Nobody's Perfect (3 page)

“On Thursdays they serve sloppy joes,” said a girl named Bethany, “and they're always good.”

“And Tuesdays is pizza,” said a girl named Casey.

“So I should bring my lunch except on Tuesday and Thursday?” Alexis asked.

Megan dove into the conversation. “You could do that except some days the cafeteria serves something really good, so we're in the habit of swapping lunches in case there's something we like,” she said. “Like beanie weanie or macaroni and cheese but not the shepherd's pie.” Megan made a gagging sound to suggest how disgusted they were by the school version of shepherd's pie.

“Oh, right,” Alexis said, but she hadn't been listening to Megan at all. Her nose was slightly scrunched and her brow was furrowed as though she were irritated or annoyed. Megan couldn't be sure, but she sensed that Alexis wasn't the least bit interested in her opinion. Alexis didn't even look at Megan when she spoke; she looked the other way. Megan had the impression that Alexis was avoiding her.

Megan glanced toward Cindy long enough to see Cindy purse her lips into a disapproving prune. “What's up with the new girl?” Cindy signed with a big dose of attitude. Megan quickly turned in the other direction. She didn't want Alexis to think they would sign about her, since she probably didn't know sign language.

“You're probably thirsty,” said Megan. “Do you want me to show you the good water fountain?”

“Actually,” said Alexis, tossing her blond hair over her shoulder, “I think I know where the water fountain is.” With that said, she headed across the school yard toward the good fountain.

Megan, Cindy, and the other girls hustled to keep up with her.

“Where are you from?” asked Cindy.

“Texas,” said Alexis.

“Alexis from Texas,” said Megan, trying to make a little joke.

“Alexis from Texas!” Cindy repeated, wanting to make sure that Alexis appreciated how funny Megan could be—and that Alexis heard all the words.

Megan nudged Cindy with an elbow. “Hey, that was my joke,” she said for only Cindy to hear. “I said it first.”

“Yeah, I hear that joke all the time,” Alexis replied, not particularly amused but not particularly peeved, either. She had already outdistanced the fourth-grade girls the same way she had outdistanced all the fifth graders on the soccer field. At some point several girls stopped trying to keep up with Alexis and lagged behind. And eventually Cindy and Megan joined them.

“We'll see you back in class!” Megan called after Alexis.

Alexis waved over her shoulder and trotted the last ten feet toward the good fountain—putting a healthy distance between her and the other girls.

“What's up with the new girl?” said Cindy.

“Maybe she's shy,” said Megan. “It's okay to be shy.”

“Yeah, but why is
she
shy?” asked Brittany. “She's practically perfect.”

“She wasn't so shy with Ms. Endee,” Cindy observed.

Megan turned toward Cindy and the other girls. “Maybe the new girl doesn't like to make new friends,” she signed, slowly and carefully so that they would understand the point.

“Maybe you're right,” Cindy agreed, offering a little shrug like maybe it was true and maybe it wasn't.

Megan flapped her wrists dismissively to end all discussion of Alexis. “Stop by my desk when the afternoon bell rings,” she said. “I've got something for each of you in my backpack. And spread the word to the other fourth-grade girls in our class too!”

The news that all the fourth-grade girls in Ms. Endee's classroom were included in the surprise made the girls squeal with excitement. “I'll spread the word,” said Kaitlyn, a girl in pigtails and new glasses.

“Me too!” said Casey, smiling wide in her brand-new braces. Megan smiled back, but she couldn't help wincing as well. She was creeped out by the sight of braces on teeth. It was one of her pet peeves. And it didn't help that Casey had become the absolute expert on crooked teeth ever since her first appointment at the orthodontist. She talked more now than she ever had before. The very idea of braces was enough to make Megan dance the heebie-jeebies. On top of which, it was practically impossible for Megan to read lips when the person wore braces. She had no use for braces whatsoever.

At that moment Ms. Endee appeared at the far end of the playground. “Heads up!” she cried, signaling the children to form a single-file line and head inside. Jann appeared beside her. “Back to class!” Jann cried, waving her arms overhead and positioning herself on the spot where the students were supposed to get in line.

The girls finished their cookies and wadded their napkins to toss in the garbage on their way back to the building. Cindy lagged behind to trot alongside Megan.

“But Megan,” she said, almost breathless with anticipation. “What are you going to do about the birthday party invitations and the new girl? We didn't make an invitation for Alexis Powell.”

“When we made the invitations,” Megan responded, “we didn't know there was such a thing as Alexis Powell.”

“But we do now,” Cindy insisted. “What are you going to do?”

“I don't know,” said Megan, stalling to think through the problem. She didn't feel right about excluding Alexis since all the other girls in class were invited. Yet she'd only just met Alexis, so it might be weird to have the new girl at the party. And she didn't really want to invite the girl to her birthday party if Alexis was just going to ignore her the whole time.

“So what are you going to do, Megan?” Cindy asked again. They had almost reached the classroom and Cindy assumed that Megan had figured it out.

“I said I don't know!” Megan snapped. She wasn't upset with Cindy, she just wasn't accustomed to the pressure.

•  •  •

Megan still hadn't figured out the problem when the afternoon bell rang and all the girls in class descended on her desk in a flurry of excitement. Megan was relieved that she had Cindy to help her hand out the birthday party invitations. The extra effort she took with the feathers and the glitter paid off big.

“A positively purple party!” Casey cried out joyfully, despite a little difficulty wrapping her lips around the words, because of her brand-new braces.

Megan smiled happily as the girls clustered around her and eagerly asked questions about her plans for the party.

“Is there going to be purple food?” asked Kaitlyn.

“Wait and see!” teased Megan.

“And purple birthday cake?” asked Tracy Alesia, a girl who was so smart she had been advanced to fourth grade a year early.

“Wait and see!” repeated Megan.

Megan was perfectly happy being the center of attention. Even so, she couldn't help but notice Alexis as she headed out the classroom door. Alexis glanced back at the cluster of girls and waved. “See you girls tomorrow,” Alexis said.

“See you tomorrow!” Megan called back. All the girls surrounding Megan fell silent and turned to look toward Alexis at the door. But Alexis was already gone.

“What are you going to do about the new girl?” asked Kaitlyn.

“She doesn't know yet,” answered Cindy, coming to Megan's aid.

“I don't know yet,” said Megan, who was perfectly capable of answering for herself. “I haven't figured it out yet.”

“Well, I know that if I was the new girl in school and all the girls were throwing a huge sleepover and I wasn't invited, I'd feel awful!” insisted Casey.

“Me too,” said Tracy.

“Me three!” said Kaitlyn.

Megan sighed. She'd been planning her Positively Purple Party for a solid year, and suddenly it had turned into a huge, unexpected drama over the new girl.

“IF
I
WAS THE NEW
girl,” signed megan, “and all the girls in my new school were going to this big-deal birthday party sleepover and
I
wasn't invited, I'd feel
terrible
!” She punctuated the statement by signing several exclamation points.

“There's your answer,” said Megan's mother, Lainee, who was mashing potatoes in a big steel bowl in the kitchen.

“That's not the answer!” said Megan. “That's the problem!”

Lainee set aside the bowl and wiped her hands off with a kitchen towel. “Well, let me ask you a few questions,” she said, pulling up a stool to perch beside Megan at the kitchen counter.

Megan reached for an open bag of tortilla chips. She might as well enjoy a snack while her mother addressed the problem. Lainee grabbed the bag of chips before Megan could reach it. “Not now, you'll spoil your supper,” she said, sealing the bag with a big plastic clip and pushing it aside.

“Tell me about the new girl. Do you like her?”

“She's practically perfect,” said Megan. “She's smart, she's pretty, and she's amazing with a soccer ball!”

“Who's smart, pretty, and amazing with a soccer ball?” asked Matt. He had been standing at the kitchen door, watching as Megan signed. “Not
you
, right?”

Megan looked at Matt for a second and then stuck out her tongue. Matt stuck out his tongue back at her. They were both too old to be sticking their tongues out, but that didn't matter.

“Enough with the tongues already,” said Lainee. “How would you like it if I stuck my tongue out all the time? I could. I
should
. In front of your teachers. In front of your friends.” Lainee stuck her tongue out at Megan and then at Matt.

“Don't do that,” Megan and Matt said at the same time.

“So who's the practically perfect girl?” asked Matt.

“It's the new girl at school,” said Megan. “Everybody wants to get to know her, but nobody gets the chance!”

“What do you mean?” asked Lainee. “She's in the same classroom, right? Just talk to her.”

“I think she's shy,” said Megan. “We asked her questions at recess, like ‘Where are you from?' ‘What do you like?' But she didn't want to talk with us.”

“What do you mean ‘she didn't want to'?” repeated her mom.

“She just walked away,” said Megan. And repeated it in sign. “She just walked away.” To make herself perfectly clear, Megan hopped off the kitchen stool, tossed her hair over her shoulder—exactly the way Alexis had done on the playground that afternoon—and walked to the other end of the kitchen.

“Sounds like she's just not
that
into you,” said Matt. “She doesn't like you.”

“I didn't say that,” Megan said defensively.

“You didn't have to,” said Matt. “If somebody blows me off like that, I get the message. I can take a hint.”

“Matt, you're not being helpful,” said Lainee.

“I'm trying to be helpful!” Matt protested.

“Go wash your hands and get ready for supper,” said Lainee, shooing Matt from the room with the flick of a kitchen towel.

“I'll never understand girls,” Matt mumbled as he headed down the hall.

“What did he say?” Megan signed.

“He said he'll never understand girls,” Lainee repeated.

“I just don't get it,” said Megan. “We were nice to the new girl. We were nice to Alexis. But she just walked away.”

“Was she rude?” her mom asked, opening a drawer to grab silverware for supper.

Megan shook her head. She couldn't say Alexis was rude. But then again, she couldn't say she wasn't.

“It was just
weird
,” said Megan. “Maybe Matt is right—she's doesn't like us.” She hesitated slightly before continuing. Then she added, “Besides, I don't think she likes deaf people, anyway.”

Lainee had been counting spoons but she stopped. “What makes you think she doesn't like deaf people?” she asked.

“Because she talked to the other girls, but she wouldn't talk to me,” said Megan. “She wouldn't even look me in the eye.”

“Well. . . ,” Lainee began, counting forks and knives until she was ready to give Megan the advice she wanted. “I think. . . ,” her mom continued—reaching into the cupboard to search for a serving bowl big enough for the mashed potatoes.

“What do you think?” Megan prompted.

“I think you were right before,” said Lainee. “I think this new girl is shy.”

“But why should she be shy?” asked Megan. “She's practically perfect!”

“Nobody is perfect,” said Lainee.

“This girl is,” Megan insisted.

“Who?” said Matt, returning to the kitchen to show off his clean hands. “The new girl who's so smart and pretty and good with the ball?”

“She doesn't like me because I'm deaf,” said Megan.

“Don't say that,” said Lainee. “I don't like it when you say that.”

“But maybe it's true,” said Megan.

“Maybe she doesn't like you because you're a
brat
,” said Matt.

“I am not a brat!” said Megan. She secretly suspected that she was a brat, but she would never admit it.

“Nobody in this house is a brat and nobody is perfect!” her mother announced. She wiped her hands off on a dish towel and tossed it onto Megan's head. “And there is absolutely no reason in the world why this new girl shouldn't like you.”

“But she doesn't, Mom,” said Megan, raising her voice. “I can tell! I know when people like me and I know when people don't. I know Matt likes me even though he teases me. And I know this girl doesn't like me because she won't look in my face. And it's because I'm
deaf
.”

There was a slightly uncomfortable pause in the kitchen. Matt broke the silence. “I'm out of here,” he said, heading for the dining room.

“Set the table,” said Lainee, pointing at the silverware on the counter. Matt scooped up the forks, knives, and spoons and headed through the door.