CHAPTER 1

Friday morning's weather was bitchy; the rain threw itself at Chuck'swindow waking him. He wanted to stay in bed but he knew he hadto face the day and have his butt kicked. Mike was a mean guy who hatedChuck for no good reason and had been picking on him for years. Beinga coward, he avoided Mike as much as possible. Chuck wished someonewould invent teleportation so he wouldn't have to take the school'shovercraft with Mike each day. Rock and roll, he thought as he sigheddeeply and pulled himself out of bed.

Chuck showered and then dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans. Hispet lizard, Morpheus, watched him from her tank. Chuck went over to herand shook a few crickets out of their container into the tank. Morpheuspounced and caught a cricket in her mouth. It tried to wriggle free but wasno match for the lizard. He then turned on his holo-machine and dancedto his favorite band, Grimy Toes, with a holographic image of himselfrepeatedly snapping its fingers. His hologram knew more words to thesong than he did. Maybe I should kick my own ass if Holo-Chuck cansing it better than me, he thought. He danced away until he noticed thetime and realized his little dance party was going to come to an end. Holo-Chuckspun in a circle, his long, blond hair fanned out behind him.

"Chuck! What's taking you so long?!" his mom, Sheila, called. Dammit,he thought. He didn't even want to go to school because he thought it waslame. But, Lexi would be there. She was popular and pretty and he hadwanted to ask her out for years. Lack of courage held him back and he onlyallowed himself to steal glimpses of her when he knew no one was looking.Lexi had long, blond hair like his but with a gorgeous pink streak downone side. Chuck thought about putting a pink streak in his hair too butknew that would increase his regular ass-whoopings. Chuck ignored hismom and changed the holo-image to one of Lexi. Together, they dancedup a storm that was even crazier than the one outside his window. "I'm notgiving out any candy. It's for me!" He screamed out the lyrics at the top ofhis lungs, imagining that an adoring Lexi was blowing kisses at him.

"Aaaahahahaha, what are you doing?" Sheila asked. She walked in onChuck unannounced and her sudden appearance startled him. He jumped."You look ridiculous but I still love you." Sheila Holloway, Chuck's mom,always said it how she saw it, which was acutely embarrassing at timesfor Chuck and his friends. Her general nature was also embarrassing toChuck as Sheila, despite being forty-five, dressed like she was twenty.

"I see you've got your mini-skirt and tight top on again. And I justlove all that blue stuff you've smeared all over your eyes," Chuck saidsarcastically. He wished his mom would dress like other moms. "Youmight want to be careful about that hair style too; you'll have rats livingin that nest one day." She just laughed.

"If you love Lexi so much, why don't you invite her to your birthdayparty? You're going to be seventeen. It's about time you had a girlfriend.You're cute, you're smart, and you're funny. I have no idea why you're soshy with the girls."

Chuck scrambled to turn off the holo-machine. "Are you kiddingme? She'd laugh in my face, just like you did. I love you, too, but don't tellanyone."

"Get downstairs and eat something before you head to school. Thehover will be here in ten minutes," Sheila said smiling as she took in thepiles of clothes littering Chuck's floor.

"Fine, I'm going," Chuck replied. He grabbed his electro-card, anelectronic device that held all his textbooks and school notes. "And I'llclean my room later. You don't need to come back in here." Chuck usheredher out of his messy bedroom and closed the door behind him. A quickglance into his mother's bedroom showed her bed neatly made and noclutter. "Maybe I should let you clean my room."

"What a lovely thought," Sheila laughed.

Chuck and his mom took the stairs down to the tiny kitchen thatwas just big enough to fit a small table and two chairs. Sheila had paintedthe walls a bright, cheery yellow and the table and chairs were painted tomatch. Chuck wolfed down some multigrain toast and cereal; Sheila onlyserved healthy food. He saw the shuttle hovering outside their house andsaid, "Bye, Mom. Stay freaky!" He grabbed his lunch from the table andtook off. Through the stormy weather he could make out Farley flippinghim the bird from the shuttle window and sent a double bird right back.

Farley opened a can of Coke as Chuck sat down. "Dude, Sheila'slookin' fine this morning. Love that hot pink, silky top—"

"Shut up about my mom. Don't look at her and don't think about her,"Chuck said. He was pretty ticked off and wished his friends would ignoreher barely-there clothes. Chuck fake sucker-punched Farley startling him.The Coke sloshed out of the can into Farley's face as he bobbed when heshould have weaved.

"Calm down, man! I was just joking. Anyway, what's for lunch?" Farleyasked him, wiping his face clean with his sleeve.

"None of your business," Chuck said back. "You're not getting any.What's wrong with your mouth?" Chuck stared at Farley. Farley's lipsappeared to move as though there were little bugs crawling around themon the inside.

"I can't stop running my tongue on this wire they glued in when I gotmy teeth fixed."

"Well, your mouth is kinda moving, and your lips are pursed. Are yougoing to kiss me or something?"

"Hardly."

Farley, also known as Fat Farley, pulled out a slab of chocolate andstarted sucking on it. It was his version of the breakfast of champions andChuck was a bit jealous after his overly nourishing meal. "So, you gonnaask Lexi out before school ends or what?" Farley was much like Chuck'smom and said things as he thought them.

"Get out of here! What, did you talk to my mom this morning? Shetold me to invite Lexi to my birthday party. You don't exactly talk to Dagnyeither."

Whack! Chuck's head flung forward so hard, he probably got whiplash.With a stunned look on his face, he turned to Farley with indignation,when whack! Farley's head bounced off the seat in front of him.

Enter Mike, the whack king.

"You guys are such losers, man. Gaz is with Dagny, and I'm withLexi. You two will end up being boyfriend and boyfriend one day soon,I'm sure," Mike said. The muscles in his arm bulged as he ran his fingersthrough his black, greasy hair.

Gaz laughed and said, "There's more where that came from." Gazreached over the seat and plucked a hair from Chuck's head. "Blond is out;red is where it's at." Gaz pulled out one of his own red hairs and placed iton top of Chuck's head.

Chuck and Farley just sat there silently, facing forward. Chuckwondered where Mike and Gaz had come from since he didn't see themwhen he sat down. He knew it was going to be that kind of day. Everyoneknew it was his birthday weekend and if he said anything back, he'd getan extra-special birthday beating. Farley wanted to find the chocolate hehad dropped but preferred to avoid the fat jokes. He kept his eyes focusedahead and willed his face to turn a lighter shade of red.

They arrived at their last pick-up stop and Dagny and Lexi got on.Despite the heavy rains, the girls looked perfectly put together with Dagnywearing a teal top cinched at the waist with slim, black pants and Lexi in adeep blue shirt-dress. The rain had soaked their hair but both girls slickedit back, giving them a sophisticated...