Egghead

by Caroline Pignat

"Forget it." I pull the shirt off. "Just forget it. I'm not going."

  "Don't you want to dance with your gir-r-r-rlfriend?" Em teases.

  My face burns. "Shut up, Pain." I throw the shirt at her.

  Dad finally tells her to hit the bricks and winks at me.

  "What?" I say.

  "Nothing." He smirks.

  I hear him and The Pain sing their way down the stairs. "Devan has a girlfriend ... Devan has a girlfriend ..."

  Ten minutes later Mom's taking pictures of me and Shane standing by the Christmas tree. I'm wearing Dad's blue shirt. I had to roll up the sleeves to make it fit. I drew the line at the tie. I knew Shane wouldn't be wearing one either.

  "Look at you, just look at you," Mom says, all choked up. "What handsome young men ..."

  "Are we done now?" I ask. She takes three more. "Okay, Anne," Dad finally says, "I think we've got enough for a whole scrapbook there."

  Shane and I make a break for it—if I don't get out of there soon, Mom will start washing my face with spit.

  Katie

  Jenna's mom drove. The whole way there all Jenna talked about was Mike. Isabella didn't seem to mind. If talking about her brother kept someone hanging on her every word, she was more than happy to spill. Of course, Jenna lapped it up like someone dying of thirst. And neither of them seemed to care that their entire friendship was a fake.

  The gym swallowed us in soft lights and loud music. Guys stood in circles, yanking on their stiff collars and tight ties. Girls wobbled by on their new high heels, like little kids on ice skates. I danced with Jenna and Isabella, glad I listened to Granny about getting the comfy shoes.

  Then I saw him through the crowd. Devan.

  I couldn't believe he came. Not that he wasn't allowed to. I mean, it was his school too. He stood on the other side of the gym with his hands in his pockets. He looked so different all dressed up. Taller. Older. His blue shirt, unbuttoned at the collar, was rolled at the sleeves. He looked so comfortable. So good. Shane said something to him and he laughed. What a great smile.

  He was still smiling when he turned and looked at me. It was like we were the only two in the gym. My heart pounded, my stomach fizzed. No matter what my brain said, my body wasn't listening. I couldn't even look away. Then, the crowd moved and blocked our view.

  A slow song started to play and he broke through the crowd, heading my way.

  Is he coming to ask me?

  "He will! He will!" Isabella squealed. I turned to see her run back to Jenna and me. I hadn't even noticed that she'd left. "Mike says he'll dance with my friend! Okay, okay! Here he comes."

  Jenna's face went white. She looked like she was going to collapse. I felt kind of the same, knowing Devan was headed this way.

  "Hey," a deep voice said from behind us, "wanna dance?"

  Isabella's mouth dropped. Jenna turned and let out a tiny squeak. When I looked around I realized why.

  It was Mike Montana. Only he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at me.

  "Hello, Katie," Will said, totally unaware of what he'd just walked in on.

  "I ... uh ... I promised this one to someone else," I blurted to Mike. Jenna glared at me as I grabbed Will by the elbow and practically dragged him onto the dance floor.

  Devan walked right past us. He didn't even look at me. God, I am such an idiot. He didn't want to dance with me. I watched him open the door. He just wanted to go to the washroom.

  Devan

  I take a detour to the can so it won't look like what it is. That I'm some loser who just walked across the whole dance floor for nothing.

  I'm still kicking myself for not telling her what really happened the day of the science fair. Will might have told her Shane trashed her project and kicked his butt, but Katie doesn't know that I stood by and let it all happen. Somehow, being a chicken doesn't sound any better than being a bully.

  I can't believe I was going to ask her to dance. It's just ... she looked so nice, and I thought she was smiling at me. Next thing I know I'm like halfway across the floor.

  Just as well, I guess. Shane would've never let me live that down.

  I check myself in the washroom mirror. Like I even had a chance. After a few minutes, I go back to the gym, ready for a razzing from Shane. Only he's not there. He's on the floor dancing with Erin. Even Brad's dancing with someone. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I lean against the wall and watch Katie dance.

  She looks so great. I'm not surprised some grade ten guy was asking her too. But she turned even him down for Will.

  Man, she must really like the guy.

  William James Reid

  Katie

  She isn't like other girls.

  She doesn't

  gossip,

  or giggle.

  She smiles a lot.

  She even smiles at me.

  She listens.

  She hears.

  She knows.

  She says what no one else will:

  "I'll be your science fair partner."

  "Get a grip, Will."

  "Leave him alone, Shane."

  I don't know if she's pretty.

  But she sure is

  beautiful.

  Mostly because she is

  nothing

  like other girls.

  Katie

  Will danced like Frankenstein. He kept stepping on my toes and counting, "One-two-three, one-two-three," under his breath. People pointed. Some laughed. Maybe it was just my imagination but the whispers sounded like Missus-Egghead-Missus-Egghead-Missus-Egghead.

  The music finally stopped. I figured the night's humiliation was over, until a spotlight shone on Will and me. My stomach sank and I realized it was all just beginning.

  "And here are tonight's winners of our spotlight dance." The DJ was standing beside us shouting into his mike. He handed Will an envelope. "Congratulations, you two. It's a romantic dinner for two at Mexicasa."

  Everyone started whooping and hollering, like this was good news.

  "So, who is the happy couple?" the DJ asked, putting the microphone in front of us. I just wanted to shrivel up and disappear. But not Will.

  "I'm William James Reid!" he yelled. The mike squealed. The crowd started chanting.

  "Egg-head! Egg-head! EGG-HEAD!!"

  Will raised his clasped hands above his head like a total idiot and the place went wild. Couldn't he see? Didn't he know they were all only making fun of him. Of me? Everyone laughed and cheered as Will bowed to all four corners.

  "And who," asked the DJ, "is your lovely girlfriend?"

  "OooooOOOoooO!" went the crowd.

  I wanted to die.

  "Well she—" Will began.

  "I'm not his girlfriend!" I shrieked. "I don't even like him."

  I wanted it back right after I said it. But with the mike up in my face, the truth bounced loud and hard around the gym walls before totally crushing Will.

  He slumped as it sunk in, but he never took his eyes off me. I saw them go from shock, to disbelief, and finally pain. God, I felt like I'd just kicked a puppy.

  "Will, I " I started to say, searching for a way to say what I really meant. That I didn't like him that way. As if that would make it any better.

  But before I could say anything more, he turned and ran out.

  Everyone burst out laughing.. Everyone but me.

  I was never a great friend to Will, I admit it. But nothing, nothing was worse than what I had just done. I stepped out of the spotlight and pushed through the crowd—horrified at the realization.

  I was one of them now.

  William James Reid

  Katie Part II

  I have seen

  a queen

  eat

  some of her

  smallest eggs

  just

  to stay

  alive.

  Survival

  is a

  natural instinct.

  Only

  I did not realize

  I was such a
>
  small

  egg

  Devan

  "Holy crap, I still can't believe that." Shane shakes his head. "Man, she burned him big time."

  I can't believe it myself, really. I kind of felt for Egghead. Imagine getting dissed like that in front of the whole gym. It could've been me up there with her in that spotlight.

  Shane's mom is late picking us up. Everyone else is long gone.

  "Come on," he says, flipping up his collar against the cold. "Let's take the bus."

  She pulls up ten minutes later. "Sorry, boys;' she says, as we get in.

  My butt is so frozen in these damn pants I can't even tell if I'm sitting on the seat.

  "What took you so long to—" Shane asks. Then stops.

  She's looking at us sideways, hoping we won't see the shiner she's got under all that makeup. I turn and look out the window.

  "So," she continues real perky, "how was the dance?"

  Fine. Shane glares at her.

  "Did you ask Erin?" She takes out a cigarette and pushes in the lighter. Her hands are shaking. Something tells me it's not from the cold.

  "Mom—"

  "I'll bet she thought you looked real sharp." She shoves the lighter again, but it keeps popping out. She jams it in with the heel of her hand.

  "Mom!"

  "This thing's trash—"

  "It's not trash," Shane explodes. "Riley is trash! Only trash would hurt a girl."

  "He just has a problem with his temper is all," she says. "Inside, he's a good man. Riley loves me, Shane."

  "Yeah? Well he has a funny way of showing it." Shane snaps. He looks her over. "Maybe you're the trash for letting him treat you like that!"

  His mom's cigarette drops. She grips the wheel with both hands and we drive in silence for a while. I can't believe Shane talked to her like that, or that she let him.

  No one speaks the rest of the way.

  The car finally pulls up to my place. I thank Ms. Duran for the ride. She smiles, but her eyes are full of tears. She seems more hurt by Shane's words than Riley's fist.

  "See ya, Shane," I get out of the car. Shane just grunts.

  I watch them drive into the cold night.

  I don't get why he treats his mom like that. Shane loves his mom. A lot. Only he sure has a funny way of showing it.

  I guess he never learned any different.

  Katie

  Granny and I tried to make the holidays like old times, even though we spent them at the hospital. We played Christmas music. We even brought in a foot-high tree to decorate. Dad said it looked like a Charlie Brown reject. He was right, it was pitiful. But at least it made him smile.

  On New Year's Eve we sat around Dad's room just listening to Christmas music. Granny started a few card games, but I couldn't stop thinking about school. Will had been avoiding me. And I couldn't blame him. I still hadn't apologized. I wasn't sure how. I'd broken something much more valuable than an ant farm. I had broken Will's heart.

  How do I apologize for that?

  Even Jenna had been giving me the cold shoulder. She was still angry that Mike asked me to dance. Like it was my fault. The fact that I danced with Will instead just made things worse. I couldn't win.

  I used to love school. But the way things had been going I couldn't wait for the Christmas break, not for the presents, just for the escape. I wanted to crawl under my quilt and stay there.

  Elvis started singing "Blue Christmas." It echoed around the hospital room. Tears swam in my eyes. I'd never noticed it was a sad song before. When "I'll Be Home for Christmas" started, Granny got up and turned off the CD, saying something about saving batteries.

  Last Christmas break, we did all our favorite traditions on Brayside farm, like going cross-country skiing all day and staying up all night to watch Dick Clark's countdown. I always slept in till about noon New Year's Day, waking up to the warm smell of Dad's famous breakfast. He made it every year: bacon, sausage, and a "mega pancake" as big as a puddle and just as runny. I always loved the holidays.

  But this year was different. Much different.

  "Here's to another year," Granny said, raising her glass.

  "Cheers," Dad raised his as high as the IV tubes would allow. He smiled and sipped his juice. "Isn't this nice? Just the three of us, just like old times."

  We played cards for a bit, then Scrabble. By the time the ball dropped in New York, Dad and Granny were sound asleep.

  I brought in the New Year on my own.

  Devan

  "Once you have your equipment and lift tickets," Panetta yells to the crowd as we get off the school bus, "you can head on up the hills. Be back at the bus by four o'clock." Everyone cheers. We've been waiting for this day all Winter Carnival. Ski Day.

  The line is moving so slow, we still haven't even made it inside the lodge. I told Shane we should've sat at the front of the bus. But he never listens to me. Tons of kids have got their stuff, some even started their lessons, and we're stuck standing last in line like idiots.

  Shane shoves his mitts in his pocket and makes a snowball with his bare hands. That melt-in-your-palm, hard, heavy baseball of ice kind. Those babies sting.

  "Watch this." He winds up and whips it over at five cross-country geeks lined up for their lesson. It clocks the first kid in the shoulder. He tumbles into the next guy and they drop like dominoes. Brad laughs.

  "Come on, Dev," Shane says tossing me his next ice-ball. He points out another group. "I got five with one shot. Beat that."

  "Nah," I drop it and squish it under my boot.

  "What? Ya chicken?" Brad laughs.

  Oh, he's asking for it. A snow job will shut him up. With both hands, I shove his chest and send him flying backwards into the snowbank. The fall knocks the wind out of him, that and the fact that I slam my weight on him. I flip him facedown and ram that smirk of his into the snow.

  "Not so funny now, eh, Brad? Not so funny!"

  I shove handfuls of snow into his face with a bit more force than I had planned. But it feels good. Brad's face looks like a raw steak by the time I let him go. I brush the snow from my mitts, glad I finally shut him up. He's all talk, that guy.

  "Atta boy, Dev." Shane smiles. "For a second there I thought you were going soft on us."

  I clench my jaw and head over to the rental booth. I don't know what makes me angrier—that I lost control or that Shane enjoyed it. He thinks he knows me so well.

  Finally, we reach the front of the line and get our equipment. Shane gets a snowboard. So does Brad, of course. I get skis.

  "Make wise choices today, boys," Panetta says, giving us our passes. Whatever the hell that means. Probably read it in Teaching for Dummies.

  "C'mon, race you to the lift!" Shane takes off with Brad close behind. It's a two-man lift, so the last one there is the odd man out. But I don't mind riding alone for a change.

  In fact, I kind of like it.

  Katie

  I love downhill skiing. Dad taught me when I was little. In his twenties, he'd worked as a ski instructor to pay for university. Granny always said he only did it to impress girls. "Well, it worked, didn't it?" he'd say with a grin. That was how he met my mom. Only legend has it, she saved him.

  I tagged along behind Isabella and Jenna all day. The chairlift kept reinforcing that three was a crowd.

  "Stand here," the lift attendant said, pushing me back as Jenna and Isabella swung up on their chair. "We have to wait for another single."

  I stood for ages watching everyone else go up the mountain. Some had even made it back for a second run. Suddenly, the attendant waved me over.

  "Single, single, come on, let's go," he said, like he'd been waiting on me all this time. I sidestepped over beside the other single just as the chair rounded the corner and scooped us up.

  "Finally," I sat and pulled the guard bar down.

  "Hey, Katie." The guy beside me pulled off his goggles. It was Devan.

  "Oh, hi." My stomach twisted, as the chair lifted off th
e ground. I swallowed hard. "I hardly recognized you, without Shane."

  The chairlift shuddered to a stop. Someone had probably sprawled across the ramp trying to get off the lift. We swung in the cold air. The sun sparkled on the snowy tips of the pines below our skis. Neither of us spoke. The lift started up again.

  "Sorry about ... about your ant farm," he finally mumbled into his scarf. "Do you know what happened?"

  "No. Will doesn't want to talk about it."

  Devan seemed relieved. "Well, you guys would've won first. Your ant farm was awesome. I mean—it probably was."

  "Yeah, it's not just losing the fair. That ant farm meant a lot to me. My dad helped me make it." Tears burned in the corner of my eyes. I looked away, embarrassed that I was still feeling upset about it. "I'm surprised I made it through the fair without crying. But Will put on a brave face."

  "Not bad, considering his face had tape burn," Devan said and laughed.

  Devan

  She stiffens beside me. Something's wrong. She won't even look at me now.

  What? What did I say?

  I replay the conversation. Tape burn. That's it! Of course! How could I have been so stupid? Only someone who'd been there that morning would know about the tape. As far as Katie is concerned that's her, Egghead, and whoever did it.

  She thinks I did it. The tape, the ant farm, all of it. Great, just great. I shiver in the blowing snow. I'll be lucky if she ever speaks to me again.

  The chair finally reaches the top of the hill. Neither of us says anything.

  Some guy in a goofy red hat with a wicked huge pom-pom is blocking the ramp. One ski is on his shoulder and he's bending over to pick up his pole. The lift operator is going mental, shouting at the guy to get out of the way as the people on the chair in front of us hit the ramp.

  "What?" The guy turns, swinging the ski on his shoulder around. It whacks one of the skiers in the back. He reaches out to help her and clotheslines the other one with his pole. Total Three Stooges. Now three bodies block the ramp.

  The man working the lift runs back to his hut and slams the brake. I hear him shouting, in French, I think. Only he's conjugating some verbs Madame Latour hadn't taught us. He grabs the guy in the red hat by the jacket, drags him off the ramp, and dumps him in the snow bank. The other two take off down the hill.