Multiplying fractions is one thing,” Mr. Barberry said. “But dividing fractions is where life just gets crazy !”
It’d been a week since Kiel Gnomenfoot and the Source of Magic had come out, and the library’s two copies hadn’t been in stock once. Owen’s mother had surprised him with a copy she’d bought, and Owen had smiled and thanked her, keeping secret the fact that Jonathan Porterhouse had signed a copy to him a few days earlier. Owen had brought the signed copy to school, planning on showing everyone, but for some reason hadn’t ever taken it out of his locker.
Just like he hadn’t mentioned anything about Nobody to Bethany. How did Nobody know about her? Could he actually be her father? If he wasn’t, and Owen told Bethany about him, what would that do to her? Was that just cruel? Maybe Owen could just keep an eye out for Nobody in books, and see what he found. The last thing he wanted to do was get Bethany’s hopes up, after everything that’d happened.
“It’s really not that different from multiplying, honestly,” Mr. Barberry said, turning to the board. “Just the opposite, in fact!”
On Owen’s right, Mari sighed, dropping her head into her arms. Owen smiled slightly at this, remembering the feeling. Still, right now, boring just wasn’t that bad.
On his left, something hit his arm. He looked down to find a folded note on the floor. He reached down slowly to pick it up as Mr. Barberry continued.
Okay, no Holmes. How about Narnia?
—B
Owen grinned and threw a glance back at Bethany, who was pretending to pay attention to the lesson. It meant a lot that she asked, and really did want him to come. She’d changed so much since he’d caught her in the library, popping out of Willy Wonka. So had he, if he was being honest. But right now, there was no way he could go into another book. It was just too much. Not with how things had ended, with Charm almost dying, with him almost dying, with a robotic heart in his chest now. All just too much!
Still. NARNIA.
He tossed the note back.
I’m in.
—O
You couldn’t just say no to Narnia.
A few minutes later, something else tapped his arm.
We might have another friend coming too.
—B
Huh? Another friend? Who was she talking about?
“Mr. Barberry?” said the principal, Mr. Wilcox, from the door. Mr. Barberry looked up from the board. “Class?” Mr. Wilcox continued. “I want to introduce you to a new student. He’s going to be joining your class today. Everyone say hello to Kyle!”
Mr. Wilcox stepped aside, and Kiel Gnomenfoot walked into the classroom, a half smile on his face.
“Hey,” Kiel said, and waved.
Owen’s mouth dropped open, and he slowly turned to look back over his shoulder.
Bethany looked at him for a second, then winked.
Mr. Wilcox started to leave, then turned to give Owen a look. Owen might have imagined it, but just for the briefest of moments, it almost looked like the principal’s face melted into nothing, like a mannequin’s face, or the face of Nobody.
Owen blinked, and Mr. Wilcox stared back at him, a hint of a grin on his face. The principal’s eyes shifted to Bethany quickly, then back to Owen, and the man slowly shook his head. Not just yet, the look seemed to say. Then Mr. Wilcox held up an old-looking math book and tapped it twice. Study hard, probably.
With that, the principal left the classroom, and Owen turned back to welcome Kiel Gnomenfoot to reality with the rest of the class. Even after everything, he couldn’t help but smile as “Kyle” gave him a wink.
Sure, this was the fictional former hero of a series of children’s books, now joining the class of a real school in the nonfictional world. But it’s not like that automatically meant things were going to get all crazy.