Maybe I cleaned my room really fast, but I didn’t even want to do that. I didn’t know how I would ever do anything really important in my life while just being plain and ordinary. “How can I do anything great without any powers?”
“The same way everyone else does, Felix. You try.” She smiled and kissed me on my cheek before getting up and leaving my room.
I felt kind of empty inside. It was like I was hungry, but my tummy wasn’t growling or anything. Something was missing that I knew was supposed to be there.
Because I knew that I wasn’t really a superhero, I didn’t know what I was supposed to tell Ms. Hucklebee about what made me special, and I didn’t know what I had that was supposed to make me better than Brock.
I didn’t know what to do, so I put my covers back over my head. I guess I was more tired than what I thought, because I took a nap. Mom could barely wake me up for dinner, but she made me get up so I could take some medicine after I had eaten some food.
We were pretty quiet at the dinner table. I think Dad thought it was Mom’s fault that I got hurt. They didn’t get upset with each other that much, but I didn’t like when they did. Mom looked sad, so maybe she thought it was her fault. I didn’t want her to feel bad, so I said something. “I know it was my fault.”
“What was your fault?” she asked.
“That I got hurt.”
I don’t know why, but that made her look even sadder. “No, Baby.” She patted me on my lap. “It’s nobody’s fault. It just happened.”
“Let him take the responsibility,” Dad said. “It shows character.” He smiled. “He’s growing up.”
I liked that he smiled. He didn’t smile a whole lot, so it was nice. It was still kind of scary, but nice. What I didn’t like was that he wanted me to grow up. I didn’t understand what was so wrong with me little.
I was growing up, and I didn’t even mean to. I had to stop it somehow. “Dad, I don’t wanna go to school tomorrow.”
“You have to,” he said.
“But my head hurts!” I said.
“It will heal. It’s only bruised.” He seemed so big and far away sitting far across the table from me and Mom. I don’t think he cared that my head hurt.
Mom was different though. I knew she cared. “Maybe you can stay home for a day or two,” she said.
Dad shook his head. “Consequences have actions. Felix has to go to school.”
I pushed my plate away and crossed my arms. I didn’t want to go to school. I didn’t want to grow up. I didn’t want to have consequences. I didn’t want Brock to make fun of me for hurting my head! “No!” I yelled.
“Felix!” Mom was surprised and a little mad. I wasn’t very scared of what she was gonna do. She didn’t really punish me. Dad was the one I was scared of.
He didn’t do anything at first. He didn’t make an angry face, and he wouldn’t get sad about something like that. His face was still as rock for forever. Then, he pushed his chair back and got out of his seat.
I knew I was in trouble then, but I was too frozen to uncross my arms. I should have gotten up and run away to my room, but my legs forgot how to run. Instead, I leaned back farther and farther into my chair.
I thought Mom would protect me, but she got out of the way. Then I knew that nothing could stop him from whatever he was about to do.
Dad didn’t start yelling. He didn’t look angry. He smiled, and it was way scarier than his angry face. Then he bent his knees so he could look in my eyes. “Felix, you don’t have to go to school if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t?” I was surprised. Dad never, ever changed his mind about anything before.
“No, you don’t.” Then he started rubbing my arms. “But if you don’t go to school, you have to go to work with me.”
My eyes got real big. I didn’t know that if I skipped school I would have to go to work. I thought that came after school. “Why?” I yelled.
“Because children go to school and adults go to work. If you want to be an adult, that’s what you’ll do.” Then he stopped smiling. “But I warn you, I’m going to work you, and you will regret not doing the things children are supposed to do.”
I gulped. I had been in his office. He had lots of scary things there. His office had needles and drills, and kids always, always cried. The nurses put people to sleep; then they’d close the doors, and I would never see them again! I hated going there.
Then he moved his eyebrows funny. One went up and one went down. He usually made that face when he wanted something. “Are you going to school?”
I put my head down in defeat. “Yes.”
“Good.” He smiled. “Now go brush your teeth.”
I remembered how to move again, so I ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I always brushed three times a day, three times each. Dad was really picky about it. If I didn’t do it right, he wouldn’t let me have any candy.
When I was brushing, I wanted to cry. I had to go to school, and I was still growing up! There was no way to get out of it.
Mom said I could do anything I wanted to, but I had already been defeated more than one time in one day. I didn’t feel very special at all. I felt powerless.
Chapter 6
I didn’t bother trying to get out of going to school. If I had my choice between work and coloring, coloring won.
I felt different when Dad pulled up to the school. I remembered what it felt like to have all those kids laughing at me. What kind of people laughed when someone got hurt? They were mean! I couldn’t make mean people like me, and I really didn’t want to be their friends either.
I didn’t know what I was gonna do, besides what Mom told me. I would try.
When I put my hand on the door, Dad turned around. “Have a good day, Felix.”
It made me smile, because he did really care about me. “I’ll try, Dad.”
Dad gave me something. I don’t think he realized it, but he did. Mom told me one time that confidence lived in a smile. I felt really good about myself when Dad talked to me. It made me feel better about going to class. Maybe my classmates wouldn’t remember what had happened anyway. Mom put a hat on my head. No one could see that I had a scratch and a bruise.
When I got to class, Ms. Hucklebee smiled at me like it was the beginning of the first day. “Morning, Felix.”
I already felt better. “Morning, Ms. Hucklebee.”
I barely even cared that I had to sit next to Cootie Girl. She was still watching me, but I knew how to be careful. As long as I didn’t talk to her, touch her, or even look at her much, I wouldn’t get her deadly disease.
Not looking at her was hard. She wouldn’t stop looking at me. I thought I had something stuck on my face, but I felt it three times to check. She was just weird. I was just gonna ignore her.
“Do you feel better, Felix?” she asked.
Oh no! She remembered what happened! “Um…” If she remembered, then everyone else did. I felt stupid, but I was gonna stay as calm as possible. “I feel okay.”
“That’s good.” Then she finally looked away and covered her face. I think her cooties were beginning to show, because her face got really, really red.
I scooted my chair away before they came out to get me.
Brock came late to class, and Ms. Hucklebee stopped him before he came through the door. “You can’t wear that hat, Brock. It’s against the school rules.”
Brock had on a blue cap that matched his shirt. He frowned when she told him. He then saw me in the class and glared. “But Felix has a hat on!”
I pulled my hat down farther on my head. I didn’t want Brock or anybody to know about my bruise. He’d never leave me alone!
“Felix is a special circumstance,” Ms. Hucklebee said.
Brock glared even more and pointed at me. “He gets special attention just because he’s stupid?”
Then a few of Brock’s friends started to laugh. It sounded like the loudest sound in the whole world. I sunk my head down and waited for it to go
away, but it didn’t.
Ms. Hucklebee’s mouth dropped and she gasped. “Brock!” she yelled. “You don’t say things like that!” She snatched up Brock’s hand and led him out into the hallway and shut the door.
Seeing Brock get in trouble did feel good. Evil doers needed to be punished. But when Ms. Hucklebee and Brock were gone, everyone was looking at me, and all I wanted to do was disappear.
When she came back inside, she was alone. I wondered what happened to Brock all day, but at least he was in trouble!
I still didn’t like school. Cootie Girl was always staring at me, and I didn’t feel like doing my work. Then the other kids were being weird to me. None of the boys really wanted to play with me, and they looked at me funny. The girls were nicer, but they were too nice. I didn’t want to play with girls and take the chance of getting sick.
When recess came, I didn’t want to go outside and play with all the other kids. Too many people would remember me as the stupid kid who thought he could break the tether ball pole. When Ms. Hucklebee led us outside, I was the last one out the door, and I didn’t follow the line when they went outside.
“What’s the matter, Felix? Don’t you want to play with your friends?”
I looked down at my shoes. “I don’t have any friends.”
Ms. Hucklebee put her finger under my chin and lifted my head up. “You should try to make some, Felix.”
I looked outside at all the kids starting to play and have fun, but I just couldn’t do it. Those kids made fun of me the day before. They would make fun of me again. “Can I stay with you, Ms. Hucklebee?”
“I have work to do, Felix.”
“Please!” I didn’t care what I had to do. I just didn’t want to go back on the playground. “I’ll help you. I help my mom all the time.”
I’m not sure if she wanted to say yes, but I knew she didn’t want to say no. “Okay, Felix.” She took my hand and led me back to the classroom. From then on, I was her helper. She asked me to help her clean up and pass out papers. I even helped her pass out some juice and animal crackers. She really had a lot to do. I don’t know how she would have got it all done by herself.
A few minutes before recess, Ms. Hucklebee sat down with me in the reading area on the beanie chairs to talk. “You know, I used to not have any friends either.”
“Why?” I didn’t understand. She was so nice and pretty that I could have listened to her all day.
“Because I was a little, weird girl. I was very smart, but I was very sensitive. My feelings were hurt very easily, and when someone teased me, I would go home and cry.”
I guess Ms. Hucklebee must have been really different when she was little. I wanted to be different somehow too. “How did you make people stop laughing?” I asked.
She shrugged her shoulders. “You can’t.” Then she smiled. “You have to laugh with them.”
I didn’t like what she was saying, and it didn’t make any sense. I wasn’t gonna laugh at myself. I had enough people laughing already.
“It’s like their super power, Felix.” She poked me in my chest. “If you show them that their laughing doesn’t hurt you, then it takes away their power and makes you stronger.”
I guess it made sense. If they couldn’t hurt my feelings, I would become indestructible.
I really liked talking to and spending time with Ms. Hucklebee. I couldn’t be with my mom while I was at school, but Ms. Hucklebee was just as nice as my mom. I hated when recess was over, because that’s when all the other kids came back in the room and we couldn’t be alone anymore. She was the only part of my school day that I really liked.
When school was over, I waited outside on the steps until Dad came to pick me up. Mom said he liked to be on time for everything, but he was always late picking me up. I heard some kids laughing from far away, and I just knew they were laughing at me. I didn’t see them looking at me, but I just figured.
Then when I finally saw my dad pull up, somebody shoved me in the back and knocked me down. I landed on my hands and scraped them. It hurt, but I wasn’t gonna cry.
Then I looked up and saw that it was Brock who had pushed me. “Crybaby, cry! Cry!” he yelled.
I wanted to hit him, but he ran away and my dad was watching me. I was so embarrassed! I wished my dad wouldn’t have seen me get knocked down.
I lay down across the seat as soon as I got inside the car. “Can we please go home?”
Dad didn’t say anything. He probably felt embarrassed about his son being picked on. Nobody ever picked on him. Everybody respected him. When we had a party, all the grownups always asked, “When are you gonna grow up and be like your dad, Felix?” Everybody thought he was the best person in the world.
When we got home, Dad got out of the car from his door and then got in the back next to me. I had never seen him in the back. It was really weird. “Felix…”
“Yes, Sir?” I was a little scared of him and didn’t know why.
“Are you being picked on at school?”
I didn’t want to tell him. “A little bit.” I put my head down. “Brock made fun of me yesterday, and he got in trouble today for making fun of me again.”
“Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I think so.” My hands did hurt, but Mom would make it all better.
Dad looked really sad. “I used to get picked on when I was your age.”
“Really?” I looked up at Dad. He was humongous when he stood next to me or Mom. He was taller than most of Mom’s brothers too.
I think he laughed, but I don’t think his mouth moved at all. “I was a very goofy kid, Felix.”
Mom showed me some pictures of my dad before. I didn’t really believe that he could have ever been so small. He looked real serious in those pictures. I never saw him playing. When I was little, I used to tell myself that my dad was too busy beating up monsters to play tag or video games. I’m older so I know better now. A kid as small as him couldn’t have beaten up a monster.
I bet if a mad scientist made a shrink ray and made my dad a kid, I could beat him in any fight or game.
For Dad to get that much bigger and stronger, it made me happy. If something that puny could become something big and scary, then I could probably get super powers one day.
“How did you make it stop?” I asked. I needed to know! I really needed to know his secret to success.
Then he shrugged. “I didn’t.”
My eyes bucked. How could he go on through life with people laughing at him? I couldn’t believe it. No one laughed at Dad. Nobody! He was too important.
“I was odd all throughout my entire school career.” Dad did his creepy laugh again. “Kids don’t change, so I had to change. Instead of crying and complaining about all the kids making fun of me, I remembered one thing that was very important.”
I was so excited to learn the secret that would take down all the evils of the world. “What?” I asked.
Then he smiled for real, like a normal person. “That one day, I was gonna grow up and when that day came, I would be more successful than all of them. They would wish that they were me. That’s more satisfaction than giving someone a scrape.”
I looked down at my hands. They stung and I knew I could take it, but I didn’t want to have to go through that every day until I grew up. I didn’t want to have a reason to want to grow up. “What happened to your bullies?” I asked.
He smiled so big, that I knew his answer was probably the best thing to do. “They write me big checks, and I cash them to buy you toys.”
I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I got older—if I had to get older. I didn’t know if I’d like doing what he did, but I would like to be able to always buy toys. “So I shouldn’t fight?”
He squinted his eyes and thought. “Fighting isn’t always the answer. Your mom wouldn’t like it.”
I frowned. I didn’t want Mom to be upset, but I knew I was different than that scrawny little image of Dad in the photograph. I was bigger and stronger
, and I knew I could make Brock cry if I had to.
Then Dad said, “I’m not gonna tell you not to defend yourself, Felix. Good boys don’t throw the first punch, but they can finish the fight.”
I smiled and hugged my dad. “Thank you.”
Then he hugged me back. “I’m your father, Felix. This is what I’m supposed to do.”
When we went in the house, Mom was really upset when I told her what happened. She put some medicine and a bandage on my hands, and I felt pretty good, even if she didn’t. I knew I was gonna be okay. Dad told me that I could fight if I needed to. I wasn’t scared of Brock, and I wasn’t gonna let anybody push me around. I had to stand up for myself or else I wouldn’t have a choice but to do what Dad said: grow up.
Chapter 7
When Mom woke me up the next morning for school, I had a special request. “Can you make me some spinach for breakfast?”
She blinked a whole bunch before answering. “You want spinach?”
“Please, Mom. Please!”
She was confused, but I wasn’t gonna explain my master plan to her. “Okay, as long as you’re eating vegetables.”
I hated spinach. I thought it was yucky, but Mom told me that if I ate spinach, I would be strong like Popeye. Of course I didn’t believe her, but when I finally tried it, Dad told me to hit him in the stomach and he fell down. I knew that some of the games that I played with Mom might have been fishy, but Dad didn’t play with me. That meant that spinach could make you super strong.
I wasn’t eating spinach because I was scared of Brock or anything, but he had a lot of friends. I wanted to make sure that it would be an easy fight.
When Dad came into the kitchen and saw that Mom was making spinach, he laughed. Then he told Mom, “Why don’t you make Felix and I some eggs too?” Dad winked at me when Mom wasn’t looking, and I understood that he was trying to help me.
“Yeah, Mom. I want some eggs.”
“Okay,” she said.
Then Dad got the milk out of the refrigerator and poured me a glass. “Wash it all down with this, Felix.”
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