As Maddy thinks this over, the phone rings in the kitchen. Tess gets up to answer it. I straighten in my seat as I hear Tess say, “Yes, she’s here. Who is this?” I know who it is before Tess says, “Stacey, there’s a girl named Jamie on the phone for you?”
“Can I take it in your study, Grandpa?”
“Go ahead. Just don’t mess up any papers in there.”
“Thanks.” As I run back to the study, my stomach flutters. I had hoped Jamie might not carry through on her promise to call me. Maybe I should tell her I’m sick. Or I could just tell her to mind her own damned business. That’s what Steve Fischer would say, especially after a few whiskeys at Squiggy’s.
I pick up the phone in Jake’s study. I hear Jamie say, “We just moved here a couple months ago. We used to live in Miami.”
“That must be quite a change for you,” Tess says.
“It will be, especially in winter. I’m kind of looking forward to seeing snow.”
“Yes, the snow is quite lovely just after it’s fallen. It makes everything look so peaceful.”
I jump in to say, “I’ve got it, Grandma.”
“All right, dear. It’s been nice talking with you, Jamie. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight Mrs. Madigan.” After we hear the soft click of Tess hanging up, Jamie says, “Your grandma is really nice.”
“Yes, she is.”
“Did you get a chance to watch iCarly tonight?” Before I can answer, she starts to talk about the episode. Since I haven’t watched the show before, I have no idea what she means.
“It was really something,” I say.
“You didn’t see it?”
“Um, well, no.”
“Oh, that’s OK. They rerun these all the time. It’ll probably be on tomorrow.”
“That’s good.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“Am I bugging you? Maybe I shouldn’t have called.”
“No, it’s all right. I’m just a little distracted.”
“I get it now. I’ll see you around Dr. Mac’s office.”
This is what I wanted, but now that I’ve gotten my wish, I don’t want Jamie to go. “Please don’t go! It’s not you. I swear. It’s my grandparents. We’ve kind of been fighting.”
“Fighting? About what?”
“They want me to go to this fancy school. My sister and I could get a scholarship and it’s supposed to be a really great school, but I don’t know. I’m not really ready for school yet.”
“Yeah, school sucks. My dad sends Caleb and I to this snobby school. Everyone there is like super rich. I mean, if your parents don’t have a billion you’re totally worthless,” Jamie says and even over the phone I can hear her bitterness. “So what school is it they’re trying to get you into?”
“St. Andrew’s Academy.”
There’s a gasp on the other end, followed by a scream that prompts me to hold the receiver out a few inches. “O. M. G. Stacey, that’s where I go to school! You so have to tell your grandparents you’ll go.”
“I don’t know. We’re kinda poor—”
“Don’t worry about that. You’ll have me to protect you. And Caleb, though he’s not of much use. Maybe as bait or something.”
Caleb must be nearby because I hear him shout, “Am not! I’m going to tell Daddy.”
“Yeah, you go tell Daddy.” Jamie snorts into the receiver. “What a little weasel. How soon are you going to enroll?”
“In a couple of days, I think. I’m not really sure.”
“Well as soon as you get there, I can show you around. Just make sure you wear your uniform. They’re kind of strict about that stuff.”
“Oh, right. I guess they would be being a religious school and all.”
Jamie snorts again. “Religious my ass. The only thing they worship is money. How do you think my dad got us in there? We’re fucking Jewish.”
“Really?”
“Well I’m half-Jewish. Dad is full Jew. Mom wasn’t really anything. What about you?”
“My parents weren’t big into religion. Grandma is going to start taking us to her church. It’s Episcopalian.”
“What’s Episcopalian?”
“Some kind of Christian. I’m not sure what the difference is.” I was brought up as a Presbyterian by my parents. There’s not a whole lot of difference, just some minor ones people like to make seem like a big deal.
“Maybe I’ll have to switch. After my bat mitzvah, though. That way I can bleed all my relatives dry first.”
I giggle at this. To talk to Jamie makes me miss the time I spent with Maddy and Grace. “Maybe I’ll convert so I can do that too,” I say.
“Great idea. We could have a joint party.” Jamie sighs into the receiver. “Daddy wants me to get off the phone. In a minute, Daddy. Let me say goodbye to Stacey first.”
“Who’s Stacey?” I hear her dad ask.
“My new friend.” My cheeks turn warm at this. “I’ve got to go. Are you on Facebook?”
“No. My grandparents don’t even have a computer.”
“That is so lame. Guess I’ll have to call tomorrow.”
“Talk to you tomorrow. Bye.”
“Bye.” I hang up the phone and then sigh. Stacey Chang has her first friend.
Part 4:
School Days
Chapter 24
The next Monday, Tess pulls up to the gates of St. Andrew’s. It is the kind of school that has gates to keep out the riffraff. It’s also an elementary/middle school with a campus bigger than the community college I should still attend.
I lean closer to the window so I can get a better look at the lush green lawn. There’s even a marble fountain out front surrounded by a brick patio, on which is inlayed the school’s crest. Jamie said students aren’t allowed out on the lawn or near the fountain; it’s just to impress visitors like us. “Stacey, you’re in the way!” Maddy whines. I slide back so she can see the school we’ll attend for the time being.
I turn forward to look over Tess’s shoulder. The administration building is up ahead. It looks like an old colonial mansion made from red bricks. Beyond the admin building I can see a couple of newer brick structures with ivy climbing up the walls.
Tess stops on the circular drive in front of the administration building. My hopes that Jamie will be there are dashed when I see a blond boy next to a similarly blond middle-aged woman. The woman I know from the brochures is the headmaster, Dr. Lynne Armey. I don’t know who the boy is; probably some poor sap assigned to show Maddy and I around.
“Here we are, girls,” Tess says. While she tries to sound cheerful, there’s a quiver in her voice. She’s just as nervous as we are. She probably expects someone to run us out of here for not having enough net worth.
I run my hands over my blue jacket emblazoned with the same crest as out front. Then I try to arrange my plaid skirt so it doesn’t bunch up when I get out of the car. The last thing I want is to look like some poor, ignorant country cousin in front of the headmaster.
Tess opens the door and then offers a hand to help me out. While Tess unbuckles Maddy, I toss my backpack over my shoulder. Tess carries Maddy out of the car and sets her next to me. Like me, Maddy takes a moment to smooth down the plaid jumper the younger girls wear. Maddy still tries to work out a stubborn wrinkle as Tess takes us both by the shoulder to guide us over to the headmaster.
Dr. Armey extends a hand for Tess to shake. “Welcome to St. Andrew’s Academy, Mrs. Madigan. It’s so good to meet you, Stacey, and Madison.”
“Thank you. We’re very glad you were able to take us on such short notice.”
“We don’t ordinarily take students after the semester has begun, but you come highly recommended from Dr. Macintosh.” I’m sure there was a sizable donation involved as well, but I don’t say anything.
“Now then, young ladies, I’ll be taking your grandmother away to finish some paperwork. I’ll leave you in the capable hands of my son, Vincent. He wi
ll show you around the campus and to your homerooms.”
Before we’re separated, Tess bends down to kiss us both on the cheek. “I’ll see you at three o’clock,” she says. She leans closer to me and brushes hair from my ear so she can whisper, “Take good care of your sister.”
I nod to her to silently promise to look after my little sister. Then Tess follows Dr. Armey up the stairs, to leave us with her son. Vincent Armey stares at us sullenly for a moment before he points to the steps. “Come on, let’s go,” he says.
I take Maddy’s hand and give it a squeeze as he ascends the stairs to begin our tour.
***
Vincent isn’t much of a tour guide. His idea of a tour is to plod along, shoulders slouched, and hands in pockets. He occasionally takes one hand out of a pocket to point at something. It’s a good thing most of the doors are labeled or I’d have no clue what he means.
We leave the admin building after a tour of about two minutes and then trudge over to the library. “This is the library,” Vincent mumbles. At least I think he says that. Even if he didn’t, it’s pretty obvious from all the books where we are.
The third floor of the library is mostly reserved for study areas. I see some of my fellow students in the cubicles. Most of them are hunched forward as they play Angry Birds or Tweet or something like that on their phones instead of actually studying. I hope to see Jamie there, but she’s not.
To my surprise and relief, we find her outside the library. She then falls into step with us. Before I can say anything, Jamie taps Vincent on the shoulder. “I’ll take over from here,” she says.
“But if Mom finds out—”
“She won’t find out.” Jamie turns to us. “You guys aren’t going to tell, are you?”
“No,” I say and Maddy shakes her head in agreement.
“See?”
“But—”
“Wouldn’t you rather go smoke a cig in the bathroom than lead around two little kids?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Vincent says. “You’d better not get me in trouble.”
“If anyone asks, say you got sick and asked me to take over,” Jamie says. Vincent considers this for a moment and then nods. He plods away, presumably to go smoke in the bathroom as Jamie suggested.
She claps her hands and then turns to us. “Now that he’s gone I can give you a real tour of the place.”
“Shouldn’t you be in class?” I ask.
“I told Mr. Dumbowski I needed to see the nurse.”
“Aren’t you going to get in trouble?”
“Nah. He doesn’t care.”
“Well, OK,” I say.
“I already had to go through the craptacular Vincent Armey Tour. You’re not going to be missing much.” She gives me a friendly slap on the arm. “We’ll start by dropping the kid off at kindergarten.”
“I’m not in kindygarden!” Maddy shouts. She stamps her foot and adds, “I’m in first grade!”
“Sorry, kid,” Jamie says. She pinches Maddy’s cheek, which only makes Maddy angrier. “You’re a short little rugrat for first grade.”
“I’m not short!”
“You are a little short,” I say.
“Am not,” Maddy says. “I’m big enough to see the school too.”
“Fine,” Jamie says. “I guess you guys already saw the library, right? The third floor is great if you just want to hang out for a while. Your grandma still hasn’t bought you a phone, has she?”
“No,” I say. “She doesn’t even have one. My grandpa just uses his for work.”
“Too bad. Then we could text during class and stuff.”
“Yeah, too bad.” Probably just as well for me, the Luddite.
Jamie motions for us to follow her down the sidewalk. She points to the roughly rectangular courtyard between the buildings. “That’s the quad, where you can go to hang out during lunch and recess and stuff. Your sister should stay away from there. It’s mostly for the older kids.”
“I’m not a baby,” Maddy protests.
Jamie stops and then turns to Maddy with an evil grin. “What the older kids like to do with a firsty who shows up there is pull that cute little jumper right over your head backwards so your undies show.”
“That’s mean.”
“That’s getting off easy.” Jamie turns to me. “You should be careful there too. They aren’t a lot nicer to fourthies.”
“What about fifthies?”
“Basically all the elementary kids stay away from there.”
“Where do we go then?” Maddy asks.
“The playground is over by the gym. You got to give the gym a wide berth, though. That’s where the jocks hang out.”
“I thought this was a nice school,” Maddy says.
“Hate to break it to you, kid, but most people here are jerks. That’s how most rich kids are. Except a few of us.”
“We’re not rich,” Maddy says.
“You’d better keep that to yourselves. Though I’m pretty sure the word’s already out about a couple of scholarship kids. Fresh meat.”
“I don’t want to be fresh meat,” Maddy whines.
Jamie tousles Maddy’s hair. “Don’t worry, you just got to stick with me and your sister.”
“OK.”
“You’re stuck with Mrs. Ellsbury,” Jamie tells Maddy.
“Is she mean?” Maddy asks.
“Only when she’s sober. Lucky for you kids that’s not often.”
I put a hand on Maddy’s shoulder as she whimpers. “I’m sure it’s not that bad,” I say. I glare at Jamie. “Don’t scare her so much.”
“It’s the truth. I swear it on the Torah.”
“Don’t listen to her,” I tell Maddy. “It’ll be fine.”
“I hope so.”
I missed Maddy’s first day of school the first time around. This time I get to watch as Jamie ushers her through the door. I can tell right away Jamie hadn’t lied about Mrs. Ellsbury; the woman has the red nose and bleary eyes of a drinker. I know because that was my face often enough when I was still Steve Fischer.
The old woman reaches out with a wrinkled claw to take Maddy from Jamie. “This must be Madison.” Maddy looks back at me. I smile and nod to her. She turns to nod at her new teacher. “You can have a seat right over there.”
Maddy gives me a wave and then trudges over to her desk to sit down beside a girl with brown pigtails. Jamie closes the door behind her on the way out. I’d like to stay and watch Maddy for a while to make sure she’s all right, but I have to get to my own homeroom soon.
***
We take a little detour so Jamie can show me the gym. From the banners that hang from the ceiling, I learn the school colors are blue and gold and the mascot a bulldog. “It used to be the Braves,” Jamie says. “They had an Indian in war paint and all that shit. Then there were all these protests and they changed it.”
“That’s good.”
We sit down on the top row of the bleachers to watch some older boys play dodgeball. Jamie giggles and then says, “Too bad it’s not shirts against skins, huh?”
“Yeah, too bad,” I say. The sweaty boys in their T-shirts and shorts don’t do anything for me, but then I’m only ten years old on the outside and a lot different from that on the inside.
Finally Jamie takes me to my homeroom. “You’ve got Ms. Lowry. She’s not too bad from what I hear. I hear she’s been making friends with Mr. Delmore the gym teacher, if you know what I mean.”
“Gross,” I say with childish revulsion.
In the hallway, Jamie stops me in front of the door to my homeroom. “The important thing is not to let any of these jerks get under your skin. You don’t have to take any shit from them just because their parents are loaded and yours weren’t. Got it?”
“I got it.”
“You don’t seem like the fighting type to me, so just ignore them if they say something.”
“I’ll try.”
Jamie opens the door for me. “Here you go, kid. I’ll see you
at lunch.”
With that I’m on my own.
Chapter 25
When I step into the classroom, I shudder. Not because of the teacher or the fifteen other kids in the room. It’s the room itself. It looks almost identical to the one Dr. Ling kept me in, except it’s cleaner and populated with desks. There’s the chalkboard on one wall and the cursive letters posted up by the ceiling. Even the windows are in the same locations, though not boarded up. Before my eyes the desks, students, and teacher disappear and I’m back in that grimy room, where the only light comes from cracks between the boards over the window.
“Are you all right?” a woman asks. I think at first it’s Qiang. Then I remember Qiang is dead. She died to get Maddy and me out of that awful place.
I blink a couple of times and see a white woman with curly brown hair. Her glasses are the same shape as mine, only a more fashionable black. She wears a turtleneck sweater and a long skirt that seems old-fashioned, like something one of my teachers back in the ‘60s would wear. This woman is definitely not Qiang. “I’m fine,” I mumble.
She takes me by the shoulders to steer me into the center of the room and then turns me so I can face my new classmates. Most of them are white, with one black girl and two Middle Eastern boys. With an Asian girl in me, my class has most of the diversity rainbow covered.
My new teacher bends down to say in my ear, “I’ll bet you’re our new student, Stacey, aren’t you?” The perky way she says this is with the same condescension as the saleswoman at the glasses store.
“Yes,” I say and look down at the floor.
“OK, Stacey, why don’t you tell the class a little about yourself?”
Much as I don’t want to, I’m sure I don’t have a choice in the matter. “My name is Stacey Chang—” my voice falters as I hear a couple of girls giggle in the back of the room at this.
I’m pretty sure I hear one of them whisper, “Look at those glasses.” That’s accompanied by another round of giggles.
I force myself to go on. “My sister and I just moved here a couple weeks ago to live with our grandparents. We used to live in California with my parents, but they’re dead now.”
Chances Are Omnibus (Gender Swap Fiction) Page 41