21

 

I fell back asleep, and when I woke up again, Nana was sitting on the couch next to me, watching the morning news.

“What time is it?” I asked for the second time that morning.

“Almost nine,” Nana said. “You were out like a light.”

“Where’s Mom?”

“She had to go to the school and explain what’s going on, and then she’s going straight to work.” My mom volunteered two days a week every June at the local high school, helping kids find summer jobs. “You’re causing quite a stir, young man,” Nana added.

It took me a second to remember the early-morning fight.

And then it took me another second to realize that my mom hadn’t made me go to school after all.

Suddenly I felt really guilty. I hated being the cause of my parents fighting.

“Am I doing the wrong thing, Nana? Should I get up and go to school?”

She sighed. “You’re doing a brave thing, Moochie-pooch,” she said. (For some reason known only to her, she sometimes called me “Moochie-pooch.”) “You’re sticking up for what you believe in. But sometimes, doing a brave thing can cause problems.”

“I guess so.”

So I decided to stick with my strike, at least for one more day. I didn’t want to cause problems between my parents. Plus, I was pretty sure that when Dad got home that night, he’d physically remove me from the couch anyway. But even if the strike ended, I felt like I’d made my point. I’d been on the couch for more than two days, and I’d stood up to my dad, which was something to be proud of. And if I did end up going back to school the next day, all the kids would think what I did was cool. That was something to look forward to.

Nana decided that if this was going to be my last day on the couch, we should make it special. So we ordered Chinese food and watched Dodgeball. What an amazing movie.

“Ben Stiller is extremely talented,” Nana said, even though she thought the movie was a little silly. “Just like his parents.” Whoever they were.

In the middle of the movie I got a text from Leo: COMING OVER LATER WITH MARCUS.

I texted back: COOL.

Marcus was Leo’s older brother. His main claim to fame was that he had the longest arms of any human being I’d ever known. He was a nice kid, but I had no idea why he was coming over. Either way, it would be good to see Leo. It had been only two days, but I was starting to miss my friends.

After Dodgeball ended, I asked Nana if she wanted to put in a yoga DVD.

“Not today, Moochie-pooch.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m taking a walk with Peter.” Peter was Nana’s friend. Exactly what kind of friend, I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to find out.

“Fine, be that way,” I said as she hugged me goodbye.

Time ticked by kind of slowly. After a while, I looked at the clock. 2:55 p.m. A long time until dinner, Mom wasn’t home, I was sick of TV, I didn’t feel like reading, and Maddie was snoozing.

I didn’t want to admit it, but for the first time in my short couch life, I was bored.

Then the doorbell rang. Thank God.

Technically, I wasn’t allowed to answer the door, but I decided to combine it with a bathroom break.

“Dude!” said Leo, who was standing there with his long-armed brother.

“What’s up,” said Marcus, sounding as though he really didn’t care what was up at all.

I closed the door behind them. “Are you guys coming from SERVICE?”

Marcus snorted. “Yup. What a joke.”

While I headed to the bathroom, Leo went into the kitchen and helped himself to some chocolate milk, as usual. “Marcus totally agrees with you,” he said, between slurps. “He thinks this whole town has gone insane with parents freaking out about what colleges their kids are going to get into.”

Leo followed me as I headed back to the couch. “That’s why I wanted him to come over and talk to you about what you’re doing.” He dumped about a zillion pieces of paper out of his backpack and onto the coffee table. “And I brought you some of your homework, too.”

Marcus and I plopped down on the couch at the same time, startling Maddie. She’d been running full speed in her sleep, probably chasing a squirrel.

“So what is this all about?” Marcus asked, opening his eyes to an almost-awake level. “You’re seriously, like, sleeping on your couch now?”

“Not just sleeping,” I corrected. “Living. I’m living on the couch, and when I say living, I mean LIVING. As in, I’m not getting off the couch ever.”

Marcus opened his eyes a bit more. “Huh?”

“I’ve been overscheduled my whole life, and I’ve finally had enough,” I explained. “Doing dumb activities like learning Chinese and karate and tennis, and having tutors, just because my parents want me to be this high-achieving, well-rounded person. But all it’s really done is make me hate that stuff even more.”

“So he went on strike,” Leo added.

Suddenly Marcus was wide-awake. “So what you’re saying is, you’re living on your couch because you’re protesting against parents locking their kids in the prison of overactivity?”

I hadn’t quite thought about it like that, but I nodded anyway.

Marcus started pacing around the room. He jabbed his brother in the ribs. “Get me a piece of paper.”

“Ow!” Leo cried, wincing in pain. He rubbed his side. “Why?”

“I might want to write an article for the school newspaper,” said Marcus. “I need to take some notes.”

“The school newspaper?” I asked. That sounded cool. That sounded like people would pay attention to what I was doing, and think it was interesting, and support me!

Which meant, of course, that I might not be going back to school after all … which I would have to tell my dad … who was already completely mad at me.

Uh-oh.

Marcus Landis grabbed a pen and some paper from his brother, sat down next to me, and smacked me in the back. He’d gone from coma to hyper in about seven minutes.

“Tell me everything,” he said.