18

 

What a great day!

First, Nana and I exercised in the morning. (Yoga is incredibly hard, by the way.) Then I watched some TV, checked out some YouTube, played some video games, listened to music, read a little bit, took a nap, played with Maddie, had a delicious lunch, and went to absolutely no organized activities of any kind.

After lunch, my mom and Nana went shopping, so I had the house to myself for two hours. It was awesome.

Around dinnertime, I got a text from Leo: WHERE WERE YOU TODAY??

I texted back: LONG STORY. CALL ME.

Six seconds later, the phone rang.

“Dude, what’s up? Are you sick?”

“Nope,” I answered, playing it cool. “Not sick.”

“Then what? Why weren’t you in school today?”

I took a deep breath. “Because I’m staying on the couch and not getting up.”

“You’re what?”

“I told my parents I’m not getting up from the couch until they agree to let me give up some of the stuff I’m always signed up for, like karate and Chinese and stuff like that.”

“Holy moly,” Leo said, getting right to the point as usual. “So you’re on strike? Like that Polish guy?”

I’d told Leo awhile back about Charlie Joe Jackson, and how he’d been inspired to lead a mini-strike at camp after learning about this famous Polish activist Lech Walesa. Leo had one reaction—he couldn’t believe a kid like Charlie Joe would ever be caught dead at a place like Camp Rituhbukkee.

“Yup,” I confirmed to Leo. “I’m on strike.”

He whistled into the phone. “Holy smokes. That is totally awesome!”

I smiled. “Yeah, thanks.”

“But, like, what about school?”

“Well, here’s the thing,” I explained. “I’m actually going to need your help, because I still need to do my schoolwork. So you’re going to have to get kids to take notes for me and bring me my homework and stuff. You can do it by e-mail, too, if you want.”

Leo was silent for a second. I think he had realized he could be considered a co-conspirator if he helped me, and he was trying to decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“I can definitely do that,” he said eventually. “Tell me what you need.”

Good friends always come through in the clutch.

“Well, the first thing I’m going to need is for you to tell everybody what I’m doing,” I said. I imagined the faces on my teachers, and the kids, when Leo started spreading the news. Alex Mutchnik. Cathy Billows. Lucy Fleck. Wow, this was going to be intense. I almost wished I could be there to see it.

“Okay, then what?” Leo asked.

“Then, can you come over after school tomorrow to bring me my homework and stuff?”

“I can’t,” he sighed. “I have to go to SERVICE.”

SERVICE stood for Student Encouraging Relief, Volunteering and Cheering up the Elderly. It was started by Lucy Fleck’s older brother Damien—with a lot of help from his mother, I’m sure—as a way for kids to do community work to look good for colleges. It basically consisted of high school kids getting money from their parents to buy food at fancy stores and delivering it to nursing homes and hospitals in the area. Now the middle school kids were starting to do it, too.

Thank God SERVICE was one activity I didn’t have to do, probably because even my dad thought Mrs. Fleck was crazy. Ever since she tried to establish a gifted program in nursery school, he didn’t want anything to do with her.

“Okay, cool,” I said to Leo. “Maybe after SERVICE you can e-mail me some of the work, cool?”

“Totally cool,” he said. “What you’re doing is so awesome. I totally wish I had the guts to do it.”

I heard the front door open. My heart started thumping.

Dad.

“I better go,” I said to Leo. “My dad’s home.”

“Does he know what you’re up to?”

“Not really,” I said.

Leo whistled again. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, if you’re still alive.”