Perk laughed. “I can’t really see how knowing that Ray pictures himself as an apple pie will help plan a prank, but whatever. At least we’ll know what kinds of dessert to get on Sunday.”
Adam scrolled through all the files in the yearbook folder. “Here’s the eighth-grade baby pictures,” he said, and clicked on it. “We can see what everyone’s parents said about them.”
Perk didn’t answer, though Adam heard him crunching down on something on the other end. “I gotta go. Tommy is dying to play Sorry! for the ninetieth time tonight. You’ll have to reminisce about the time that you were cute alone.”
“Whatever. See ya.”
“See ya.”
Adam clicked off the phone and first went to see what dessert they thought they were. Perk was right about Ray; he was a piece of apple pie. Pearl, a cinnamon roll, and Dutch was molten lava cake. Perk, of course, was a giant chocolate chip cookie. Adam looked at his, making sure he’d put down “donuts.” Check.
He then scrolled down to the file labeled “Eighth-Grade Baby Pictures.” He hadn’t seen what his parents had uploaded yet. He clicked on his. The picture was one he’d forgotten about. He was all chubby baby fat, sitting on the beach, his hair a curly mess on top of his head and a big toothless grin on his face. It looked like there was drool hanging out of his mouth. Gross. His parents had submitted the caption, “We love you, Adam. We’re so proud of the baby you were, the boy that you are, and the man you are becoming.” His parents could be cheeseballs when it came to stuff like this, but he still smiled.
Adam moved down and found Dutch’s picture. He wasn’t a baby, but older, probably in elementary school. He was sitting in an older woman’s lap, smiling. Or maybe he was squinting. When did his tic start? Did his grandparents wonder what was happening when they saw him squint over and over again for the first time?
The woman was smiling down at him. Beneath the picture was written, “Your Grammie is looking down in love on you. I love you, too.”
It wasn’t signed, but it must be from his grandpa.
He continued to scroll until he came to Perk. Perkins Benjamin Irving. He laughed at the tiny version of his friend. It was one of the few pictures that just had him in it. Most of them were with Tommy outside or with Tommy on the couch or with Tommy anywhere, Perk’s arm always wrapped around his brother’s shoulder. This picture was of just Perk sitting in the grass, a lollipop in his hand and his red hair sticking out everywhere. Underneath the picture were the words, “Mazel tov.”
Just then, the cursor moved on its own, down to the same picture, and lingered on the words. Perk was looking at his picture and the caption, too. What did he think of what they’d said? Was he glad that they sent in anything at all? Perk’s cursor disappeared from the screen. He’d gotten off.
Adam sighed and found Ray’s. He generally thought most babies looked the same and were all generally cute, and Ray was no different. He was chubby and looking at the camera with the surprised expression that most babies have. There wasn’t a caption underneath, and Adam cringed when he saw that Ray had actually uploaded his own picture for the yearbook.
Bummer.
Last but not least, Adam went down to the W’s and found Pearl’s picture. Even as a baby, she was pretty much perfect. Her hair pulled back into two black fuzzy pigtails on her head, her smile wide over perfect baby teeth. Her parents had written, “We love you, Pearl. We can’t wait to see what you do and how high you soar. You’ll always be our Bear! Love always and forever, Mom and Dad.”
Adam closed the files and leaned back in his chair.
There wasn’t anything in the pictures or captions that should make him feel any better about asking them to join in on the prank, but for some reason he did feel better. For some reason they were more real now.
And he liked that.
CHAPTER 17
Perk
His heart was in his throat.
Tommy rushed up the walkway to Adam’s house and began pushing the doorbell. Tommy loved doorbells … a lot. That was probably one of the reasons why Tommy loved trick-or-treating so much—lots of dinging and ringing. Adam was most likely standing just behind the door. He knew how much Tommy liked to ring it, and so he usually waited for the eighth or ninth ring before opening it up.
One, two, three, four, Perk counted, hoping to swallow down the uneasiness that was still creeping up his throat. If anything went wrong with Tommy and one of the others, they’d have to find all new people to help. But then if everything went well with Tommy, he’d be officially friends with them, right? It all hinged on them being kind to Tommy.
Adam opened the door and smiled. “Hey, Tommy. Perk.”
“Hey,” Perk said. He stepped through the front door into the house that was always just slightly messy—shoes askew, papers stacked on the kitchen counter, family pictures crooked on the refrigerator held up by bright orange Bakers’ Place magnets. Perk felt himself relax.
At his house, just before seven-thirty, when his parents usually walked through the door, Perk went from room to room, picking up anything that Tommy had put out of place and stowing away Tommy’s evening crafts, a jumble of popsicle sticks, paint, glue, and if he was really unlucky—glitter.
He didn’t know why his parents cared so much when they were home so little, but he cleaned up either way.
Adam’s house smelled like chocolate chip cookies.
“Hi, Adam,” Tommy said. “Did you hear the doorbell?”
“I did.”
“I love doorbells.” He unzipped his sweatshirt and hung it on one of the hooks by the door. “Hey, it smells like cookies in here. Perk loves cookies. Oh, look, Perk—” Tommy pointed at the table, where there were also cinnamon rolls, apple pie, and, Perk assumed, the molten lava cake that Dutch had put on his survey. Tommy went to the oven. “But is there pizza? Perk said we were gonna have pizza.”
“Of course. French fries, too. And my mom bought you both a bag of sour gummies.”
“Really? Did you hear that, Perk? Our own bags. But can I have all of your reds? I don’t like the yellows. I love the reds. Perk likes the greens.”
“Sure,” Perk said. He didn’t know where Tommy got the idea that he liked the green gummies, but he went along with it.
Adam led the way to the kitchen and handed Tommy the bag of candy and his favorite plate—the white plastic one with a big smiling tomato on the front. Tommy immediately crammed the bag of gummies in his pocket so that his jeans bulged out on one side and then loaded up his plate with food.
Perk hadn’t read Adam’s survey until last night when he’d gotten off the phone with him. Nothing surprised him necessarily, maybe the comment about having “two brothers,” but Perk had known for a long time that that was how Adam thought of he and Tommy. Still, it was nice to see that Adam had typed it out.
It was funny to think of all the things he hadn’t known about his best friend until then, though. Like how his favorite season was fall, and he loved donuts. It was almost like Perk knew both of those things already—Adam always wanted donuts in the morning when they had a sleepover, and he definitely seemed to like fall, but still, Perk had never wondered and never thought to ask.
“You think everyone will come?” Perk asked. He opened the bag of gummies and pulled out a handful, depositing the two reds back in the bag.
“I do.”
Perk nodded. “Now we wait?”
Adam shrugged and leaned up against the counter. “Now we wait.”
Within minutes the doorbell rang.
Perk looked at Adam, who smiled. “And here we go.”
“Are they here, Perk?” Tommy asked. “Are they?”
Perk nodded and grabbed a French fry from off the tray. “Yep. Or at least the first person is here.”
Tommy got up and stood by Perk, who wiped off the small blob of ketchup from Tommy’s red shirt. Luckily the ketchup blended right in. Not like Perk cared if Tommy was spotless, but still.
The front d
oor squeaked open.
“Hey, Ray,” he heard Adam say.
Perk tensed as Ray walked into the kitchen, his eyes first falling onto the food, then to Perk and then to Tommy.
“Hey!” Tommy said, smiling big and wide at Ray. “I know you. You came to Mrs. Pell’s room after school. You moved our red couch over so we could fit in the blue chairs. I miss the red couch where it was. Then we played chess. Remember?”
Perk turned to Ray, stunned.
“’Course I remember. Are they going to try and fix up that classroom anymore?” Ray asked, his voice quiet. “They really should.”
Tommy shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you remember how I won the chess game?”
Ray smiled. “How could I forget?”
“You play chess?” Perk asked.
Ray turned toward Perk. “Yeah, so?”
Perk took a plate and a small step back. “Just wondering.”
Ray loaded his plate and put a big blob of ketchup on the side.
“I like ketchup, too,” Tommy said. He looked up at Perk, a red blob on his cheek. “Hey, Perk, he likes ketchup, too.”
Perk nodded. “Cool.”
And it was.
CHAPTER 18
Ray
“Sit here, Ray! Sit here!” It was Tommy. He pointed to the seat across from him.
Ray grabbed his stuffed plate and walked over to the table. Pearl and Dutch had come in within a few minutes of each other and were sitting in the living room with Adam and Perk. They wouldn’t start talking about everything until he was there, right?
“Look, I went to Adam’s room and got his chess set. We can play, though you better watch out ’cause I might beat you again.” Tommy laughed.
“Okay. Try to take it easy on me though.” Ray sat down across from Tommy and smiled as Tommy arranged both of their pieces on the board.
“Who went first when we played at my school?” Tommy asked.
“I can’t really remember. But you can go ahead.” Tommy shrugged and moved one of his black pawns.
“That’s nice that Adam let you borrow his chessboard.”
“Yeah.” Tommy said this in a “Why wouldn’t he?” sort of way.
“Are you really close to Adam?” Ray asked. He took a bite of pizza and then made his move on the board. Adam and Perk had obviously done their homework on he, Pearl, and Dutch. It was only fair that he do the same to them.
Tommy looked at where he’d moved his piece. “Adam is like my brother, and me and Perk are like his brothers. I love Adam. Not as much as Perk, but I love him.” He moved his bishop and smiled. “Adam says that his house is our house.”
“That’s cool. Does he ever come over to your house?”
“Yeah.” He stopped and moved his rook, taking out one of Ray’s pawns. “But only sometimes. Perk says that our house is big and feels empty even though we have a lot of furniture. Do you get to watch cartoons on Saturday?”
Ray moved his bishop and then took another bite of his pizza. “Not usually. My dad and brother always get to decide what we watch.” He’d lost count of how many times growing up that he’d wanted to watch cartoons but couldn’t because his dad and brother were watching wrestling, a fight, or a car race. He’d never been able to join in the conversations at school about this cartoon or that TV show.
“My mom and dad make me and Perk go to synagogue on Saturday morning even though they don’t go except on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.” He took another one of Ray’s pawns. He really was a good player.
“But sometimes me and Perk come here and we watch cartoons with Adam.” Tommy continued. “But you can’t tell.”
“I won’t.” Ray moved his bishop. “That sounds like fun though.”
“Yeah.” Tommy moved another pawn. “I bet you didn’t know that I have a girlfriend.”
“I didn’t know that,” Ray said. He took Tommy’s pawn. “What’s her name?”
“Her name is Nish. She has long hair and it’s brown. We’re in love.”
“That’s really cool.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No.” Ray moved a piece, not paying much attention. Ray wasn’t any girl’s type. He’d known that ever since second grade when he’d told a girl named Cynthia that he thought she was pretty. “Well, I think you’re ugly,” she’d said back.
He knew that he shouldn’t take it very seriously, but things like that weren’t easy to forget.
“When I grow up, I’m going to have my own apartment and I’m going to ask Nish to marry me and we’ll get a dog because Nish’s dog died. Did you know that?”
“I didn’t. Is she okay?”
“She still cries at school when she thinks about it. One time she came to school crying because some mean boys were barking and whining like dogs in her face. She cried and told them to stop, but they got louder. Mrs. Pell was reeeeeally mad, but Nish didn’t know their names. Sometimes healing from loss takes a long time. That’s what Mrs. Pell says.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she’s right.” His fist clenched on his lap. Was it Hill? It didn’t matter. Whoever it was would feel his fist on their mouths if he ever found out their name.
“Do you have a dog?” Tommy slid his knight from behind his pawn. Ray’s rook was in danger.
“No. But I want to get one someday, too.” He moved his rook and lifted his hand, realizing that Tommy’s bishop was ready to move in.
Tommy grinned and slid his piece across the board, capturing the rook. “Maybe we can take our dogs to the park together.”
“That’d be great.”
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
To anyone else, Ray would’ve said, “A mechanic.” It was what his dad and his pappy and his brother expected. Heck, it was what he expected. But maybe he could tell Tommy what he dreamed of instead. “I’m not exactly sure,” he said. “But I want to build and invent things.”
“Like Legos?”
Ray smiled. “Sure. That’d be fun, wouldn’t it?”
Tommy laughed. “Yeah. I think I want to build and invent things, too.”
“Well, then you can come and work with me.”
“Okay.” He turned to the living room. “Hey, Perk!”
“Yeah?” Perk called back.
“I’m gonna work with Ray when I get older.”
Perk smiled and took a sip from his glass. “That sounds great. You guys almost finished with your game?”
Ray nodded. “Probably just a few more minutes.”
“Why does Dutch do that with his face?” Tommy pointed over at Dutch sitting on the couch and then squinted his face up a few times, imitating him. “Perk says he can’t help it.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“There’s a boy in my class that does that, too. Maybe they’re friends?”
Ray shrugged. He needed to start paying better attention to the board. Tommy was close to getting him into check.
“I know why you’re here,” Tommy said after Ray had moved a piece.
“Really?”
“Yes. Sometimes Perk and Adam don’t think that I’m paying attention to what they’re saying but I am.”
“I bet you’re good at listening.”
“My teacher gives me all stars for listening. Sometimes Bobby gets a check mark, and Mrs. Pell has to tell him to settle down and keep his feet still because he likes to move his feet.” He tapped his toes underneath the table and the pieces jiggled on the board.
“Why are we here?” Ray asked, hoping to hear more of what they’d said.
“Because some people were mean to me. I thought they were my friends but they’re just bullies and you guys are going to help them never do it again.”
“You’re right.” Ray slid his bishop across the board.
“What are you going to do? Check.”
“Oh man.” Ray moved his king. “I don’t know yet.” Tommy brought his queen out and Ray knew the game was over. “But whatever we do,” Ray continued. “It’s g
oing to be what you just did to me.”
Tommy looked at him for a moment and then back down at the board. He searched the squares and then clapped. “Checkmate? Did I win?”
“You did.” He knocked his king down and held out his hand and shook Tommy’s.
Tommy clapped his hands and ran into the living room. “Guess what? I won! I got Ray in checkmate. And you know what Ray said?”
Perk slapped his brother a high five.
“He said you guys were going to do that to the bullies.”
“Do what to them?”
Tommy threw his hands in the air. “Put them in checkmate.”
CHAPTER 19
Pearl
“Why did the stoplight turn red?”
Silence.
“Because it was caught changing in the street.”
Pearl laughed along with the rest of them, Perk turning to explain it to Tommy.
Dutch hadn’t said it just for her. He’d said it to the whole group, but he’d glanced quickly at her and squinted like he usually did, and she thought that maybe he did remember that time back in third grade.
Either way, it felt good to smile. It hadn’t been the best day, or weekend for that matter, and the laugh felt good.
As soon as her dad had walked into the house from his trip yesterday, her parents had gotten into some sort of fight. Pearl didn’t know what it was about—she had shut her door and taken out her violin, playing the pieces for her upcoming concert fast and furious and so loud that their voices were drowned out.
Songs helped her like that, and when she didn’t have to practice pieces for a recital, she played certain songs for different moods.
Right now, sitting with everyone at Adam’s house and hearing Dutch’s joke, “Hobo’s Blues” by Paul Simon played in her head. It was a happy, skipping song that made her forget about her parents fighting. “Hobo’s Blues” had turned into her happy song this past Christmas when her parents took her to see The Music Man and afterward, even though it was eleven-thirty at night, they went to a diner and each ate their own gigantic cinnamon roll and laughed about something she couldn’t even remember.
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