, and we haven't been able to do that yet. Since she's been grounded, I only see her at school and that's no place to have a serious, face-to-face, uninterrupted conversation. So we're left with a big disconnect. It all feels like small talk and surface friendliness, and I hate it.
    I still hang with Desmond. We play in his garage, but the programmed drum beats we're using are no match for Marina's live playing. Des and I still go the skatepark. The beach. School. But everything seems … smaller without her.
    Without her. Without Elzie.
    Mostly, the days just go by.
    But meanwhile—and let me tell you, I didn't have a clue this was going on—Erik Gess had been building up a long slow rage aimed right at me.
    Let's count the reasons he's so ticked off at me: I'm not white. He thinks I'm a drug dealer. He also thinks I'm a Wildling—thank you for that, Desmond. And then there's the fact that I made him look like a fool when he tried to jump me at lunch one day. He got suspended, I just got detention. That's got to hurt for the president of the Sunny Hill Purity Club and one of the stars of our school's track team.
    I should point out that while the Sunny Hill Purity Club is associated with the national one, the national club is inclusive. It doesn't matter what colour your skin is. All you have to do is swear off drugs, alcohol and sex and you're golden. Not so much with our local version. Not only do I have it on good authority that they drink and smoke dope on the sly, they also have this whole whites-only thing. If you're Asian, Latino or black, don't even think of joining.
    I've never had any interest in their club. I don't drink or take drugs, but I don't do celibacy. At least, I didn't until my girlfriend dumped me. No, that's not really fair. She wanted me to stay with her in that parallel otherworld we found ourselves in.
    But I'm getting off track.
    The point is, I've got a lot going on and I'm still trying to figure it out. If something's not right in front of me demanding attention, I don't think about it. Erik was still suspended when I got back to school, so he just wasn't on my radar anymore. That changed on his first day back.
    I was still doing my detentions—I only had three more days of staying after school—so Desmond goes ahead to the skatepark, where I'll meet him later.
    At least, that's the plan.
    The problem is, a half mile from the school, a couple of guys from the track team come out of a lane onto the sidewalk to block my way. Kurt Stice and Hughie Jones. Wherever they are, Erik can never be that far away. I don't bother to turn around when I hear two more sets of footsteps coming up behind me. I know neither of them is Erik because I can already catch his scent coming from the lane Kurt and Hughie stepped