"Zoe, sweetie. It's time for school" my mom yells from downstairs, I whine to myself. I wanna sleep, it's so cozy here. I wrap myself back into my warm blankets and try to drown out my mothers voice. That is until my big brother, Steve, comes in and sits on me. "Come on, get up" he says, ugh what did he eat? He weighs a ton, I thought growing up would make me stronger even for a twelve year old. "Get off" I groan, I look at him, he has toast hanging out of his mouth. Shouldn't he be gone by now? "Give me a bite" I say, holding out my hand for some food. He scoffs and shakes his head, "No, you get off your little but and go downstairs to get some" he says as he stands up. I reach for the toast but he keeps walking, "Get ready, brat" he says in a muffled voice as he closes the door. I'm not a brat, I throw my bear at the door and get up. I grab my black dress and white leggings, then my socks and ankle boots.
Pictures of me and my friends hang on the mirror that I fix my hair in. There's Dustin, pretending to eat a worm. "Gross" I whisper to myself. And there's us in our Halloween costumes from last year, we all dressed up as superheroes. I wanted to be batman, but Mike said he was batman and it wasn't meant for a girl. So I was the classic wonder woman, I didn't mind though. She's a great Amazon warrior, the greatest female hero of all time. A knock startles me, "Zoe, hurry up and get a bite to eat before you're late for school" she says, "Coming" I grab my backpack and my coat then head out of my room. Oh shoot, I forgot my walkie. "Zoe!" My mom yells again, I grab the Walkman off of my nightstand and head downstairs. "Sorry mom" I say, my dad sips his coffee and stares at the morning newspaper. Steve gulps down orange juice beside the counter, "I hope you brushed your teeth from all the face you've been sucking" I say, biting into my toast.
My parents turn to my brother, then back at me. "You're dead" he mouths to me. I smile, "Thanks for the food Ma, delicious" I say, I drink the orange juice next to me and then get up from my chair. "Don't you want some bacon?" she asks, I walk back and grab a handful of bacon with a napkin to wrap it up. Then I stuff it in my pocket. "Love you" I say, leaving the house, my walkie starts going off. "Zoe, where are you? We're waiting down the road" Lucas says, I stuff the Walkman into my bag and hop onto my bike. Pedaling as fast as I can so they don't start yelling at me, well so that Mike doesn't yell at me. He's the group leader, I get to the end of the road and Mike and Lucas glare because I took too long. I reach into my pocket and pull out the napkin of food, "Bacon?" I ask with a smile. Dustin was happy to take it, "Thanks" he says, then I look around. "Um..where's Will?" I ask, they all shrug their shoulders. "His mom called my mom, asking if he had stayed the night. Then she figured he had went ahead to school already" Mike says. Oh.
Probably to get on Mr Clarkes new radio that he ordered. We all head to school, Mike and Lucas pedal faster than me and Dustin. I'm not too excited about school, I know we're gonna run into Troy. He calls us the freaks and gave us each a nickname. Lucas-Midnight, Mike-Frogface, Dustin-Toothless, and he calls me Bambi. Because Bambi's mom got killed by a hunter. My real mom was killed by a drunk driver, that was when I was four. Then I came here to live with my real dad and half brother, Steve. My new mom is like my real mom, I've known her longer than my real mom. Bambi was a small deer too, and I get made fun of for being smaller than the rest of the girls. "Did you mean it?" Dustin asks, I look at him as I pedal, "Mean what?" I ask, I raise my eyebrows. "That you'd marry me...if it didn't work out with Ricky Nelson?" he asks. Oh right, I smile, "Dustin Henderson, we are far too young to be discussing marriage" I say. He moves his bike closer to mine, "In the future, when we're old" he says. I don't wanna get old, "let me think..." I say thinking about it. If Ricky Nelson doesn't agree to marry me, "Yes" I say.
Dustin's bike suddenly comes to a stop, "What are you guys doing?" Mike asks, annoyed with us. I stop my bike to see what Dustin is getting from his pocket. He pulls out two ring pops, making my eyes widen. Why did I say yes? I look at Lucas for help, "Here, it's like a promise ring" he says. He unwraps the candy and asks me to give him my hand, "A promise ring?" I ask confused. "Yeah, it means you'll have to marry me if it doesn't work out with Ricky Nelson. You can't break the promise" he says, what if I find someone else I like. I roll my eyes, "Will you two hurry?" Lucas says. I give Dustin my hand and he slips the candy on. "Yeah!" He cheers, Lucas and Mike cheer for him, "Can we go now" I say. Pedaling my bike, we eventually get to the school and start putting our bikes up. "Huh, I don't see him" Mike says, looking for Will. "He probably just went to class early again" Lucas says, I fix my backpack around my shoulders, "Yeah, he's always paranoid that Gursky's gonna give him another pop quiz" Dustin says, she does it all the time. "Step right up ladies and gentlemen" Troy says from behind us. We all turn to him, "Step right up and get your tickets to the freak show" he continues. Every day, "who do you think would make more money in a freakshow?" he asks his friend beside him. "Midnight?" he asks, punching Lucas in the shoulder, "Frogface?" he asks, punching Mike in the shoulder. "Toothless?" he asks, punching Dustin the same way. Then he punches me I the shoulder, "Or little Bambi?" he asks. "Hey" Dustin warns when Troy puts his hands on me. "I'm gonna go with...Toothless" Troy's friend mimics the way Dustin talks. "I told you a million times, my teeth are coming in. It's called cleidocranial dysplasia" Dustin says. "I told you a million times" he continues making fun of Dustin. They both laugh and I look at Dustin, "do the arm thing" they say. Don't give in Dustin, "Do it, freak" Troy says. Dustin puts his backpack down and does the arm thing that he can do since he doesn't have a collarbone. His bones crack and Troy and his friend groan and laugh. Then they shove past us. "Assholes" Lucas says, I smile at Dustin, "I think it's cool, like superpowers" I say making him smile back. "Yeah, like Mr Fantastic" Mike says. "Except I can't fight evil with it" Dustin says as we head to class.
