Free The Rule of Won by Stefan Petrucha

herself and stood up on the Whirl-A-Gig.”
    Ethan nodded. “RideCo, a huge corporation, bought up the property and planned to reopen it. While they were fixing it up, we used to sneak in and hang out at the arcade. There was this old machine that still worked for a dime. It tested your strength by giving you a shock when you held on to this metalgrip. It’d score you depending on how much of a jolt you could take. The bottom level was Old Lady, the top Eagle of Hell.”
    â€œShock?” I asked. “Like with electricity?”
    â€œYeah,” Ethan said, getting excited. “I think it was broken, or they didn’t have safety regulations when the thing was built. It felt like this wild vibration, starting in my thumb, then my hand, elbow, arm, shoulder, even my chest, until my whole body felt shot through with the juice. But I held on until I reached the eagle. I was the only one who ever did that. That’s what it felt like when we got that grant, reaching the eagle.”
    He clenched and unclenched his hands a few times. “My palm had these red marks on them for a week,” he said with a laugh.
    â€œWow,” Vicky said.
    I couldn’t figure out if she was impressed or just weirded out like I was.
    â€œGeez, Ethan,” I said. “Some people might think it’s kind of stupid to hang on to something that’s hurting you.”
    He twisted his head sideways and toward me, then said, “That depends on what you get if you do, Caleb.”
    Trying to look cool, he picked up his coffee and knocked some back, but I guess it was even worse than he expected. He gagged.
    â€œYou okay?” Vicky said, reaching over and patting him on the back.
    â€œFine,” he said between coughs. She stopped patting and started rubbing him, giving him a little massage. I may have just been imagining that, but I was seething with jealousy.
    Still coughing, Ethan reached into his backpack and pulled out a handkerchief. As he did, his hand snagged a sheet of paper that fell out and went sliding across the floor. I’m all about picking up other people’s papers, Moore’s or Ethan’s, so while he finished hacking, I snatched it up and happened to give it a look.
    It was a drawing of the school. Not the way it looked now, more the way it might look if it got all fixed up. There was even a new garden on the side. It looked professional, but done in an old sketchy style. I was impressed, even if Ethan was stealing my girl.
    â€œYou do this?” I asked.
    Vicky leaned over. “That’s amazing,” she said.
    Ethan half smiled. “Yes, it’s great. But it’s not mine. My sister, Alyssa.”
    â€œBut it’s a picture of our Crave,” I said.
    â€œYep. Alyssa . . . wanted to help out.”
    â€œIs she at Screech Neck Middle School?” Vicky asked.
    He shook his head. “Dad’s homeschooling her.” He pursed his lips as he added, “One reason he’s not making as much money as he used to, but that’s the way it has to be, I guess. She . . . uh . . . she just doesn’t do anything anyone tells her if it doesn’t make sense to her, and you never know what’s going to make sense to her. Hell, Parker Academy barely knew what to do with her. One week in a public school and they’d diagnose her as ADD, ADHD, OCD, autistic, Asperger’s, or schiz. And she’s none of those things, she’s just . . . Alyssa.”
    Ethan reached for the drawing, so I handed it back.
    â€œNice work,” I said. “Kind of an old style.”
    He shrugged as he slipped it into his backpack. “She made it look like a Blake etching, like the proverbs on the back of my door.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œTo have a little fun with me, I think. It’s how my mother used to draw sometimes. I got my dad’s brains, Alyssa inherited Mom’s . . . talent. She’s got a weird sense of humor that’s