The Ones Read Online Free PDF Page A

piece of public infrastructure that happened to be set in concrete just on the other side of the school’s property line. It was technically off-campus, and thus a convenient meeting spot for any activity that wasn’t allowed on school grounds. There were always kids gathered around the Bench, but only a few actually sat down on it. Marco Spiller perched on it like it was a throne.
    He continued eyeing James and Cody and then began to smile. “Or did you guys come to party?”
    All of a sudden, from the corner of his eye, James saw a burst of sparks. He turned just in time to see a kid vault over the garbage can, jumping straight through the fire and landing right in front of them.
    â€œAin’t no party like a quarry party, ’cause a quarry party got rocks !” the kid shouted, and then fell over laughing as everyone else whooped and hollered. This was Fitz. If Marco was the king of the Bench Mob, Fitz was the jester. The rest of their crew was there, too, all in variations of their uniform—thick jeans, flannel shirts, baseball hats with flat brims tilted at odd angles.
    James instinctively took a step closer to Cody, but she wasn’t there anymore. She had walked right up to Marco.
    â€œIs that your car?” she asked, pointing at the beat-up Mazda coupe that had been pulled up to the edge of the cliff and was blasting music for the party.
    â€œWe found that here,” Marco said. “Lucky, huh?”
    â€œThat car drove past my house tonight.”
    â€œImpossible. We’ve been up here all night. It hasn’t moved an inch.”
    â€œTruth,” Fitz chimed in. “Although I went to piss a few times, so maybe it moved then.”
    â€œWhat’s that?” Marco said, reaching and taking the brick from Cody’s hands.
    â€œYou tell me,” she said.
    Marco turned the brick over in his hands, tracing his fingers over the equal sign. “Looks like some kind of message. Like a warning to gennies or something.” He paused. “You are a genny, right?”
    James bristled at Marco’s word choice. For some people, genny was the preferred slur to refer to kids who had been genetically engineered. James felt the urge to sucker-punch Marco right there, but he knew the fallout from that momentary satisfaction wouldn’t be worth it.
    â€œA One? Yeah, I am,” Cody said proudly.
    â€œI thought so,” Marco said. “Bad day to be a One, huh?”
    â€œReal bad,” Fitz said. “I heard they’re gonna stuff all of them in the Grand Canyon and throw away the key.” Fitz cackled, and James just felt bad for him. If anyone could have used a genetic boost, it was this degenerate.
    Then Fitz stepped closer to Cody, looked her over, and turned to Marco. “But I didn’t know they let poor people be Ones.”
    â€œIt was decided by random lottery, you idiot,” Cody said.
    â€œI guess rich people are just better at lotteries, then,” Marco replied, and turned to look at James for the first time. Well, for the first time that night. James and Marco had looked each other square in the eye many times before. That’s what happened when you were the two best athletes growing up together in a small town. They had always been matched up against each other, both of them so skilled at every sport that the only way to make fair teams was to have them cancel each other out. That’s how every school yard football game and driveway basketball game had played out for years, James and Marco going at each other tooth and nail and playing to a standstill. James had actually started to enjoy their battles and relished the rare opportunity to compete against an equal. But then Marco quit playing sports. They hadn’t faced off for years now.
    As Marco stared at James, Cody snatched the brick back from him. “If you’ve got a message for me, you can say it to my face,” she said.
    Marco’s slick smile