• • • • •
Ms. Monakey’s Spanish classroom is overly decorated. There are probably no fewer than fifty posters hanging up, and they cover every square inch of formerly bare wall. Each poster has a Spanish word and a drawing accompanying it. For instance, there’s “manzana” and a drawing of a red apple. Or “chica” and a little Dora the Explorer–type cartoon girl waving. I guess Ms. Monakey doesn’t want us to forget some of the more common Spanish words, but the posters do seem a little childish.
Ms. Monakey is a nice teacher, but she is a redheaded girl with pale skin and freckles. So I’m occasionally caught off guard when she speaks Spanish. But I guess Whitehall, Montana, gets Irish-looking girls to teach Spanish. We’re probably lucky to even have a Spanish class.
Sitting at my desk, waiting for first period to start, I check my email, and there’s nothing from Meridian X. So I pull up the Montana UFO Sightings website to see if anything has been updated there, but there’s still nothing. This is frustrating because that site is supposed to be an authority on all things paranormal in the state, but it hasn’t been updated in more than a month.
“Same site?” comes a familiar voice. “Or should I still mind my own business?”
Seth stands over me. “Oh. Uh.” I hit the home button on my phone, and the site disappears.
“What are you looking for?” he asks.
“Just seeing if they had any information on that bright light from the other night.”
“Ah,” says Seth, taking his seat behind me. “Do they?”
“No.”
“So you believe in UFOs, then?”
I chuckle like he’s crazy. “Not really. Do you?”
He smiles and pulls off the camera from around his neck. “Not sure. Never seen one. But maybe they’re out there in the Great Beyond.” He uses his hand to gesture through the air as if covering everything.
I nod. But deep inside I am all butterflies because he also uses the phrase “the Great Beyond.” “Maybe,” I say back. “I like your camera. Do you work for the school newspaper or something?”
“Nah,” he says. “I just love photography. And you never know when an opportunity for a great shot will present itself.”
Students finish filing into class as the final bell rings, and Ms. Monakey stands, clasps her hands, and says, “Okay, class. Let’s begin.”
As she speaks Spanish, my mind drifts.
About halfway through class I hear an ear-rattling buzz before a white light blinds the room. The light fades quickly, like a camera flash. The same light I saw in my bedroom. Ms. Monakey’s wide eyes search everywhere. “What’s going on?” Students are looking around quizzically. But I know what’s happening, so I sit confidently. Quietly. My hands are folded as if waiting for my name to be called.
The classroom door bursts open, with smoke hurling through the classroom. As the smoke clears, three aliens about six feet tall walk in. They have big rounded triangle-shaped heads and super skinny bodies. Their eyes are like a fly’s (big, multiple lenses) and they have one slit about an inch long for their noses. Their skin is green—no, gray. They quickly scan the room from the doorway, and the screaming students stop.
“You,” says the alien in front of the pack. “Charlie. Come with us. We’re here to release you from Spanish class and from this miserable existence you call a life.”
The students cheer for me as I rise from my desk. Seth high-fives me, and Ms. Monakey mouths “Nice work,” then winks at me.
“Charlie? Earth to Charlie.”
I snap back to class as Ms. Monakey waves her hand at me to get my attention. The class snickers.
“Sorry.”
“Where did you go, Charlie? You looked like you were in some other world.” She shakes her head and says, “Please pay attention. I asked, what is the word for ‘apple’ in Spanish?”
Damn, where is that poster? I scan the wall. . . .
I hear a whisper behind me. “Manzana.”
I repeat the word, more loudly.
Ms. Monakey looks at me. “Good. Next time try it without Seth’s help.”
The bell rings, and I turn to Seth. “Thanks for helping me.”
He shrugs as he puts his camera back around his neck. “Easy one.” He grabs his backpack. “Hey, Charlie. Where do you eat lunch?”
I’m not sure I heard him clearly. No one has ever asked me that. I blink. “Uh?”
Seth laughs. “That thing between fourth and fifth period, when you fill your stomach with nutrients or pizza?”
“Oh, right. That. I don’t usually. I mean, I eat. But I usually go to . . .” I realize that I don’t want to tell him where I eat lunch because I don’t want him to think I’m a loser. “Why do you want to know?” I eye him suspiciously.
“I just haven’t seen you in the cafeteria. I’d like to eat lunch with you.”
“Uh-huh,” I say slowly.
He chuckles. “Don’t be so suspicious. I swear, I will not throw food at you.”
“Okay. That’s one possibility. What about stuffing food down my pants? Squashing it on my head? Or—”
“Jesus, what kind of person do you take me for?”
We make our way out of Ms. Monakey’s classroom and into the hallway. As we walk, I say, “You know that talking to me is social suicide, right? You’re aware of that? I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if you were seen eating lunch with me. Take my advice, Seth. Stay far away.” I feel so stupid. Why am I saying these things? Why can’t I just be happy that someone wants to eat lunch with me?
Seth gazes between people in the hallway. “Well, you seem to be more interesting than most around here.”
“An amoeba is more interesting than most around here. That doesn’t say too much.”
I freeze in my tracks. Seth stops quickly too. “What?” he asks.
Walking toward us is Jennifer Bennett(!), the school’s hottest girl. She is a sophomore and is news editor for the school newspaper, until next year, when she becomes managing editor. I realize that I stopped walking, so I get my feet moving again, except that they’re not moving.
Oh shit. Here she comes.
“Just act natural,” I tell him, thinking that everyone acts as weirdly as I do around Jennifer Bennett.
“Are you going to fill me in?”
Yes, I want to fill him in, but what’s to say when she’s so close and I can’t get my feet to move? “That’s Jennifer Bennett.”
“Yeah. I have a few classes with her. So?” says Seth. I think he was expecting more to that story.
“She’s—”
Seth looks at me. “You like her?”
My face burns. Okay, so there are a couple of reasons why I like her. It’s not just because I find her physically attractive. She’s smart. She’s caring. And she has stood up for me in the past. In fact, she was the only one who didn’t make fun of me after the town heard about what my mom did.
She’s right next to us, and I turn away from her so that she can’t see me. Not the best strategy for winning a girl over. But I haven’t fully thought through my strategy of how to get her to like me, and being stuck to the middle of a school hallway doesn’t say much in the way of confidence.
My head turns quickly back to her when I hear Seth say, “Hey, Jennifer.” He says it so casually, like it’s not tearing him up to speak to her.
Jennifer smiles. “Seth, right?”
I’m not sure I even comprehend what’s happening.
“Nice camera,” she continues. “We’re looking for someone to take some pictures for the newspaper next year. Interested?”
“Absolutely.”
“Awesome. Stop by the newspaper room after school. I’ll get you a form.”
Jennifer Bennett(!) is having a conversation a foot away from me. Though, she doesn’t even acknowledge my presence. Then again, I am trying to pretend I’m a fake plant. Something that blends into its surroundings. I’m apparently succeeding.
Seth turns. “And you know Charlie.”
Suddenly Jennifer Bennett’s eyes are drilling holes into my soul.
After she leaves, I realize that she might’ve said something. I might’ve said something. Or maybe nobody said anything. How awkward would that have been? All I know is that once she’s gone, Seth turns to me and says, “She seems nice. Why don’t you talk to her?”
I gulp. My brain slowly returns to a functioning level.
Seth laughs and shakes his head. “See you in the cafeteria, Charlie.”
Hearing the donkey sounds of the Ass Trio down the hall, I will my feet to move before I’m seen. Though, I still largely feel like a fake plant.