5Recess. I was looking for Lahla.
"Hey, Herbie."
Uh-oh. I turned around to see Tucker Brown's goofy grin.
"I'm not in the mood."
"Aw, come on, man."
"Get lost or I'll sic Tobyn on you."
"Who's that?"
"Tobyn Davidson. The chick you were unfortunate enough to call 'giant'. She is POed. And so am I."
"Hey, I'm sorry for pullin' out your chair."
"Apology accepted. But I'm still mad at you for what Tobyn did to me, and for being a general pain."
"Fine, sorry for that too. But dude, have a sense of humor."
"My sense of humor is highly developed, thank you," I replied stiffly.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"So, what you doing?"
"Looking for my friend Lahla."
"You hang out with her?"
"Yeah."
"Hey, you know that chick Mary-Clara or whatever?"
"With the hair? Nah, she's new too."
"Really?"
"No," I snapped sarcastically.
"Oh."
"I'm kidding. She is new, moron."
Tucker snorted.
I found myself hanging out with Tucker more and more. I guess I was starting to get used to him, cause he didn't seem to annoy me as much anymore. Or maybe he was only really annoying on the first day. I didn't know and didn't really care.
I didn't see Lahla as much. At first I worried about what she was doing at recess, but then I started seeing her with Alex Graley and the other newbie, Mary-Claire Hansen.
"Yo Lahla!"
"Since when did you start saying yo?" Lahla demanded.
"Hey, I just felt like it."
Lahla suddenly turned away.
"Lahla?"
She said nothing.
"Lah-la?"
Nothing.
"Lahla, you're daydreaming again."
Nothing.
"You're in la-la land. Get it? Lahla land?"
Lahla walked away.
"Something's screwy," I muttered. "Lahla? What's up?"
"The ceiling," Mary-Claire offered helpfully.
"You have any idea what's wrong with Lahla?" I demanded of her.
"I don't see anything wrong with her."
"Dude, she's acting like I'm invisible. She's not even groaning at my stupid jokes. I'd say she was somewhere off in her dream world, except that she never ignores me that much even when she's thinking."
Mary-Claire shrugged.
"You know, you're very helpful."
"What? I'm supposed to be her shrink? I've only known her for like a week."
"Hey, hey, hold off on the temper. But you're right, I'm supposed to be the only one who has any idea what goes on in that otherworldly brain of hers. And she's even got me stumped. So ... oh well."
"Yeah. Hey, who's that guy over there?"
"You never asked me my name." I pretended to pout.
"Lahla told me, stupid. You're Herbie Whipple."
She had me there. "Anyway. That moron over there is Tucker Brown. He's loud, and immature, and he's stealing my role as class clown. He thinks he's funny, but he's not." I raised my voice with this last sentence for Tucker's benefit. It was to no avail. Tucker was all the way at the other end of the hall.
"Then how come you hang out with him all the time?"
She had me again. "I dunno ... I guess he's my friend. Even if he is loud and immature and unfunny and NOT VERY SMART."
"I heard that!"
"Oh well. We're gonna be late," Mary-Claire said. She made a dash for the classroom door and nearly crashed into Spencer Black.
"Hey, watch it!"
"Sorry!"
I raced after her, but Tucker got past me and pushed me into Spencer.
"Hey, I'm here, okay? I'm not invisible! Why are you running into me?"
"It's Tucker's fault," I explained. "He pushed me. He also got Tobyn Davidson mad at me for something he did."
Spencer laughed. "Yeah, I saw that."
Great. I'd had an audience. I shook my head. "Why is everyone in this whole world acting weird?"
"I'm acting weird?"
"You act weird every day. But Lahla's not talking to me, Tucker's being himself, Tobyn's getting mad at the wrong people over little things — "
"And that's unusual?"
"I mean, even more than usual."
"Nah, Tobyn's just being herself."
"Oh well. And I can't tell about that chick Mary-Claire. She's new, so I don't know what's normal for her. But ... the way she looks at Tucker. And the way Tucker looks at her. Kind of like he thinks she's from outer space or something."
"I have no idea what's going on. I have my own problems, thank you."
"You? Problems? What problems?" I asked sarcastically. I didn't doubt that Spencer had more problems than me.
"Life. Morons. Tobyn's mad at me cause I tripped her. It was an accident! Now I'm like her number one target. That's why she's not concerned with you and Tucker anymore. My sister's being a pain, as usual. My new teacher hates me. I'm in a complaining mood, and now I'm complaining about being in a complaining mood, and now I'm assuming you know how this could go on forever, and now I'm shutting up."
Wow, I thought. Spencer never rambled, seldom talked unless he needed or really wanted to say something. And using like as a nonsense word to insert anywhere was not something he did. However, the twisted sense of humor was characteristic.
Spencer was a nerd, like me. He had a sense of humor, like me. He was slightly pessimistic, unlike me. He was usually quiet, unlike me. Unless he got hyper.
Now he was obviously hyper, but not happy. Nervous maybe. Nah. Not nervous. Agitated? Possibly.
Oh well … just one more person acting slightly odd.
Reviewer's response thingy:
Puzzle: Hello, first reviewer! Here's an "I'm special" sticker. wear it proudly and use it well. Thank you very much. I wrote this purely to entertain, and it's good to see that it's fulfilling its purpose so far.
As for your account ... I'm clueless, I only use Windows. :(
-YM