I’ve been back at North Duluth Middle School for one week now. Things are going pretty well. It’s still unusual for me to actually attend class, but I’ll get used to it. I told all my teachers that I’d like a second chance, and to bear with me, and surprisingly, they all agreed to give me one.
I still get the urge to steal sometimes. It’s not like it’s going to magically go away overnight, but I’ve learned to ignore it. I don’t want to hurt people anymore. I’d rather do another four-letter word that begins with H: I’d rather help people. And I’m studying Ojibwe again. Niimi even quizzes me on words. Did you know that the word help in Ojibwe is wiiji? And the word for friend is niiji. They rhyme. Pretty cool, huh? My mom says if you ever want to make a niiji, all you got to do is wiiji a stranger. And it’s true. Everyone in Grand Portage helped me, and I consider them all my friends now.
My dad gave me an update yesterday. He said that George placed a note in the bottle the other night. I hope he’s ready to experience the wildest time of his life. Boot camps up in Grand Portage are no joke. I can’t wait to hear about what he goes through. Hopefully, when he defeats his villain and conquers his fear, he can go bike riding with Niimi and me when I’m up there.
I’ve spoken to Niimi nearly every night. She’s basically the only person my age that I talk to, since all of my friends here in Duluth ditched me now that I’m done with stealing. And without friends, I will admit, middle school is a really lonely place … So, Niimi gave me a great idea. A brilliant plan to not only make new friends but to also make Duluth a better place. In the library, a place where I’ve never set foot in before but now go to every day, there is a bulletin post for students to tack flyers onto. Most of them are for study groups, after-school sports, tutoring, or music lessons … But what I posted on it is something no school has ever seen before.
I left room on the sheet for ten names and thought it would be completely full by lunchtime, but when I checked it, only one person had signed up. Someone named Collin The Brave.
But you know what they say, if you can reach one person, you can reach a million.
Oh, and my mom and I are closer than ever before … She can’t wait to meet Niimi. She basically hears about her every single day. She said she brags to her clients at work that her son is dating a superhero. And yes, she’s still going out with Judge Mason. His first name is Zachary, but sometimes I still call him the judge. When I do that, he calls me case number 83-212. It’s kind of an inside joke we have together. And okay, I’ll finally admit it, he is pretty good-looking.
And like Niimi says, giga’waabamin.
If you want to know what that means, I’ll tell you what she told me.
Figure it out.