EllRay Jakes is a Rock Star! (4 page)

My favorite shelves are the ones nearest the window, because those hold the crystals. Dad put the crystals there so that sunlight will shine on them first thing in the morning. He says it's a nice way to start the day.

Crystals grow on or in rocks, and they are like diamonds, only better—because they're much bigger, and they come in so many different colors: blue, green, red, orange, and yellow. Even the gray and brown crystals are awesome, not to mention the clear ones that are like ice that never melts.

And crystals look like somebody carved them, only they grew that way. Nature was the carver.

But my dad was the guy who collected them, and he has a story for each one.

My dad's rock specimens are his life scrapbook, practically.

I just wish some of the kids in my class could see them. Maybe then they'd stop bragging about their dads' ATVs, and their money, and their solid gold jewelry, and how everything's a contest that they are winning.

The kids in my class would see how
AWESOME
my dad's crystals are.

And I would win.

That's when I get my crystal-clear idea.

I will borrow six of my dad's crystals—only six!—from his office this very minute, and sneak them up to my room. Then I'll put each crystal in its very own white tube sock for protection, so they won't get knocked around inside my backpack when I take them to school tomorrow.

But before that, I'll spread out the other crystals on my dad's shelf so Mom won't see any empty places in case she goes into the office before he gets home late tomorrow night.

Then tomorrow, Tuesday, I will ask Ms. Sanchez if I can show everyone the crystals, and talk—okay, brag—about them, and she will say yes, because crystals are so scientific and beautiful. Everyone in my class will be totally AMAZED and IMPRESSED, and it will be the best Tuesday I ever had in my life. I might even get extra credit!

Then I will take all the crystals home tomorrow afternoon and sneak them back onto the shelf so they will be there when he gets home. He will never know that six of his crystals took a field trip to Oak Glen Elementary School—to make both him and me look good.

There is
no way
this plan can go wrong!

I walk to the front of the class on Tuesday afternoon.

I am holding my backpack against my chest with very cold hands.

“Aren't we a little old for show-and-tell?” Cynthia asks in her most sarcastic voice.

“We're never too old to learn something new,” Ms. Sanchez says. “And EllRay has some truly beautiful things to show us. Mr. Jakes?” she says, pretending to introduce me to the class.

“Hi,” I mumble. I feel very embarrassed and shy, even though I know secret stuff about almost all the kids sitting in front of me:

1. How Jared Matthews sometimes sleeps with masking tape on his hair to make it lie flat.

2. How Stanley Washington has already started saving up for contact lenses.

3. How Emma McGraw sometimes wishes she had a baby brother or sister, or at least a pet.

4. How Fiona McNulty doesn't really have weak ankles, even though she says she does.

“Hi,” a couple of kids say, curious in advance.

“What do you have to share with us?” Ms. Sanchez asks, trying to give me a hint about what to say next.

But I have it all planned—and rehearsed. I plunk my backpack on Ms. Sanchez's desk and unzip it. “I brought six rare and valuable crystals to show you today,” I say, and I pull out the six bulging tube socks. I set the socks in a straight line on the desk.

“Those are just boys' socks,” Cynthia announces to the class. “And they aren't rare
or
valuable. They're smelly, that's all.”

“Would you care to wait out in the hall while we listen to what EllRay has to say, Miss Harbison?” Ms. Sanchez asks in her iciest voice.

“Sorry,” Cynthia mutters, shooting me a dirty look.

“Okay,” I tell everyone. “I brought six
RARE
and
VALUABLE
crystals that my dad went all around the world to find for his collection. He's in Utah right now, in fact, doing important stuff. And here's the first crystal,” I say, carefully shaking it out of its sock, which I labeled last night with a permanent marker.

“OOH,”
a couple of girls in the front row say, staring at the crystal.

“This is called a topaz,” I say, holding it up. It looks like see-through gold, even though topazes are often brown. This topaz's sides are so perfectly smooth that they look like someone polished them. “It's from Brazil, in South America,” I tell everyone. “And it got this way all by itself.”

“No way,” Jared cough-says in the back row.

“Way,” I say coolly. “And next is another crystal from Brazil. It's called a tourmaline.” And I hold up a beautiful crystal that looks like a piece of the sky, it is so clear and blue. “Tourmalines are also found in some places in the USA, but like I said, my dad found this one in Brazil. Which is where the Amazon River is,” I add, inspired. “With piranhas and everything. Not to mention all the snakes.”

Fiona McNulty shudders, probably thinking about those piranhas and snakes. The kids in my class are quiet now, and they are staring at the last four tube socks with hungry eyes. They never knew crystals were this cool! They never knew
I
was this cool. Or my dad.

“And here is an aquamarine crystal,” I say, holding a blue-green crystal up to the light. It looks like solid swimming pool water. “This crystal is from Pakistan, which is right next to India. Pakistan is pretty dangerous now because of the politics. And it was probably dangerous when my dad went there, too, but he didn't even care!”

I sneak a peek at Jared. He looks impressed by my dad's bravery.

A little, anyway.

Ms. Sanchez taps at her watch, which means that I should hurry up.

“And my number four crystal is called a garnet,” I say, holding up a dark red crystal formation.

“Ooh,” the girls in the front row say again.

“This crystal is from India, where there are Indians,” I tell everyone. “But not the same kind of Indians as in our country, where they are called Native Americans.”

Ms. Sanchez should be giving me even
more
extra credit for this, I think—because it's history, geography, and science—all at the same time!

“And my number five crystal is called smoky quartz,” I say, holding up a clear gray formation that looks like a wizard could turn it into a crystal ball that really works, if he wanted to. “It's from Nevada, which is only one state away from here,” I say. “And I've gone rock-collecting there with my dad, and we saw a rattlesnake once. And also a tarantula,” I add, even though we really saw the tarantula in Arizona. I don't have any Arizona crystals with me, but I think that big hairy spider should still count for something.

“Did the snake bite you?” Annie Pat Masterson asks, her dark blue eyes wide.

“Almost,” I say, like it was nothing—even though in real life, the snake was in the road and I was in the car.

But if I'd gotten out of the car, it could have bitten me.

If it hadn't already been run over.

“Last but not least,” I continue, “is the Herkimer diamond, which is fancy quartz, not really a diamond. It's from Herkimer, New York, which is also in the United States.” And I hold up something that looks like it might be the biggest diamond in the world. It's almost as large as an orange! Well, a tangerine, anyway.

Stanley Washington's eyes look like they're about to drop out on the floor, he is so impressed.

“Wow,” Kevin McKinley says, looking as though he's about to start clapping.

Corey Robinson seems proud just to know me.

“And that's the end of the crystals I brought,” I tell everyone, trying to sound modest. “Only these are just six from my dad's collection—which is
huge
.”

And when I pick up the crystals and walk back to my chair, my sneakers can't even feel the floor, my whole body is so happy and proud. I feel like a rock star!

“Thank you, EllRay,” Ms. Sanchez calls after me. “And I'll be sure to thank Professor Jakes, too, the next time I see him,” she adds.

Uh-oh! Ms. Sanchez is very polite.
Too
polite, sometimes.

“No, that's okay,” I tell her quickly. “I'll do it for you.”

“Now, gather up your things, boys and girls,” Ms. Sanchez tells everyone after glancing up at the clock. “Because the final buzzer is about to sound. And don't forget to review your spelling words for the test tomorrow—including these two new words:
crystal
and
formation
.” And she writes the two words on the board.

I cannot believe something I brought to school will make it onto an official spelling test.
C-r-y-s-t-a-l. F-o-r-m-a-t-i-o-n.

I just hope I spell those two words right on the test, that's all!

Some of the kids in my class crowd around me the very second the final Tuesday afternoon buzzer buzzes—even Jared and Stanley.

This is so cool. My wish has come true! I have never been the most important person in the room before, and it feels
great.

In fact, I wish this feeling could last forever!

“Can I touch one of the crystals?” Annie Pat asks.

“Sure,” I say, because touching a crystal can't hurt it. “Which one?”

“The red one,” she tells me. “Red is my new favorite color.”

“That's the garnet,” I remind her, hauling the lumpy formation out of its sock again.

Annie Pat touches the garnet with her fingertip as if it might have magical powers. “Um, can I
hold
it?” she asks. “Just for a minute?”