Mr. Terupt Falls Again (20 page)

“It’s from Riverway,” Peter said. “Mom and Dad want me to go there starting in seventh grade.”

“You mean you aren’t coming to school with us next year?”

Peter’s mom glared at me, then at Peter. “Peter will be attending Riverway, thank you. There is no choice. It’ll be the best thing for him.”

“The best thing?” Peter’s voice rose. “You don’t even know me!”

“That’s enough!” she scolded. “Get your things. We’re going to the car!”

Coach Terupt must have heard the commotion from across the mats because he joined us. “Hi, Mrs. Jacobs. I’m William Terupt, Peter’s teacher and wrestling coach. Why don’t we step outside so we don’t make a big scene.” Too late for that, I thought. Coach Terupt gently placed his hand on Mrs. Jacobs’s shoulder and led her toward the exit. On the way out he turned to my dad and asked him to give Peter a lift home.

Ask me how Coach Terupt got that wolverine-lady to submit, and I’ll tell you I have no idea. Must have been some virtual wrestling move.

I used to like silent car rides, but this one with Peter was awful. There was so much I wanted to ask and say to him, but I didn’t know how. I definitely preferred my rides to the center with Anna. She was easy to talk to, and better-looking too.

T
he whole wrestling experience had me distracted for a few days, so Exchange Day number two snuck up on me. It was here!

I entered the day anxious. I was excited to find out what Mr. Terupt had in store for us, but I was nervous about the unpredictable. As I already mentioned, any hypothesis needs to be tested more than once to be proven true, but I didn’t want to run another trial for this one. I expected another fight. I worried about Jeffrey’s tolerance and the comments of our soon-to-be-classmates. I hoped I was wrong, which was something I had never wanted before. I hoped it would go better this time—for everyone. I didn’t know it, but I should have been worrying more about Lexie than Jeffrey.

Once our guests were settled, Mr. Terupt welcomed them and went on to explain our day’s challenge. No stuttering or fights this time—so far so good.

“You’ll have the next hour and a half to work as a team. Your challenge is to build a boat that will float, but you may only use the materials provided,” Mr. Terupt announced. “Your boat must measure at least one meter by one meter,” he continued, “and you should also keep this in mind while building. If more than one craft floats, then we will add weight to each by placing sandbags on them until all but one sinks. The last boat afloat will be the winner.”

“Where will we test them?” Tommy asked. I was wondering the same thing.

Mr. Terupt smiled. “We won’t be trying to float them today. There’s still snow and ice out there. Instead, you will be participating in the first annual Float Your Boat Contest at next month’s Snow Hill Carnival.”

The mere mention of the carnival brought smiles and cheers from all of us, visitors included. The Snow Hill Carnival came to town once every two years, and it was always one of the best weekends.

“Now that you’re all excited about the carnival, let’s make sure you have a boat to float,” Mr. Terupt reminded us. “Just a few more rules.”

He presented all the various items available: plastic bottles, straws, string, Styrofoam, meter sticks, rubber bands, tape, cardboard, and more. The catch was that each item had a price tag, and each group only had one hundred dollars in their imaginary budget. We needed to be smart about how we spent our pretend money. This, of course, was much easier than managing a wedding. I knew I could win this contest. I already had a genius idea for my vessel.

After all the instructions and rules, we were organized
into teams. Then everyone spread out all over the classroom and even into the hall, so we had enough room to build. My group consisted of Lexie and two visiting boys, Derek and Jason. I got them positioned in the corner of the classroom, where I knew we’d have plenty of space. I needed to construct a large boat—one that could support extra weight.

“Have you ever taken a beach ball and forced it under the water?” I asked. “When you let go it jumps out. Why? Because of the air in the ball,” I explained. “For the same reason these capped bottles are going to keep our boat afloat.”

The boys weren’t listening, which was what I was secretly hoping for. And Lexie, well, one look at her and you knew what she was concerned about. She was focused on attracting the two boys. Derek and Jason were totally distracted by her. My group was perfect. I smiled and got to work.

To her credit, Lexie did help by handing me the materials I needed and by holding things in place for me after I got started. Derek and Jason were too busy joking around the whole time, whispering and snickering. I didn’t pay any attention to them until we were almost done, and they happened to have what I needed. When I looked over at Derek he had two water bottles stuck under his shirt. They looked like torpedoes coming out of his chest. He was posing for Jason.

“Derek, I need those last two bottles,” I said. I wasn’t bashful. I was a man on a mission, and my vessel was near perfection.

“Tell you what,” Derek said. “I’ll give you these bottles if Lexie can give me some of her tissues to blow my nose.”

At that, Derek and Jason really started cracking up and
Lexie laughed right along with them. I didn’t know what tissues Derek was talking about, and I ran out of patience waiting for my bottles. The only person who looked as agitated as me was Peter. I saw him glaring at my group from across the room. He looked angry.

“Derek, the bottles,” I said, holding out my hand.

He reached under his shirt and tossed them to me, but then I needed his help holding things in place because Lexie had disappeared.

In the end, I constructed an interwoven lattice of capped water bottles connected by meter sticks. Our boat was almost as long and wide as I was tall. I had pieces of Styrofoam positioned throughout the middle. This was where the weight would be added. The idea was that by having the bottles of air spread out, we’d have a large enough surface area to keep the vessel and additional weight afloat.

I couldn’t wait for the Snow Hill Carnival. The Float Your Boat Contest was going to be intense, but I was feeling confident.

T
oday was key. It was our second Exchange Day. The first one didn’t go exactly as I had planned, so I, like, needed to give it another shot. But I was feeling positive. This time I brought a roll of toilet paper from home. The school TP is one huge roll that doesn’t tear easily, and it’s very thin. It’s impossible to work with. My roll from home was softer and fluffier, and much easier to shape.

Last time I had a few boys eyeing me before Jeffrey went ahead and tackled Derek. And then when things moved to the squid dissection I had boys fighting to get at my table, but the squid smell made me sick and I puked all over the place. Like, how pathetic. At least my stuffed bra gave me toilet paper to wipe my mouth with on my way to the nurse. I was hoping for better results this time around. I might have been done at the hangout, but that didn’t mean I was done trying to get boys to look at me.

It wasn’t Jessica who found me getting ready in front of the bathroom mirror this time, but the woman in our class—Danielle. “Lexie, what in the world are you—Huh!” she gasped.

“Calm down, Danielle. Everything’s okay.” I cupped and shaped my chest. “Just think of it as me dressing up,” I said. “You know I like to do that.” I looked in the mirror and gave myself a final adjustment. As Jessica would say, they looked
abundant
. To me, they looked
perfect
. In the glass, past my reflection, I saw Danielle with her head down in the midst of a prayer. I hoped she was telling God to get busy and help me start developing. I knew God would understand. After all, Margaret had prayed to him about this stuff.

During the exchange, I ended up in a group with Luke and two other boys, Derek and Jason. Luke was a man of science. He didn’t miss details, so he noticed me right away. But being a science geek, he didn’t pay any attention to my efforts either.

As for the other two boys, one was the kid Jeffrey had tackled, and the other was a wimp. Just my luck. They shot secret glances at me, but neither said a word, and they wouldn’t make eye contact.

With nothing else to do, I decided to start helping Luke. Big mistake! Helping meant bending and twisting and reaching to get materials. My first warning came when I turned to grab another water bottle and I felt my boobs shift. Suddenly I had one up by my collarbone and the other closer to my belly button. I froze. I couldn’t turn back around and let them see me like this.

“Lexie, do you have that other water bottle?” Luke asked.

I tossed the bottle behind me without spinning around. Then I quickly realigned my chest. I was fast and no one noticed a thing. Or so I hoped. But Derek and Jason started whispering and snickering even more. I knew they were making fun of me—or was I being paranoid? They still weren’t making eye contact.

My second warning came when I bent forward to hold something in place for Luke and my left side got flattened against part of our boat. This wasn’t a quick fix. I tried a sneaky cup-and-squeeze attempt before sitting up, but I was stuck with a lopsided alien-looking chest. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t run to the bathroom and take them off! That would have been worse.

I tried leaning forward to help Luke again, hoping that would shield my horror. But this time my right side got crunched. This was going from bad to worse, with the worst yet to come. Now I had lumpy and lopsided boobs. I sat up and tried to give myself a quick readjustment, but it was too late. I looked over and saw Derek with two water bottles under his shirt. He was pretending they were breasts. He finally made eye contact with me.

“How do these look, Lexie? They might work better for you.”

He and Jason started cracking up. I tried smiling and laughing with them.

Then a clueless Luke spoke up. “Derek, I need those last two bottles.”

It wasn’t Luke’s fault. He was just trying to finish his boat.

“Tell you what,” Derek said. “I’ll give you these bottles if Lexie will give me some of her tissues to blow my nose.”

Then Derek and Jason lost it. They thought they were
sooo
funny. They gave Luke the last two bottles he needed and kept laughing. I didn’t know what had happened. I couldn’t feel the disaster. The toilet paper under my left side had sprung free and poked up from under my cami. They saw it! A nightmare! I tried laughing along with them again, acting cool, playing it off, but I couldn’t keep it up. Luke went back to work and I hurried to get the bathroom pass.

Derek and Jason were jerks. They were about as mean as could be. Having them laugh at me hurt. I can’t believe I used to be mean like that to people. I’m lucky to have friends now. They came to my rescue.

F
ADE IN: Camera moves in on LEXIE. She is sitting with her team during Exchange Day number two. She’s wearing a pretty cami with a short skirt and black leggings. We see her inflated chest. She has her abundant look again
.