Also Known as Rowan Pohi by Ralph Fletcher

Author:Ralph Fletcher [Fletcher, Ralph]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

My first-period class was English. There were only fifteen students. I took a seat next to a tall kid with short, frosted hair. The English teacher introduced himself as Mr. Nardone.

"In tenth-grade English we will be reading and discussing lots of great literature," Nardone began. "We'll start the year with To Kill a Mockingbird."

The tall kid next to me glanced over and caught my eye.

"I read that book over the summer."

"Like it?" I whispered.

"Do you like Chinese water torture?" he replied.

After English I had Spanish, which was much harder than anything I'd had at Riverview. Señor Backman spoke in nothing but rapid Spanish; I understood about 10 percent of what he said. I was the only boy in the room. The class was jammed with nerdy girls who looked like they had nothing better to do every night than study for umpteen hours. For the first time, I got a sinking feeling, like I was in way over my head.

It was a relief to go from Spanish to biology. Heather Reardon sent me a wink from the far side of the room as Mr. Rasmussen passed out the syllabus. Biology seemed like it would be manageable. In fact, except for Spanish, the classes at White-stone didn't seem like they'd be too hard, so long as I kept myself organized and didn't get behind in my assignments. Actually, the classes weren't much different from Riverview's except there were fewer kids in each class, and the teachers smiled more.

The chicken fingers they served for lunch were phenomenally tasty; I had to force myself not to eat too fast. The kids at the other end of the table all knew each other and chattered nonstop. I wondered how long it would take for me to make a few friends.

When the other kids got up to leave, I still wasn't done. As I was eating my final chicken finger, I became aware of two guys at a nearby table staring at me. I did my best to ignore them.

"You should avoid fried foods."

I glanced up to find that one of the kids who'd been staring at me was standing by my table. He was tall and wiry, with an earring and a spray of acne on his chin. Another boy stood behind him.

"I'm Seth. This is Brogan." He peered down skeptically. "Who be you?"

"Rowan."

"Yeah? Rowan what?"

"Rowan Pohi."

Seth grinned at Brogan. "Rowan Pohi."

Brogan nodded. "Nice."

"You from around here?" Seth asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. Arizona."

Seth turned to Brogan again. "Arizona!"

Brogan smiled. "Nice."

Seth snatched a french fry off my plate.

"Hey!"

"Oops, sorry," Seth said. "I honestly dunno why I did that. My mommy taught me it's wrong to steal."

It was eerie the way his voice lingered on that word steal. Now he leaned forward and brought his face close to mine.

"I've seen you before, Rowan Pohi."

Something kicked in my gut. "I doubt it."

"Oh, but I have." Seth gave me an unpleasant smile. "And you better be careful. Consider this my first warning."

He snatched another fry off the plate.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.