There’s A Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom (12 page)

“Do you want me to hold your book, Bradley?” said Andy.

Bradley glanced at him.

“Don’t worry,” he said sincerely. “I won’t hurt it.”

Bradley handed Andy the book, then looked back at Jeff.

They stood on a patch of grass and dirt and faced each other. The bruise around Jeff’s eye had turned brown with a greenish tint. Jeff raised his fists.

The other boys formed a circle around them.

“C’mon, get’m, Jeff,” urged Brian.

“Give him another black eye,” said Russell.

Bradley readied himself. He raised his fists in the air, then lowered them. He had an idea.

“Hello, Jeff,” he said.

Robbie snickered.

Jeff stared at him, wide-eyed. “Hello, Bradley,” he replied.

Bradley smiled. He held out his hand.

Jeff smiled too. It was his first honest smile in a long time. He shook his best friend’s hand.

The other boys were dumbfounded. No one said a word.

Andy finally broke the ice. “Do you like to play basketball, Bradley?” he asked.

Bradley looked at him, bewildered. “I’m not very good,” he said.

“So? None of us are,” said Jeff, patting him on the back.

“Now we’ll have even teams!” said Robbie.

Bradley was
terrible!

He dribbled with two hands. He passed the ball to people who weren’t on his team. But, worst of all, whenever anyone passed the ball to him, he said “thank you.”

He never shot at the basket. He didn’t dare. Finally, after his team was losing 28 to 6 anyway, everyone told him to try a shot.

He looked around for someone to pass to.

Jeff sat down so Bradley wouldn’t pass it to him. “Just shoot,” he said.

The rest of his team sat down too. “Shoot it!” they said.

Everybody on the other team sat down too. “Shoot the ball!”

Bradley faced the basket. His tongue slipped out the corner of his mouth as he carefully aimed, then threw the ball high in the air. It hit the back of the rim, bounced against the backboard, then dropped through the net.

“Great shot!” said Jeff.

“Way to go,” said Andy, patting him on the back.

At first he couldn’t believe it, but then he saw Carla’s book, lying on the ground at the base of the
basket.
No wonder
, he realized.

Everyone headed for the water fountain. Bradley went along, too, even though he wasn’t thirsty. But then, once he got there, he realized he was thirsty. He just hadn’t noticed.

“Good game, Bradley,” said Brian.

“You just have to stop passing to people who aren’t on your team!” said Dan.

“Maybe you should give the rest of us on your team black eyes too,” said Robbie. “Then you’ll know who to pass to.”

Everyone laughed, even Bradley.

He and Jeff were the last two left at the water fountain. Everyone else had already started back to class. As they drank, their eyes met and they broke up laughing.

“How
did
you get the black eye?” Bradley asked after he stopped laughing.

“Melinda,” said Jeff.

Bradley nodded. “She’s strong,” he said.

“Oh boy, you can say that again,” said Jeff.

They laughed again.

“My book!” Bradley suddenly exclaimed. He ran back to the basketball court where he’d left it.

Jeff shook his head as he watched Bradley run away.
Life’s weird
, he thought.

He walked into the boys’ bathroom and splashed his sweaty face with cold water. He had to hold the faucet down with one hand and splash his face with the other.

Colleen Verigold walked in.

He stared at her.

She looked around, then screamed and ran outside.

Jeff watched the door swing shut behind her.

Life was too weird for Jeff to return to class.

Anytime you want to talk again
, Carla had said,
please feel free to come and see me. Even if you just feel like getting out of class for a while
.

He hoped she had really meant it. He had a lot he wanted to say to her, beginning with “I’m sorry.”

He slowly walked to her office. He hoped she wasn’t with somebody else. He knocked.

Carla opened the door and smiled when she saw him. “Hello, Jeff.”

He smiled. “Hi, Carla. I’m—”

He stopped because he saw somebody else sitting at the round table.

“I believe you two know each other,” said Carla.

Jeff lowered his eyes. “Hello, Colleen,” he muttered.

Colleen Verigold covered her face with her hands.

“You don’t mind if Jeff joins us, do you, Colleen?” Carla asked.

Colleen shook her head with her hands still over her face.

Jeff awkwardly sat down. “Mrs. Ebbel doesn’t know I’m here,” he said.

“I’ll write you a note,” said Carla.

Colleen peeked out from between her fingers. “I’m not supposed to be here either,” she said.

Carla turned to Colleen. “So what’s the big emergency? Can you say it in front of Jeff?”

“He already knows,” said Colleen. She looked at Jeff. “You better not tell anybody!”

“I won’t,” Jeff promised.

“Tell anybody what?” asked Carla.

“Colleen walked into the boys’ bathroom,” said Jeff. “I was there washing my face.”

“Jeff!” Colleen exploded. “You just promised you wouldn’t tell!”

“Oops,” said Jeff. He blushed. “It was only Carla. You were going to tell her anyway, weren’t you?”

Colleen smiled at him. “I didn’t go there on purpose,” she explained to Carla. “It was an accident.”

“I don’t believe in accidents,” said Carla.

Colleen stared at her in amazement. She wondered how Carla knew she had gone in after Jeff on purpose. She turned to Jeff. “I’m sorry for saying hello to you when you didn’t like it.”

“That’s okay.”

“Anyway, how was I supposed to know you didn’t like it? You always said hello back.”

“I know. I can’t help it. Whenever anybody says hello to me, I always have to say hello back.” He looked at the picture of the green monster with six hands hanging on the wall. “If a big scary monster said, ‘Hello, Jeff,’ I’d probably say hello back to it, too.”

Colleen laughed.

“Well, what’s wrong with that?” demanded Carla. “If a monster says hello to you, you should say hello to
it. If you don’t, then I have to wonder which one of you is really the monster.”

Colleen frowned. She suddenly remembered that Bradley Chalkers had said hello to her at the beginning of the lunch period and she had walked away without saying hello back. It made her feel terrible.

“You can say hello to me whenever you want,” said Jeff.

She smiled again. “Hello, Jeff,” she said.

“Hello, Colleen,” said Jeff.

“I read somewhere,” said Carla, “that in Zen, the most important rule is that when one person says hello to you, you have to say hello back.”

“What’s Zen?” asked Colleen.

“A religion,” answered Carla. She got a book from her bookcase. “Here it is.” She read aloud from
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters
by J. D. Salinger: “ ‘In certain Zen monasteries, it’s a cardinal rule … that when one monk calls out “Hi” to another monk, the latter must call back “Hi!” without thinking.’ ”

“Jeff should be a Zen monk!” Colleen exclaimed with delight.

Jeff laughed. “I already say hello to anybody who says hello to me,” he said proudly.

“Can girls be Zen monks too?” Colleen asked.

“Why not?” asked Carla.

Colleen laughed with delight. Then she said, “Jeff, do you want to come to my birthday party next Sunday?”

“Yes!” said Jeff. “That’s the second most important
rule about being a Zen monk. Whenever another Zen monk invites you to a birthday party, you have to say yes!”

Colleen laughed again. “You’re the only boy so far,” she said. “I’ll invite one more, but only one. I can’t invite too many boys.”

Suddenly she looked very serious. She knew what she had to do.

Before dinner, while it was still light, Bradley’s father, bad leg and all, taught Bradley how to dribble. Bradley could hardly wait to show his friends.

The next morning, when the bell rang for recess, everyone hurried outside.

Except Bradley.

First, he had to put his paper
neatly
in his notebook. Then he had to mark his place in his book and put all his pencils in his pencil holder. Then he put everything away,
neatly
, in his desk.

He rushed out the door.

“Hello, Bradley,” said Colleen.

He stopped cold.

Colleen closed her eyes tightly, then opened them. With the determination of a Zen monk, she asked, “Would you like to come to my birthday party on Sunday?”

Bradley stared at her.

“Jeff will be there,” said Colleen. “He’s the only other boy. Everyone else will be girls. I would have invited you sooner, except, um, I just found out when it was.”

Bradley nodded his head until his mouth worked. “Yes!” he said.

“Good,” said Colleen, then scooted away.

Bradley stared after her, then turned around in a
circle as he tried to remember which way he was going.

“Bradley!” called Andy. “Hurry up! We need you.”

He ran to the basketball court. He forgot everything he had learned about dribbling.

“Is he coming?” asked Melinda.

Colleen nodded.

Lori stuck out her tongue and screamed.

“It’ll be fun,” said Melinda. “Bradley’s not the same as he was. I think he’s gotten better.”

“Oh, you can’t come anymore, Melinda,” said Colleen.

“Why not?” she asked, obviously very hurt.

“Because they’re coming, and you beat them up!”

“But they started it.”

Colleen stared at her, hands on hips. She couldn’t believe Melinda was being so unreasonable.

“I thought I was your best friend,” said Melinda.

“You are,” said Colleen. “But they’re
boys
. Oh, okay. You can come. But you better not cause any more trouble.”

“I thought
I
was your best friend,” said Lori.

That night Bradley lay in bed, too excited to sleep. He couldn’t wait until tomorrow when he’d see Carla again. He had so much to share with her. And it was all because of her magic book.

“He isn’t crazy,” laughed Ronnie.

“Why is he making such a big deal over peanuts?” asked Bartholomew.

“I don’t know,” said Bradley.

There was a loud knock on his door, then his father entered. “It’s past your bedtime, Bradley,” he said.

“Okay,” said Bradley. He reached for his light.

“Oh, you were reading,” his father noticed. “Well, that’s all right then. You can stay up if you want to read.”

Bradley smiled. Once again, the magic book had kept him from getting into trouble.

“So, what did the kids think of your dribbling?”

“I forgot how,” Bradley admitted. He hated to disappoint his father.

“I guess we need to practice more,” said his father. “Maybe this weekend I’ll put up a backboard on the garage.” He said good night and walked out of Bradley’s room.

“Come on, I want to hear about the peanuts,” said Bartholomew.

Bradley continued reading.

The chapter ended there.

Bradley giggled as he walked to Carla’s office for his regularly scheduled appointment. He couldn’t wait to tell her all that had happened to him.
She’ll be so happy!
he thought.

She was waiting for him in the hall, just outside her office. But before she could say anything, he beat her to it. “Hello, Carla,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to see you today. I appreciate coming to see you.”