Man Trip (3 page)

Everything was perfect.

Except for what was on my right.

“Hi, Calvin,” Shayla said.

She reached over to drop a folded-up piece of paper on my desk.

I stared at it, then slowly picked it up and opened it.

A cartoon frog decorated the top. A
frog
! I couldn’t get away from them!

Shayla’s had a bow on its head.

Jeese.

Below the frog, she’d written:

My
friend
?

I crumpled the note in my fist and glanced
around the room, looking for help, a distraction or something. Anything.

I turned and looked back at Rubin, but he was busy picking his nose. Julio dozed at his desk by the door.

Shayla turned around, too. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.”

She reached over and poked my arm. “I really like your dog. What kind is it? Do you think there’s another one like it? Was it in a box of puppies? Did you get it at a store? Did it cost money? Was—”

I closed my eyes and took a breath. “I got my dog at the Humane Society. Ledward took me.”

“What’s the Humane Society?”

“It’s where they keep lost cats and dogs.”

“Oh. Well, do you have the address?”

“Uh—”

We jumped when we realized Mr. Purdy was standing there listening. “You two think
you could wait until lunch to finish your conversation?”

Heat washed over my face. Mr. Purdy wasn’t the only one looking at us. The entire class was!

Julio was grinning like a fool.

Willy flicked his eyebrows.

Maya rolled her eyes.

Rubin made a kissy face and gave me a thumbs-up.

“Hey,” Julio said out in the schoolyard after lunch.

We were sitting in the shade of a monkey-pod tree—me, Julio, Rubin, and Willy. The sun was burning everything in sight.

Shayla was with two girls across the way by the drinking fountain. All three of them were peeking over at us and whispering.

“So listen,” Julio said, “why don’t you invite your girlfriend over to sit with us? We don’t mind if you like Shayla.”

“Shuddup!”

He laughed.

“Look,” he said, lifting his chin toward them. “They’re talking about you.”

“No, they’re talking about
you
because of how you’re so ugly.”

Everyone cracked up.

When Shayla started walking over to us, I scrambled to my feet and ran for my life.

T
hat night after dinner, headlights flashed through our front window. My little sister, Darci, and I were sitting on the living room floor.

Darci was watching cartoons, and I was sitting next to her, trying to figure out how to tie a bowline knot with a piece of rope.

Ledward parked his jeep, jumped out, and hurried to the screen door.

Something was up.

He burst into the house waving an envelope. “Your mom around? Got something to show her.”

“Out back with Stella,” I said. Stella was a girl who came from Texas to live with us, help Mom, and go to high school.

Ledward dipped his head at the rope in my hands. “Whatchoo doing?”

“Trying to tie a bowline. What’s in the envelope?”

“Tickets.”

“For what?”

“Not for what … for
where
.”

Ledward turned as Mom and Stella came back in.

“Well, this is a surprise,” Mom said.

She gave Ledward a peck on his cheek, then looked at me. “You just going to leave
that lawn mower sitting out there in the yard, or are you going to finish what you started?”

“Uh … there’s too many—”

“The toads are no excuse.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “I’ll finish, Mom.”

“He’s been tossing them into the river,” Ledward said. “I told him I wasn’t so sure that was a good idea.”

Mom cocked her head. “Tossing what into the river?”

“Bufos.”

Stella gave me a look that said: Now, this is interesting.

Mom turned to me. “Really? Tossing them, or just letting them loose in the water?”

Now Stella’s grin said: Let’s see you get out of this one.

I squirmed. Why did Ledward have to bring that up? “They’re just toads, Mom. And anyway, Tito said they like it.”

Stella snickered.

“Tito?” Mom said. “That boy who’s always in trouble?”

Mom looked at Ledward.

Ledward cleared his throat. “I have an idea. But first, I have something for you.”

“Oh?”

He pulled the tickets out and held them up. “Remember you wanted to take Darci to Kauai to visit your mother? Well, here you go, courtesy of Hawaiian Airlines.”

He handed her the tickets.

“Wow! Where’d you get these?”

Stella peeked over Mom’s shoulder.

“Won them,” Ledward said. “There was a promotion at my bank. I put my name in a box and bingo! I won. With these tickets you can fly anytime, anywhere in the islands.”

“Well, aren’t you the lucky one. And you’re giving them to us?”

Mom threw her arms around him, waving the tickets. “Darci, look. Ledward hit the jackpot!”

Darci turned away from the TV. “What?”

“Ledward won some airline tickets and he’s giving them to us. Isn’t he sweet? Now we can go see Nana.”

Darci jumped up, grinning.

Mom shuffled the tickets. “There are four of them. We’d only need two, unless you want to come, too, Calvin.”

“No, no. I’m fine.” I didn’t want to get trapped doing girl stuff with Mom and Darci.

“Hey, wait,” Stella said. “Can you fly to California with those tickets? I want to go to Hollywood. And then New York, and stop in Texas on the way.”

Ledward hesitated. “I don’t think Hawaiian Airlines flies to—”

“She’s joking,” Mom said.

“Oh. Yeah. Sure.”

Mom leaned her head against Ledward’s chest. He was way taller than her. “Thank you, Led. It’s so thoughtful of you to share these with us.”

Ledward put his arm around her as the phone rang.