really like Sharon.”
Nathan pouted in his room for a full three minutes after they got home, but then he decided that he had better ways to spend his time than wallowing in self-pity. He’d made a friend, after all. Jamison didn’t care that he’d been beaten up by a girl.
Mary was correct. Nathan did like Sharon. She was very pretty; in fact, Nathan didn’t recall ever having seen a woman in real life who looked the way women looked in the movies. She wore a fancy dress and makeup, and both Penny and Mary apologized for the way they looked and for the condition of their home, despite the fact that Nathan thought they both looked nice as well, and they’d cleaned the entire house top to bottom, including the rain gutters, though Nathan doubted that Sharon would inspect them.
Sharon laughed a lot, and they all played games. Mary also laughed often, giggling loudly at all of Sharon’s jokes, even the ones that Nathan thought could have been funnier. Every once in a while Nathan noticed Penny looking a bit sad, which was strange since everybody was having so much fun.
Nathan was sent to bed half an hour earlier than usual. He wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t protest. He was tired anyway.
ELEVEN
Despite their pledge to one another, Nathan and Jamison found themselves learning things in school. Nathan didn’t like math very much, but he did very well on his spelling, geography, history, and reading tests. Beverly stuck her tongue out at him all the time, but Nathan never told on her. He considered very carefully the idea of squishing something against the back of her head, possibly an egg or a slice of moldy tomato, and ultimately decided that this would be unwise on all levels.
Penny asked if he might want to invite his new friend over after school, and Nathan agreed that it was a fine idea. Jamison said that his parents didn’t like for him to visit friends on school nights because the excitement increased the chances that he might be dead the next morning, but that the weekend would be perfect.
Sharon came over for dinner once more that week. The other nights, Mary went over to Sharon’s house and she didn’t come home. Those nights, Penny was more affectionate with Nathan than usual, giving him kisses on the cheek and asking him if he wanted to play just one more game of Exploding Nines even though it was past his bedtime.
When Jamison came over, they dug for worms, and put Jamison’s toy soldiers through a global apocalypse, and played catch with an orange to see how many times they could throw it before it started to leak.
Over the next couple of months, Nathan did not stay out of the Corner of Ridicule altogether, but he spent less time there than some of his classmates (though, admittedly, more time than some others). Sometimes he thought he deserved it and sometimes he felt that he’d been falsely accused, but overall it was not such a bad thing.
Beverly beat up Nathan on three more occasions. She never beat up any of the other boys, even when they were teasing her, and the third time she beat him up she’d specifically sought him out at recess after a boy that Nathan barely even knew called her Godzilla. Though he didn’t tell his teacher, he did tell Penny and Mary and sometimes Sharon all about it. He tried to instill a sense of outrage in them, but all they did was smile.
Near the end of October, Ronald came up to him after school and pressed an envelope into his hand. “It’s an invitation to my Halloween party,” he explained.
“Where’s his?” Nathan asked, gesturing to Jamison.
“He can’t come.”
“Why not?”
“My mom says that I’m only allowed to invite ten people because she doesn’t want to have to buy apples for the whole class.”
“Then make him one of the ten.”
“He doesn’t really fit in.”
“It’s a Halloween party, isn’t it? What fits in better at a Halloween party than a dying boy?”
Jamison nodded. “I could die right there, during
Nathan pouted in his room for a full three minutes after they got home, but then he decided that he had better ways to spend his time than wallowing in self-pity. He’d made a friend, after all. Jamison didn’t care that he’d been beaten up by a girl.
Mary was correct. Nathan did like Sharon. She was very pretty; in fact, Nathan didn’t recall ever having seen a woman in real life who looked the way women looked in the movies. She wore a fancy dress and makeup, and both Penny and Mary apologized for the way they looked and for the condition of their home, despite the fact that Nathan thought they both looked nice as well, and they’d cleaned the entire house top to bottom, including the rain gutters, though Nathan doubted that Sharon would inspect them.
Sharon laughed a lot, and they all played games. Mary also laughed often, giggling loudly at all of Sharon’s jokes, even the ones that Nathan thought could have been funnier. Every once in a while Nathan noticed Penny looking a bit sad, which was strange since everybody was having so much fun.
Nathan was sent to bed half an hour earlier than usual. He wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t protest. He was tired anyway.
ELEVEN
Despite their pledge to one another, Nathan and Jamison found themselves learning things in school. Nathan didn’t like math very much, but he did very well on his spelling, geography, history, and reading tests. Beverly stuck her tongue out at him all the time, but Nathan never told on her. He considered very carefully the idea of squishing something against the back of her head, possibly an egg or a slice of moldy tomato, and ultimately decided that this would be unwise on all levels.
Penny asked if he might want to invite his new friend over after school, and Nathan agreed that it was a fine idea. Jamison said that his parents didn’t like for him to visit friends on school nights because the excitement increased the chances that he might be dead the next morning, but that the weekend would be perfect.
Sharon came over for dinner once more that week. The other nights, Mary went over to Sharon’s house and she didn’t come home. Those nights, Penny was more affectionate with Nathan than usual, giving him kisses on the cheek and asking him if he wanted to play just one more game of Exploding Nines even though it was past his bedtime.
When Jamison came over, they dug for worms, and put Jamison’s toy soldiers through a global apocalypse, and played catch with an orange to see how many times they could throw it before it started to leak.
Over the next couple of months, Nathan did not stay out of the Corner of Ridicule altogether, but he spent less time there than some of his classmates (though, admittedly, more time than some others). Sometimes he thought he deserved it and sometimes he felt that he’d been falsely accused, but overall it was not such a bad thing.
Beverly beat up Nathan on three more occasions. She never beat up any of the other boys, even when they were teasing her, and the third time she beat him up she’d specifically sought him out at recess after a boy that Nathan barely even knew called her Godzilla. Though he didn’t tell his teacher, he did tell Penny and Mary and sometimes Sharon all about it. He tried to instill a sense of outrage in them, but all they did was smile.
Near the end of October, Ronald came up to him after school and pressed an envelope into his hand. “It’s an invitation to my Halloween party,” he explained.
“Where’s his?” Nathan asked, gesturing to Jamison.
“He can’t come.”
“Why not?”
“My mom says that I’m only allowed to invite ten people because she doesn’t want to have to buy apples for the whole class.”
“Then make him one of the ten.”
“He doesn’t really fit in.”
“It’s a Halloween party, isn’t it? What fits in better at a Halloween party than a dying boy?”
Jamison nodded. “I could die right there, during
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