Friday, January 16

DAVID

On the second day of school, Luke sits with my crew again. And on the third day, and the fourth. He even asks the guys, and Sammie, for their cell numbers. It’s almost like he doesn’t know how to read the signs, like he’s from Pakistan or Uzbekistan instead of Villemont.

By the middle of January, we’re E. C. Adams Middle School’s Calvin and Hobbes. Girls follow us in the halls. Of course, they’re following Luke, but I’m always with him, so it’s like they’re following me.

We’re walking from English to music, and Carli Martin and Sarah Canavan, two of the most popular girls in seventh grade, start walking behind us, even though they don’t have music.

“Did you catch the Knicks game last night?” Carli says loudly to Sarah.

“I love the Knicks!” Sarah squeals. “When I get the rubber bands on my braces changed, I’m going to get Knicks colors.”

Luke ignores them. “What are you doing this weekend?”

“Not going to Hebrew school,” I say. “Three-day weekends are the best. Thank you, Dr. Martin Luther King.”

Luke laughs. He thinks I’m funny all the time, even when I’m not trying to be, and he’s obsessed with my word-burping talent. “Can you burp that? Martin Luther King?”

Instead, I burp, “Hey, hey, hey! MLK Day!”

“That’s disgusting,” Sarah says from behind us.

“And disrespectful,” Carli adds.

I don’t care what they think. Luke thinks I’m hilarious. I pull open the music room door and motion for Luke to go in.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I say to Carli and Sarah. “Like your own class?”

Carli runs one hand through her hair like she’s trying to signal something. Looking past me, she flutters her eyelashes and calls, “Bye, Luke!”

Luke doesn’t even hear her. He’s got his backpack on the chair next to him, and he waves me over.

“I saved you a seat,” he says.

“Thanks, Luke,” I burp.

He cracks up laughing as Mrs. Baptiste claps her hands to start class.

SAMMIE

Carli Martin and Sarah Canavan come flying into English class just as the second bell rings. They slide into their seats, right in front of me, smirking and raising their eyebrows at each other like they’re sharing some big secret, and I know, even before Carli opens her stupid mouth, exactly who they’re giggling about.

“He’s so cute,” Carli whispers loudly to Sarah.

“He’s delicious,” Sarah says. She sighs and pulls her blond hair up into a giant messy bun on top of her head.

Marissa, sitting on the other side of Sarah, leans forward. “Who’re you talking about?”

“Duh,” Carli whispers. “Luke Sullivan. We were walking with him and David Fischer in the hall just now. That’s why we were almost late.”

Luke and my best friend.

The whispered conversation is interrupted by Mr. Pachelo. “Everyone, take out The Giver. Let’s talk about chapter five. What happens to Jonas?”

Even though I read the book weeks ago, at the beginning of winter break, I remember chapter five. A couple of kids giggle. Sarah leans over toward Carli and whispers, “Stirrings.” She grins and shakes her head, making her messy bun bobble.

Normally, I would raise my hand to answer. I always raise my hand. But the whole stirrings thing is embarrassing. I don’t want to be the one who says it. Amanda, Sarah, and two boys in the front all raise their hands.

Mr. P calls on Amanda.

“Jonas has a sexy dream about a girl,” she says. Everyone starts giggling. Except me.

“That’s right,” Mr. Pachelo says. “But he doesn’t use that word. In fact, Jonas doesn’t seem to know how to think about his dream. What does his mother tell him is happening?”

“She says he’s having stirrings,” Andrew answers.

Carli leans over and whispers to Sarah, “I think I’m having some stirrings for you-know-who.”

Mr. Pachelo puts his hand over his mouth and coughs. The kids in the front row all duck their heads and try to cover their noses with their hands. Sarah grabs a tissue from her backpack and holds it over her nose. “I sprayed it with Juicy Couture perfume,” she whispers to Carli.

“What does Jonas’s society do for stirrings?” Mr. Pachelo asks, pretending like he hasn’t just stunk up the entire room.

No one raises their hand because they’re all focused on not breathing in, so I do, and he calls on me. “They give him a pill to make the feelings stop. His parents take the pills too.”

“Why do you think stirrings—or what we’d maybe call ‘crushes’—are something Jonas’s society is medicating away? What’s dangerous about those kinds of feelings?”

“They could make people uncomfortable,” I say. “Like, if someone has a crush on you, but you don’t have a crush back.”

Other kids start raising their hands. Mr. Pachelo calls on Max, then Raven, then Sarah. Everyone has opinions about why stirrings could be bad, although the class agrees that we wouldn’t want anyone to give us a pill to make them go away.

Right before the bell rings, as we’re putting our binders away, Carli says to Sarah, “Let’s catch up with LukeandDavid. Mrs. Baptiste always goes past the bell.”

I take my time getting to the cafeteria. I don’t need to catch up with LukeandDavid.

I’m the last one to sit down at our lunch table, and the only seat left is directly across from LukeandDavid. Andrew and Max are doing a blow-by-blow of how LukeandDavid got two burgers each from the lunch ladies.

“Anyone want to split my second one with me?” Luke asks. I do, but there’s no way I’m going to say so.

“Me,” Kai says.

Luke tears the burger in two and gives Kai half.

Then Jefferson tells a story about how LukeandDavid had to pretend to be animals in drama class, so they both pretended to be sloths and refused to move at all. I laugh when I’m supposed to and act like every story they tell is hilarious.

When the bell rings, LukeandDavid get up together, dump their trays in the trash together, and head out of the cafeteria together, with Carli and Sarah following them all the way to math class. I trail behind even though I’m in math with them and Carli and Sarah aren’t.

By the time I get on the bus after school, I’m ready to lob a grenade at LukeandDavid. Anything to break them apart. They’re sitting together, of course, in one seat, and David’s talking as usual and Luke’s laughing.

I want to remind David about us, so I swing into the seat across from them. “Glad it’s Friday. You got any plans for MLK weekend, David?”

David shrugs. “Sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday. Maybe catch up on a little TV. That’s it.”

“No Hebrew school on Sunday?”

“Nope. Not on a three-day weekend.”

“Why is Hebrew school on Sunday anyway?” Luke asks. “Don’t you go to synagogue on Saturdays?”

Before David can answer, I say, “Remember at the beginning of winter break, when we met . . . you-know-where, and it was freezing cold, but we didn’t care?”

“Where?” Luke says, but I pretend like I don’t even hear him.

“We could meet there this weekend,” I say.

“Where?” Luke asks again.

“It’s not really a winter hangout,” David says, sounding uncomfortable that we’re even talking about it. It’s our secret place. None of the other guys know the Fort exists.

“Where?” Luke asks. “And why isn’t it a winter hangout?”

“Never mind,” I say. “It’s just a secret hideaway David and I found. But you wouldn’t think it was fun. It’s kind of dorky actually.” I turn to David. “And you can go there in the winter. We did, remember? It was fun.”

“My butt froze, even with the blanket,” David says, half smiling.

“Sounds cool,” Luke says. “It needs a name.”

“It has a name,” I say. “Fort Maccabee.”

Luke laughs. “Seriously? Where is this secret Fort Maccabee?”

But before David can tell him, I ask, “You working on anything new?”

“What are you talking about? Working on what?” Luke asks, leaning forward. “Why are you being so mysterious?”

“Never mind,” I say.

“Nothing,” David says. Then he changes the subject as fast as he can. “You got any MLK weekend plans, Sammie?”

“Nope,” I say, but I actually do: I’m going to get my best friend back. That’s my weekend plan.