Everybody Bugs Out

everybody
bugs out

leslie
margolis

For Lucy

chapter one

duckwalk, anyone?

R
eady for school?” my mom asked me bright and early on Monday morning.

“Yes!” I couldn't help but shout. Enthusiasm is my middle name. Well, it is for today, now that I've officially survived my first semester of sixth grade and an entire winter vacation. That means I've got one semester down and only one more to go until summer.

But don't get me wrong—normally I'm not so giddy about having an entire school week ahead of me. It's just that I knew this term was guaranteed to be a gazillion times better than the last. Why? Well, for one thing, I'm no longer Annabelle Stevens, the shrimpy new sixth grader at Birchwood Middle School.

Okay, technically, my name has not changed and I'm still one of the shortest kids I know. And obviously I'm still in the sixth grade. But everyone knows that second semester is a whole different ball game. Meaning I'm no newbie. I'm older. I'm wiser. And I get to walk to school on my own.

Okay, not by myself, exactly. Mom says I'm allowed to walk rather than hop a ride with her as long as I walk with a friend. And lucky for me, I've got two great friends in the neighborhood—Rachel and Yumi.

That's why I was up so early—showered and dressed, sitting at the kitchen table and ready for anything.

And speaking of being ready …

“What's up with breakfast?” I asked. “Because Rachel will be here any second.”

“Coming right up,” my mom called. One of her New Year's resolutions was to cook more often than never, which is her usual. So far, that meant a homemade breakfast for me every morning this year.

True, the new year was only three days old, but who's counting?

Besides me, I mean.

“Here you go.” Mom dropped some fluffy scrambled eggs onto my plate and then added two strips of sizzling bacon. “Waffles will be up any minute.”

“Waffles, too?”

“Well, frozen waffles,” she said.

“That's even better!”

My mom laughed. “I'm glad you're so enthusiastic.”

“And I'm glad I finally get to walk to school.”

I dug into my eggs, sensing my mom's look of concern from across the room. “Now, you're sure that you know how to get there,” she said.

“Thataway!” I stifled an eye roll and pointed to my left. “It's only two turns and twelve blocks from here. We went over it in the car and on a map. And you already asked me to repeat the streets to you three times, and last time you assured me we were done.”

“I know, I know,” she said, flicking some stray egg off her sweater. “Just promise me one more time that you'll be careful crossing streets.”

“Someone get me a mirror!” I said, gripping the edge of the table with both hands, my voice full of pretend panic. “Because I think I must've morphed into a first grader overnight.”

My mom served herself some eggs, then slid into the chair across from me. “I'm sorry, Annabelle. I know you're always careful. It's not you I'm worried about, I promise. It's all those drivers. You can't assume they're going to see you. People are so distracted these days. Some even have the gall to text message while driving, which studies have shown can be more dangerous than driving drunk!”

Blahdy, blah, blah … I didn't say this out loud—I'm not
that
rude—but those are the exact words that ran through my mind as I wolfed down my eggs. Good thing I hurried, too. I was just swallowing the last of the bacon when the doorbell chimed.

As usual my scruffy black-and-white mutt, Pepper, was way ahead of me. Meaning he heard the bell first and had already raced to the entryway, barking like crazy. I swear, he must think that every time the doorbell rings it means a gigantic box of dog treats is being delivered. (And for the record—that's never happened.)

“Doorbell!” called my stepdad, Ted, as he came into the kitchen.

“Yeah, Pepper has already alerted us to that fact.”

“Well, good morning to you, too!” Ted said, tugging at my blond ponytail, which was already in serious danger of coming loose.

“Hey, watch the hair!” I called as I hurried my dishes to the sink.

“Enjoy your first day back,” said Ted.

“Thanks,” I replied. “See you tonight. I've gotta run—I mean walk. Carefully!”

“Thanks for humoring me,” Mom called as she handed over my lunch bag. “And have a wonderful day!”

“You, too.” I rushed out of the room.

“Come on, let's go!” said Rachel as soon as I opened the front door. Before she said hello, even. Which is typical of Rachel. She always knows what she wants when she wants it, and she's not afraid to say so. Ever. Also, she's not exactly known for her patience—or subtlety—but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

“I'm all set, but what's your hurry?” I asked, standing in front of Pepper so he couldn't jump all over Rachel. She's allergic to dogs, and the last thing she needed was to break out in hives on day one of the new term.

Of course, even if it weren't for her unfortunate allergy I'd feel terrible if Pepper got his fur all over Rachel's new outfit. She looked super-cute in her purple tunic top, black leggings, and silver ballet flats. Her wavy dark hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, showing off matching purple studs.

Rachel's lips shone with pink lip gloss, and her eyes shone with giddy anticipation.

“I already told you. We've gotta get there extra early on the first day back after winter break because there's so much to catch up on!”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot.” I wasn't about to question Rachel's wisdom. Not when she's been living in Westlake forever and I only just moved here last August. “Cute outfit.”

“Thanks,” Rachel replied. “Yours, too. Great jeans.”

“Christmas gift,” I told her. “Actually, I exchanged the baggy, high-waist jeans my grandma originally got me for these.”

She nodded with approval. “Good call. If only I could exchange my ‘word-a-day' calendar for jeans.”

“That would be awesome,” I said.

“Or sublime. That's today's word.”

Rachel lives directly across the street from me. Yumi's house is ten blocks away, so we walked five blocks to the corner of Easterly and Larchmont to wait for her.

Thirty seconds after we got there, Rachel frowned down at her new watch. It had a glow-in-the-dark silver face and a purple sparkly band. “I hope Yumi isn't this late every day.”

“School doesn't start for forty-five minutes,” I reminded her. “It should only take us fifteen minutes to walk there. And that's if we move super-slow.”

“As long as Yumi shows up on time. Otherwise, we might have to speed walk, and that's no way to make a first impression.”

“Speed walk?” I asked.

Rachel did a little demonstration, walking back and forth in quick but tiny strides while wiggling her butt and swinging her arms. “You know—speed walking. It's what some old people do for exercise. Instead of jogging or spinning or going to the gym like regular people.”

I had to giggle. “I've never seen anyone speed walk like that.”

“That's because you're not looking hard enough.” Rachel wiped some fake sweat off her brow. “Picture me with a water bottle strapped to my waist. Oh—and skimpy spandex shorts. Some of them carry little weights in each hand. If you're ever at the lake in the early-morning hours, you can't miss 'em, because they often travel in packs.”

“Um, you look like a duck.”

Rachel stopped in her tracks. “Ducks travel in packs, too, which totally jells with my point. If Yumi doesn't hurry we'll have to duckwalk the whole way, which will make us the laughingstock of the entire school. We'll be known as those dorky duckwalkers for the rest of the year and maybe next year, too. Who knows? The name may even stick with us into high school.”

“Yikes!” I glanced down at my own watch. Rachel's anxiety felt more contagious than the chicken pox. Now I worried about being late, which would break my first New Year's resolution. And I'd only come up with four:

1. Don't be late for class.

2. Don't let anyone push me around.

3. Don't act catty.

4. Floss every night.

My track record wasn't so great, considering I'd already broken that fourth one yesterday.

Rachel huffed and stomped her foot. “Where is she? Jackson left when I did, so he's probably already there.”

Jackson is Rachel's older brother. He's in the eighth grade, and kind of annoying if you don't know how to handle him properly, but luckily I do.

So far I've developed three strategies.

1. Avoid him.

2. Ignore him.

And if neither of those options is available:

3. Pretend like he's my dog, Pepper, and in need of serious training.

These techniques work on other boys, too. Not just Jackson.

“I doubt he's at school already.”

“He could be because he took his skateboard,” said Rachel.

“Which means he's probably hanging out at the 7-Eleven with his friends.” That's what lots of the eighth-grade skaters do, and some seventh graders, too. Not something I needed to point out to Rachel, since she's the one who told me. “Ever notice how all those skater dudes travel in packs, just like those infamous duckwalkers you've been talking about?”

“Too true,” Rachel said with a nod. “But there's less spandex and ‘sweatin' to the oldies' music involved.”

“That's what you think. But who knows what those guys do when we're not around.”

Rachel cracked up. “I'm pretty sure they chow down on cherry Slurpees and Nerds every morning. If my mom knew, she'd flip!”

“You never told her?” I asked.

Rachel gave me a funny look, like I was wearing a vest made out of Brussels sprouts.

“Nobody likes a snitch, Annabelle!”

“But Jackson's usually such a jerk to you,” I said. “Do I need to remind you of how, just last week, he secretly replaced your acne cream with toothpaste?”

“I know his intentions were bad, but in the end, he did me a huge favor!” Rachel stroked her chin, which had been pimple free for days. “I'd no idea that toothpaste would be better for drying out my oily skin. Or that I'd smell so minty fresh!”

“Well, how about when he crashed your birthday party and acted like a total menace? And have you already forgotten that he and his friends ambushed us with rotten eggs on Halloween?”

I didn't mean to harp on the negative. But this was Jackson we were talking about. The guy's got some serious issues. How else could I explain the fact that torturing Rachel and her friends seemed like one of his favorite pastimes?

“Look, I know my brother can be a jerk. But some of his teasing just comes with the territory. That's what big brothers do. And believe me, I'd love to see him get in trouble for buying junk food—and for a lot of other things, too—but like I said, I'm no snitch. And even if I were, I couldn't bring myself to break the brother-sister code.”

“The what?” I asked.

“The code. I can be annoyed with my brother and trash-talk him like crazy and we can fight twenty-four seven, but if he's really in trouble, then I've gotta get his back. Just like he'd get my back if the chips were really down.”

“Interesting word choice,” I couldn't help but point out, “since he sprinkled all those potato chip crumbs around our tent when we tried to camp out in your backyard last month.”

Rachel cringed. “Yes, I've never seen so many ants in one place, but I'm serious about the code. You need to know this stuff now that you have a brother of your own.”

“Stepbrother,” I clarified. The word still felt strange coming from my lips, but I'd have to get used to it because my mom just got married to her boyfriend, Ted. And Ted has a son named Jason, who's twenty. He's studying abroad in Switzerland this year, so he doesn't live with us. “Jason's way too mature to bug me or pick fights.”

“Maybe it's different with a stepbrother. Especially when they're brand new.”

Rachel looked at her watch again, and then gazed down the street toward Yumi's, growing more impatient by the second.

I knew how she felt. Plus, standing around on the corner was getting boring.

“Think I should call her?” Rachel asked.

“Isn't your cell for emergencies only?”

“Yeah, but I'm pretty sure this counts.” Rachel reached into her backpack.

“Wait, here she comes.” I pointed down the street at the small figure running toward us.

“Sorry I'm late,” Yumi said once she got close enough. She pushed her bangs away from her face. “I overslept. Guess I'm still on Hawaii time.”

“How was the trip?” I asked, since I hadn't spoken to Yumi since she got back last night.

“Amazing!” said Yumi. “And check this out.” She unzipped her backpack and showed us a Hawaiian lei made out of pink and white orchids. They were slightly crushed and a little brown at the edges, but still pretty.

“Awesome!” I said.

“I was going to wear it to school, but figured it's way too dressy.”

“Good call,” said Rachel.

“Although it does go with my dress.” Yumi was right. Her sundress had a pink and white flower pattern on it—fresh flowers, not wilted, obviously. Her outfit seemed totally Hawaiian and very un-Yumi. I hardly ever saw her without jeans and a Dodgers cap. Usually she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, but today she wore two braids. I guess she wanted to look extra nice for the first day of the new term, too.

“I brought macadamia nuts for everyone,” Yumi said as she carefully put away the lei. “But I'm saving them for lunch.”

She zipped her backpack closed and we headed toward school.

“So tell us about the trip,” I said.