Rick Riordan The Sea Monsters - 02
was so ... different . He was six-foot-three and built like the Abominable Snowman , but he cried a lot and was scared of just about everything , including his own reflection . His face was kind of misshapen and brutal-looking . I couldn ' t tell you what color his eyes were , because I could never make myself look higher than his crooked teeth . His voice was deep , but he talked funny , like a much younger kid — I guess because he ' d never gone to school before coming to Meriwether . He wore tattered jeans , grimy size-twenty sneakers , and a plaid flannel shirt with holes in it . He smelled like a New York City alleyway , because that ' s where he lived , in a cardboard refrigerator box off 72nd Street .
Meriwether Prep had adopted him as a community service project so all the students could feel good about themselves . Unfortunately , most of them couldn ' t stand Tyson . Once they discovered he was a big softie , despite his massive strength and his scary looks , they made themselves feel good by picking on him . I was pretty much his only friend , which meant he was my only friend .
My mom had complained to the school a million times that they weren ' t doing enough to help him . She ' d called social services , but nothing ever seemed to happen . The social workers claimed Tyson didn ' t exist . They swore up and down that they ' d visited the alley we described and couldn ' t find him , though how you miss a giant kid living in a refrigerator box , I don ' t know .
Anyway , Matt Sloan snuck up behind him and tried to give him a wedgie , and Tyson panicked . He swatted Sloan away a little too hard . Sloan flew fifteen feet and got tangled in the little kids ' tire swing . " You freak !" Sloan yelled . " Why don ' t you go back to your cardboard box !" Tyson started sobbing . He sat down on the jungle gym so hard he bent the bar , and buried his head in his hands . " Take it back , Sloan !" I shouted . Sloan just sneered at me . " Why do you even bother , Jackson ? You might have friends if you weren ' t always sticking up for that freak ." I balled my fists . I hoped my face wasn ' t as red as it felt . " He ' s not a freak . He ' s just ..." I tried to think of the right thing to say , but Sloan wasn ' t listening . He and his big ugly friends were too busy laughing . I wondered if it were my imagination , or if Sloan had more goons hanging around him than usual . I was used to seeing him with two or three , but today he had like , half a dozen more , and I was pretty sure I ' d never seen them before . " Just wait till PE , Jackson ," Sloan called . " You are so dead ." When first period ended , our English teacher , Mr . de Milo , came outside to inspect the carnage . He pronounced that we ' d understood Lord of the Flies perfectly . We all passed his course , and we should never , never grow up to be violent people . Matt Sloan nodded earnestly , then gave me a chip-toothed grin .
I had to promise to buy Tyson an extra peanut butter sandwich at lunch to get him to stop sobbing . " I ... I am a freak ?" he asked me . " No ," I promised , gritting my teeth . " Matt Sloan is the freak ." Tyson sniffled . " You are a good friend . Miss you next year if ... if I can ' t ..." His voice trembled . I realized he didn ' t know if he ' d be invited back next year for the community service project . I wondered if the headmaster had even bothered talking to him about it . " Don ' t worry , big guy ," I managed . " Everything ' s going to be fine ." Tyson gave me such a grateful look I felt like a big liar . How could I promise a kid like him that anything would be fine ?
4
Our next exam was science . Mrs . Tesla told us that we had to mix chemicals until we succeeded in making something explode , Tyson was my lab partner . His hands were way too big for the tiny vials we were supposed to use . He accidentally knocked a tray of chemicals off the counter and made an orange mushroom cloud in the trash can .
After Mrs . Tesla evacuated the lab and called the hazardous waste removal squad , she praised Tyson and me for being natural chemists . We were the first ones who ' d ever aced her exam in under thirty seconds .
I was glad the morning went fast , because it kept me from thinking too much about my