On Monday at school I was sitting in the shade with Julio, Willy, Rubin, and Maya. “Help me, guys,” I begged. “How can I get Tito off my back?”
Julio gave me a sad look. “Yeah, we’re really going to miss you.”
“What?”
“After he murders you. We’ll be sad for a whole day.”
Julio cracked up.
“Hi, Calvin,” someone said, and I looked up.
Shayla smiled and waved as she walked past with a girl named Michelle.
I lifted my chin. Man, can’t she leave me alone for one second?
“Ooo,” Rubin whispered. “Somebody likes somebody.”
“Shuddup,” I mumbled. Shayla was so embarrassing.
“Shayla’s nice,” Maya said. “Right, Willy?”
“Uh, yeah, nice. I think.”
I frowned. “Nice like a mosquito singing in your ear. I wish she’d just leave me alone!”
Julio made a kissy face.
“Seriously, guys. Forget Shayla, I need help!”
“Okay,” Julio said. “Here’s what you do with Tito … give him that ticket.”
Maya shoved him and he fell over. “Calvin’s not giving that creep anything.”
Julio sat back up. “Watch out who you’re pushing, girl.”
Maya threatened to push him again.
I folded my arms over my knees and frowned.
Give it to Shayla. Solve your problem.
Dang voice!
Do it.
I puffed up my cheeks and let the air out slowly.
Be a man.
All right!
I picked up a pebble and threw it. Hard. “I’m not giving it to Tito!”
“Now you’re talking,” Maya said.
“I’m giving it to … Shayla.”
Everyone looked at me. “What?” Rubin said.
Maya smiled. “That’s nice, Calvin, really, really nice. Shayla! Why didn’t I think of that?”
I clenched my jaw, determined. “Shayla honestly likes my dad’s music. Tito prob’ly wants to go just so he can say he went. But Shayla should be the one, because she got teased, and I didn’t even stand up for her.” I shook my head. “I owe her. Only Lovey did anything to help her, and Shayla is one of us, even if she is a pest.”
Willy, Julio, and Rubin gaped at me.
“I’m not changing my mind.”
“But what about Tito?” Willy said.
“I’m not scared of him.”
I wasn’t. I was terrified. But I’d stood up to Tito before and I could do it again.
Good job, the little voice said.
I stood up. “Got to find Shayla before I change my mind.”
Maya sprang to her feet. “I’ll help you.”
Julio, Willy, and Rubin looked up, their mouths hanging open. I couldn’t blame them. I was being bazookalolo weird, but so what? Sometimes Shayla was an annoying know-it-all who drew dumb toads and wouldn’t leave me alone … but she wasn’t a bad person.
I was doing the right thing. For once.
Attaboy.
Maya and I found Shayla sitting on a bench with Michelle. They were talking, their knees all pointed toward each other.
We started toward them, but stopped.
“What?” Maya said.
“I can’t do this with Michelle there.”
“Why not?”
“Well, she’ll think I like Shayla.”
“No she won’t.”
“I’m outta here.”
Maya grabbed my shirt and pulled me back. “No. What you’re doing is good, Calvin. Don’t stop now.”
I crossed my arms. “Not until she’s alone.”
Maya turned toward Shayla. “Wait here.”
Oh man, I thought.
Shayla and Michelle looked up as Maya approached. Maya said something and pointed toward the school office. Michelle popped up and headed off.
Maya gave her a small wave and walked back toward me.
“All yours,” she whispered.
“What do I do?” I whispered back.
“Invite her!”
I puffed out my cheeks and headed over.
Shayla smiled. “Hi, Calvin.”
“Hey,” I said, casual-like. Just passing by.
“Where’s your friends?”
I looked toward them. “Over there.”
They waved, grinning.
Man, was I going to get them!
I turned back to Shayla. “Say … listen, I wanted to, um …”
“Do you want to sit down?”
“Uh … no thanks. I just wanted to tell you something.”
Shayla smiled. “Okay.”
She was making this too hard. Why couldn’t she just be nosy or bratty or something so I could just walk away and forget it?
“I, um … Well, you see, my dad gave me some tickets to his Rocket Ride concert and—”
“Oh, you lucky! My mom tried to get tickets and they were all sold out. Did you know that? That means he’s extra, extra popular. That concert is going to be sooo goooood!”
“Uh, yeah, well … I thought … I wondered … Well, I’m inviting Julio, Willy, and Maya to go with me, and—”
“Oh, Calvin, that’s so nice of you!”
“Yeah, Well, listen. You can come, too … if you want. I have one more ticket.”
Shayla looked at me, speechless for the first time ever. In her whole entire life.
Then she spouted, “Eeeeeeeeeee-yes!”
She leaped up and threw her arms around my neck. She hugged me so hard I nearly fell over. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank! You!”
I wiggled free.
Everyone within a hundred miles was looking at us. A wave of heat burned my face. Julio, Willy, and Rubin were rolling on the ground holding their stomachs.
I felt like throwing up.
Shayla grabbed my hands and squeezed. “You are the nicest person in the world, Calvin! I’ve got to tell Michelle.”
“But …”
She let go and ran off.
Julio, Willy, and Rubin shrieked with laughter, and Maya tried to get them to shut up.
I stormed over to them. “Stop! Laughing!”
“All right, all right,” Willy said, falling back on the ground.
“Everyone is looking at us!”
“It’s okay, Calvin,” Maya said. “No one cares.”
I dropped down next to Maya and sat with my knees up, glaring at the ground between my feet. “What did you say to Michelle?”
“I said the principal wanted to see her.”
I looked at her, like, Serious?
Maya shrugged. “She’ll get over it.”
Rubin nudged me with his foot. “I can’t believe you did it.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“But you have one more thing to do.”
“What?”
He pointed with his chin. “Tell him you just gave his ticket away.”
I turned and saw Tito looking over at me. He waved.
“Great,” I mumbled.
“For sure, we’re going to miss you.”
On Tuesday I started getting this crawly feeling in my stomach. The next day we were going to Honolulu to see Dad and Marissa. Why do I feel like this? I thought. He’s my dad!
I needed to turn off my brain.
But how?
That night Ledward showed up with two containers of ice cream. We made cones and took them out onto the patio. Except for Stella, who was on the phone with Clarence in the kitchen.
I held up my cone as I headed out. “Yum.”
Stella waved me away with the back of her hand.
I made a kissy face and left.
It was almost full dark outside. The trees were shadowy silhouettes against a cloudless gray sky, and stars were just beginning to pop out. Except for Stella, it was a nice night.
I bit into my monster chocolate cone. Already it was melting. In Hawaii you couldn’t take forever with ice cream.
Mo
m looked at me. “You ready to see your dad again, Cal?”
“I guess.”
She nodded. “I know it’s hard.”
“It’s okay, Mom. It’s just kind of weird.”
“I know. It’s weird for me, too.” She pulled two plastic patio chairs together. “Here. Sit.”
I sat.
Ledward slapped his neck. “Mosquitoes. What do you say we go inside, Darci?”
Darci grabbed his hand and they left.
“So,” Mom said, facing me. “Tell me how you really feel.”
I sat down. My ice cream cone was starting to drip.
“I don’t know,” I finally said. “Like when you get butterflies in your stomach?”
Mom waited, then said, “Do you want to see him?”
I looked up. “Well … sure. It’s just that I don’t even know if …” I shook my head. “My brain just won’t stop, Mom. I keep thinking stuff like, Will he look the same? Will he like me? And what about Marissa? Will she like us? I just want to stop thinking, that’s all. I can’t even sleep. It’s sort of … scary.”
Mom looked into my eyes.
I could hear Ledward and Darci talking in the kitchen, and Chris Botti’s peaceful trumpet drifting out from Stella’s window.
“It’s completely normal to feel that way, Calvin,” Mom said. “What you’re thinking shows how much you care, and that’s a good thing, a real good thing.”
“It is?”
“It is, and you’ll feel a thousand times better when you actually see him. Everything will be fine, and all those thoughts will go away, I promise. Do you remember when he used to take you out in your red skiff?”
I laughed. “Yeah. He was a terrible rower.” I could picture him sweating, his black hair shiny in the sun and the silver St. Christopher medal he always wore stuck to his chest.
“And he would complain that the boat wasn’t made right and that he should have gotten you a kayak instead?”
“Or a canoe.”
“And then you both would laugh about it later.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”
“So does he, Calvin. I promise you, he hasn’t forgotten a minute of it. Your dad loves you just as much now as he did back then.”
I looked down. We did use to have a good time.
She smiled. “Better work on that cone. It’s all over your hand.”
I licked my wrist and scarfed the cone the way Ledward did, biting it.
Mom reached out and put her hand on my shoulder. “Hey … remember that man trip you took with Ledward?”
“Yeah.”
Ledward had taken me fishing on the Big Island with his friend Baja Bill. I would never forget the giant marlin that charged our boat!
“You tagged a marlin,” Mom went on. “By yourself. You even reached out and touched it, remember?”
“Yeah, that was amazing.”
“Ledward and I learned something about you from that trip.”
“You did?”
Mom smiled and sat back. “Uh-huh. We learned that you have courage, Calvin. You’re going to be just fine when you see your dad. I know that for a fact.”
Wednesday.
The time had come. I was going to see my dad for the first time in four years. Funny thing, I was more excited-nervous than nervous-nervous.
Stella stayed home from school, too, so she could come with us. When Ledward pulled up in his jeep, we were waiting, all dressed up and ready.
We piled into Mom’s car and headed over the mountains to Honolulu. Ledward drove.
When we’d just passed through the tunnel at the top of the mountain, Stella reached across Darci and handed me a folded note.
I looked at it, then at Stella. “What’s this?”
She’d turned away.
I opened the note.
A small photograph fell out. It was a picture of a young guy standing by a horse. He was about twenty years old and wore a cowboy hat that seemed way too big. A good-looking cowboy staring at the camera, like a movie star.
“Who’s this?” I said to Stella.
She ignored me, looking out the window.
I picked up the note.
This is my dad.
He was a professional rodeo bull rider until he broke his back. He got fixed up and wasn’t paralyzed, but he could never ride a bull again. After that he changed. He became dark and violent, and my mom left him, taking me with her. I was five. I haven’t seen him since. I don’t know where he is, and he doesn’t seem to be looking for me. Just wanted you to know that you aren’t the only one with a dad who took off. It happens. I don’t feel bad about it. I just wish I could see him once or twice. This picture is what I wanted to show you. At least you get to see your dad. Get it?
I studied the picture again, then folded it back in the note and handed it over to Stella. She took it and looked at me.
I nodded and whispered, “Got it.”
She gave me a little smile.
A half hour later we pulled up to the entrance of a big, fancy hotel. A man dressed in a white uniform opened the door for Mom.
She spread her arms. “This is just lovely.”
Ledward gave the car keys to another guy, who drove the car away.
Whoa, I thought, looking around. This place is awesome!
I’d been to Waikiki once before when Mom and Ledward had taken us to climb to the top of Diamond Head. But I’d never been to any hotel.
We headed into an open lobby. You could look right through it to a fishpond with colorful carp in it, and birds on rocks around the edges. A giant turquoise swimming pool was beyond that, and then the beach and sparkling blue ocean.
Ho!
“Can we go swimming now, Mom?” Darci asked. We’d brought our suits. Dad had told Mom there were four pools, or we could go to the beach if we wanted.
“Let’s wait a minute, Darci. But soon, okay?”
Darci knelt over the fishpond, looking at the orange-and-white carp. “Look! Real fish!”
Mom and Ledward gazed out over the pool to the ocean.
Stella sighed. “Someday I am going to stay here for a week.”
Darci looked up. “Where’s Dad, Mom?”
“Well, he said he’d meet us here in the lobby.” She looked at her watch. “Right about now.”
“Dad,” I whispered as he headed toward us.
He looked smaller than I remembered. But he had that same crooked smile he got when we used to talk about my red skiff. He was squished between two of the biggest guys I’d ever seen in my life, way bigger than Ledward.
Ho, my dad needs bodyguards?
Dad waved.
Behind him a lady hurried to catch up. Marissa? She wasn’t how Darci and I had pictured her at all.
She was tall and had kind of wild blond hair, and lots of bracelets on her arms and rings on her fingers. Big round hoops hung from her ears, and she carried a purse big enough for Streak to take a nap in. She walked funny, on elevator shoes made out of cork.
Dad opened his arms. “Calvin! Darci!”
Darci hesitated, then ran to him.
I didn’t budge. He looked like some man I only sort of knew one time, not my dad. It was weird.
People stopped to gawk at him but didn’t come too close. I heard a kid say, “Mom, Mom, is that Little Johnny Coconut?”
The mother pulled a camera out of her purse.
Dad picked Darci up and swung her around, then set her down and hugged her close. “It’s so good to see you. Look at how you’ve grown!”
After a moment, he let Darci go and hugged me, too.
“Hi, Dad,” I said.
“Good grief, Calvin, I’ve sure missed you.”
“Yeah,” I said.
He wore cowboy boots and jeans with holes in them, the kind you buy that way if you’re rich. His shirt was bright blue, the color of sailboat canvas. He still wore the silver St. Christopher medal around his neck.
I wanted to say something … but what?
Dad pushed me away. “Look at you. You’re nine feet tall!”
I glanced at Mom.
Stella, Ledward, and the fancy woman stood watching.
Dad put his arm around my shoulder. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I want to hear all about what you’ve been doing, everything, you hear?”
“Sure.”
“Good, good.”
Mom reached out to shake hands with the fancy woman. “Welcome to the islands. I’m Angela. And you must be Marissa.”
The woman laughed. “Oh, heavens, no, I’m Rachel, Johnny’s manager. Wherever he goes, I go. His life is getting more hectic these days, what with ‘Rocket Ride’ climbing the charts.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Rachel.”
Mom turned to Dad. “Good to see you, Johnny. You’re looking well.”
“You are too, Angie. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Yes, it has.”
They gave each other a quick hug; then Mom turned to Ledward. “Rachel, Johnny, this is my good friend, Ledward Young. He was nice enough to drive us over here this morning.”
Ledward gave a slight bow to Rachel, then reached out to shake hands with Dad, who was shorter. “Very happy to meet you, Johnny. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I hope it’s all good.”
“It is, for sure. By the way, congratulations on ‘Rocket Ride.’ It’s a great song and I hope it goes all the way to the top.”
“Well, that makes two of us.”
There was a moment of silence.
Then Dad said, “Oh, Rachel, do you have those tickets?”
“Right here.”
Rachel pulled an envelope out of her huge purse and handed it to Mom. “Ten front-row seats just for you!”
“Let me see!” Darci jumped up to grab at them, but Mom hid them away in her purse. “Later, sweetie, okay?”
“Okay, fine, but can we go swimming now?”
“Soon.”
“Where’s Marissa, Dad?” I wanted to meet her, to see what she looked like.
He glanced out toward the pool.
“She’s going to meet us over there at the beach bar. She just got out of the water. She loves the ocean, you know. Rachel has a section reserved where we can sit right by the beach.”
Rocket Ride Page 3
