The sun was shining on Thursday morning and the sleet was gone, which improved my mood if not the temperature—still cold. As soon as I reached the top of the hill on Dahlia Drive, Zach Mabry jumped off his porch swing and started waving like crazy.
I looked around but didn’t see anybody else, so I raised one hand in a weak wave, so as not to be rude—just in case he was waving at me.
Zach pounded down the steps to the end of his walkway and waited. For me? I wondered. He’d abandoned his usual jeans and lace-up boots, in favor of khaki pants and loafers.
When I was close enough to hear him, Zach said, “Mind if I walk with you?”
I shrugged. “No, I don’t mind.”
“I’m Zach,” he said as he fell into step beside me.
“I know,” I said. Even though, like me, Zach was new to Lush Valley Middle School this year, unlike me, everybody knew who he was because of Buffy Lawson’s crush on him.
“You’re Fizzy,” Zach said.
“Yep, I know that, too,” I said.
Zach chuckled.
I glanced over at him. Buffy was right to like him: Zach was cute with his messy blond hair, icy-blue eyes, and lopsided grin.
“You sure do walk to school early,” Zach commented.
“I can’t be late,” I said. Again, I thought.
Zach nodded and we walked the rest of the block in silence.
Again, he held the door open for me at school, and again, I said, “Thank you,” as I passed through it.
Zach hurried into the building behind me. “Come with me,” he said. “This way.”
I looked up at the clock in the hallway.
“We’ve got time. C’mon,” Zach insisted.
I followed him into the cafeteria, where some kids arrived early and ate breakfast, up the center aisle, and to the counter.
“Good morning, Mrs. Hunt. You sure do look nice today—I think you’re the only woman I know who can really pull off a hairnet,” Zach told the lunch lady.
Mrs. Hunt smiled at him.
“This is my friend Fizzy,” Zach told her.
“Hello, Fizzy,” Mrs. Hunt said.
“Hi, Mrs. Hunt. It’s nice to meet you,” I said.
Mrs. Hunt held up her index finger as in, Just a minute, and disappeared into the back.
I looked at Zach.
“Just wait,” he whispered.
Mrs. Hunt returned with two steaming hot chocolates topped with mini-marshmallows in Styrofoam cups and handed them to Zach. “Y’all go on now. Hot chocolate’s supposed to be for faculty only.”
“Thanks,” Zach said.
Mrs. Hunt smiled, nodded, and said again, “Y’all go on now.”
“Wow,” I said to Zach as soon as we were out of earshot.
He grinned his lopsided grin. “Imagine what I could do in cool clothes.”
“Cool clothes?” I repeated.
“Yeah . . . like black leather. I probably wouldn’t even have to talk if I was wearing black leather—because my clothes would tell everybody how cool I am.”
I laughed. “If that’s true, then I need some black leather, too—no one around here seems to recognize my coolness.”
“I do,” Zach said.
I smiled, certain that was because of my new walker status.
• • •
Lush Valley has more of everything, so naturally Lush Valley Middle School has more of everything, too. Where my old school just served lunch, LVMS serves breakfast and lunch, and where my old school had only one picture day per year, LVMS has two picture days: one in September and one in January. But I’d stopped paying attention to the announcements about picture day at school years ago. What difference does it make? No outfit is going to hide my freckles.
But nobody else felt that way, apparently. So today everyone looked very . . . matchy-matchy for pictures. Even Zach Mabry in his khakis and loafers. Even Miyoko, who wore a sweater set with a plaid skirt, matching plaid headband, and shoes with little plaid bows on the toes. It was the shoes that were a problem.
When Miyoko reported to gym class, Coach Bryant took one look at her shoes, shook his head, and said, “If that’s all you’ve got, you won’t be able to play kickball with us today, Meryoko.”
Does he ever get anybody’s name right? I wondered.
Miyoko turned and looked at me with pleading eyes, as if she hoped I could yank gym shoes out from under some other girl’s feet—like her ruby marble.
“I forgot my gym shoes, too,” I said to Coach Bryant.
Coach Bryant didn’t look surprised. “Fissy, how is it that you always remember your coat and your book, but never your gym shoes?”
I didn’t exactly have an answer handy.
Coach Bryant opened his mouth to say something more—probably about the reports Miyoko and I owed him—but when Miyoko sniffed, he closed it again.
We both looked at Miyoko, who hung her head and sniffed again.
“Oh . . . no . . . don’t . . . uh—” Coach Bryant stammered. Then he looked at me like, Help.
“Maybe she just needs some fresh air,” I suggested.
“Yeah,” Coach Bryant immediately agreed. “Come on outside with us and get some fresh air at least.”
Now, Coach Bryant couldn’t very well take “Meryoko” outside and send “Fissy” to the library, could he? I mean, that wouldn’t be fair.
Miyoko and I were headed for our candy-apple tree when Buffy started snickering with her friends and I heard Christine say, “Miyoko.”
I was going to ignore them but Miyoko stopped immediately and turned to face the girls.
They all stopped what they were doing, too, and looked at her like, What?
Suddenly, Miyoko’s hands chopped through the air. “Hiiiiyaaaah!” she shouted. Then she did a little kicky thing.
My eyes practically popped out of my head. I could hardly believe what they were telling me. Was pretty little Miyoko Hoshi about to hurt somebody? I could tell that Buffy and her followers were wondering the same thing. They all went completely silent and still—except for their shifty, nervous eyes and a couple of gulps.
Miyoko turned away from them and walked toward me.
When we reached the tree, I whispered, “Do you know karate or something?”
“No,” Miyoko said, “but I know how to pretend I know karate.”
I burst out laughing. Then Miyoko did, too. We both fell all over ourselves laughing.
When we began to settle, I said, “Maybe you could teach me some pretend-karate.” I had lots of uses for pretend-karate: at school, at home . . . well, okay, it would only work once at home, because Mom would tell Keene that I didn’t actually know any karate . . . unless I did. Maybe I could take real karate lessons!