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    Kryptonite
    Kryptonite
    Kryptonite
    Ebook90 pages1 hour

    Kryptonite

    By Lesley Choyce

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Jackson knows how to get what he wants.

    Whether it's sweet-talking his friends into buying lunch or convincing teachers to give him extensions, he feels entitled to take whatever he wants—even a day off school or a new pair of shoes. Now he's set his sights on Abby, a troubled girl fresh out of juvie who only has eyes for Bryce, the go-to dealer of a dangerous new drug called kryptonite.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateJan 23, 2018
    ISBN9781459816589
    Kryptonite
    Author

    Lesley Choyce

    Lesley Choyce is an award-winning author of more than 100 books of literary fiction, short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, young adult novels and several books in the Orca Soundings line. His works have been shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, the White Pine Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award, among others. Lesley lives in Nova Scotia.

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      Book preview

      Kryptonite - Lesley Choyce

      One

      Chapter One

      Mr. Carmichael, my high-school philosophy teacher, held my essay in his hands and just shook his head. Jackson, I can’t believe you plagiarized an essay on plagiarism.

      I think that’s an unfair accusation, I snapped back.

      We were sitting in the staff room, just the two of us. He glared at me for the third time since we had sat down. Then he slapped the essay down on the table and started typing away on the keys of the laptop in front of him. Without looking up at me, he continued, I asked you to write this because you had plagiarized twice already. Your first essay, you simply printed off the Internet.

      I regret that, I said. I really do. What he said was true. I had been sloppy.

      The second essay, you paid one of your classmates to write for you.

      I just asked Davis for some help on it. Well, actually I had conned him into doing it for me. Davis was smart when it came to school stuff but stupid when it came to most everything else. I didn’t know how Carmichael had found out. Most teachers wouldn’t have bothered investigating.

      But this, Jackson, this was your masterpiece, Carmichael said, turning the laptop screen toward me so I could see it.

      I leaned forward and tried to focus on the screen.

      The highlighted parts are the ones you copied. Underneath each, you’ll see the sources I tracked down.

      Very little of the essay was not highlighted. And he had found every chunk I had cobbled together from various Internet sources. It must have taken him hours.

      I apologize. I guess I forgot to document those sources. I spent a lot of time doing research for this essay. I was trying to prove to you that I could be a good writer.

      Bullshit, he blurted out.

      I kept my cool even though I could see Carmichael was losing his. I knew I was in a tough spot. But hey, it was only an essay. I tried to look hurt.

      Jackson, why didn’t you just write the damn essay yourself?

      I blinked and pretended to be confused. I don’t know. I just thought… I let my words trail off. The truth is, I’d thought I could outsmart this guy because he was just a high-school English and philosophy teacher. But he had nailed me good.

      There’s a word for you, mister.

      Carmichael closed the laptop and wrung his hands. I didn’t know why this plagiarism thing had pissed him off so much. I was thinking he might actually hit me. In fact, I was hoping he would. I could definitely work with that.

      I looked him in the eye defiantly. Go ahead and say it.

      He stared at me for a second and then ripped my paper into pieces and threw them in my face. Then he picked up the laptop and left, slamming the door behind him.

      But he didn’t say it. He didn’t say the word. I was left wondering if he had really found out.

      Chapter Two

      Maybe he was going to call me a cheater. Maybe that was all there was to it. I didn’t think he was smart enough to really figure me out. All my life I had known I was different. But then I saw this documentary and started reading stuff on the Internet. And that’s how I learned there were plenty of others like me. And there were labels, but none of them fit quite right. Besides, I hate it when people label you.

      I’m just different, okay? And I’ve known that since I was a kid. I am smart, and I do everything, everything, for a reason. I just don’t like following rules.

      The first time I ever got in real trouble at school was over lunch money. Other kids had money to buy a cafeteria meal, and I only ever had a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich made for me by one of my father’s girlfriends. The sandwich was a real loser (and so was the girlfriend, but I forget her name now). So I would convince some kid with lunch money to buy it from me. This worked for a while, and when it stopped working, I found other ways of convincing kids to give me their parents’ money. I guess you could call it a hobby.

      Eventually I got busted. But it didn’t seem fair to me that I didn’t have my own lunch money. So even after I was asked to stop, I found ways of getting some cash from other kids. It wasn’t that hard. I think it was because I was a good talker. And likable. Almost everyone liked me. Until they actually got to know me, of course.

      So flash-forward to me at sixteen, walking out of the staff room after being harassed by Carmichael. I was a little pissed off. He just didn’t understand me or my situation.

      I felt that I needed to do something to recover my self-esteem.

      I decided to take the rest of the day off. I felt restless and annoyed and knew the only way to break that mood was

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