Chapter 2 Spencer
Spencer POV
I was running again, I might as well have been flying. I was fast, faster than then wind. The cool night air was rustling through my short black coat. Tonight, was the night, no more fear, no more running, I was free. A rabbit ran out from the shadows, I took off after it. I was through being the one running from. Today I was running to. I had never felt so alive. It wouldn't escape from me. It was mine. I sped up a bit I was almost there. Just a little more I changed to a sprint giving it my all. closer and closer just a little closer and I leapt.
I sat straight up in my bed and sighed, another dream. I looked at the clock 6:15 only 15 minutes until I needed to be up. I didn't even get to go back to sleep this time. I had been having this same stupid dream for almost a month ever since Mom had decided that we needed to run from my stupid stepfather. I blamed the stupid dream on the fact that we hadn’t stopped running. I yawned today was gonna suck. I need my sleep at least 8 hours, this wasn’t my bed, I missed my bed. I missed my home in L.A. now we were is a smelly motel in New Orleans until mom could find an apartment.
She already had the promise of a job at the university, but this one was gonna be full time, she wouldn’t be able to homeschool me anymore. I was nervous, I had done the whole public-school thing already and wasn’t looking forward to trying it again. It’s not like it would be better here, it wasn’t like it was easy being a ten year old in 7th grade. Today they were gonna look at different schools so we could figure out what neighborhood to get an apartment.
I rolled out of the uncomfortable bed and climbed into the even more uncomfortable cramped shower. It stank and the soap was super crappy stuff. Today was gonna suck, but like Mom said, it could be worse, it could be raining or we were in New Orleans, so there could be like a hurricane or something. By the time I got out Mom was up and getting ready to walk to the dinner across the street for pancakes.
After breakfast it was time to go touring schools. The first appointment was at 8:00. I was right it sucked, I got to hear all the same lines that I had been hearing my entire life.” We don’t have the resources to support a child like him” “ Having a child this young in a high school class is a liability””Your name is Spencer Michael, no we will not call you Penny ” “Why don’t you try insert random school for mentally disabled people here” Give me a break I don’t need to be in a class of stupid people who need help using the bathroom. Its not like I really needed to go to school in the first place. Einstein quit school when he was 15 and he turned out fine. All I needed to go to college was a GED and a high SAT score.
We toured three schools before lunch and all of then sucked. Mom took me to a little dinner across form the Saint-Augustine Catholic Church, afterword we toured the church I missed going to church. Mom made us stop going when my stupid stepfather decided they were keeping us away from him. I missed my catholic school, I had friends there and people didn’t care that I was different. I looked up from my food and realized that Mom must have said something, cause she was giving me the stare.
I met her eyes and said "Did you say something I wasn’t listening to you." She laughed and said "Well Penny I said I am glad you liked getting to see the church, we have one more school to go to today and I think you might like it more than the others. I also asked if you would be okay with us looking for a church here." I nodded and that made her smile, I liked to make mom smile. She didn’t do that often enough.
The next school we went to was a private catholic school called Une Lumière Academy. It was a shifter school. I could tell. The receptionist lead us to the Headmasters office. We waited in the hall and a big dark-haired boy walked out. He was supper tall and kind of scary looking. I thought oh great I found the lord of the jocks, he walked down the hall and mom put her hand behind my back and guided me into the office.
I sat down in front of the headmaster an older man wearing a collar, definitely a priest. He greeted us with a smile. I decided I liked him, his voice was soft and he didn’t try to make me talk to him. Another priest came in a moment later, he looked at me and smiled, he said his name was father Lorennza and that he was deputy headmaster and would show us around. I liked the way he talked; he didn’t have an awful twang like a lot of the people I had met here. He had a gentle drawl with a French lit, it made him seem distinguished. I liked him to, maybe this would be the right school for me, the people weren’t so bad. Father Lorennza was funny, and he understood me. He said that I would take a placement test and from there we would work on an education plan suited to me. I loved the way he talked and I wondered which of the districts of New Orleans he was from. He kept switching back and forth from English to French. Mom seemed to be having trouble going back and forth, I didn’t know why, she spoke French as well as I did.
After our tour mom dropped me off at the library. I loved the library. I liked quiet places in general, but a quiet place plus an enormous supply of books. What could be better? It wasn’t as big as the one in L.A., but it would do. I went to the fiction section and grabbed the first thing I saw written by Tolkin. I had been there for four hours and was almost done with the hobbit when I heard someone whistle. I frowned your supposed to be quite in a library. Then there were people talking really loud. I didn’t like that, I looked up from my book to see a pretty brunette girl arguing with three older looking boys. One of then touched her and she pushed him away and told them to leave her alone and tried to walk away, but one of them ran in front of her. I didn't like that. They were bullies, I hated bullies. I wanted them to leave her alone, or at least give her a moment to get away from them. They were giving me a really bad feeling I walked over to them and said "hey" they ignored me so I said it louder. " heeyyy… shut up we are in a library, go somewhere else if you’re gonna be annoying."
The girl laughed and grabbed my arm pulling me away from the other boys, I didn’t like people touching me. She didn’t have permission, she didn’t even warn me first, mom always warns me. She sat down at a chess table and gestured for me to sit down too. i wasn't really sure what to do so I sat down. She took a long look at me then smiled and said "You got guts kid those guys dey bad news petite. I’m Bella pleased ta meet ya. Do you have a name?"
That was a weird thing to ask, everybody had a name, when I said so she laughed again. I liked her laugh, and I liked the way she talked too, it was pretty, like her. She said "Okay ya got a name so what is it." I blushed, I didn’t like it when I didn’t catch on and realize people were joking.When I looked at her again she just smiled and waited. I said "I am Spencer Michael Reid, but your supposed to call me Penny, thats my name." She smiled and said "Penny, it fits you I like it, so Penny, ya any good at chess?" I grinned and moved my pawn. She smiled when I won. She didn’t get annoyed at being beaten by a kid. She stood up and said "Walk wit me petite. Ma homie he’s supposed to be meeten me but he’s late so lets go lookin for trouble."
We walked out of the library and down the block when we got around the corner the three boys were back. I froze running wouldn’t work they were bigger and there were three of them, also Bella was wearing really tall shoes. She shouted "RUN!" and grabbed my arm pulling me down the alley. I wondered how she could run in those shoes; they were gaining on us. We turned a corner, and then another, I looked back and then ran into something huge and solid, I would have fallen if someone hadn’t grabbed me. I looked up. It was the boy from the school and another boy, the other boy pulled me behind him, and the boy from the school looked at the other three boys who were completely frozen and asked, "Is there a problem here Bella?"
Bella laughed and said "Not anymore, nice timing bebe." The boy from the school turned to me and said "hey you’re the new kid your gonna go to my school next year oui?" I didn’t answer but he didn’t seem to care, Bella said "This is Penny and he is a lil firecracker." The boy held out his hand and said "I’m Henri, Henri Lebeau and dis is my brother Alec."