Cheating for the Chicken Man (5 page)

Kerry's face lit up. “We should name him Hoppy!”

“Hoppy,” Kate repeated, trying to get back into the moment. “Perfect!”

*

The baby bunny and J.T.'s arrival home truly marked the beginning of summer. Soon, the pink and white crepe myrtle trees blossomed as though loving the longer, hotter days. The cicadas got louder, making the air hum with their noise. And a different kind of routine settled in. J.T. was the first one up every day, until one morning when Kate's mother beat him to the kitchen and had bacon frying. The good smell got everyone up early. “You need something more than cereal if you're going to go out and work all morning,” Kate heard Mom tell J.T.

Every morning Kate had chores, dishes, or vacuuming, then
she was free to write in her journal or read or do whatever she wanted. She fed the baby bunny every three hours, even setting her phone alarm at night, and kept antibiotic cream on the missing back leg's stump. Some afternoons, she babysat her three little girl cousins—Alice, Annie, and Alyssa. Kate had reconnected with Jess, and the girls had agreed that half the money they made babysitting over the summer would go toward the hefty admission fee to an animal sanctuary in North Carolina where they could actually hold a baby tiger on their laps. They would ride down next summer and stay with Kate's grandparents so there wouldn't be travel expenses. On sleepovers, the girls also started compiling a list of wildlife rehab centers they could apply to for volunteer work when they were older. So far, they'd found a koala refuge in Australia and an elephant foundation in Thailand that captivated them with an online video of a young woman giving a baby elephant a sudsy bath in the river.

Grandma had chosen to stay on over the summer, and despite what J.T. had said about her other life, Kate was grateful. Her grandmother had taken over the cooking and braiding Kerry's long hair. She was even carpooling with Jess's mom to the middle school for the girls' field hockey camp one week, and the next, into town for a pottery class. It was during this week that Kate's mother surprised everyone by offering to feed the baby bunny while Kate was away.

“This is how I hold him,” Kate said, adjusting the fuzzy sock. Her fingers touched her mother's as she handed over the tiny rabbit.

“I think I've got it,” her mother said. “Oh, my. So tiny. So
hungry!” Her mouth turned up at the corners, and when their eyes met, Kate smiled back.

Occasionally, there were trips to the Tastee-Freez for soft ice cream and on really hot days—if there weren't many jellyfish—swimming in the river. Since his ankle bracelet was waterproof and the river was practically in their backyard, even J.T. joined the girls for a swim one afternoon.

“Cannonball!” he shouted before jumping in off a fallen locust tree that jutted over the water and making a huge splash.

The girls got soaked, their screams turning to laughter as they got their hands ready to spray J.T. when he surfaced.

But he didn't come up.

Slowly, the smile melted off Kate's face. Treading water, she turned to Jess.

“Oh, my God,” Jess said.

Suddenly, J.T. emerged from the dark, cool water, relieving both girls, but then startling them, too, with the stricken look on his face. He wiped the water out of his eyes and hauled out of the river fast, slipping once on the slick, grassy bank before grabbing his towel and heading back up the path.

“What's wrong?” Kate called after him.

Jess slapped the water and hollered, “J.T., come back!”

When he didn't even turn around, Kate guessed that maybe J.T. had been thinking about a little boy who died from exposure in the same river just over a year ago. Judging from her rueful expression, Jess may have thought the same thing, too. But the girls didn't talk about it. Despite their friendship, a lot of things went unspoken between them. They never talked about how Kate's mother had changed or the stigma from J.T.'s
crime that hung over the Tyler family, or how embarrassing it was for Kate to go food shopping with Jess's mom. Kate was never sure why they didn't talk about these things, although she did worry she'd lose Jess if there were too many problems. In life, she was learning, there were some things you just didn't talk about.

The rest of summer slid by quickly. While the girls had their fun, it seemed that all J.T. did was work. He weeded and watered the gardens, mowed the yard, painted the shed roofs, and took care of the chickens, which was huge because every day he had to remove the dead ones and then do the culling. To Kate, this was the absolute worst job in the entire world. Culling meant picking out the weakened chicks, or the ones not growing as fast, and getting rid of them. It seemed like culling was playing God, deciding who would live and who would die, and she didn't want any part of it.

Maybe, Kate thought, hard work was J.T.'s way of trying to redeem himself and make up for what he'd done. He didn't even watch TV or go on his computer much.

By mid-August, J.T.'s dark hair had grown back in and the ankle bracelet was gone. Kate's bunny had grown big enough to need a wire cage and had to be moved outside. He was getting around just fine on three legs, but still, Kate kept lots of hay and even a small piece of old carpeting in his cage so he had something soft to hop on. Jess wanted Kate to go shopping for school clothes at the mall in Annapolis, but everything was more expensive there, and Kate had to tell her she couldn't go. Instead, Grandma took all three of the kids to the Walmart in Easton for clothes and school supplies. J.T. didn't have to check
in with his probation officer as often, so no one worried when it all took longer than they'd planned, and they decided to stop for pizza on the way home. They all laughed when Kerry said, “I want juth,” and had to repeat herself three times before anyone could figure out she meant “juice.” Even Kerry giggled, flashing her missing-front-teeth smile.

Only one person wasn't there. Kate quickly texted her mother as their meal arrived:
We'll bring pizza home
, so you don't have
to cook.

New school clothes. Dinner out. Laughter. Under the table, Kate tapped her hands together and was quietly grateful. This was how her life used to be. This was how it was supposed to be. It had a name, too:
norma
l
. And normal had never felt so good, Kate thought while carefully picking the pepperoni off her slice of pizza.

But then came the first day of school.

FAR FROM HEAVENLY

W
e have a lot to cover this year. So be forewarned. This class is
no
t
a social hour!” Kate's new English teacher, Mrs. Langley, looked up from her notes and flashed a threatening look at the class over her reading glasses.

Kate was listening. She wanted to work hard. She
had
to do well. Ever since she'd started going to public school, bringing home a good report card was about the only thing that made her mother even a little bit proud of her. “Straight A's,” her mother might actually say with the glimmer of a smile and her eyes connecting with Kate's. “Good job.” And yet Kate was distracted and anxious, because the first day of high school was not what she had envisioned.

The shoes were the first clue. Kate should have paid more attention. All those niggling doubts about the way she looked came flooding back. She had read the dress code on the website. It said “no flip-flops, no slippers, and no bare feet.” So she figured sneakers would be okay. They were new—plain white, comfy, and inexpensive. Grandma was delighted she'd found such a great deal. Kate hadn't thought much about them until a girl on the bus made a weird face. “Off brand,” she heard the girl say before she and her friend grunted and laughed behind
their hands.

But it was true. No one was wearing sneakers like hers—none of the girls, anyway. Most of them—including Jess—were wearing flip-flops!

During second class, Honors English, Kate was still beating herself up over it. She had wanted this day to be perfect. Why hadn't she talked to Jess about this? Why hadn't Jess
said
something? Was it because Kate hadn't gone shopping with her?

“Each and every student in this room needs to come prepared—be on time and ready to work.” Mrs. Langley continued.

It didn't help that Kate's heart was still pounding from the run to class either. She'd gotten lost in the upstairs hallway and had almost been late. Somehow she'd had the wrong room number in her head—and it was a long way from 213 to 109!

Nervous, Kate twisted several strands of her shoulder-length hair with her index finger and thumb. It wasn't just the shoes either. She should have done something with her hair, too. She should have straightened it. But she hated the flat iron because she was always burning herself on it. Plus it took too long. She should have made a ponytail. Anything would have been better than nothing.

Tucking her hair behind one ear, Kate scanned the handout, her eyes lighting on the book list. She recognized some of the titles like
To Kill a Mockingbir
d
,
The Scarlet Lette
r
,
Romeo and Juliet
. But others were new to her and had interesting titles like
I Know Why the Cag
ed Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou. She was going to love the reading.

“Cell phones and iPods are a distraction in class. They are
not allowed
! All of your electronic devices should be in your locker during the day.” Mrs. Langley's voice hammered out the warning: “Rest assured, people, that I will confiscate these devices if I see them being used!”

Kate glanced at the girl across the aisle and recognized Glenda Newbie from eighth grade. Glenda looked really tan. But Kate wondered why she'd put on so much black eyeliner. Other than lip gloss, Kate still didn't use any makeup. Like Jess, she believed true beauty was natural, not something fake you painted on your face. When they made eye contact, Kate started to smile and widen her eyes, as in,
Can you beli
eve this teacher?
But Glenda swung her head around and turned away as she shook back her long, straight-as-a-broom blond hair.

In fact, the eye makeup made Glenda Newbie look like a raccoon, Kate decided.

From the corner of her eyes, Kate watched Glenda cross her legs. Glenda had on cute leather sandals and what appeared to be fresh black nail polish that made her toes look bruised.

Kate pulled in her sneakered feet. What a dork she must look like in her
o
ff-brand
sneakers, her loose-fitting jeans, and her plain pink T-shirt that hung on her lean frame. Next time she did the wash, she would throw everything in the dryer for an extra ten minutes to see if they'd shrink.

Or
not
! Why should she? Just because most girls wore snug tops and short skirts didn't mean she had to do it, too.

Did it?

Confused, and suddenly panicked, Kate stared down at the syllabus in her hands. She gritted her teeth. There was so
much for her to get used to—the clothes, the makeup, the way older kids acted, the block schedule with ninety minutes per class, which seemed so long. It was a huge mistake for her to be in high school, wasn't it? She was only thirteen. She should have been in the eighth grade, not the ninth! The year she had skipped back in fifth grade when she entered public school had messed her up now!

“You need to listen. You need to participate,” Mrs. Langley told them.

Listen
 . . .
parti
cipate
 . . . Kate blinked and bit a fingernail and tried to focus, but already her mind was straying again. She couldn't help it. She had imagined the first day of high school so many times over the summer—it almost glittered like a distant star in her mind. New classes, new friends—a new beginning! It had been almost a year since her father had died. J.T. had been home for three months. It was way past time for a new start. But the first day was here, and it was far from the heavenly new chapter in her life that she had imagined for herself—or for her brother, because no one had sat with him on the bus that morning.

“Number eight!” Mrs. Langley called out as she tossed something into the wastebasket that made a heavy thud. “No food and drink allowed in this room!”

Number eight? Kate licked her lips and glanced around. She must have spaced out again. She did not want to start out this way, not listening. She swallowed hard and stretched her eyes.

Mrs. Langley continued: “Cheating.
Susp
ected
cheating. Or
a
ttempted
cheating will result in a zero on the assignment and disciplinary action. . . .”

Kate frowned. Why would a teacher have to even say this?

When a buzzer finally sounded, Kate was glad. She and the others in her class gathered their books and notebooks. Pens clicked. Backpacks were scooped up from the floor and sweatshirts whipped off the backs of chairs.

Kate fled down the hallway quickly, quietly, avoiding eyes by looking down. Of course, this way, she couldn't help but notice everyone's feet and the fact that most girls did not have sneakers on. She did, however, see one girl wearing a pair of bright green Crocs and another with socks and sandals. That had to be worse than plain old off-brand sneakers, didn't it?
Who decided these t
hings?

She hurried because it was a long walk from her English class to the cafeteria. She and Jess had the same lunch period, and they had arranged to meet outside the girls' room closest to the cafeteria before going in. She'd talk to Jess about the shoe thing then.

But Jess was waiting with a new girl named Olivia, and the three of them had to rush to get in a long line for hot lunch.

“Olivia moved here last month from Catonsville,” Jess said.

“Welcome,” Kate responded, trying to be friendly, but wishing she could have had some time alone with Jess. “Where's Catonsville?”

“Up near Baltimore,” Olivia said. “Not that far.”

Olivia seemed like a nice girl. She was a little bit heavyset and had long black hair that she'd pulled back into a French braid. She also wore beige flats with tiny gold-colored studs on them and, Kate couldn't help but notice, thick violet mascara that made her eyelashes look heavy.

“We're in Latin and US history together,” Jess said.

Kate was a little jealous. She was going to miss being with Jess. They had only one class together, and that was geometry.

“You should see the homework we already have,” Jess went on. “Hey!” She turned to Kate. “Olivia played field hockey last year at her middle school. Do you think Coach Dietrich would let her join the team late?”

Kate shrugged. “I don't know.” Why was Jess so gung ho about Olivia, whom she had just met?

Hot lunch didn't look so great. Some kind of macaroni with tomato sauce and
ground
beef
on it. At least, Kate thought, there was a tiny green salad and a roll with butter. By the time they filled their trays and found a seat, however, there wasn't much time left to eat anything anyway—never mind talk about shoes.

“Hey, I see J.T.,” said Jess, who was sitting directly across the table from Kate.

At first, Kate acted like she didn't hear. On top of everything else, she did not want to have to worry about her brother again.

“Kate,” Jess repeated, tapping the edge of Kate's tray with her fingers, “I see J.T.”

Unable to avoid it any longer, Kate looked up. “Really? Where?”

Jess indicated with her fork, and reluctantly, Kate turned to see. Just as she'd feared, J.T. was alone, at a small table with four chairs. The scene tugged at her heart. She wondered if she should get up and go sit with him.

“That's your brother?” Olivia asked.

Kate didn't respond. The cafeteria was jammed with kids,
some walking around, trays in hand, looking for seats, and yet those three chairs around J.T. remained empty. He was an island in a busy stream.

“What year is he?” Olivia asked.

When Kate didn't answer, Jess did. “He's a sophomore.”

Sadly, Kate watched her brother. She had made him a peanut butter sandwich that morning (she should have made one for herself), and he seemed to be eating it quickly. Why wouldn't anyone sit with him? The sight was so painful that when Kate finally turned back to her own lunch, her appetite was gone.

“Oh, no!” Jess suddenly exclaimed, putting a hand to her mouth. Her eyes were fixed in J.T.'s direction.

Whipping around, Kate saw her brother push back from the table and stand up, milk dripping down the front of his shirt.

“Someone tossed a milk carton!” Jess exclaimed.

“Where?” Kate asked, scraping back her chair as she stood to look.

“Over there!” Jess stood up and pointed. “It's Curtis Jenkins!”

Kate saw how Curtis and two other boys were whooping it up with laughter. Kate recognized one of the others as a boy named Hooper.

She felt her heart drop. It was happening, she thought. It was happening all over again.

Grabbing her backpack, Kate started pushing between the chairs to get to J.T., but then the buzzer rang and everyone else got up to go, trapping her.

“Kate!” Jess called from across the table to her.

She needed to get to her brother right away.

“Kate, wait!” Jess called again.

“What's happening?” Olivia asked. “What's with her brother?”

But Kate shoved her way through the crowd and didn't stick around to hear how Jess would explain it all to her new friend.