Free Souls in Peril by Sherry Gammon

for your head injury then, can ’ t we? ”
    A small rust bucket of a car pulled up with a flashy blond behind the wheel. Tim climbed in and they drove away.
    Max went inside and went straight to bed. He needed a nap. He didn ’ t wake until the next morning.
    “ JD! Two days in a row. Come on, sleepy head. ”
    It took everything Max had to get out of bed. He again had to race to catch the bus. It was a repeat of the past two days, only this time it was just him. Izzy wasn ’ t on the bus. The taunts and teasing speared Max ’ s head. He tried not to listen, but heard each and every word. He tried chanting the sticks and stones rhyme from his childhood in his head , but it didn ’ t work either. Words did hurt, and they hurt deeply. Each insult, each joke at his expense, hurt JD ’ s heart, his soul, and made him feel worthless. And drained , completely drained . If Greg were to offer him a gun today, Max wasn ’ t so sure JD wouldn ’ t take it.
    School was a disaster again . Because he ’ d fallen asleep as soon as he got home yesterday, he didn ’ t get his homework done. But Max just didn ’ t care. His only focus now was getting th r o ugh the school day in one piece. He didn ’ t even care that Emma still hadn ’ t shown up at school.
    Mr. Vetter, his seventh period science teacher, kept him after class to talk about the homework assignment he ’ d missed. To Max that meant one thing; he ’ d have to walk home again. Max tried to listen to Mr. Vetter ’ s words, he really did, but with the fear ratcheted up so high in JD, it was near impossible.
    JD led Max down the same pathway, to the same strip mall, to the same dumpster. Lying in the pile of dog crap, Max gave up. It didn ’ t matter that he smelled bad . I t didn ’ t matter that Nate vowed to find out where JD hid and beat the life out of him . N one of it mattered anymore.
    It took Max ten minutes to get the energy needed to crawl out of the dumpster, and instead of the usual ten minute walk home from the mall, it took him twenty.
    “ You ’ re pathetic. If you were my kid, I ’ d take you out back and shoot you, ” Tim murmured as Max came through the door.
    “ If you were my father, I ’ d shoot myself. ” Max didn ’ t know why he said it. JD ’ s usual fear of Tim was gone. In its place stood resignation. JD wanted Tim to beat him. JD hoped this time it would kill him.
    Tim flipped out at the insult. He ripped an extension cord out of the wall and laid into Max. Max sunk to the floor and let him. H e didn ’ t try to block the blows. H e didn ’ t beg Tim to stop.
    When it was over, Tim grabbed Max by his hair and dragged him into the bathroom, shoving him in the tub fully dressed. His glasses flew off his face as he slammed into the tub, breaking. “ Don ’ t even think of coming out of here smelling like that. ” Max laid in the empty tub for a long time . H e had no idea how long, but it was dark before it even registered that he was still in the bathroom.
    He stripped off his clothes, and turned on the shower, bathing in under three minutes. He wrapped a towel around him, went straight to his room, and crawled into bed, falling asleep within minutes.
    “ JD, you need to get up or you ’ ll miss the bus. ” Max stirred, but didn ’ t get up. “ Come on, sweetie. I know yesterday was rough. Tim told me some kids jumped you on the way home from school yesterday. He said they thrashed you pretty good. ” Mel stroked his hair. “ As soon as we get a nother car again, I promise, you won ’ t have to take the bus anymore . ”
    The bus. Not again. Max couldn ’ t do it. He opened his eyes and looked at Mel , clueless Mel . “ I have a terrible headache. Can I skip school today, please? ” It would be the first time Max missed a day of school since the fourth grade when he fell out of a tree and broke his arm .
    “ What about the pain pills the doctor gave you? ” She adjusted the sheet over his body.
    “ I didn ’