The Long Wait for Tomorrow by Joaquin Dorfman

Author:Joaquin Dorfman
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780375892974
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2009-01-20T22:00:00+00:00

t wasn’t much more than Zack and a few members of the football team who saw how it started. They would say, later, that it began with Kelly. With Kelly laughing at Cody, unapologetically laughing at him. Around a dozen students had seen the simple argument escalate to an incomprehensible shouting match over that freshman geek with all the upper-level math and science classes. By the time the first unsuccessful punch was thrown, the crowd count stood at around fifty.

That was when Patrick had happened upon the scene, making it around fifty-one.

He cut into the crowd, bursting through the membrane to find Kelly and Cody rolling around on the ground, between grass and gravel. Close body blows, arms a tangle as they continued to shout through clenched teeth.

“What did you do?!”

“Fuck you!”

“Tell me!”

“I’ll kill you, you fucking—”

“What did you do to him?!”

Patrick was frantically seeking a chance to intervene when Coach Redwood shoved his way past the cheering students and yanked Kelly off of his only son and heir. Cody vaulted to his feet. He charged once more, under the impression that his father might actually continue to hold on to Kelly, allowing Cody to pound some respect into the insurgent McDermott.

Apparently, even Redwood had his limits in public. Grabbing hold of Kelly’s jacket with one arm, he launched out his free hand. It was spot on, fingers wrapping around his son’s arm in an iron grip. He swung Cody, sent him flying backward.

“Cody, you stay back!” he barked, pointing. “Stay back!”

“You tell me what happened!” Kelly yelled, struggling to break loose.

“You shut up!” Redwood ordered. “Shut up!”

“He started it!” Cody fumed. His face was smudged with dirt, a bit of blood crusted around his ear. “I didn’t—”

“I won’t have this!” Redwood shoved Kelly away, then grabbed him again. He dragged him toward Cody, whom he collected in his other hand. “Not when we’ve got state tonight! You two want to kill each other afterward, fine! Move it!”

Shoving Kelly through the wall of students while dragging his son behind, Redwood made off with the two. A few people kept watch as the coach headed off toward the proverbial woodshed. Most, however, turned to Patrick as the crowd dispersed. Not seeking any answers, because few people ever talked to him. Though their faces displayed no shortage of questions.

And he knew it wouldn’t be long before someone was going to want some answers.

But Patrick wasn’t one for being proactive. He spent the last few minutes of lunch wandering the campus, looking around unenthusiastically. Searching for answers the same way he had always pretended to search for people at school dances, anything to keep from actually having to dance. Students floated past him, every now and then engaging him in a question-and-answer routine that was growing tired.

So tired that Patrick eventually snapped: “He’s a time traveler, OK?”

The sophomore girl who stood before him took a moment to digest this information. Her bright yellow dress lifted gently in the breeze, exposing sandals and green painted toenails.

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.