Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie (23 page)

The second I grabbed Kyle, I realized I was in trouble. He’d just finished a whole season of wrestling. He’d have no trouble destroying me. A couple seconds later, when I pinned him down, I was as surprised as anyone. So the
how
has to go unexplained.

Kyle started swearing and saying he’d kill me. I let go, stood up, and stepped back, still not really believing I’d handled him so easily.

That’s when Mr. Cravutto broke things up. It figures. Gym teachers never stop a fight until they see it’s pretty much over.

Kyle glared at me when he walked off. I guess I’d known for a while that we weren’t friends anymore, even though I didn’t want to believe it. Until that moment, I’d still sort of hoped things would go back to the way they’d been. But here’s the
reality of things. Kyle was once my second-best friend. Bobby was once my flawless hero. Julia was once my kindergarten pal. And I was once my parents’ youngest son.

Unlike cars, lives don’t have a way to go in reverse.

t
he hallway walls were filled with posters on Friday. Gallons of tempera paint had been sacrificed to spread the word that there was a dance next week. It was the final dance of the year, so some kids made a big deal out of it.

As I stood near one of the posters, reminding myself that I hated dances, Julia and Kelly walked by. Right after they went past me, Kelly glanced back over her shoulder, smiled, and winked. I had no idea what that meant. Maybe it was her way of saying hi to someone who’d been part of the play. Or maybe an insect had just flown into her eye. Either way, I soon had something more important to deal with. Instead of a bug in the eye, it was more like a foot in the mouth.

Lee had taken one of the smaller posters and stuck it on my locker. Underneath, she wrote
Let’s go
. For an instant, I thought she was serious. Then I realized it was typical Lee humor. Another weird locker message with layers of meaning.

When I saw her on the way out of homeroom, I said, “Good one.”

“Good what?”

“Your joke about the dance.”

There was just the slightest flicker across her face, like she’d almost burned her fingertips. The expression vanished so quickly, it could have been my imagination. But in my gut, I knew it was real. If I’d said something immediately, I think it would have been okay. But I could hear Kyle’s words:
some freaky bitch with a face full of pins
. My brain slowed to a crawl, lost in a search for the right words.

“Yeah, it was a good one, wasn’t it.” Lee headed off, leaving me there with a dozen replies jammed in my throat.

I was such a jerk. I guess she thought it would be fun to go to the dance together. And I’d acted like the idea was a joke. Which meant I’d acted like she was a joke. I couldn’t even imagine how much that could hurt.

I’d lied to Tobie in the hospital. I’d never stood up for Mouth. I couldn’t take a third strike. I had to make things right. But I didn’t know how.
I’m sorry
wasn’t good enough. Not even close. Those were just words. Half the time people said them, they were lying.

Mr. Franka had some words for us. “I know we have another month of school, but I need to tell you this now. You are one of the finest classes I’ve had the privilege to meet. There’s a lot of talent in this room.”

It was nice to get praise from a teacher I really liked. But I wondered about his timing. I raised my hand.

“Yes, Scott?”

“You aren’t quitting or getting sick or something, are you?”
Or dying
? I left that unspoken.

He laughed and shook his head. “Not at all. Just feeling
grateful. I was talking with a friend last night who’s having a lot less fun with his students. In truth, his classes are a total nightmare. So I really felt the need to tell you what a pleasure it’s been.” He looked around the room, then said, “Okay, don’t get misty on me, or I’ll make you all read something truly gloomy where the wonderful teacher dies, along with parents, friends, and assorted pets. Now let’s get back to the lesson.”

I glanced over at Kelly. She winked again, but when I whispered, “What?” she just whispered back, “You’ll see.” After that, I couldn’t catch her eye again.

I figured I could talk to her in the hall, but at the end of the class, as I was walking out, Mr. Franka put his hand on my shoulder and said, “I mean it.”

I turned back toward him. “Thanks. You’re a good teacher. You’ve showed me stuff I didn’t know about.”

“That’s my job.” He pointed to his desk, where two coffee mugs sat, each filled with pencils. One was for the Marines, the other for Lafayette College. “I took a winding path, but I’m glad I ended up where I am. The main thing is, use your gifts. And enjoy the trip.”

I couldn’t help laughing.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Now you’re starting to sound like someone in one of those books.”

“Right. The kindly, wise teacher sharing his wisdom with his favorite student. Sorry.” He gave a fake snarl and said, “Get out of here, you little monster.”

• • •

The good feeling stayed with me through the rest of my classes. At the end of the day, I felt another hand on my shoulder as I was leaving my locker. Hoping it was Lee, and that all was forgiven, I turned around and found myself face-to-face with Kelly.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

She gave me a weird smile. “Your secret’s out. Someone wants to see you about the dance,” she said.

My breath caught in my throat for a moment. I finally managed to say, “Who?”

“You’ll see. Come on.” She turned and walked down the hall.

I tried to calm myself. I didn’t want to start babbling. Kelly led me to the multipurpose room at the far end of the corridor. “In there,” she said, giving me another wink.

This time, my voice wouldn’t break when I said hi. I took a deep breath, opened the door, and went inside. I scanned the seats. She wasn’t there.

I noticed some motion out of the corner of my eye. As I started to turn, something hit the back of my head. I was caught completely off-balance. As pain exploded through my head, I tumbled to the floor, landing in the aisle between the seats.

A jumble of explanations ran through my brain. I’d walked into something. A piece of the ceiling had fallen. I started to push myself back to my feet when I was hit by a stream of swearwords and knocked back down by a kick to my side.

I knew the voice. Vernon.

Another kick rocked me as I curled up.

Other words rained down among the swearwords. “You like her? Huh?” Another kick. “Well, you stay away from her.”

I was hurting all over. Dizzy. He grabbed me. Lifted me to my feet. “She’s mine. Don’t you dare even look at her again.”

Another punch. Knocking me across a row of seats. I didn’t try to get up. I braced for more, but I guess he was satisfied. I heard the door open. I waited for the sound of his footsteps as he left. Instead, I heard another voice.

“You hurt him!” It was Kelly.

Then a third voice joined in. “I thought you were just going to shake him up a bit,” Kyle said.

“I shook him up, all right. It felt really good.”

“He needs help,” Kelly said.

“He’ll be fine,” Vernon said. “I hardly touched him.”

“Yeah. He’s got a hard head. It’s all stuffed with words. Let’s go,” Kyle said.

I was afraid to find out how much damage Vernon had done. I just lay for a while, sprawled across the seats. Finally, I took a deep breath. My ribs hurt, but I didn’t think anything was broken. I felt the back of my head. There was a small lump there. My left eye was starting to swell shut and my cheek hurt.

I pushed myself to my feet and staggered out of the room. The halls were empty. Wesley was waiting by his car in the parking lot.

“You all right?” A slight frown crossed his face.

“Yeah.”

“We have business to take care of?”

I thought about Wesley kicking the crap out of Vernon. As satisfying as that would be, I could imagine things growing from there until someone really got hurt. “No. It’s over.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Frozen peas.”

“What?”

“Frozen peas. Put them on your eye when you get home.”

Mom let out an assortment of gasps when I came in. I guess my face looked a bit roughed up. “What happened?”

“Softball. A grounder hit a rock.”

“Sit down.” She pushed me into a chair, then grabbed a pack of frozen peas from the freezer. Apparently, Mom and Wesley had some common knowledge. “Here. Hold this on it. I don’t know why they play those dangerous sports in school.”

After the initial shock of the cold, it felt good. Mom hovered over me. “I’m fine. Really.”

When I gave Dad the softball story that evening, he said, “Did the ball have a name?”

“Yeah. But it’s not important.”

“Fair fight?”

“Not really.”

He reached out, put his hand on my chin, turned my head slightly, and stared at my cheek. “That’s not too bad. Probably be sore for a couple days. Any other damage?”

“Nothing permanent.”

“Is it over?”

“Yeah.”

“Need me to do anything?”

“Nah. I’m okay.”

“All right. But if you find yourself heading for any more trouble, tell somebody. Okay?”

“Look, you don’t have to worry. It’s really over.”

He nodded and let it drop.

Bobby didn’t come home until after dinner. When he saw me, he slapped me on the back and said, “All right. The squirt’s not just a lover, he’s a fighter.”

1. You don’t have to wait until nighttime to enjoy the stars.
   
2. It’s a great way to make sure your blood clots properly.
   
3. Bruises break up the monotony of an ordinary complexion.
   
4. It’s sort of fun to think about how much his fist must hurt.
   
5. It’s nice to know there really is a use for frozen peas.
   

I had no trouble sleeping late. My eye didn’t look too bad when I got up Saturday afternoon. I guess the frozen peas had helped. But my ribs ached. The bump on the back of my head was a lot smaller, but still sore. As much as it sucked to have gotten jumped, and as much as I felt like a total idiot for believing that Julia was waiting for me in the multipurpose room, there was something else that felt even worse.

I asked Bobby, “You ever hurt a girl’s feelings?”

He shrugged. “Couple times. Never meant to, but it happens.”

“So, what did you do about it?”

“Nothing I could do. They get over it. Or they don’t.”

I thought about stealing the guillotine for Lee. But, as much as I was picking up a lot from Wesley, I couldn’t bring myself to do something I knew was wrong. Besides, if I gave the guillotine to her, I didn’t think the first head she severed would belong to a stuffed animal.

That evening, I went out to the garage and asked Dad, “Did Mom ever get really angry with you?”

“Once or twice.”

“What’d you do to make up?”

He pointed to the radiator cap. “What’s the first rule?”

“Don’t take the cap off while the water’s hot.”

Dad nodded.

“So you waited for her to cool down?”

“Yup.”

“But what if she didn’t?”

“If your mom was the sort of person who stayed mad forever, we’d never have stayed together in the first place.” He tilted his head toward the workbench. “Fetch me the three-eighths box wrench.”

I got it right on the second try.