Strange Girl by Christopher Pike

Author:Christopher Pike
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I PICKED UP a hint of Aja’s fame when I arrived at school the next day. People talking in the locker halls about her YouTube videos, or the fact that Mike was still alive and walking around with a hole in his head. I took it in stride until I entered Mrs. Billard’s class a few minutes before the bell rang. Our teacher had yet to appear; the class was gossiping.

“Nobody returns to school a week after brain surgery,” Macy Barnes, our head cheerleader and student body president was saying. “There’s no question that she healed Mike. I don’t know why you guys are still arguing about that.”

“She says she didn’t do anything to Mike,” Ted Weldon, everyone’s favorite football jock, countered. “You calling her a liar?”

“I’m just saying there’s something spooky about that girl,” Macy said. “You’ve seen the way she stares at people. And the way she talks—you’re lucky if you can get more than a yes-or-no answer out of her. Then there’s her photographic memory.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in that,” Ted interrupted.

“I believe in it now,” Macy said. “That girl’s got some kind of power. But you’ve got to ask where that power comes from. We know she healed Mike and that soldier at the concert. But how come she never gives God credit for the healings? That’s what I want to know.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. “You mean she doesn’t give Jesus credit,” I said. Macy shrugged like I was stating the obvious.

“Same difference,” she said. “It’s like she wants all the glory.”

I snorted. “On one hand you say how quiet she is. On the other hand you accuse her of seeking glory. Face it, you’re threatened by Aja because she doesn’t fit into your black-and-white world. To you a person’s either righteous or evil—a Christian or a nonbeliever.”

“I believe in good and evil,” Macy said. “I’m not ashamed of that. And before you start ridiculing my religious beliefs, has it ever occurred to you that America is a Christian nation? Sure, I know Aja didn’t grow up here. She’s from Brazil. But that’s a Christian nation as well. How come she refuses to acknowledge Christ when she does a healing?”

“Maybe she’s Jewish,” Ted said. “Her last name is Smith.”

Christ, I thought. Smith wasn’t a Jewish name.

“She adopted that name when Clara Smith adopted her,” Macy said. “It’s not her real name. She’s kept that secret. If you ask me she keeps a lot of things secret. I bet even Fred doesn’t know her real name.” Macy added, “And he’s sleeping with her.”

I glared at her. “I like how cleverly you slipped that in. How you implied that she can’t possibly be a good person because she’s a slut on top of everything else.”

“I didn’t say that,” Macy said.

“Liar,” I snapped.

“Everyone stop talking,” Mrs. Billard said as she strode into the room just as the bell rang. She was all business. “Open your textbooks to page one-twelve. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover today.

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