Monday came much too quickly. Joanie groaned as she forced her feet out from under the warm covers into the cold air. She quickly dressed and showered. She was surprised to find Brad at the kitchen table working on a mixing bowl full of cereal. She went over and felt his forehead with her hand.
“Nope no fever. Maybe you’re just delirious.”
Brad looked over at his charge annoyed. “For your information Missy I happen to have a job interview this morning.”
“Really? Where?” Joanie asked surprised.
“At the Miller Theater.”
“That’s great! If you get it can you get me free passes?”
Brad shrugged. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Joanie realizing the time grabbed a banana and ran for the door she stopped to yell back good luck as she headed over to Kate’s house. On the way to school, Joanie told her about Brad’s job.
“That would be too cool. Do you really think he would take us?” Kate asked excitedly. “I love going into the city. I just hate crossing over the bridge.”
“Probably. He’s been nice lately. It’s kinda scary maybe he’s been cloned.”
The girls headed into the school and were surprised to see kids pointing and whispering at them. Joanie glanced over at Kate and saw that she noticed it too.
“What’s up?” Kate asked, and Joanie just shrugged.
Suddenly an arm went around her shoulders, and she jumped in surprise. Chris grinned down at her as he bent down and whispered in her ear. “I know you’re just playing hard to get.” He said as he held up the slam book. Joanie regaining her senses grabbed the book with one hand and elbowed Chris hard in the ribs with the other one. She tossed the book to Kate who grabbed it and ran into the girl’s bathroom to destroy it. Chris doubled over but was able to grab Joanie's arm and force her against a locker.
Joanie more angry than scared glared at him as her mind reeled with ways of escape. She looked around, and her hopes fell as she realized that Chris’s football buddies were surrounding them. She tried to kick him, but he side stepped and just moved closer to her. “What the hell do you want?” Joanie asked her eyes flashing.
“You.”
Suddenly the bell rang and Chris released her almost dropping her to the ground. He smiled. “Later.” And he strutted off down the hallway with his friends.
“Are you ok?” Kate asked grabbing her friends arm.
Joanie didn’t trust herself to speak she just nodded her head. The second bell rang and Kate gave her a quick hug before running for her locker. Joanie sighed and headed for the gym. She made it to the locker room and forced herself to take deep breaths to calm down. The rest of the morning passed uneventful, and Joanie was thankful. She met Kate for lunch. They noticed that Jane and Sally were sitting at their usual spot with Chris and Co. Thinking quickly Joanie turned and headed towards a different direction she motioned for Kate to follow her.
“Hey Chad.” She called as she and Kate came up to his table. He nodded to his friend Jack to scoot over and Joanie and Kate thankfully sat down. Chad smiled over at the girls.
“Rough morning?” He asked.
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” Joanie mumbled through bites of sandwich. She wanted to eat and get out of there as quickly as possible.
“You want me to take him out just say the word.” Chad said under his breath as he looked over in Chris’ direction.
Joanie smiled. “I would love to see that, but he isn’t worth the trouble. ‘Side’s he just wants the attention. I can handle him.”
