I.D. Read online

  I had to get some of the homework done or I was screwed.

  I was leaning against my locker, staring at the math sheet, when I saw Alexa. One minute your life is total crap, and the next it seems like everything is one hundred percent okay.

  “Hey, Alexa!” I said.

  I didn’t think she heard me. I ran after her.

  “Alexa!”

  That time she turned around. “Oh, hi, Christopher,” she said. Her eyes were this amazing color, like a blue highlighter. I wondered if she wore tinted contacts.

  “Can you do me a favor?” I said. Girls like her can’t say no to a favor.

  I explained that I’d had a little trouble getting my homework done the night before. I didn’t tell her about my stepdad. It made me sound too much like trailer trash. I just asked if I could see her paper.

  “Oh, I don’t know about that, Christopher,” she said. The way she looked, you’d think I was asking her to smuggle drugs into the country. “It’s sort of cheating.” She hugged her binder really close to her chest.

  “Not for you it isn’t,” I said. “If anyone finds out, just tell the truth. Tell them I stole your binder.” I yanked it out of her hands. She lost her balance. I caught her with my other arm just before she fell forward. It was pretty sweet.

  “Please?” I whispered. “No one will know. I’ll only copy enough answers so Oxner can’t kick me out.”

  She stood up straight and smoothed her shirt. I could tell she didn’t want to do it.

  “Please,” I said again.

  She looked down the hall. It was like she was scared someone was watching.

  “No one will find out,” I said. I smiled at her. I have a nice smile. Girls always say that.

  She bit her lower lip. She looked around again. She sighed.

  “Okay,” she said. “But hurry.”

  I messed up her hair and ran into the boys’ washroom. It only took me about three minutes to get enough answers to keep Oxner off my back.

  She was with some other girls when I came out. I put my arm around her so they wouldn’t notice me slipping her the binder. When they left, I whispered, “Thanks. I’ll make it up to you.”

  I’d have to think of something good.

  Chapter Six

  I ate my supper in my room that night. I felt kind of bad about leaving Mandy and Mom with Ron, but I couldn’t hack the guy right then.

  Besides, I needed to study too. It’s one thing to get in trouble. Alexa didn’t mind me giving Oxner a hard time. It’s another thing looking stupid. I didn’t want her thinking I was flunking out because I was dumb. I figured if I studied I could answer some questions in history the next day. That might impress her.

  I opened the book. We were studying the Nazis. They were twisted enough that they were kind of interesting. I read for about half an hour, and then I started to think about Alexa again. Why wait until the next day? Why not call her now? I could act like I had some big question that just couldn’t wait. I could make it sound like I actually spent time thinking about history and stuff like that.

  I took her number out of the wallet. I was going to ask her when Hitler came to power. I punched in the first six numbers, and then I stopped. It was a dumb question. The answer was right there on the first page. If I asked her that, she’d think I couldn’t read.

  I hung up the phone. I looked at the book again. It said that Hitler was a vegetarian. I could ask Alexa if that’s why she decided to give up meat. Say something like, “What? You trying to be just like Adolf? Is he your idol or something?” She might find that funny.

  Then again, I thought, she might find it insulting. You never can tell with girls like her.

  I read some more, but it didn’t help. I couldn’t think of a good question. They all made me sound like an idiot. I chucked the book across the room. Ron shouted, “What’s going on up there?” and started swearing like I’d just kicked out the window. I put Alexa’s number back in the wallet.

  I lay on my bed and looked at the ceiling. I wanted to get out of the house, but I couldn’t face walking past Ron right then. I was stuck in my room. There wasn’t much I could do. I was sick of reading. I couldn’t call Alexa. I couldn’t even listen to music. My batteries were all dead.

  Life sucked.

  I told myself that some day I was going to live in one of those big houses on Waterloo Crescent. I’d have three cars in the driveway and a big lawn that somebody else would have to mow. I’d ask Ron over for supper just so I could see the look on his face when I told him how much I paid for the place.

  I’d love that.

  I took the wallet out. I had to see what type of person lived in a house like that.

  The guy’s name was Andrew Kirk Ashbury. His driver’s license said he was twenty-five. I was all pissed off again. The guy was only eight years older than me and he already owned a big frigging mansion.

  Or maybe he didn’t, I thought. Maybe it was his parents’ place.

  That pissed me off too. I mean, he’s in his twenties and still living with Mom and Dad! I was willing to bet little Andrew didn’t have to work checkout at the grocery store. I figured he had it all just handed to him on a silver platter.

  I looked at his driver’s license. He was five foot nine, 150 pounds and had blue eyes. What do you know? Same as me. I almost laughed. Funny how we could be so much alike and so different at the same time. Andrew Ashbury got everything he could ever want and I got nothing.

  How did that happen? How come I got stuck with the crap end of the stick?

  I stared at his face. What was so great about him? He was no better than me. So he had short blond hair and I had long brown hair. So he wore glasses and I didn’t. So he had an earring and I hated those things. He sure didn’t look too special. The big man barely looked like he shaved, and I’d had a beard since I started high school.

  I dumped everything out of the wallet onto my bed. I couldn’t believe all the cards. I have a birth certificate and my last year’s student card. (I was too broke to buy one this year.) Andrew had a driver’s license, a birth certificate, four credit cards, a couple of gas cards and a bank card, not to mention a bunch of bonus cards for video stores, coffee shops, air miles, stuff like that.

  I checked out his signature. It was this big, flashy bunch of loops with a line underneath. It was like he was just trying to see if his pen had any ink. You couldn’t make out a single letter.

  I really hated him when I saw that. Like, who did he think he was? Donald Trump? I can’t stand guys who act like they’re too busy to write out their names.

  I emptied the change pocket. He had two dollars and thirty-seven cents in coins, a key, a couple of business cards, a dry-cleaning receipt and a ticket for a baggage claim or something.

  The only other thing in the wallet was a photo of this really hot girl. She had too much makeup on, but I could have lived with that. For the long red hair, I’d take all that eye shadow any day.

  I flipped the picture over. It said, For my boo. Love ya! JJ. Her handwriting was really neat and perfect, like she taught kindergarten or something. (How come my teachers never looked like that?)

  I looked at her for a while.

  Frig.

  Ashbury even got the girl! The house. The money. The girl. Everything. That pissed me off so much. I couldn’t stand it. I felt like I was going to explode. Like some animal inside me was going to just bust out and start tearing the place apart.

  I wanted to break something. I wanted to smash my fist through the wall, over and over again. The cheap frigging walls in this dump would crumble like potato chips. It would feel so good.

  There was a place by the window that was already cracked and moldy from where the water leaked in. It would be perfect. I clenched my fist and pulled back my arm.

  I stopped.

  I remembered Ron, downstairs, just waiting for me to screw up again. I thought about Mandy and Mom and all the screaming if we got into it. I thought about Alexa.


  I stared at the wall. I pounded my fist into my other hand. I had to do it over and over again, as hard as I could, but it worked. I didn’t need to hit the wall anymore. I just looked at it. I imagined it crumbling. I pictured me busting out of the hole like this was a jailbreak or something.

  That’s what I needed to do. Escape. I knew I had to find another way to get out of this place.

  I picked up all the cards and stuff and put them back in the wallet. I tried to put them in just the way they were before. I put Alexa’s number in my back pocket. I counted the money left. About fifty-seven dollars. The next day I’d borrow eighteen dollars from my sister, and then I’d call Ashbury on the phone.

  I figured a rich guy like him would probably give me a nice reward for returning his wallet safe and sound.

  That would be my first step out of here.

  Chapter Seven

  I don’t know why I’d been so worried about upsetting Mandy that night. I don’t know why I even bothered trying to be nice to her. A lot of good it did me.

  The next morning, I got up early. I knocked on her bedroom door. She went, “What?!” like she was already pissed off at me about something.

  “Can I come in?” I said.

  She went, “Why?”

  “Because I want to ask you something.” I said it nicely but it didn’t make any difference.

  “Forget it!” she said. She didn’t even open the door. “I’m not lending you any money, Chris. You still owe me eleven dollars from last week!”

  It really bugged me how she automatically assumed I was going to ask her for money, but I didn’t let it show.

  I tried to explain that I’d pay it all back in a couple of days. I’d even throw in a couple of bucks extra, but she just went, “Yeah, right. How dumb do you think I am? Like I haven’t heard that before? Why don’t you just get a job instead of bumming money off everyone? I babysit three days a week. I work for my money. You could too—if you weren’t such a waste!”

  “A waste.” I was fine until she said that. She sounded just like Ron. She hated the guy—but it was me she was calling a waste.

  I lost it. I kicked the door and swore at her. She screamed. Ron came running out of the bathroom with his fat gut hanging over the top of his pants and shaving cream all over his face. He started screaming too. Mom came running upstairs. She just went, “Chris!” She didn’t even bother asking whose fault it was.

  Everyone was screaming. No one was listening. What chance did I have?

  They could all just screw themselves.

  I grabbed my backpack and took off. Mom put her arm out to stop me as I went past. I knocked it away. She stumbled back down the stairs. I didn’t care. For once, Ron looked like he was actually going to help her.

  Good. Because I wasn’t going to do it anymore.

  I was out of there.

  Chapter Eight

  By the time I got to school I was feeling better. Better than I had in a long time. For once, I had a plan. I had some hope. I’d get the reward. I’d get out of there. I could go stay with my cousin out west. He’d put me up for a while. I could find a job. Get on my feet. Things were going to be okay.

  Alexa walked into Oxner’s class. She had on a pink shirt. The top two buttons were open. She sat down at the desk in front of me. I could smell her shampoo. She reached back and pulled her ponytail tight. Her fingers were really long and thin.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to go after all.

  If I dropped out of school, I’d never get a girl like Alexa. Sleeping on my cousin’s couch, working at some crappy job—where would that get me? Not to some big mansion on Waterloo Crescent, that’s for sure.

  I had to think this through some more.

  The PA came on and cut Oxner off. I’m never sorry when that happens. The principal announced that tickets for the school dance were only on sale until 3:00 pm that day. “Be there or be square,” he said. The guy’s pathetic.

  I wasn’t planning on going. I never went to school dances. I never had the money.

  I had the money now, though. I’d just borrow some more from the wallet.

  No, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t borrow it. I’d take the money. I’d call Ashbury and tell him I found the wallet, but there was no cash in it. What would a guy like him care about seventy-five bucks? He’d be glad just to get his cards and stuff back. They were still worth a reward. I’d let drop that I lived on Fuller Terrace. He’d know anyone living in a place like that could use some money. Maybe he’d turn out to be a nice guy after all and give me something good.

  For a second, I thought about the old man again. Why had I ever worried about him? What were the chances that he even knew Ashbury? What were the chances that he’d remember me? The guy was ancient. He probably couldn’t even remember his own name.

  I tapped Alexa on the shoulder. I whispered, “Hey! How’d you like to...”

  She put her finger to her lips and went “Shhh!”

  Oxner heard her. He turned around. He looked at me. “What’s going on here?” he said and started coming down the aisle. He was just itching to haul me out of class.

  Alexa said, “Sorry. That was me, Mr. Oxner. I thought I was going to sneeze.”

  Oxner looked at Alexa. He looked at me. He stood there, squinting, for a while, trying to figure out what to do, and then he just turned and walked back to the board. I touched Alexa on the shoulder and whispered thanks. She nodded but kept looking straight ahead for the rest of the class. She’s the type that writes down everything the teacher says.

  The bell rang. I was going to ask Alexa to the dance then, but Oxner wanted to talk to me. He said, “Don’t think you can pull the wool over my eyes, Mr. Bent. I don’t know what you were up to, but I know you were up to something.”

  He went on and on. I wasn’t going to let myself get mad. I couldn’t screw up now. I just had to think about something else and wait until he was finished.

  I thought about going to the dance with Alexa. Ron would have a heart attack. Me going to the dance with his boss’s daughter. He was going to love that.

  Chapter Nine

  I didn’t see Alexa for the rest of the morning. No surprise. It’s not like we hung out in the same crowds or anything. I’d ask her to the dance before history class.

  I hadn’t had any breakfast that day. I was starving. I headed to the cafeteria to see if I could bum some fries off someone. Then I realized I didn’t have to. If I was going to tell Ashbury there was no money in the wallet when I found it, I could spend what was left. That meant I had enough to buy the tickets to the dance and get myself something to eat.

  I decided to go to the Big Slice for pizza. I was thinking if I was lucky, Alexa might even be there. I left the schoolyard and was turning onto Windsor Street when I bumped into someone. I didn’t even see him coming. Alexa did that to me.

  We both said sorry at the same time. I looked up. It was the old man and his dog. He jumped back. His eyes went all big. He yanked the leash, and then he and his dog took off running.

  It freaked me out, him running like that. The guy remembered me all right. He looked at me like I was some kind of criminal.

  I didn’t go to the Big Slice after all. I went back to school. I suddenly wanted to get rid of the wallet as fast as I could. I didn’t even like having it on me.

  I took the money from the wallet and put it in my pocket. Even if I got caught, no one would be able to tell it was Ashbury’s money. If anyone asked, I’d say I won it playing poker. Matt would back me up. Maybe sometime later I’d tell him the truth.

  I went out behind the cafeteria. There was a Dumpster there I could chuck the wallet in. The truck would take the garbage away and no one would ever know I had it.

  When I got there, a bunch of guys were hanging out behind the Dumpster, smoking. I couldn’t very well throw the wallet away then. They’d want to know where I got it. They’d want to know why I was throwing it away. I hung around and bummed a smoke, as if that had been my plan all a
long.

  By the time the bell rang, I’d calmed down. Maybe the cigarette helped or maybe it was the fact that I knew what the other guys there had gotten away with. This thing was nothing compared to some of the stuff they did. I’d been acting like a wuss. The old guy recognized me. So what? I’d scared him. There was no crime in that. He’d probably forgotten all about the wallet. It would be stupid to just throw it away and not even try to get a reward. I didn’t want to end up the kind of guy that hangs out behind Dumpsters smoking someone else’s cigarettes. I wanted to have some cash in my pocket when I took Alexa to the dance. We’d probably be hungry afterward. I said, “See ya,” stubbed out my cigarette and went back inside.

  I stopped at the office. The secretary didn’t look too thrilled to see me. She raised her eyebrows when I bought two tickets to the dance. I guess she’d just figured I was there for some more “disciplinary” crap.

  I saw Alexa walking down the hall to history. She was alone. It looked like a good opportunity. I ran up to her.

  “Hey, Alexa!” I said. She turned around. She looked worried about something, but she smiled anyway.

  “Oh, hi,” she said. “We don’t have any history homework due today.”

  I said, “Is that the only reason you think I talk to you?” and gave her a little nudge with my elbow.

  “No, I guess not,” she said. She went all blotchy again. She’s the first person I’d ever met who actually blushed.

  “Can you guess why I want to talk to you now?” I said.

  She shook her head.

  “I’ll give you a hint—Friday night.” I tilted my head and looked her right in the eye. “C’mon. Take a guess. You’re a smart girl...”

  She was really blushing now. It was obvious she knew what I was getting at, but she just shrugged.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you then,” I said. “I got two tickets for the dance. One’s for you—that is, if you want it...”