Class Is Not Dismissed! (21 page)

“Gary, I’ve never known you to be so optimistic and driven. I’ll be honest; I am really inspired right now. If we were near
a field, I think I could play a few rounds of some sport,” Theo said proudly.

“A few rounds of some sport,”
Lulu repeated wryly. “You don’t even know how to talk about sports, let alone play them.”

“And I’m not even going to start with you on the Gary thing,” Garrison muttered.

“Schmidty, do you think Abernathy will be frightened by my ensemble? Is it best I stay here?” Madeleine asked politely.

“Don’t try to get out of this, Maddie,” Lulu said decisively. “Plus, remember, there are still four beetles loose in Summerstone,
so you’re not truly safe anywhere.”

“Thank you for those unpleasant and distressing words, Lulu,” Madeleine said through gritted teeth.

“No problem,” Lulu said with a smile. “So Abernathy is afraid of stepmothers, and none of us have stepmothers. Yeah, this
is going to be a piece of cake.”

“Positive energy, Lulu! Mrs. Wellington needs us. This school is it for her, so the least we can do is try to help,” Theo
pleaded. “Anyway, who’s going to help us if she’s not here?”

“You’re right, Chubby. Let’s do this,” Lulu said as she stood up from the table.

“And everyone is absolutely positive that I should come?” Madeleine asked nervously.

“Four supersmart beetles, Maddie, and we have no idea where they are,” Garrison said with a smile.

“Right,” Madeleine said with a tense expression. “Let’s find Abernathy.”

“I’m ready with sandwiches and tiramisu. What are you guys bringing?” Theo asked the others.

“Our brains,” Lulu deadpanned. “And hopefully, a lot of luck.”

While Abernathy sometimes came up to Summerstone, the group thought the odds of finding him were better if they went to the
forest. Theo, Madeleine, Garrison, and Lulu took an uneventful trip down the mountain in the SVT; why, Theo didn’t even do
a set of stretches afterward. He simply walked off the tram like the rest of them. And there the group stood staring at
the massive walls of foliage bordering the forest. It wasn’t an insanely long time that the foursome stood there staring,
but it felt like it to them. Each of them wondered how on earth they would be able to lure Abernathy to the edge, let alone
entice him up to the school and persuade him to reenroll. The mission to save Mrs. Wellington suddenly felt very much like
an exercise in futility.

“So I’m thinking maybe we sing a song, set a friendly mood, to start this off,” Theo said, breaking the silence.

“A song?” Lulu asked incredulously. “What do you think this is, a musical?”

“What about something festive, like the national anthem?”

“I’m not sure I know that song, Theo, and I’m actually not too keen on my voice,” Madeleine said sweetly while covering herself
in repellent.

“Theo, no one is singing. And we certainly aren’t singing the national anthem to a man living in the forest,” Lulu shot back.

“And for all we know, the national anthem’s changed since he was a kid,” Garrison offered.

Lulu, Theo, and Madeleine all looked at Garrison and shook their heads.

“Fine. Maybe it hasn’t changed,” Garrison said with embarrassment. “It’s not like I’m listening to it on my iPod. How was
I supposed to know?”

“Moving on, should I display the food, sort of like a buffet on the ground?”

“How about we start by calling his name?” Garrison offered.

“Won’t that insult him, like he’s some lost dog or something?” Lulu responded quickly.

“No way. People call my name all the time on the field, and I never think of myself as a dog. Just don’t say it all singsongy,
like a dog’s name.”

“I never realized it until now, but my whole family says my name in that singsongy lost-pet voice.
Theeeeeooooo!
What do you think it means? Lack of respect, or display of affection?”

“OK, Theo, get a therapist. Garrison, call his name. Maddie, keep spraying yourself,” Lulu said in an unyielding and take-charge
manner.

“Abernathy!” Garrison called out.

“We come in peace!” Theo shouted. “We don’t bear
gifts, but we do have sandwiches and tiramisu, which are better than most of the gifts I get and I assume better than most
gifts you get. Although I’m not sure you even get any gifts without a real mailing address, so…”

“I think it’s safe to say that this isn’t going very well,” Lulu observed.

The foursome stood there looking at the seemingly endless greenery, responsibility weighing heavily on their shoulders. This
was it. This was their one and only idea to save Mrs. Wellington, her legacy, and themselves. And there was simply no denying
that they were failing. Garrison tried to take a deep breath but he couldn’t—and not simply because of Madeleine’s repellent.
He was too tied up with anxiety and a sense of duty. And he wasn’t the only one. Lulu felt a familiar pulsing sensation behind
her left eye as the fear of failure took hold.

Madeleine sprayed and sprayed, worrying that she heard insect wings flapping in the distance. And rather predictably, Theo
was nervously stealing bites of the sandwiches in the bag. He always ate when he was nervous or happy or bored or, more aptly,
awake.

“Um, guys! Look at my head. Is there a lightbulb shining? Because I have an idea!” Theo squealed
excitedly. “Here’s the plan. Gary, Lulu, Maddie, get behind me in a straight line.”

“I have a feeling I’m going to regret whatever it is we’re about to do,” Garrison mumbled to Madeleine.

“Highly probable,” Madeleine agreed.

“This is a supersimple background setup. I want you guys to step side to side and clap your hands in unison. Do you think
you can handle that?”

After the requisite eye rolling and scoffing, the three of them begrudgingly began to step and clap.

“Give me an
A!
Give me a
B!
Give me an
E!
Give me an
R!
” Theo cheered as he clumsily executed some rudimentary cheerleader moves. “Give me an
N!
Give me an
A!
Give me a
T!
Give me an
H!
Give me a
Y!
What’s that spell? Abernathy! Yeah! Yeah! Abernathy!”

Theo finished his cheer by throwing his imaginary pom-poms in the air and jumping up and down. With a proud smile, he turned
back toward his friends, who were bent over one another in hysterics. As his smile faded Theo genuinely began to reconsider
his long-held plan to join the cheer squad in high school. This was hardly the reaction he had been expecting.

“That’s OK, you guys can totally laugh. It’s supposed
to be a comedic routine… seriously… I did it to get this reaction… I thought it would be a good team-building exercise for
everyone to laugh at me… honestly, I wasn’t being serious… OK, maybe I was, but don’t tell Joaquin about this, OK?” Theo babbled.

“You just made my summer,” Lulu choked out between tears of laughter. “I can’t believe you threw your pretend pom-poms in
the air!”

Madeleine suddenly stopped laughing and spraying. The delicate young girl lightly tapped Garrison and Lulu on the shoulders
before pointing toward the forest with a smile.

“I underestimated you, Theo,” Garrison said kindly. “It worked.”

Theo turned triumphantly toward the forest and scanned the dense foliage until he came across Abernathy’s ashy face, which
was worn and patchy, with crevices scattered across his cheeks. Normally the sight of such a ragged man would send shivers
up Theo’s spine, but in this instance all he felt was relief. Throwing his imaginary pom-poms in the air once again, he slowly
approached the edge of the forest.

“Hi!” Theo shouted out agreeably. “I’m really glad
you were able to catch my performance. Unfortunately I can’t do an encore, because those were the only moves I know. So please
don’t clap or hold up a lighter, because I am fresh out of groove.” He paused to smile victoriously at the others. “Anyway,
I am here to
officially
tell you that I get it. I would wig out, no pun intended, if Mrs. Wellington were my stepmother. I’m not sure I would go
so far as to live in the forest, but I would be really upset.

“However, eventually I’d realize that all of Mrs. Wellington’s wackiness, insane behavior, and slights about my weight—well,
that’s all love. So in the words of the great singing legend Diana Ross, stop in the name of love, and come on up the hill…
that second line isn’t actually in the song, but you get the general idea—”

“Hello there,” Madeleine interrupted. “I’m Madeleine Masterson, and while I don’t have a stepmother, I do have a stepgran.
It’s my father’s stepmother, and, well, she’s lovely. I consider her to be my grandmother…”

Abernathy continued to stare at the group, much as one would if one didn’t speak their language. The man showed absolutely
no signs of comprehension or emotion.

“We know you’re afraid of her, but she really can help you,” Garrison pleaded with Abernathy. “I know how hard that is to
believe. Sometimes even I have trouble believing it myself, but it’s true… she’s helped all of us.”

“Abernathy,” Theo chimed in, “if I may, I’m going to tell you a little story, man to man—or as the Spanish say, mano a mano—”

“Theo, you do know that mano a mano actually means hand to hand, not man to man, as it is often misunderstood,” Madeleine
explained. “So unless you’re planning on holding Abernathy’s hand, that is not the correct phrase.”

“Yeah, OK, let’s call off the whole mano a mano thing until we have some Purell—no offense Abernathy. And it’s not because
you live in the forest that I don’t want to hold hands. It’s more to do with all the colds going around this time of year,”
Theo rattled on uncomfortably. “Anyway, like I was saying, when I first arrived at Summerstone I wanted to leave, and on an
express train, if you know what I mean. But then I got to know Mrs. Wellington, and then she faked her own death, and that
really helped me. It disturbed me too… but it was useful… so basically, I think she could help you.

“I mean, aren’t you tired of eating twigs and bugs? Don’t you want to order take-out and watch cable television? It’s a great
life… let us help you discover it. Why don’t you follow us up to the house for some tea and cookies, maybe even a little nap,
because I don’t know about you, but I didn’t sleep well last night. By the way, I may have eaten multiple beetles yesterday,
and it really freaked me out, and I don’t mean any offense by that if you eat beetles—because you live in the forest, what
else are you going to eat?”

“Theo—” Madeleine attempted to stop him.

“… Maybe a squirrel, but I truly hope not, because they are pretty cute, not that cuteness should have anything to do with
who lives or who dies, but let’s be honest it does, that’s why we step on spiders and not Chihuahuas…”

“Theo, let’s wrap it up,” Lulu said quietly.

“Anyway, you’re afraid… we’re afraid… it’s like camp, only really weird… and run by your stepmother who you are terrified
of… but I think I speak for the whole group when I say we’re all a little terrified of her too. So what do you say?”

Abernathy continued to stare at them.

“Maybe we should just throw the tiramisu at him, to give him a taste of the good life,” Theo whispered to the others.

“Hey, I’m Lulu, and I think, of this group, I understand how you feel the most. My mother is more like an alien than a mom
to me, and sometimes I wonder what I’m missing out on, what other people have… and it makes me sort of angry… at her… at life…
and that’s OK. It’s OK to be scared or angry, but it’s no way to live forever. Let us help you.”

Abernathy stared at Lulu. For a second the words seemed to have penetrated; the man truly appeared ready to venture out of
the forest. Then, in the blink of an eye, Abernathy was gone. And with him went the only chance of saving Mrs. Wellington
and School of Fear.

D
arkness is not merely the absence of light, but the destruction of hope. Long before night fell, Madeleine, Lulu, Theo, and
Garrison had been enveloped in absolute darkness. There was a sense that they had failed at the most important challenge of
their lives; an unbelievable burden to carry before having finished puberty. But there they stood, staring at the trees, saying
silent prayers that Abernathy would reappear while knowing that he wouldn’t. It wasn’t that they would never bounce
back from this experience; they would. As time moved on, the pain of this failure would fade for each of them. This they knew,
even at that moment. Although it wasn’t an articulate thought in their heads, they could feel it in their bodies.

One might think that this realization would lessen the pain of the moment; in fact, it only exacerbated it. There they stood
with their lives ahead of them, while Mrs. Wellington’s life, almost entirely behind her, was sure to be destroyed. There
was a tragic element to the entire scenario, from Abernathy to Mrs. Wellington, that simply couldn’t be ignored: two pained
souls unable to mend.