Absolutely Almost(46)

            I didn’t know who the note was from, or why anybody would think it was me leaving dumb notes in their desk. I only left things in Betsy’s desk, and those were super-helpful hints to help her be cool like me.

            I wanted to leave my helpful hint in Betsy’s desk that morning too: Wear the low kind of socks, not the high ones. But Betsy was already sitting at her desk early, so I couldn’t. I put it in her cubby instead.





meet

the kasteevs.




            We went over to Erlan’s apartment to watch the very first episode of their television show on Friday night, me and Mom and Dad. A pilot, that’s what the TV show was called, like it was going to fly an airplane or something.

            Television is weird.

            Erlan’s brothers and sisters all had friends over too, and there were a couple extra adults, so there wasn’t much room. Erlan’s parents brought out folding chairs, but there still weren’t enough for everybody, so a bunch of us kids ended up sitting on the floor. We had popcorn and soda, which normally I wasn’t allowed to drink after dinnertime, but Mom said it was okay just this once. The grown-ups ate veggie sticks.

            “Aren’t you excited?” I asked Erlan. “You’re going to be on TV!”

            He shrugged. He didn’t seem too excited.

            Anyway, I was excited.

            When the show came on, everyone shushed to watch it. At the very beginning, after the title Meet the Kasteevs, they showed Erlan’s parents, really big on the screen, then all the kids, one by one.

            “Alma!” a voice on the screen said. And then there was a shot of Erlan’s big sister Alma cuddling a kitten. It wasn’t the Kasteevs’ kitten, so I didn’t know where it came from, but when I tried to ask, I got shushed.

            “Ainyr!” the voice said. There was Ainyr, putting on lipstick in her mirror. I didn’t even know she wore lipstick.

            Then there was “Roza!” and “Erik!” and “Karim!” and they all did things too, so you could get to know which kid was which, I guess. “Erlan!” was last, and what he did when he was on-screen was give the Vulcan salute. “Hey!” I said, and laughed, because that made me happy.

            When that happened, I looked next to me, and I could tell that even Erlan was smiling. Just a little bit.

            It was a good show. It turned out the first episode was Erlan and his brothers’ birthday party, so that was fun to watch because I’d been there in real life. They even showed me on camera once, when we were playing musical plates, except my face was blurred out, so you couldn’t tell it was me if you didn’t know. “No release!” Erlan and I both screamed at once, and giggled.

            We got shushed again, but it was worth it.

            After the show, Erlan came over to my apartment for a sleepover. “You can have the good sleeping bag if you want,” I told him while we were setting up in the living room. “Since you’re a big famous TV star.”

            Erlan threw a pillow at my head. “Shut up,” he said. “Just treat me normal, okay? You always have to treat me normal.”

            I thought about that. And then I picked up the pillow, and I whacked him with it. “Like that?” I said, laughing.

            Erlan laughed too. He picked up my pillow. “Exactly,” he said, and he whacked me back.

            We had a very normal pillow fight.

            I guess it wasn’t too bad, having a big famous TV star for a best friend.





donut cereal.




            Calista didn’t usually come over on the weekends, only sometimes. She didn’t usually come over in the mornings either, but Dad had a big project coming up and Mom had moved her Pilates schedule, so they said that might happen more. I didn’t mind.