The weeks following Halloween were free and easy, with the possible exception of the day Toby tried to get me kicked out of school. Honestly, it was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen . . . even for Toby.
After I emerged from Old Man Johnson’s house unharmed, my reputation had only grown. Walking down the halls in school had actually started to tire me out. Not one kid passed without a “Hey Rodney,” or “Hi, Rodney” or “How’s it going, Rodney?” At night my hand hurt from high-fiving everyone. Sometimes it got so crazy at school that Rishi had to step in.
“Mr. Rathbone can’t play ball with you today at recess because he already promised Frank and James a game of hoops. I’ll check his schedule and get back to you. Maybe next week.” He said he was my agent.
It seemed the more popular I got, the more I noticed Toby whispering in Josh’s ear. It didn’t take a genius to know they were plotting something. After all, their whole world had been turned upside down. If they tried to pick on a kid this year, Dave or Slim would say, “I wouldn’t do that if I was you” and motion in my direction. I just played it cool and let my reputation do the talking.
The afternoon before we left for the long Thanksgiving weekend is when Toby made his move. I was coming back from the boys’ room in the middle of class when I turned the corner and saw him and Josh standing in front of me, Josh making a fist and rubbing it with his left hand. The hall was empty. It all happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to panic. I just remember my brain saying, This is it. Josh pulled back his right arm as far as he could and sent it flying forward. I braced and heard the punch connect—pow!—right into Toby’s face.
What happened next shocked me even more. Toby screamed, “Rodney punched me!!! Help! My nose is bleeding! Somebody, Rodney punched me and called me names!” Trying to get away before a teacher came out of class, Josh ran smack into Mr. Feebletop, who had turned the corner in time to see the whole show.
“Nice try, you half-wits,” he muttered to Josh and Toby. “Let’s take a little walk to my office.” Then he turned to me. “Only eighty-four more days till spring training!” I just nodded.
As they disappeared down the hall, I heard Toby tell Josh, “Stop smiling, you jerk. That really hurt.”
Of course, everyone within earshot of Toby’s shouts thought I had finally decked him for good. That day, two hundred kids must have come up to me and said, “He had it coming. You rule!”
I would just shrug each time, look bored, and mumble, “I guess.”
On the bus ride home, Josh and Toby glared out the window as Rishi tortured them. “First we got you, Josh, with one punch to the nose. Then we decided it was your turn, Toby. . . .” I wasn’t sure who this “we” was, but Rishi seemed happy so I kept quiet. Every once in a while Toby would spin around, start to say something, change his mind, and give me a long hard stare. He knew and I knew that he would never tell anyone what really had happened in the hallway—and it was sure driving him nuts.
Sitting there, full, after a great Thanksgiving dinner, watching football with my dad, I remember thinking that I was perhaps invincible. And for the next month it felt that way. Despite Mrs. Lutzkraut doing her best Ebenezer Scrooge imitation, December slid happily along. In fact, I had to eat lunch with her only twice. Josh and Toby were keeping their distance, and the best part was Jessica. Lately she had started talking to me more and more. Even Kayla had begun to act halfway nice, though one day before Christmas vacation I found out why.
“You know,” Jessica whispered to me on the way back from art class, “Kayla likes Dave.” I almost fainted . . . not from the news but the smell of Jessica’s long blond hair so close to my face. It smelled like strawberries and vanilla.
“Are you listening to me?” she asked.
“Um, yeah,” I answered, fumbling with some books in my hand. “How do you know Kayla likes him?”
“Duh, Rathbone. She told me.”
It was the first time I liked listening to my last name. It sounded great coming from her lips. Stay focused! “Well, Jessica, I don’t know if he likes her.”
“But maybe you could do something or say something to him over the break. You seem to be able to do anything.” Then she reached out, held my wrist gently in her hand, and looked into my eyes. “Couldn’t you do it as a special favor for me?”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“Rodney?”
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump . . .
“Are you okay, Rodney?”
“Jessica, I was wondering if sometime you might . . .”
“Am I interrupting?” Rishi interrupted. I felt Jessica’s hand let go, and she ran off to catch up with her friends. For once, though, I was kind of glad Rishi had a big mouth. I was still afraid that if I asked Jessica out, she might say no. I needed a few more weeks to get up my nerve.
Right before heading to bed that night, content that everything was going better than I could possibly dream, I glanced out the window and noticed that it had started to snow. “Hey, check it out!” I yelled to my parents.
“Ooooohhh it’s snowing,” my mom exclaimed. “The weatherman didn’t say anything about . . .”
She was interrupted by my dad, who sang in her ear, “‘I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones . . .’”
“You are no Bing Crosby,” she giggled back, grabbing him. I watched the two of them goofing around. The fire crackled. My sister was in bed. Christmas was only two days away. Everything was perfect. I returned to looking outside and smiled at the falling snow. It wasn’t long before I’d be cursing every flake.