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Just Kidding

Page 15

by Annie Bryant


  She said no more but rapped on the podium for quiet.

  Charlotte glanced at Isabel. Thank goodness her friend had been publicly cleared of all the awful things other people thought she had done. Anna’s jealous bid for attention had proved Isabel’s innocence. Charlotte herself felt relieved. Isabel was safe. Now, if she only knew where Miss Pierce had gone to, life would be back to normal again.

  She turned to say something to Katani, but Katani was no longer there.

  Without a word to anyone, Katani had left in the middle of the assembly. Charlotte stared at the empty seat next to her.

  What in the world is going on?

  CHAPTER

  18

  The Spirit Brigade

  Suddenly Katani, looking confident, was standing by Mrs. Fields next to the microphone on the stage. “Whoa, check it out!” Avery elbowed Charlotte, who looked up to see Katani onstage.

  “What’s she doing?” Isabel wondered.

  “Whatever it is, Katani definitely doesn’t have stage fright,” Maeve whispered, filled with pride for her tall, stylish friend. Katani’s outfit was to die for. The Kgirl had on her embroidered jeans with a shimmery orange top that sparkled as she walked across the stage.

  The students quieted down when Mrs. Fields raised her hand, and Katani stepped forward to speak. “Hi, I’m Katani Summers and I’m in seventh grade in Ms. Rodriguez’s homeroom. I’m here to ask you a question. Has anybody ever made a joke about you and then said, ‘Just kidding!’…only it wasn’t a funny joke at all—it was something that hurt? If so, raise your hand.”

  There was a long hesitation and a flutter of sound, and then, slowly, most of the hands in the room went up.

  Katani took a look around the auditorium, nodded, and continued. “It feels pretty awful, doesn’t it? And somebody saying ‘just kidding’ doesn’t make it better, even if that person says he or she is your BFF. The truth is, saying ‘just kidding’ is a great way to say something rotten to someone and then try to pretend you didn’t mean it. It’s like being able to get away with something, because you have this magic phrase that’s supposed to make everything okay. And what makes it even worse is that whoever tells the joke expects you to laugh along with them, after they’ve said or done something really nasty. And if you don’t laugh along, then you hear something like, ‘Come on, dude. It was just a joke. Can’t you take a joke?’ Right?”

  Katani paused and took a deep breath. Every eye in the auditorium was on her. “Well, from now on, nobody at Abigail Adams is allowed to be ‘just kidding’ about anything mean anymore.” She paused again. “And because a lot of us got really carried away with this ‘just kidding’ stuff, Mrs. Fields is canceling the big Spirit Week dance.”

  There was a gasp from the audience.

  Katani raised her hand. “Just kidding!”

  The audience burst out laughing, but the laughter was uncomfortable, and people were glancing around at each other to see how other people in the room were taking the joke.

  Katani nodded. “Not funny, right? Well, today I’m introducing a new magic phrase to Abigail Adams. Check it out: It’s the ‘No Joke Zone.’ The next time someone makes a joke that’s hurtful and says ‘just kidding,’ you can say, ‘No joke zone.’ And what that means is that what the person said is not okay with you. Whoever said ‘just kidding’ then says they’re sorry for making the joke, and that’s all. End of discussion. That way, a joke doesn’t have a chance to hurt anyone, and you don’t have to laugh along at something that you don’t think is funny at all.”

  She waited until the auditorium quieted down. “For instance, tonight everybody has to write a five hundred–word essay on the ‘No Joke Zone’ for homework.”

  Maeve jumped out of her seat and yelled, “No joke zone!”

  Katani nodded as the rest of the students laughed. “Right. Sorry. I should know better than to make a joke about something like that.”

  The students laughed again, and Katani went on. “You know, my older sisters went to school here and they told me all about how much they loved Spirit Week. They said that the students really got into it and competed with each other to show the most spirit for their school and their class. So I’ve been waiting what seems like forever for my own Spirit Week. And you know something? It’s been a real letdown. This Spirit Week hasn’t been fun at all. We’ve had spirit, all right, but it’s been the wrong kind—mean e-mail and gossip and rumors and jokes about people who were totally innocent and who never had a chance to defend themselves. The truth is, we all got caught up in a weird kind of excitement this week…and some of us did some very uncool things.”

  The room was very quiet. Katani went on talking, looking into the faces of her classmates as she spoke. “Spirit Week isn’t about who’s going out with who, or who broke up with who, or who gave back whose hoodie. This is supposed to be about students coming together, being part of this school and being proud of it, and showing especially what makes you happy and what makes you proud to be who you are.

  “What makes me happy and proud is my family, my friends, and especially my sister Kelley. She’s someone who really knows the meaning of Spirit Week, and she and her friends have put something special together that will show us all what makes her one of the most spirited people I know. Kelley taught me that you don’t need a whole week to find what gives you spirit. Whatever helps you be you…that’s what gives you spirit. So here,” Katani stepped aside and held out her arm, “for the first time ever, is the Abigail Adams Spirit Brigade!”

  The doors to the auditorium burst open, and in marched Kelley with a dozen other kids from her class, all smiling and excited. At the head of the group was the band teacher, and behind them came a small group of eighth-grade students playing instruments and shaking tambourines. Everyone could feel the thump-thump-thump of the drums vibrating through their seats. Band members were playing flutes, trumpets, trombones, and even a tuba. It was a real “spirit” parade!

  Kelley and the students from her class marched around the auditorium with their favorite stuffed animals and a variety of posters. Some had movie posters; a few carried posters of their favorite sports teams; others held up posters they had drawn or painted themselves.

  The group marched up onto the stage and stopped, standing in a straight line, their eyes shining. As the band teacher nodded, each one in turn stepped to the microphone and spoke into it. “Spirit is…the Red Sox!” shouted the first boy. He waved his fist in the air and yelled, “Go, Red Sox! Yeah!”

  Avery jumped up and pumped her fist, “Red Sox forever!” she shouted. Charlotte, Maeve, and Isabel watched from their seats as the audience started to stir and respond to this unbridled enthusiasm.

  A second student from Kelley’s class walked proudly to the microphone. “The Sound of Music is my favorite movie!” she cried happily. There was applause from some of the girls in the audience. Maeve yelled out, “It’s my favorite, too!” Charlotte and Isabel clapped enthusiastically. Charlotte was inspired. I like this spirit. She smiled as she grasped Isabel’s hand.

  Each student who had marched in the parade took a turn at the microphone, clutching his or her stuffed animal or poster or instrument and speaking about what gave them spirit. Some were funny; others touching. The applause from the audience got louder and louder.

  “Everyone loves it!” Isabel exclaimed, looking at the students who had been sullen and silent just a short time ago.

  Charlotte nodded. “I guess everyone’s realizing that it’s really more fun to be excited than to put people down,” she surmised. Charlotte had already learned a lot about “negative spirit” during this week at Abigail Adams…and she was glad it was almost over.

  The last student at the microphone was Kelley. Clutching Mr. Bear tightly, she stood at the microphone. “My spirit is…Mr. Bear.” She gave him a squeeze and held him up proudly for everyone to see. Everyone clapped, but Kelley shook her head and yelled, “I’m not finished yet! I have more spirit!” and looke
d at her sister. “My sister Katani.” Katani smiled at her and waved. “And my best friend, my very best friend, Charlotte.” She looked into the audience until she caught Charlotte’s eye. Then she gave a little bow and walked off.

  To the thump-thump-thump of the drums and the brass instruments playing a lively tune, Kelley’s class marched onto the stage for one final round of applause. The eighth graders who had joined the parade each grabbed the hand of a student from Kelley’s class and raised it in the air. They had electrified the other students and completely lifted everyone’s sinking spirits. There were whistles and hoots and a few tears from some of the teachers.

  Charlotte was deeply touched that Kelley had mentioned her, and now she blinked away a little tear. Avery gave her a bewildered look. Charlotte just shrugged. “Kelley is so cool,” she mumbled as she clapped with the rest of the audience.

  Avery nodded. “Those kids totally turned things around today! I just wish they’d had their march before Sports Day,” Avery shouted over the applause.

  “At least the dance’ll be better,” Maeve added, leaning forward to talk to them.

  Charlotte shook her head. “How can it be?”

  Maeve looked puzzled. “Well, everyone already has lots more spirit. What do you mean?”

  “Maeve, have you forgotten? There’s one little problem with the dance. The boys voted in the Under the Sea theme, but no one’s done any work on it yet. Everyone’s been too wrapped up in all the other stuff that’s happened.”

  They all looked at each other. Charlotte was so right. Even seeing Ms. R hurry Chase Finley out of the auditorium didn’t make them feel better. Even Kevin’s apologetic glance at Isabel didn’t make everything okay again. Spirit Week wouldn’t really be saved unless the big dance was a special night to remember.

  CHAPTER

  19

  A Hero’s Welcome

  Charlotte was still thinking hard about the dance and how they could possibly salvage it when she got home from school and went up to her room. She had to finish her Sentinel article today if it was to be published in the next issue of the paper. Of course, Jennifer would probably hate it and pull it out of the issue. “Oh well,” Charlotte said with a sigh. Writing the story had made Charlotte feel good, even if no one else would see it.

  Quickly, she turned on her computer to write the last paragraphs of the article and to see if maybe there was any news about Miss Pierce. The computer booted up and Charlotte clicked on her Internet icon; she had set it to the homepage of the Boston Globe so she could check out interesting headlines whenever she logged onto her computer.

  Today, however, when the Globe’s homepage loaded and Charlotte glanced at it, she stopped cold. Her eyes widened. Then she ran out of her room and shouted at the top of her lungs, “DAD! DAAAAD! Come up here right now! Hurry!”

  Her father took the stairs three at a time. Charlotte’s cries had frightened him badly. “What is it? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he panted as he tore into her room.

  Charlotte pointed a shaking finger at the computer screen. “Look! Do you believe this? I was right! Can you believe it?!”

  They both stared at the screen. There, in a huge photo spread at the center of the Globe homepage, was Miss Pierce, standing next to an elderly gentleman in the Oval Office and shaking hands with none other than the President of the United States!!

  Charlotte and her dad began to read….

  RETIRED SCIENTISTS AVERT SPACE SHUTTLE DISASTER

  To friends and neighbors around Beacon Street, Sapphire Pierce is a sweet, quiet lady who lives on Corey Hill and generally keeps to herself. Miss Pierce remarked, “I’ve always loved looking at the stars…perhaps because things here on Earth are often overwhelming to me. Little things—like going to buy fruit or groceries—are difficult for me.” But little did Sapphire Pierce know that everything was about to change.

  Enter Dr. Peaker Townsend. When Dr. Townsend was a professor at MIT ten years ago, he published three books and over twenty articles about the increasingly concerning situation plaguing the universe today known as “space debris.” Lately Dr. Townsend has been spending his time “just hitting a bucket of balls, eating ham sandwiches, and playing with my grandchildren.” When it came to the issue of space debris, Dr. Townsend stated, “I thought the chapter of my life where I studied the stars was over. What I learned was studying the stars was more than just a chapter. Pretty soon I was star-gazing again as a hobby. That’s when I discovered Betty.”

  No, Betty is not a woman and Betty is not a star. Betty is the code name Dr. Townsend penned for a defunct satellite that he began tracking every night. “Betty started out as sort of a game,” Dr. Townsend noted, “but when she became potentially dangerous, I knew I couldn’t sit on this information any longer.” Dr. Townsend realized that Betty was headed right into the projected path of a space shuttle’s upcoming launch. If the shuttle launch was not postponed, there would be a ten-to-one chance the satellite would scratch the heat shield of the shuttle and destroy it, causing the shuttle to burn up as it entered space.

  Dr. Townsend called on the most talented and meticulous astronomer he knew—an old co-worker at the MIT labs—Miss Sapphire Pierce. “If there was one person who could keep my secret safe it was Sapphire. We’d collaborated before on several projects and theories. She’s smart as a whip. And funny too.” The one problem? Dr. Townsend wasn’t sure whether or not he could convince his onetime partner to venture out of the house. “I was confident, though. I had a feeling that once Sapphire learned the gravity of the situation she would cave. And I was right.”

  “It wasn’t just Peaker who convinced me,” Sapphire added. “It was the confidence of my close friends…especially one fellow star-gazer. I knew it was important to be brave and do what I loved. And I knew I could do it.”

  Miss Pierce and Dr. Townsend worked around the clock for a week until they had enough material to present to NASA. Since then, it has been one great adventure after another for these onetime retirees. Not only did Dr. Townsend and Miss Pierce save the lives of all the astronauts on the shuttle, but they were invited to the White House to accept a special medal for their bravery and pursuit of truth. What’s next for these two? Miss Pierce responded, “I don’t know…and I’m starting to think that’s the fun part.”

  “Well, who woulda thunk it!” Mr. Ramsey exclaimed, thunderstruck. “Miss Pierce is a genuine hero!”

  “Miss Pierce is a real hero!” Charlotte agreed with her father, awestruck at this development. “Imagine…she hasn’t been out of the house in years, and now she’s telling NASA how to fix its mistakes–and then meeting with the President! I can’t wait to tell her how proud I am of her!” She leaned over to read another article on the front page, one about Miss Pierce herself and her life here in Brookline.

  Her father glanced out the window. “Well, I have a feeling you’ll be able to do that sooner than you think. Look out there!”

  Charlotte turned away from the computer and followed her father’s gaze out the window. A long black car slowed to a stop in front of their house, and out stepped Miss Pierce, looking a little flushed and tired, but otherwise smiling!

  Immediately surrounding her were serious-faced men in black suits and dark glasses, and swarming all over the lawn were reporters with cameras and microphones!

  “Oh, boy!” Charlotte whispered to her father. “This is the kind of thing Maeve would love, but how do you think Miss Pierce will handle it? She looks overwhelmed.”

  Just then, Yuri came running up the street, bags of apples in both hands. He must have seen the car pass his stand, because he went straight for the yellow Victorian, dropped the bags on the lawn, pushed his way through the hovering reporters, and wrapped Miss Pierce in a big bear hug, twirling her around.

  Charlotte and her dad looked at each other and burst out laughing. Never in a million years would they have predicted the scene in front of them—little Miss Pierce being hugged by the big burly Russian grocer. Wh
en Yuri stopped hugging Miss Pierce, Miss Pierce turned even pinker, then threw her arms around Yuri, and hugged him back! A wide-eyed Charlotte wondered, Could it really be true—is there something going on between Miss Pierce and Yuri?”

  “I better go tell the BSG,” Charlotte told her father when they both stopped laughing. “I know they’ll be relieved that Miss Pierce is home.”

  CHAPTER

  20

  Stand Up for Spirit

  At the Spirit Week breakfast the next morning, Betsy explained to the BSG her new idea to save the school dance. Encouraged by their interested faces, Betsy pulled out a notebook filled with ideas. Avery faked a coughing fit to cover up her laughter when she saw it. It was such typical Betsy stuff—lists and more lists!

  “Is this what you were talking about online last night,” Maeve asked her immediately, “about us inspiring you?”

  “Yes!” Betsy declared, looking at each of them in turn. “I really had an epiphany!” To no one in particular, she explained, “It’s kind of a flash-of-light moment—like the heavens opening up—and suddenly you recognize something important.”

  “Gee, thanks, Betsy.” Avery winced. The BSG could hear the sarcasm in her voice, but Betsy completely missed it. Charlotte figured Betsy didn’t really mean to be obnoxious. It was just her annoying way of having to share every bit of knowledge she had acquired in her lifetime with those around her.

  “Avery.” She nodded at Avery first, who smiled back at her. “You had such a great attitude during Sports Day, when the boys were just ruining everything. And Maeve, you kept campaigning for the Birdland theme for the dance even when everybody else shouted you down.” Maeve turned pink, but she also smiled. “But most of all I learned what dignity really means from Isabel, who kept her head up and behaved really admirably when everyone was saying mean things that weren’t even true.” Isabel dropped her eyes, but after all the rotten things that had happened that week, Betsy’s praise did feel good.

 

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