Better Than Weird (2 page)

“It's Jeremy,” he hollered as he went. “I gotta go. We're doing announcements.”

“Announcements? You haven't even had breakfast,” Gran called from the kitchen.

“Have to practice.”

He had already struggled into his coat and was hoisting his backpack to his shoulders when Gran hurried into the hallway and blocked his way. He tried to get around her, but she refused to move. “Stand still and listen,” she said. The sharpness in her voice made him look at her face. She was frowning, but she was also holding out two muffins. “Take these,” she said. “You can eat on the way. And this is for recess.” She held out an apple.

He stayed long enough for Gran to shove the apple into his backpack, but the whole time he was hopping from foot to foot. “Okay. Okay. Okay,” he said, head bobbing.

He was out the door and scrambling down the porch steps before he thought to say goodbye. When he turned to wave, Gran was almost invisible, blurred by the fog that had formed on the glass of the storm door. He thought he saw her wave back, but he wasn't sure, and when Jeremy called, “You coming or what?” Aaron hurried to catch up.

TWO

Every year the grade-six class took on the job of making the morning announcements at school. On Friday afternoon, Mr. Collins had picked Jeremy to be responsible for the following week. “You can choose a friend to share the job,” he had added.

That was all Aaron needed to hear. “Me! Me! Me! Pick me, Jeremy! Pick me!” he called out.

He saw Jeremy glance at Horace, who shrugged and shook his head. Jeremy sighed. “Okay. I'll do it with Aaron,” he said.

All weekend Aaron felt lucky, and now that it was Monday, he felt even luckier. Jeremy picked me, he kept thinking. He picked me to be his friend.

In September, Jeremy had come from Nova Scotia and joined their class. Mostly he played with the boys, but sometimes he played with the girls too, and sometimes he walked Karima home.

“Do you like her?” Aaron asked one day.

“A little,” Jeremy admitted. “She's really nice.”

Aaron figured Jeremy liked Karima a whole lot. He thought Jeremy liked him a lot too. After all, they had done the mealworm study together and now they were working on the new science project about space. They were building a city with houses and launching pads and rocket ships.

Jeremy was good at stuff Aaron wished he could do: cross-country, volleyball, even skipping. When Mr. Collins started a skipping team, they both joined, and Aaron went to all the practices, even though skipping was hard for him.

Jeremy picked me,
he thought as he hurried to catch up.
He picked me.

“Here,” he said, holding out one of Gran's muffins. “Banana. With raisins…and chocolate chips.”

Jeremy took the muffin, and the boys ate as they walked on in silence.

When Aaron finished, he brushed the crumbs from his lips with the back of his hand. “He's coming in twelve days,” he said. “My dad. You wanna meet him?”

Jeremy shrugged. “Maybe. I guess.”

“When you come to my house, I'll show you my lists.”

“Lists?”

“Yeah. It's all the stuff I'm gonna do with my dad. And if you want…you can think of stuff to do with my dad too. I'll just add it to the lists and we'll do it together. You and me and my dad.”

“Maybe,” Jeremy said, walking a little faster.

Aaron was confused. Why wasn't Jeremy excited? Didn't he want to do stuff with him and his dad? He licked his bottom lip as he tried to figure it out. When his tongue snagged against a loose flap of skin, he gnawed on it absently. The skin lifted, bit by bit, until it broke free. It hurt. He licked the sore spot, tasting the rusty tang of blood.

“Is Paul still gonna be your Big Brother when your dad comes back?” Jeremy asked.

“Paul?”

“Yeah. I just wondered, 'cause he was your Big Brother when you didn't have a dad, but when your dad comes back, what happens to Paul? Does he still get to be your Big Brother, or do the people at Big Brothers find him some other kid who doesn't have a dad?”

“I dunno.” Aaron hadn't thought about losing Paul. Then he brightened. “Maybe when
my
dad comes back, Paul can be
your
Big Brother. And he can be your Big Brother forever, 'cause your dad's dead, isn't he, so he's never coming back, right?”

Jeremy didn't answer. That confused Aaron, and they plodded the rest of the way to school in silence.

* * *

The school felt a little eerie so early in the morning. It was quiet without any other kids around, as if it was sleeping. Aaron was relieved to see Miss Chang, the kindergarten teacher, walk by. “Good morning, boys,” she said. They said good morning back before she hurried away, her shoes
click
,
click
,
click
ing against the floor tiles.

They went straight to the office. The music teacher, Ms. Masilo, and the secretary were inside, talking. They looked happy. Jeremy waited. It was clear he didn't want to interrupt, so Aaron waited too. It felt like a long time before they were noticed and the secretary waved them in.

“What's the problem, boys?” she asked.

But before they could answer, Ms. Masilo snapped, “You should be outside. You're not allowed in the school before the bell.”

Aaron was startled by Ms. Masilo's voice.
She was
smiling a minute ago,
he thought.
What made her mad?

“We're doing the announcements this week,” Jeremy said. “Mr. Collins said he'd meet us in the office to show us how to use the pa system.”

“
You're
doing the announcements?” Ms. Masilo looked right at Aaron.

“Mr. Collins said. He said we could,” Aaron managed to say.

“Yes, I did,” Mr. Collins said, coming up behind them. “Come on in, boys, and I'll show you the ropes.”

“The ropes?” Now Aaron was really confused. “Do we have to skip while we make announcements?” he asked.

He heard Mr. Collins chuckle, and he saw Ms. Masilo's painted-on eyebrows climb up her forehead. He guessed moving her eyebrows was something she did on purpose, and since Mr. Collins had laughed, he decided it would be good to join in. The sound that came from him started as a snort and turned into a high-pitched hoot. He stopped when he saw Ms. Masilo's lips tighten. She made a face, not at him, but at Mr. Collins. Then she turned and left the office.

“Come here, Aaron,” Jeremy said, waving him over to where Mr. Collins was waiting by the pa system. “Pay attention. We don't want to mess up.”

Mr. Collins showed them which buttons to push to make their voices heard in each of the classrooms. Then he had them practice speaking into the microphone. “Testing. Testing. One, two, three,” Jeremy said. When Aaron tried, his voice came through with a funny whistling sound.

“Don't get too close,” Mr. Collins said. “You don't want to swallow the mike.”

“Swallow the mike,” Aaron echoed. The thought of swallowing something so large made him want to laugh, but Jeremy wasn't even smiling, so Aaron pressed his lips together and stayed silent.

They decided to divide the work. Jeremy would turn on the speakers and make the first two announcements, and Aaron would read the third and then turn everything off.

Mr. Collins made them read the announcements twice. “Remember now,” he said before he left, “speak slowly and clearly so everybody knows what you're saying.”

“Okay,” Aaron said. He was determined to do this job right.

Once the final bell rang and all the kids were in the school, Jeremy turned on the speakers and played the anthem. Then he began the announcements. “From Mr. Collins, this message is for volleyball players: Please eat in the lunchroom, then meet at the gym doors at twelve fifteen. Remember your knee pads and running shoes.

“And from the principal's office: A reminder for teachers about the meeting for primary staff in the library at noon today.” He stepped back to let Aaron move forward.

“Allissa, in grade one, has lost her library book,” Aaron began. “If anyone finds a copy of
Buttercup's
Lovely Day
, please take it to room 113 and Allissa will thank you.” When he was done, Jeremy pointed to the power button and Aaron turned the pa off. He sighed. Everything had gone well.

They were on their way out of the office when two little girls arrived, holding hands and giggling. On their heads they wore the kind of paper crowns Miss Chang always gave kids on their birthdays. One of them carried a piece of paper. As Aaron stepped back to hold the door, the secretary said, “Aaron, wait. Miss Chang has sent this last-minute announcement.”

So Aaron went back. He read the message, then pushed the button that turned on the speakers. “Here's a late-breaking announcement,” he said. “There are two birthdays in the kindergarten. Kathryn and Fiona are both five years old today. Happy birthday, girls.”

The girls giggled again, and Aaron felt good. He had done everything right. He hadn't repeated any of the words, not even the ones for the last announcement, which he hadn't practiced.

While he was smiling, an older woman came into the office. She was small and thin, and her gray hair hung down her back in a long braid. She was wearing what looked like a blue sari under her winter coat.

“I am bringing the lunch for my grandson,” she said, passing a brown paper bag to the secretary. “That foolish boy. He forgets everything. He must stay to play volleyball at noon today, but he does not remember to bring his noonday meal.”

“What's your grandson's name?” the secretary asked.

“Tufan. His name is Tufan.”

“Do you know his teacher's name?”

The woman shook her head.

“Mr. Collins. Tufan is in Mr. Collins's class,” Aaron piped up.

“Yes. Mr. Collins,” the woman said. “I fear I am forgetful too. Like my grandson.”

“I'll have Aaron take your grandson's lunch upstairs,” the secretary said as she passed Aaron the bag.

The woman smiled. “You are in Tufan's class?” she asked. “Remind him to eat slowly. It is better for his digestion.”

Aaron felt his face heat up at the thought of talking to Tufan about his digestion. He wanted to say,
No way
, but Tufan's grandmother said, “You are a very helpful boy. Thank you.”

The words made Aaron feel proud, and what came out of his mouth was, “I'll…I'll tell him. I'll tell him to eat slowly.”

The woman smiled, and then she left.

“Well done,” the secretary said. Aaron beamed as he turned off the speakers.

When Aaron reached the upper hallway, Mr. Collins was talking to Karen, the school counselor. “Can you make time for him?” he was saying. “I'm not sure what's going on, but something's not right in that boy's life.”

“I'll fit him in,” she said. Then she looked up and smiled. “Good job, Aaron,” she said.

“Yeah. Great job,” Mr. Collins said, and Aaron bounced with joy the rest of the way to his classroom.

When he walked in, kids began to clap. Aaron almost took a bow, but a voice said, “Don't forget to remind Tufan to eat slowly.”

“It's better for his digestion,” someone else called out.

“That foolish boy forgets everything,” mimicked a third. Then they laughed.

Aaron looked around.
They heard
, he thought. He was going to laugh too. It was pretty funny. Everybody hearing Tufan's grandmother talk about his digestion.

But all thoughts of laughter ended when Tufan stood up. “Shut up,” he growled.

The class fell silent. Tufan's eyes narrowed until his brows made a dark V on his forehead. His nose twitched. Aaron had seen that once on the Nature channel when a tiger was stalking a deer. The tiger's nose twitched; then it pounced and the deer died.

Hand shaking, Aaron held out the paper-bag lunch and braced himself. Tufan came closer.

“Come on, Tufan,” Jeremy called out. “Forget about it. It was no big deal.”

Tufan paused, and Aaron held his breath.

That's when Mr. Collins walked into the room. “Sorry I'm late,” he said. “Let's get started.”

Tufan snatched the bag from Aaron's fingers. “This isn't over, Cantwait,” he muttered. “You're dead meat.”

“Yeah,” Aaron said, thinking about the tiger's muzzle buried inside the deer's belly. “Dead meat.”

THREE

“Let's trade jobs,” Jeremy said on Tuesday morning. “You start the announcements today and I'll finish them.”

“You think I'm gonna mess up again,” said Aaron.

“I just want to make sure.”

“That I don't mess up.”

“That you…yeah…that you don't mess up and get into more trouble. Tufan's still mad. I know leaving the mike on was no big deal, but he didn't like it. Don't talk to him. He'll get mad no matter what you say. Just stay out of his way till he gets over it.”