Sidekicks by Linda Palmer Page B

down two halls to the front of the school. He barged past the secretary into a room behind hers and waited for us to follow before shutting the door. "I knew this would happen."
    That got me. "You knew that three rude girls would accost me in the hall?"
    "Don't get smart with me, Miss Tagliaro."
    I clamped my lips together to keep from saying something that would probably piss him off even more and put me in D-hall for the rest of my life.
    "I knew all this talk about supposed psychic abilities and communicating with the dead would cause nothing but trouble." His gaze nailed Cooper to the wall. "Yet you've ignored my repeated warnings and a very reasonable request to step away from it. As a result, students are disturbed, scared even, and our counselors are now fielding questions on the paranormal when they should be focusing on benchmark exams."
    In disbelief, I sneaked a glance at Cooper, who stared back at his stepdad in stony silence.
    Marsh shifted his attention to me. "As for you, Miss Tagliaro, I heard all about you giving a supposed message to Cyndi Caplan from her dead sister. You must realize I can't condone that kind of behavior. I'll have every parent in the city and surrounding parishes up here complaining."
    "Excuse me," I said, determined to be respectful. "I really don't understand why I can't be who I am, but every other student, from Goth to geek, gets to be what they are. Or is diversity not encouraged at Martinsburg High."
    "Of course it is, but not when--"
    Cooper cut him off. "May I say something?"
    Mr. Marsh nodded.
    "I don't believe this is really about Mia, so can she please leave?"
    "What?" I grabbed Cooper's face by the cheeks, which puckered his mouth, and made him look at me. "I'm not going anywhere." Whirling, I faced Marsh. "Just because you don't understand something, doesn't mean it's not real. Cooper has amazing abilities, yet he's been forced to keep them hidden, suppressed even, to keep the peace at home, which is nothing but mean."
    Marsh didn't back down. "Everything was fine until you came along."
    "You just thought it was."
    Someone knocked lightly on the door and then peeked inside. "Your one o'clock is here, Mr. Marsh." The secretary's gaze bounced from us to him and back again.
    Marsh sighed, thought for a second, and then waved us away without another word. I grabbed Cooper's hand and got the heck out of there.
    Since lunch break was long over, we got tardy passes from the secretary and went our separate ways. Cooper's situation haunted me during my afternoon classes and long after I got home from school. I thought of all the things I wished I'd said, but quickly realized they'd have gotten me into big trouble.
    What a fiasco--from the covenettes to Marsh. I felt as if I were starring in a sick movie about the high school from hell. Bad principal? Check. Nosy teachers? Check. Witless students? Check.
    At eleven, my phone rang Cooper's special song. By then I was in bed, up to my neck in quilts and counting my problems instead of sheep. "Hey."
    "Hey."
    "Did you win?"
    "Yeah. Twenty-one to seven."
    "Did you get a touchdown?"
    He laughed. "Tackles play defense, which means the other team has the ball unless they fumble. So no, I didn't."
    "Oops."
    "We should go to an LSU game sometime. I'll talk you through it."
    "Oh joy."
    That made him laugh that much harder. I smiled, glad he was in a good mood. I wasn't sure I could be if I were in his shoes.
    We talked about nothing for a good half hour, both of us carefully avoiding any mention of what had happened that day. I tried to imagine what it would feel like to have zero support for my gifts and honestly couldn't. My parents had never once questioned my sanity or discouraged me in any way. Clearly I was one lucky girl.
    After Cooper said goodbye, I lay in the dark for a while, staring out my window at the sky or what I could see of it. Wind whipped the branches of the tree near my room, occasionally blocking my celestial view. I did spot