Trent Reedy - Stealing Air

“Well, five dollars says we lose the opener.”

“You’d bet against our own team?” Red asked.

“Just business.” Alex leaned toward David. “So how about it?”

“I don’t know,” David said. “I don’t have that much money.”

“But you were so sure we’ll win the state championship.” Alex shrugged. “If you don’t even think they’ll win the first game…”

David sighed. “Fine. I bet you five bucks that the Roughriders win Friday night.”

Alex and David shook hands and Alex keyed in the wager on his phone.

“Alex, are you always scheming for money?” Wendy said. Brian could tell she was trying to act like she disapproved, but she couldn’t hide the amusement in her eyes.

Alex put his iPhone away. “The whole world is always scheming for money.”

“Pardon me.” Max stood right beside Brian, holding a notebook with diagrams and equations all over the page. Over in Wendy’s corner, Heather glanced at Brian and Max. She whispered something to Abbie and both of them giggled. “I made some calculations late last night,” Max said. “When we meet tonight for the test—”

“Yeah, sure,” Brian said quietly. He could feel everybody watching him, thinking he was a nerd like Max. “I’ve got to… sharpen this pencil now.” He left Max and went to the sharpener by the door.

Right as he stuck the pencil in, he noticed a woman standing just outside the doorway. She was older than Brian’s mother, with flecks of gray sprinkled through her tightly pulled-back dark hair. Her unblinking eyes focused so intensely on him that he imagined she could read his thoughts.

“You must be Brian Roberts,” she said. Her words did not sound like a greeting, and her expression was neutral. “I hope you’ve guessed who I am.”

“Yes, Mrs. Gilbert.”

The teacher stared at him, raising one eyebrow. “You will address me as Ms. Gilbert. Not ‘Mrs.’ or ‘Miss.’ I am neither married nor a little girl. Do you understand?”

“Um, yes, Ms. Gilbert.” Brian swallowed. Wendy hadn’t been kidding about Gilbert being strict.

“Good.” Ms. Gilbert’s face showed no emotion. “You seem to be the only one who has not yet found a seat. You may sit in the empty desk behind Alex Mackenzie in the second row from the door and the fourth desk back.”

Brian nodded and walked back to his seat.

“And Brian?”

He froze just as he was about to sit down.

“Students are not allowed to bring any sort of bag to my classroom, and they are certainly not to bring skateboards. Today, you may keep your bag and skateboard on the counter. You should have been assigned a locker at registration. Tomorrow you will report to the office for your locker number and combination.”

Brian felt like a bobble-head doll for nodding so much. He took his seat, grateful to be out of the spotlight, at least for now.

They spent the first hour in Ms. Gilbert’s room being lectured about the rules and getting their language arts textbooks. Then they moved on to other subjects, rotating to the classroom of the other sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Brown, as well as the rooms of the fifth grade teachers. All morning they heard more rules. By the time they returned to Ms. Gilbert’s classroom, Brian was so tired of rules that he was almost hoping for homework. He killed time by flipping through his language arts textbook, looking for at least one good story.

It was almost noon. The loud noise of the little kids echoed down the hall from the cafeteria. Brian’s stomach rumbled, and others kept shifting in their seats around him. Ms. Gilbert stood up at her desk. “When the bell rings for lunch, you will wait in your seats until I dismiss you. You will not stampede down to the cafeteria like animals.” She stared at them all for a long quiet moment. The bell rang. Nobody moved. “Good,” she said. “You may go to lunch.”

Red stood up from his desk. “Alex, where you sitting?”

David slapped Alex on the back. “Hey, let’s sit where the sixth grade guys sat last year, farthest away from the cooks and the lunch monitor’s desk.” The three of them headed down the aisle toward the front of the room.

The cool table , Brian thought. That’s where all the action was. All the best jokes and the most fun. At least that was how it had been back in Seattle — for some people, anyway. If you sat at the wrong table with the wrong people, you could end up being made fun of a lot. Brian stood up. He figured he better hurry to catch up with Alex and the guys.

“I believe crispitos are featured on today’s menu,” Max said from behind him. “They are a sort of crispy beef burrito. They’re usually tasty enough, but I don’t think they accurately reflect the culture that first—”

“Mad Max!” Red stopped in the doorway on his way out. “Who cares about all that culture stuff? It’s crispito day! I’m eating four of those suckers.”

“Gross,” Heather said.

“Brian,” said Max quietly. He kept his eyes fixed on the floor. “I was wondering if you would be interested in sitting with—”

Brian thought fast. “Shoot. You know what?” he said right as they reached the door. “I, um, have to talk to Ms. Gilbert about something.”

“Oh. Well, I certainly don’t mind waiting for you.”

“Oh no.” Brian made a motion with his hand as if he was trying to sweep Max into the hallway. “Go on ahead. I don’t want to take up your lunchtime.”

The wide-eyed, hopeful look in Max’s face fell almost as if it were melting. Brian clenched his fists, hoping that Max would just go. “No, seriously,” he said. “I think this is going to take a really long time.”

“Oh. Well… okay.” Max left the room and headed down the now empty hallway toward the cafeteria.

Brian waited until Max was out of sight. Max was a good guy, and it was terrible to lie to him, especially since he was one of only two people here in Iowa he could count as a friend. Still, being friends with a bunch of the fun people in the class or friends with just one guy… what would anyone choose?

“Brian?”

Brian jumped and spun around. Ms. Gilbert had switched off the lights in the room and sat reading at her desk by the light of a small lamp. Spooky. “Oh. Um. Ms. Gilbert.”

“You’re supposed to be at lunch,” she said.

He nodded. “I, um, had a question.”

She stared at him for a moment. “And what is your question?”

His hands were sweaty. “Well, the… I was looking through the textbook.”

“Is there a question coming sometime?”

“I was wondering, you know… if there are any good stories in it.” His cheeks felt hot now. He knew he must have been flaring red.

“There’s a story from Greek mythology about Daedalus and his son Icarus, who escape a terrible maze by building wings and flying away. Icarus is a fast and daring flyer, and so—”

“That sounds cool.” Brian was only half listening. Max should have had time to get through the lunch line and sit down by now. How could he get out of here?

The corner of Ms. Gilbert’s mouth curled up into something almost like a smile. “Yes, it most certainly is… cool.” There was more quiet. “Now, I think you need to get to lunch. I know I’d certainly like to be left alone to read my book.”

She turned her attention back to what she’d been reading, and Brian left for the lunchroom.

A few other kids must have been held up by teachers or had business in the office, because he ended up third from last in line. He got his crispito thing, pears, and milk and went to face the sea of strangers in the crowded cafeteria. He quickly scanned the tables, looking for Alex and Red. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Max sitting by himself, trying to wave him down, but Brian pretended he didn’t see him.