Teen, Inc. by Stefan Petrucha

Author:Stefan Petrucha
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2007-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

10

DOWN AND OUT SIZING

After Jenny’s, I headed home, weirded out about what to make of Mr. Tate. He seemed to think I was just misguided, but if he found out who I was, he’d have a big cow over what I was. Not only that, but everyone at NECorp had been so proud of those new mercury filters, I couldn’t believe it was a lie, even if Bungrin had been in charge.

But Mr. Tate’d probably point out NECorp was responsible for the faulty valve that killed my parents. Yeah, for that I hated them awhile, but after I toured the plants and the new managers explained how even with the mistake Dan Blake made it was totally unlikely that the one bad valve could slip through, I came to think of it as a fluke—like getting hit by lightning—and then NECorp got its ass kicked, right? I’m rich when I come of age.

Which only shows that while you can’t put a price on human life, you can sure try.

But now, the thought that NECorp might be creating more mercury pollution, and that maybe they knew about it and weren’t doing anything to stop it, was like, I don’t know, maybe finding out that your parents are murderers.

Maybe they were evil, after all.

Not to be selfish, but what does that say about me? I was raised by NECorp. Was their evil in my blood? Was everything I read in the 4Bs encoded in my subconscious, waiting to activate when I reached a certain age, so that I’d turn into one of them? Had that been their plan all along, to brainwash me to give the money back?

I looked at my denim shirt cross-eyed, terrified it might morph into the smooth fabric of a business suit. I could almost feel the collar and tie materializing around my neck.

I needed someone to talk to, so I headed for the cafeteria to find Ben. Only, no one could tell me where he was. Figuring I’d see him in the morning, I went to my room, where things got even weirder.

There’s a pile of stuff I keep carefully disarranged: comics, homework, game hint books. They were gone, swept aside, like they were garbage. Instead, there on the fake wood of my desk, centered and straight like an invader from Mars, was a white sheet of paper. Linen bond, too, not the cheap stuff, with a full-color, raised NECorp logo. It was from upper management. The Creep Veeps. What the hell did they want?

I clomped over, already pissed, when I glanced at my computer screen and thought I was seeing double. There, on-screen, was the same memo. They were repeating themselves before I had a chance to hear them the first time.

The letter asked, ordered really, that I show up at a big meeting tomorrow. The CC field was a laundry list of all the Super-Creep Veeps. Bad enough, but it was the timing that really made my eyes bug out. Eleven-thirty A.M.—in the middle of my school day!

What were they thinking?

I speed-dialed Nancy.

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.