My Cousin's Keeper (13 page)

Lucas interrupted. “It's Miss Perez today. She's always got tons of little kids following her around. She won't notice right away.”

“If a couple of us grab him,” Mason continued, “and hold him still where the sinks are, we can get the skirt on him. Then walk him back out to the playground — and run. Leave him where everyone can see. It'll be hilarious.”

“Have you got your phone in your bag?” Brendan Ashcroft asked. “You could take photos as well.”

I listened, feeling more and more uneasy.

“What if he tells on us?” Ethan Coulter said.

“He won't tell; he never does. He's a weakling.”

“What if he kicks and shouts and stuff, when you're trying to get the skirt on him?”

“So it'll take three of you to hold him and keep him quiet. Put your hand over his mouth,” said Mason.

“He might bite.”

“He won't. Probably wet his pants, like a baby. Someone needs to guard the doorway, keep little kids out and be a lookout in case the teacher gets close.” Mason turned to me. “How come you're not saying anything?
You
have to be part of it, Kieran. You can be on lookout duty.”

“We shouldn't do it,” I said. “We'll get caught. Tons of kids will see what's happening and tell the teachers.”

“Are you protecting him because he's your cousin?” Mason sneered.

“You're going to get caught,” I repeated. “It's not worth it.”

“You're being gutless,” Lucas said. “Your cousin's a freak, and you don't want to be part of a prank.”

“Taking photos with your phone is a really bad idea,” I added, a little desperately. Now, as I pictured the whole thing in my head — almost imagining myself as Bon being treated in this way — a thread of determination crept into my voice. “A whole bunch of kids against one isn't fair. Don't do it.”

“You thought it was a funny idea five minutes ago,” Brendan said. “Now you're trying to wriggle out of it.”

“You're lookout,” Mason reminded me.

Unhappily, I looked around the group. Mason, Lucas, and Brendan were exchanging knowing smiles. Ethan and Liam didn't seem quite as sure, but I sensed they'd simply follow whatever the other three said and did.

“I don't want to be lookout. I don't think you should do any of this,” I said, but no one seemed to be listening.

The bell for recess rang, and kids everywhere stood up, took lunch trash to the bins, and ran off to play. Other boys had overheard by now, and they followed Mason and Lucas across the playground.

“Don't try to get out of it,” Mason warned me. “You've told us before how you don't like him. Here's a chance to let him know how no one here likes him.”

“This isn't fair,” I said, my voice raised. “Eight kids against just one.”

Mason paused and looked me up and down. His face read
coward
. He turned and walked away with the others. I could see Bon walking toward the basketball hoops with Julia and the girls. They passed quite close to where I was still standing, and I tried to catch Bon's eye, shaking my head slightly and mouthing a warning. But he wasn't paying attention. Mason, Lucas, and the other boys took up a position near — but not too close to — the bathroom, and they put on a show of small talk, all the while glancing over to where Bon and the girls were playing, as well as keeping an eye on the playground-duty teacher. Uncomfortably, I stood at the edge of my group, not really taking any notice of the silly stuff being said.

“Don't forget, you're lookout,” Mason said once more, and I tried to ignore that, too, hoping that Miss Perez would happen to walk over and make us all go away somewhere else. But it was no use. Time dragged on until finally I knew that lunchtime play was going to end soon. And just as I was afraid he would, Bon had left the girls and was walking toward us.
Stay away. Wait till the bell rings.
But he walked on, closer and closer, until he came to where the group stood. It all happened quickly, and just as Mason and Lucas had planned it. Bon was grabbed by the arms and led into where the sinks were.

I was
not
going to be the lookout.

Too late, I turned and ran, hoping to reach the spot on the playground where Miss Perez and her usual group of little followers were. But Julia and her friends were closer.

“It's Bon,” I said to her, pointing behind me. “Mason, Lucas, the other boys —” I couldn't get an explanation out quickly enough.

Julia knew immediately that something bad was happening. Without saying a word, she sprinted across the playground at the very moment that Bon was pushed out.

The boys had put Amber Hodges's sports skirt over the top of the track pants that Bon had worn to school, and now he was frantically picking at the zipper to get rid of it. Someone had pulled his hair undone so that it spilled over his shoulders in a tangle. He kicked the skirt off and stared at the ground. I found it hard to look at him.

“Leave him alone!” Julia shouted, pushing through the group of kids that had gathered around to join in the shouting and cheering. “You boys are being really mean!”

Mason put on a silly voice. “Ooh, sorry, Mommy.”

“You're a freak,” Brendan told Bon as kids kept laughing and pointing.

“Yeah,” Mason repeated, “a freak. Go and find some other freaks to be your friend. Like Julia the freak.” He looked at me. “Or Kieran the coward.”

Bon stared wordlessly at everybody, the sports skirt crumpled at his feet.

“You're the cowards,” Julia said, and something in her voice made the shouting and noise fade.

“Loser,” Ethan said, filling the sudden quiet.

The word hung heavily in the air between us for a moment, before Mason said, “C'mon, everyone. Let's go join the normal kids.”

At that moment came Miss Perez's loud, sharp voice. “All of you boys stay right where you are. All of you!”

We were all sent to sit against the library wall at the edge of the playground, and at lining-up time, Miss Perez stood at the front of all the kids in their class groups and said, in the unfriendliest voice I'd ever heard her use, “Both fifth-grade classes are to remain seated and wait behind. Mrs. Gallagher is coming out to speak with you.”

“Oh,
great
,” I heard Brendan say as the other classes turned to stare at us. They were standing up and beginning to follow their teachers away toward the classrooms. “Busted, big-time.”

“Thanks a lot, boys,” said Lucy McDonald, and a chorus of girls joined in, annoyed that everyone seemed to be in trouble. Our teachers glared at us and told us to keep the noise down, but the angry comments and whispers continued.

I had sat myself away from Mason and Lucas, so that Bon and Julia were sitting in front of me, uncomfortably close. Bon sat perfectly still, his head lowered and his hand moving slightly as he scratched a small stick into a gap in the playground concrete. Julia sat facing me.

“Did you say
anything
to those boys to make them stop?” she asked, her voice both soft and fierce.

“I tried to,” I whispered back. “I really tried. But they wouldn't listen.”

“You have to do more than try,” she replied quietly. “You have show them you're on Bon's side. What if I'm not always here? Who's going to stand up for him then?”

If I'm not always here
?
I looked at her closely. “What do you mean?” I asked, but Julia did not reply. “I knew it wasn't fair,” I mumbled, looking down, wondering if Bon was overhearing any of this. He was still scratching the ground with his stick.

“Sure,” Julia said, “but next time you have to do more. And it has to be for always.” She paused. “Kieran? Promise.”

I sensed that this was my last chance to let her know that I was someone to trust and like. I nodded, a mixture of
yes
and
promise.
Anything I might have said out loud was interrupted by the arrival of Mrs. Gallagher.

Our principal was furious. “I will not have this sort of bullying in our school,” she thundered. “It's a disgraceful way to treat a fellow pupil.” The beads on her bracelet rattled as she moved a hand in time to each word.

Everyone was very still and silent. We were the oldest pupils in the school, Mrs. Gallagher told us. We had a responsibility to set a good example to the younger children. It was expected of us, she said, that we respect every member of the school and one another's differences and individuality. The playground, Mrs. Gallagher reminded us, was a place where everyone had a right to feel safe and happy. And then came the part I expected. “Those boys responsible for today's incident on the playground are now going to take responsibility for their actions. Stand up if you were involved.”

For a moment, nothing happened. Kids exchanged glances, and the girls turned and frowned at the boys, mostly at Mason and Lucas. Mrs. Gallagher glared at everybody in our two classes and waited.

Slowly, I stood up. A puzzled look seemed to cross Mrs. Gallagher's face for a moment, but she quickly resumed her cranky glare. After what felt like a long wait, Mason, Lucas, Brendan, Ethan, and Liam stood up, followed by a few other boys who'd joined in.

Somehow, Mrs. Gallagher seemed to know that there was no one else. She stepped close to where Bon and Julia sat. “Bon,” she said quietly. “Would you like to come over and talk to me about what happened?”

Bon, still looking down, shook his head.

“When you feel ready, I'd really like to hear your point of view. And it would be good for these boys to hear from you, as well,” said Mrs. Gallagher.

I looked at Bon, and then at Julia. I saw that she was smiling, and that Bon had dropped the stick. His arms were folded close to his chest.

It was a long afternoon. Because I had been first to stand up, and probably because I was related to Bon, Mrs. Gallagher spoke to me in her office first.

“How do you feel about what happened to your cousin, Kieran?” she asked.

“Not very good,” I admitted.

“Was there anything you could have done to keep it from happening?”

“Probably.” I sighed. “I should have told a teacher right away what the boys were planning.”

“Yes,” she agreed firmly. “And does Bon deserve an apology, do you think?”

I nodded.

“I'd like you to write that down,” Mrs. Gallagher said. “Think about how all of this has happened, and write that down as well. And about how to make sure that it doesn't happen again. OK?”

Mason, Lucas, and the other kids were all lined up in the hallway as I left the principal's office. I avoided looking at them as I walked to the empty office next door. There were a couple of pens and a notepad, which I stared at for quite some time, unable to think of what to write. From next door, I heard the sounds of Mrs. Gallagher's voice, mumbles from Mason, Lucas, and some of the other boys. I heard them being told to go back to class and write out what had happened as well. Then I could hear Mrs. Gallagher phoning parents. “Mrs. Cutler,” I heard her begin. She made other phone calls as well, and I figured she would call my house, that I was facing trouble when I arrived home from school. Afterward, there was a stretch of silence beyond the room where I sat, except for the nearby hum and click of the office photocopier.

Then I heard Julia's voice.

“Mrs. Gallagher, you know it wasn't just today that those boys have picked on Bon.”

“Julia,” came the reassuring reply, “I know, and it's being dealt with. Why are you out of class?”

“Because Bon is my friend.”

I stared at the blank notepad page a bit more, and I began to write.
Because Bon was a new kid
, I wrote,
and because he looked unusual is why a lot of the boys started picking on him
. I thought a moment, and added,
Even me
.

The hum of voices from the principal's office echoed softly between the open doorways. Then came something I heard more clearly.

“Julia, the school your mother wrote down as being your last school — on the enrollment forms —”

“It was out of state, ma'am.”

“I know that. I contacted them and they had no record of you being there. Can you tell me the school you last attended, Julia?”

Julia's reply was a place I had never heard of.

I heard Mrs. Gallagher's voice. “It's just that I feel I need to rely on you for answers, rather than your mother. Something here is not quite right.” There was a long moment of silence before she spoke again. “Julia, do you and your mother move around a lot?”

“Yes,” Julia replied after a pause.

“Is there a reason for that?”

“My mom doesn't want my dad to find me.”

I could hear the sigh in Mrs. Gallagher's voice. “Julia, you understand that I have to take a step away from this. It needs to be put into someone else's hands. You might need help that I'm not in a position to give.”

“But I'm OK for now,” Julia said. “I'm totally fine. It's Bon that you need to help. Not me.”

Mrs. Gallagher's voice dropped to a confidential murmur.

Julia murmured a reply, then said, “Thank you, ma'am,” in a louder voice I thought sounded pleased. And suddenly, she was in the doorway of the room where I sat. “Hi,” she whispered.

“Hi,” I whispered back, surprised.

“What are you writing?”

“About what happened at lunchtime. And the times before.”

“You stood up first. I liked how you did that.”

It sounded like a compliment. A little relieved, I shrugged.

“Those boys will leave Bon alone now,” Julia said.

We looked at each other for an awkward moment, and I could almost sense she knew I had been listening to her conversation with Mrs. Gallagher. “I heard what you said,” I told her with an effort. “About your mom. And your dad.”