Jimmy Stone's Ghost Town (4 page)

That is, until the beginning of the second
week of school, when I felt an enormous spitball ricochet off my
forehead and watched it fall straight into the applesauce on my
lunch tray. I tried to remain calm and not look at anyone else in
the lunchroom, but the sound of laughter and high-fives from across
the room told me all that I needed to know. Coogan and his boys had
set their sights on me and my heart sank into my stomach as I
started to hope that it wasn't for the whole year.

Chapter Seven

Once I was on Billy Coogan's radar, my days
at school turned into lessons in how to escape, evade, blend in,
and basically appear invisible. The Coogan Boys weren't about to
let up so I had to find other ways to at least make it hard for
them to attack.

And, you want to know what
happened? My running, hiding, and being mostly invisible only
fueled Billy and his boys. Most targets just sit back and take it.
They don't even bother to try. Instead, I guess they think it's
easier to just be a sitting duck. I'm sure the Coogan Boys probably
enjoyed that tactic for the first few targets, but I'll bet they
got bored pretty quickly. It was simply too easy and, as all kids
know, bullying shouldn't be
too
easy or it's no fun.

Which brings us to me. I'd been running and
hiding from my dad (at least when he was drinking his beers) for
the past three years so I had a lot of practice. I guess I'd gotten
pretty good at it because I was really starting to give the Coogan
Boys a run for their money. Unfortunately, I think all my
ducking-and-hiding only made it that much more fun for Billy and
friends. It seemed pretty obvious - even after only a few days -
that Billy had chosen me as his target for the year.

It was a challenge for
them, and I guess all the searching made it that much more fun for
them. After putting in the hard work to track me down, the attacks
must have been even better for them. They must have been
that
much more
satisfying.

So, do you have it all straight so far? The
hero of your story (yeah, that's me, Jimmy Stone), who has zero
friends in his school (much less even an acquaintance that he knows
of) just realized that he's become the target of the Coogan Boys
(the most ruthless bullies in all of Boredsylvania Elementary).
Sounds pretty pathetic, huh? Yeah, which I guess brings us back to
the fact that I'm currently squatting over the toilet, in the last
stall of the Boy's bathroom, waiting for recess to end.

The Coogan Boys have yet to find me in here,
and I've been ducking most of recess in this very same stall for
the past few days. The fact that my ankles hurt, my back is tight,
and I think my feet might fall right off when I finally decide to
try to walk is worth it to escape Billy. Plus, it should only be a
few more minutes until the recess bell rings and I can go back to
my class.

I've been trying to be so quiet that I think
I've actually been holding my breath, and I'm starting to get a
little lightheaded.

I take a deep breath and wiggle my toes
(mostly to make sure they still work), confident that the bell can
only be a few seconds away from ringing.

When the bell doesn't ring right away, I
lean back against the wall and stretch out my left leg to start the
blood flowing again. It's at this very moment, when I start to open
my mouth to sigh, that I hear the Boy's room door creak open.

I quickly slam my mouth shut, to catch my
sigh, and freeze in the exact position I'm in. I look like a
breakdancer with my leg out and my hand over my mouth, but it's
worth the pain if it means that the Coogan Boys don't find me.

I'm as quiet as I can possibly be as I hear
the sound of footsteps walking through the door and over the room's
sticky tile. It only sounds like one set of steps and, at least for
a second, I feel relieved. The Coogan Boys would, most likely, all
come together.

I listen closely as the steps continue to
the middle of the room and suddenly stop. The room is dead quiet
and I get the feeling that whoever it is that came in is also
listening for something. But listening for what? I wonder.

I'm holding my breath again and it's not
going to be long before I need to take another deep breath. But
before I can even think about how to pull that off, I hear what
sounds like a low whisper.

"Jimmy," he says quietly while tapping on
the door to the first stall.

I now know two things
about my visitor: 1) It's a boy (obviously, he's in the Boy's
bathroom) because the voice is definitely a boy's voice, and 2)
it's
not
Billy or
one of the other Coogan Boys. This information is slightly
relieving, but it's also a bit confusing. I didn't think anyone in
this school - aside from Billy's boys and some of the teachers -
even
knew
my
name.

"Jimmy," he says again, a little louder this
time, while pushing open the second and third stalls. "Jimmy, are
you in here?"

I don't say a word and, instead, concentrate
on staying as still as possible. My forehead is starting to sweat
and my hands feel clammy.

"Jimmy," he says one more time, louder still
and this time tapping on my stall's door. "Say something if you're
in here." The room is quiet again as he listens for a response. I
don't give him one. Instead, I pray silently for that damn bell to
ring.

His shoes squeak as he turns and walks back
to the middle of the room. I hear his knees crack and his palms hit
the sticky floor as he gets down to look under the stall doors.

"This is the last time I'm calling your
name, Jimmy. If you don't answer me now, I'm leaving."

He's crawling from stall to stall and he's
just about at my door. My legs are throbbing and I'm not sure how
much more of this I can take. The bell has to ring soon, right? So
I decide to do what might be the dumbest thing I've done all year.
I answer him back.

"Who are you?" I ask quietly. "And how did
you know I was in here?"

"Never mind how I found you," he says while
starting to open my stall. "My name is David, and I'm here to help
you."

Chapter Eight

I guess you could say that I didn't really
believe David right away, but there wasn't much that I could do
about it with him standing in front of me in that very last stall
of the Boy's bathroom. He didn't laugh when he finally heard my
voice and swung the door open. I even waited a few seconds before
speaking, just to see if he would bust out laughing at what he saw.
I mean, how many kids wouldn't laugh at seeing another kid all
coiled up on top of a toilet? Not many, if you ask me. And, to tell
you the truth, I probably would have laughed if I were him.

But David didn't laugh. He didn't even blink
an eye - as if he'd been in this position before and knew exactly
what I was hiding from - when he saw me finally stretch out my legs
and plop my butt down on the closed lid of the toilet.

It's a relief to start feeling my toes
again, and I think it'll only be a few minutes before I can
actually get my entire lower body to work again, but I'm still
cautious. I don't know how David found me in here, or why he even
wanted to help me. He obviously knew who I was hiding from, or he
wouldn't have bothered to offer his help.

David cracks a smile and offers me his hand.
I look at him a little crooked but figure that, at this point, he's
had plenty of opportunity to expose me to the Coogan Boys if he
were working for them. So I take David's hand and he pulls me up
off the toilet seat.

I dust myself off - I know
I wasn't sitting in a pile of dirt or anything, but I just
feel
dirty from sitting
in that stall for so long - and, as David backs up into the middle
of the bathroom, I lean my head out of the stall door to peek
around. The coast appears clear, so I step out of the stall and
over towards David.

"Who are you?" I ask in the quietest whisper
that I can manage.

"I already told you," he says and pulls me
over toward the sinks. He twists the knob, turning on the hot
water, and tilts his head toward the sink basically telling me to
do the same. "I'm David Magee. We're in the same class, Jimmy."

I try desperately to
picture my classroom in my head, struggling to remember just where
David might sit, but I can't find him. You see, it's not just that
nobody knows
my
name, but I've really tried hard to just fit in with the
crowd. Doing that has made it pretty tough to remember anyone
else's name.

"Back of the room, Jimmy. Right in front of
the lockers and all the way to the right."

It's like he's reading my
mind right in front of my face. He knew exactly what I was
thinking, and I'm starting to think that David might have some kind
of magical powers. 1) He knew my name (I'm shocked when my
dad
remembers my name),
2) He knew I was hiding in the bathroom and, I guess, who I was
hiding from, 3) He knew I could use some help, and 4) He knew that
I was wondering where he sits in our classroom.

This is getting weird, and it's starting to
freak me out a little.

"OK, David," I say, leaning in close to the
sink so that no one will be able to hear our conversation. "How in
the hell did you know I was hiding in the bathroom, that I needed
help, and that I was trying to figure out where you sit?"

David's obviously shocked that I used the
word "hell" but he gets over it pretty quickly, turning his
attention to my questions.

"I told you before, Jimmy. It doesn't matter
how I knew you'd be in here. I just knew, OK?"

I'm not really satisfied with his answer,
but I decide to let it go and hope that he'll just keep talking. I
need information here, and fast, because I'm really starting to
think this all might be some sort of sick dream. Maybe I was
sitting in that same position for too long and my whole body just
went into some kind of crazy dream.

"Jimmy," David says, shocking me back into
reality. "I'm here to help you. I know that you've been having some
trouble with Billy and his friends."

"How'd you--"

"It doesn't matter," he says. "Just listen
to me closely."

Wow. This David kid is really intense for a
fifth grader. I shut up quickly and look straight at him, across
the sink.

"The Coogan Boys are bad news, Jimmy."

"You don't think I know that already?"

"I know," David says. "I know. But I just
wanted to make sure you knew. Billy means business, and when he
picks a target for the year he doesn't mess around. He and his
buddies will not stop until they've embarrassed you so bad that
you--"

"--might as well move to another state?"

"Exactly," he says and leans further across
the sink towards me. He's getting in real close for this bit of
news and I listen as hard as I can. "But, Jimmy, there are ways to
beat the Coogan Boys. There are ways to not let them get to you,
not let them attack you, and not let them turn your life into a
living nightmare."

"Can I ask you a question, David?" I don't
really want to break his momentum, but I have to know. "How do you
know so much about the Coogan Boys?"

David looks hard into my
eyes and grinds his teeth a little. I guess he
really
doesn't like that
question.

"You ask too many questions, Jimmy. Did you
know that?"

"Well, I just--"

"I know what you just," he says and drops
his eyes to look down into the sink. "I'll tell you everything I
know, Jimmy, but you have to give me your word."

"My word that what, David?
Who
are
you?"

"I was their target, Jimmy." He says this
quickly and with no sign of fear.

Could it be possible that
he was once their target and he's not even
scared
of the Coogan Boys
now?

"Three years ago. You weren't here yet, but
it's all true. I was their target and it was a horrible year, but I
survived it and you can too."

"But that was three years ago," I say,
unsure that I can actually pull it off like David did.

"Yeah, it was. And maybe Billy and his boys
are a little older, and stronger, and meaner, but they're really
the same old Coogan Boys, Jimmy."

"So you're going to help me?"

"I said so, didn't I?" David looks at me
like I'm crazy. He's offering me his help and I'm so shocked that
he even knows my name that I'm almost pushing him away. "I just
need your word."

"What is it, David?"

"I need you to promise that you'll do
exactly as I say, and that you'll do whatever it takes to beat
those Coogan Boys."

David holds out his hand for me to shake on
it. If I shake, does this mean I actually made a friend? I wonder
if that's what this is, or if it's just one kid helping another
out.

"Whatever you say," I tell him as I grab his
hand and shake. "Anything to get away from Billy and his
friends."

"Good," he says and smiles
as he leans far over the sink and motions for me to lean in farther
too. Even with the water running, information this important
requires complete secrecy. Whispering could be the
only
way.

And as David begins to whisper his plan to
me, I take it all in trying hard not to miss a single word. I
listen closely and smile as this year just started to get a whole
lot better.

Chapter Nine

David talked to me through the rest of
recess. I'm sure we were only talking for a few minutes before the
bell actually rang throughout the school, but it felt like much
longer. Listening to him talk about plans and escape routes and
counter-action was exciting enough to keep me completely distracted
from the fact that I now had to deal with a year of ducking the
Coogan Boys.