My Life as a Stuntboy (12 page)

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Authors: Janet Tashjian

BOOK: My Life as a Stuntboy
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At the end of school, I want to talk to Matt about something normal like Frank swallowing my horse to see if that will make us friends again. But Matt's running down the hall and out the door—with Swifty and Joe by his side.
 
 
I thought for sure Mom would cancel my tutoring session with Ronnie so I could take care of Frank, but when I get home, Ronnie's in the kitchen skimming through my library book.
“Boys, animals, skateboards—this looks good.”
Maybe if I ignore Ronnie and the book, they'll both go away. I go to
the cage to check on Frank, but it's empty.
“Your mom said to tell you Frank is with her in the office today.”
I head to the door to go see him, but Ronnie shakes his head. “You know what I like to do?”
“Get puked on by monkeys?” I ask. I know I'm being rude, but the last thing I feel like doing after working hard in school all day is doing more work with a tutor.
boomerang
Ronnie doesn't seem offended in the least. “No, I'd rather try and choke them with my toys.”
Whoa! Ronnie's insults come back to me like an evil boomerang. “It was an accident,” I say. “You weren't even here.”
“No, I was home preparing for today's session.” He pats the seat of
the chair next to him. “We're going to start with my favorite activity—reading out loud.”
“I haven't done that since third grade.”
“The reason you don't do it isn't because it's babyish—it's because you're embarrassed to read in front of your classmates.”
I suddenly hate Ronnie and wish Frank weren't recuperating so he could throw up on him again.
recuperating
“That's why I'm here,” Ronnie continues, “to get you to be a better reader so you
can
read out loud in class. Come on, we'll take turns.”
He opens the book and starts reading the first paragraph. I don't interrupt him, hoping he'll keep going and finish the entire chapter. To my surprise, he does.
Afterward, he hands the book to me. “Your turn.”
I do what I always do—look ahead to see how many pages are in the chapter.
Ronnie stops me. “It doesn't matter if there are three pages or thirty. Just read.”
What kind of planet is Ronnie on? Of course there's a difference between three pages and thirty! Twenty-seven, to be exact.
distracted
After a few moments, I look up to see if Ronnie is bored or frustrated with my reading, but my slow pace doesn't seem to bother him. He motions for me to continue, but I'm distracted by someone running up the driveway. To my surprise, Matt bursts into the kitchen with his videocamera.
“My mom just told me about
Frank swallowing the red stallion. Is he okay?”
I tell him Frank is all right but my favorite horse action figure didn't survive the operation. I introduce him to Ronnie, then ask if we can cut our session short so I can hang out with Matt. I don't tell him my best friend and I have been having a difficult time lately, but I'm hoping Ronnie will take pity on me anyway.
He doesn't.
“We still have another half hour to go,” Ronnie says. “Why doesn't Matt do his homework while we finish?”
Matt and I both laugh, knowing there's no way he brought over his homework. It's the first normal friend moment we've had since the day Tony hired me.
“I'll go over and film Frank,” Matt
says. “Then maybe we can ride down to the village.”
hiccup
It feels like a huge weight's been lifted off my shoulders. I guess Mom was right; our fight was just a weird hiccup that all relationships have once in a while. I pick up the book and start reading, hoping the rest of our tutoring session goes by quickly.
When I stumble on several words, Ronnie makes me slow down even more. To my ears, I sound like a second-grader, but he encourages me to go on.
After each scene, Ronnie asks me questions about the characters and the story. I visualize the story in my mind like a movie, the way Margot—a camp counselor I once had—taught me to do.
“Very good work,” he finally says. “I'll see you next Tuesday, okay?”
Before Ronnie's even packed his bag, I'm out the door looking for Matt. I ask Mom's receptionist if she's seen him, but she says he left. I check on Frank, who's sleeping, then run out to the street to see if Matt's on his board. When I don't see him, I send him a text.
Matt texts back with:
ddn't wnt 2 interrupt. mom called 4 dinner.
I answer back that it's no problem and I'll see him at school tomorrow. I'm a little disappointed we didn't get a chance to hang out, but I'm happy that things are okay. And when Tony calls to tell me they're filming my stunt next Thursday, the world finally seems a little less worrisome.
worrisome
 
 
slalom
At school the next day, I'm surprised when Principal Demetri asks me to come to his office. I figure this might have something to do with someone—I'm not saying who—setting up a slalom course behind the school with the orange traffic cones from the parking lot. But the principal wants something else.
Mr. Demetri introduces me to the two people in his office. The
woman wears jeans and carries a notebook.
“This is Mary Souza from the paper. She wants to do a story about your junior stuntman work.”
“I write about movies,” Mary explains. “I thought this might be a good local-interest story.” She points to the man beside her. “This is Bill Hernandez. Do you mind if he takes some photos?”
I want to suggest that Bill take some pictures of the slalom obstacle course, but I don't have my board with me today. But Bill says he wants photos of me doing normal things like being at my locker or eating in the cafeteria. I'm flabbergasted when Mr. Demetri writes me a hall pass and tells me to give Mary all the information she needs.
As Bill takes a photo of me getting books out of my locker, I can see everyone in the classroom straining to look through the window next to Ms. McCoddle's door. Carly waves and smiles, but I'm more focused on Matt. He's sitting behind her and can't camouflage his disgust.
This wasn't my idea,
I want to say.
Mr. Demetri asked me to do it
.
flabbergasted
camouflage
While Bill runs out to his car, Mary and I sit on the chairs outside the media center to talk. She asks how I got involved in the film, what I liked best about being on set, and if I met Tanya Billings. She ignores the many calls coming into her cell and takes notes as we talk. As much as I'm happy for the attention, I'm a little embarrassed when our class goes down to the art room and everyone stares. Matt's in the back
of the line, making faces with Swifty and Joe.
When Mr. Demetri asked me to do this, I felt special and important. Now, I just feel uncomfortable and wish the interview was over.
“One last question,” Mary says. “If you had to do it again, would you?”
“It's been the best experience of my life,” I lie. “I've never had so much fun.”

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