Running Scared

by Leslie McGill

  CAP CENTRAL

  Fighter

  Running Scared

  Hacker

  Copyright © 2014 by Saddleback Educational Publishing

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher. SADDLEBACK EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING and any associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Saddleback Educational Publishing.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-62250-706-1

  ISBN-10: 1-62250-706-1

  eBook: 978-1-61247-957-6

  This digital document has been produced by Nord Compo.

  To Jordy and Nathan, with love.

  CHAPTER 1

  Rainie

  Rainie stood on the edge of her bed. The small wall mirror showed only the middle of her five-foot-seven frame. Turning sideways, she looked at her butt. It still stuck out. No matter how much weight she lost, she still looked fat. She wished she hadn’t eaten that piece of chicken at dinner last night. She had only eaten half of it. And she hadn’t touched the mashed potatoes or corn. But she shouldn’t have given in to her hunger.

  She used to love her mom’s fried chicken. But that seemed a lifetime ago. Back when her dad was still around. Before her mom started working at DC’s Bar and Grill. Before Daymon Jenkins started hanging out at their house. Commenting on Rainie’s figure. Looking her up and down, even while he was pawing her mother.

  Before Rainie started locking her bedroom door at night.

  Before she decided to become invisible.

  What she saw in the mirror made her feel sick. She’d simply have to keep losing weight. She pulled out the scale she had hidden under her bed and stepped on it. Down to one hundred two pounds. But if she leaned on it, the needle moved a bit toward the right. Rainie shook her head in disgust. If she was going to lose this fat, she just couldn’t eat anything today.

  She carefully slid the scale back under her bed. She leaned forward to look at her face in the mirror. Strange. Her skin had gotten really dry, but her face had been breaking out more than usual lately. Her hair seemed to be drying out too. When she tried to style it, she would find clumps that had fallen onto her dresser.

  She pulled on some warm-up pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Then she layered another T-shirt on top of that. Despite the Washington, D.C., heat and humidity, she always seemed to be cold.

  “You still looking in that mirror?” her mother yelled up the stairs. “Rainie Burkette, how many times I got to tell you—”

  Rainie started down the hall.

  “Man, hard to believe she can even see herself in that mirror, skinny as she is,” she heard Daymon say.

  As she made her way down the stairs, she stopped to listen.

  “I don’t know what to do with her,” her mother said with a dramatic sigh. “I’ve been cooking same as always. She says she’s just not hungry.”

  “Used to have some meat on her,” Daymon said. “Had herself a cute little shape. Now she’s some scrawny thing. Looks like a scarecrow. Look like she has some disease or something.”

  Rainie’s heart soared at his words. It was working! If she could just get skinny enough, maybe he would quit looking at her the way he did.

  She heard a chair scrape on the floor. “But now her mama’s a different story!” he said with a dirty laugh. “Her mama’s got something here and here and—”

  “Oh, Daymon, stop!” her mother said in a little girl voice, giggling. “Not with the girls still here!”

  Rainie knew the silence that followed meant that her mother and Daymon were kissing.

  Jesika’s bedroom was at the top of the stairs. Rainie glanced up as her door opened. The nine-year-old pretended to throw up as she walked to the bathroom. Rainie clapped her hand across her mouth to keep from laughing. She thumped loudly down the remaining steps.

  “Okay, I’m leaving,” Rainie said, walking into the kitchen as if she hadn’t heard anything.

  Her mother broke away from Daymon, looking guilty. Her face was flushed and her hair was untidy. She was still in her nightgown, which clung to her curves and was cut low.

  Rainie looked away in disgust. Since meeting Daymon, her mother had changed. Almost overnight, her mother had turned trampy. She wore clothes that were too tight and too young. She didn’t even try to hide that she and Daymon were fooling around.

  Rainie knew that her mother was badly hurt when their dad left. Ever since the divorce, the mom she knew was gone. The mom who always had time to listen to her girls and was there for them. In her place was a cheap-looking stranger who only had time for Daymon. Rainie couldn’t remember the last time she’d had an actual conversation with her mother about anything. All they seemed to talk about was upcoming plans. She desperately missed her “real” mom and hated this new cheap version.

  Rainie knew that Daymon was the reason her mother started dressing like she did. She suspected it was because Daymon was so much younger than her mother. Besides the changes he’d caused in her mother, there was another reason Rainie hated Daymon.

  He scared her. When he was in the house, Rainie was always aware of him. He followed her with his eyes whenever she walked. He also touched her. A lot. Pretending that these touches were accidental. Sometimes, when she was in the bathroom, she could hear him outside the door.

  She tried telling her mother once how he made her feel. The conversation didn’t go well.

  “Honey, you’re getting old enough to understand that men’re gonna look all they want. It’s what they do. And the more they look, the better you know you’re looking. I don’t understand why you’d want him to stop. Just shows how pretty you’ve gotten.”

  “Mom, he’s your boyfriend! I don’t like him looking at me.”

  It was at that point that the conversation took an ugly turn. “Well, what are you doing that’s making him watch you so much? You tryin’ to catch his eye?”

  Rainie was crushed. Her mother should have backed her up, not blamed her. Rainie decided she would do all she could to try to be invisible. She stayed in her room as much as she could, coming out only when her mother made her join them for dinner or when she was leaving the house.

  And she quit eating.

  Not eating made her feel strong. As if she—and only she—had power over her body. But not eating hadn’t taken the weight off fast enough. So she started running. One thought kept her going: the calories she was burning off. But no matter what she did, she never felt that she looked thin enough. She’d lost more than twenty-five pounds since the summer. But when she looked at herself, she still thought she looked fat.

  She wondered about the other changes she’d noticed lately. Her ratty hair and skin problems. She kept thinking that her skin was breaking out because she was getting her period. But so far, nothing. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a period. She wondered if running could be having an effect on her cycle. She made a mental note to look it up on the Internet the next time she was on a school computer.

  She grabbed her backpack from the floor where she’d left it when she came in late last night. She hoped her mother hadn’t noticed. She always did her homework in her room, so the backpack still in the kitchen meant she hadn’t done any work. Again. But with working at FreeZees, a frozen yogurt shop, and running, she never seemed to have time to study anymore.

  But her mother didn’t notice the backpack. “You aren’t wearing all those layers!” her mother said in horror. “In this heat? What’s wrong with you lately? You comin’ down with somethin’?”

  “I get cold in class. They have the air conditioning turned way up,” Rainie lied. She susp
ected that if her mother saw her arms and legs, she’d be worried. Although Rainie looked fat to herself, other people had started commenting on how skinny she looked.

  “Wait, you haven’t eaten any breakfast!” her mother said in a worried tone. “Rainie, you got to eat. I could make you something.”

  “C’mon, Gabby, she’s fine, she’s just fine,” Daymon said. “Back when I was working at Coolidge, most kids just ate breakfast at school.” Daymon used to be the janitor at a neighboring high school. Rainie had once asked her mother why he didn’t work there anymore. But her mother got angry, accusing Rainie of being nosy. Rainie suspected that her mom didn’t know why Daymon had lost his job.

  Daymon put his hand on Rainie’s mother’s hip and looked at Rainie with an evil smile. “Time for you to go, girl, and give us some privacy!”

  Rainie felt sick at the disrespectful way he treated her mother. “I’ll eat at school,” she lied, ignoring Daymon. “I don’t want to be late,” she added, kissing her mother’s cheek and heading for the door.

  “Ain’t you gonna kiss me good-bye?” Daymon said with a leer.

  In your dreams, creep, Rainie thought. She didn’t even look his way. “I’m working at FreeZees after school, so I’ll see you later, Mom.”

  “Okay, baby,” her mother said. And then, “Daymon, stop! Not yet. Jessie’s still here.”

  Rainie slammed the door as hard as she could.

  CHAPTER 2

  Joss

  The door to the run-down row house on Seventeenth Street burst open. Rainie Burkette ran out and slammed the door hard behind her. Joss White had never seen her look so angry.

  “Hey, girl!” Joss said in surprise. “Who messed with your Wheaties this morning?”

  Rainie shook her head angrily. “Nobody important, that’s for sure,” she said.

  Joss looked at her curiously. Joss and Rainie had always been friendly, but they had become close last summer when they both worked at FreeZees. Joss had quit the yogurt shop in August. Since then, they hadn’t spent as much time together.

  She was shocked at the change in Rainie’s appearance. She had always been pretty and well dressed. But now she looked awful. Her hair was pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. Her skin was a mess. Strangest of all was the way she was dressed. It was already over seventy degrees, but she was wearing sweatpants, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and another tee over that one. By the time school was out that afternoon, the D.C. heat and humidity were going to be brutal.

  “You okay?” Joss asked with concern. “You know it’s gonna be hot today, right?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Rainie said. “I just threw on whatever was clean.”

  “But didn’t you wear sweats yesterday too?” Joss asked. “I wondered why you didn’t pass out in science lab. It was so hot in there!”

  “I’m okay. Okay?” Rainie snapped. “Since when is it your job to keep track of what I wear every day?”

  “Whoa! Hold up,” Joss said. “I was just asking.”

  Rainie shook her head. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m just a little tired from work.”

  They started walking down Seventeenth Street toward Capital Central High School, in the northeast quadrant of Washington, D.C.

  “So you worked last night?” Joss asked.

  “Yeah, you know how that goes,” Rainie lied. “Angie is once again short-handed, so …”

  “I am so glad I’m out of FreeZees,” Joss said. “Angie is a good manager, but I would be absolutely flunking out if I had to work plus keep my grades up. You’re so lucky. I wish I was half as smart as you.”

  Rainie had always been one of the smartest students Joss knew. While Joss struggled to maintain her grades, Rainie was always placed in accelerated and honors courses.

  “Hey, Joss. Rainie. Wait up!” Joss and Rainie turned and saw Eva Morales hurrying toward them. Eva and Joss had been best friends since elementary school.

  “What the—” Eva said, stopping suddenly when she reached the others. “Girl, have you checked the calendar?” she said to Rainie. “You’re dressed like winter!”

  “Why is everyone so concerned about the way I’m dressed this morning?” Rainie asked angrily. “Just because I’m not showing half my butt like—”

  Joss and Eva looked at each other. Both were wearing shorts. Joss’s were as short as the school would allow, showing off her long, slender legs. Eva’s came down to right above her knees. She often wore baggy clothes to cover up how overweight she was.

  “Guess she means you,” Eva joked to Joss, trying to lighten the mood.

  “I guess so,” Joss said coldly. Rainie’s words had hurt. Joss didn’t know what was going on, but something clearly was up.

  The three girls walked on in an uncomfortable silence. From behind them, someone whistled. They stopped and waited as Lionel “Ferg” Ferguson, Carlos Garcia, and Durand Butler rounded the corner from L Street. Carlos threw his arm around Joss and kissed her. They’d been together for several years but had broken up for about a year when Carlos’s family had moved to Virginia when his father had been ill. Now that he was back, they were closer than ever.

  Joss buried her face in his chest.

  “Hey, what’s this?” he asked. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, fine,” Joss said. She was still hurt by Rainie’s comment.

  Ferg put his arm around Eva and gave her a quick kiss. They’d been going out for a year. Like Eva, Ferg was large. He was one of Cap Central High School’s star football players. The two of them took up the whole sidewalk.

  “Hey, you want one too?” Durand Butler said. He put his arm around Rainie’s neck and kissed the top of her head.

  She was so shocked she didn’t move. Just stared at him with her eyes wide.

  “Didn’t want you to feel left out!” Durand said with a smile. Like the other guys, he was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Just walking up the street had made him sweat.

  He stood back and looked her up and down. “Girl, aren’t you dying from the heat?”

  “Don’t ask!” Joss and Eva said in unison.

  Rainie rolled her eyes. “Sorry, you guys,” she said. “I’m just a little touchy this morning, I guess.”

  “You sick?” Durand said, putting his hand on Rainie’s forehead.

  They all started walking to school. Joss and Carlos led the way, followed by Durand and Rainie, with Eva and Ferg in the rear.

  “I don’t know if she’s sick, but I’m sure sick of her act,” Joss whispered to Carlos. “I’ve only been with her about five minutes, and she’s already snapped at me a million times.”

  “A million, huh?” Carlos said with a smile. “And for once you’re not exaggerating, right?”

  “Okay, maybe not a million, but at least three,” Joss whispered hotly. “Shhh. I want to hear what they’re talking about.”

  “You are such a snoop!” Carlos said. He started laughing.

  “Did you understand that math homework last night?” Rainie was asking Durand.

  “I finally figured it out, but it was hard,” Durand said. “I was up late trying to finish.”

  “That’s what you get for running so late!” Rainie said.

  Durand looked surprised. “How did you know that?” he asked.

  “You actually ran past me,” Rainie said. “On Mount Olivet Road. By the cemetery.”

  “What?” Joss whispered to Carlos. “No wonder she’s tired! She ran after she worked a shift at FreeZees.”

  “Why not?” Carlos said.

  “Because it would have been eleven o’clock at night!” Joss said. “Who runs in D.C. that late? Is she out of her mind?”

  “Maybe she—” Carlos started.

  “Shhh. Let me listen,” Joss said.

  Carlos rolled his eyes.

  “Sorry, I never saw you,” Durand said. “I must have been in the zone. What were you doing over there?”

  “Running. I ran past you on the other side of the street,” Rainie said.

 
Joss couldn’t stand it anymore. She turned around so abruptly that Durand nearly walked into her.

  “Wait!” she said to Rainie. “You said you worked last night.”

  Rainie looked guilty. “Uh, I don’t think so,” she said. “You must have misunderstood.”

  Joss put a hand on her hip as she looked skeptically at Rainie. She knew she was right. “Whatever,” she said under her breath.

  She turned back to Carlos. “Rainie’s lying,” Joss whispered to him. “Something’s up with her, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “Why would she lie about working?” Carlos asked. “Why the big secret?”

  “I don’t know,” Joss said. “But she looks terrible, don’t you think?”

  “She’s probably just miserable about being so hot,” Carlos said. “Who dresses like that at this time of year?”

  “I know, right?” Joss agreed. “Something’s just not right.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Rainie

  Do you work out even when it’s not wrestling season?” Rainie asked Durand.

  “Pretty much, or I get really out of shape,” he said. “You run a lot?”

  “A bit,” Rainie said. She didn’t want Durand or anyone else to know how important running had become. Running was her way of working off any calories she’d eaten during the day. It was also a way of occupying her time so she wouldn’t be tempted to eat. Best of all, it kept her away from home—and Daymon.

  “You want to run together some time?” Durand asked. “How far do you run anyway?”

  “About five miles a night,” Rainie said. “Give or take. Except on the nights I work.”

  “Five miles?” Durand asked in horror. “Girl, what’s wrong with you? You training for a marathon?”

  “Something like that,” Rainie said.

  “When do you study?” Durand asked curiously.

  “After I get back from running,” Rainie said, lying again. Lately, she just never seemed to have the energy to study. Her grades showed it. She had always been able to pull off nearly perfect grades without trying too hard. The Cs she was getting lately were upsetting. She had hidden her report card from her mother. Luckily, her mom was so wrapped up in Daymon that she had forgotten to ask about it. But Rainie knew it was just a matter of time.