Absolutely Almost(45)

            All my notes to Betsy were really helpful hints, I thought. And I left them right where Betsy would be sure to find them, at the very front of her desk, every morning. And I knew Betsy could read them. Betsy was a really good reader.

            Only, for some reason, Betsy never did any of the things that the helpful hints said to do. She kept leaving for lunch at the back of the line, way behind me and all the other cool kids. She kept standing exactly where she always did when Mrs. Chilcoat came in for chorus, and she never sang any fake words.

            I kept leaving the helpful hints, though. A new one in Betsy’s desk every morning. Because if Betsy didn’t figure out how to be cool, then we couldn’t hang out anymore. And I sure did miss hanging out with Betsy.





second best.




            You should run for vice president of the class, Albie,” Darren told me while we were in line for tetherball. It was Candace and Sage playing. Candace was winning.

            “Really?” I said. My stomach was grumbling from only eating my bagel at lunch, not my kimchi. The week before, Nasim said kimchi smelled, and even though Darren told her to shut up, I didn’t want to eat something that smelled anymore. “How come?”

            “Duh, ’cause it’s only the second-best job you can have in the class,” Darren said.

            “What’s the best one?” I asked.

            “President, dummy.” Darren still called me “dummy” sometimes, even though he was my friend now, only he said it while he was laughing and not laughing at me I didn’t think, so I figured maybe it was okay. Even if I didn’t actually like it a whole lot.

            “What does vice president get to do again?” Lizzy asked. Lizzy and Nasim were making bead bracelets while they waited for tetherball. “Is that the calendar one?”

            “No, secretary makes the birthday calendar,” Sage told her. He jumped up to hit the tetherball but missed and Candace got it instead. Whack! “Vice president switches off the computers at the end of class and makes sure all the lights are turned off when we leave the room. Treasurer takes the hot lunch count to the office, and safety officer carries the first aid kit in fire drills.”

            “The president is the one who takes attendance,” Darren said, stepping up next to play tetherball after Candace whacked Sage out. “That’s the one I’m going to be.”

            That made me confused. “How do you know you’re going to be president if nobody’s voted yet?”

            “Duh,” Darren said as he held up the ball to serve, and Sage snorted as he passed me to go to the back of the line. “Who else do you think would win it?”

            “I don’t know,” I said. “I think Aleef would be pretty good at taking attendance, or Grace, or—” I stopped talking because I realized no one was playing tetherball. Instead, Darren and Sage and Candace and Nasim and Lizzy were all looking at me funny. That’s when I realized that Darren hadn’t really been asking me a question. “You’d be a good president,” I said to Darren. That seemed like the right thing to say.

            Darren nodded when I said that, so I knew it was right. He held the tetherball up again to serve. “Thanks. And you’d be an awesome VP.” I smiled at that. “I’ll make sure no one else runs so you’ll win for sure. Then we can be in charge together.” And that time he whacked the tetherball good and hard.

            That made me feel good, and while I waited in line for my turn at tetherball, I started to wonder why I’d been thinking before that turning off the lights was a stupid job. It was going to be a great job. I was going to be awesome at it.





a note

in my desk.




            Stop leaving dumb notes in my desk. I don’t want to talk to you.

            That was what the note said that I found in my desk Friday morning.