Unbreakable (2 page)

And for Jacie, it pretty much did it. She let out a discouraged breath. "Is that all you wanted to tell me? You could have told me I was wrong after recess, you know."

"Your name is on the list of people on the Mayflower."

Jacie's eyes widened. "It is not. I wasn't even born then, goof." She peered at the fluttering paper again, tucking behind her ear a blowing strand of long auburn hair that had escaped her ponytail. When one of her Indian feathers got in the way, she tucked it behind her ear, too.

"You weren't born. But maybe your grandpa or somebody else in your family was on the boat. Your last name isn't that common. Not like Smith or Hogg or something. If your family was on that boat, that would make you a real live hero, too."

Jacie wrinkled her nose. "How can I be a hero without doing anything?"

"You just can," Gwen announced with utter certainty. "See?" She pointed again and read Jacie's surname out loud. "Priest."

"My grandpa is not a Pilgrim. He's a shoe salesman from Macon, Georgia," Jacie said impatiently, her gaze drifting to the still full swing set. "I really need to go now, Gwen."

It was clear that she was already plotting a way to get that last swing. Everyone knew that was her favorite.

"That's not all." Gwen's eyes darted sideways to make sure that no one was close enough to overhear them. "I'm there, too. Half way down the page."

Jacie's brow furrowed as she started reading the list.

But Gwen couldn't wait that long. "I looked at the entire list. There are four of us from this class on the list. Four! All girls!" Her excitement was getting the best of her, and she looked as though she might have an accident. "Isn't that neat?"

"I guess," Jacie said doubtfully.

"Audrey! Nina!" Gwen bellowed, startling Jacie and causing her to jump a step back. "C'mere!"

Audrey Mullins stopped dusting off her lucky hopscotch rock long enough to yell, "No way, Gwen. I'm gonna win, so I'm not moving. You come over here." Then, with the skill of a playground master, she tossed her rock, pumping her fist when it landed. Katy, Audrey's cousin and latest hopscotch victim, had white-blonde hair and the knobbiest knees in the entire third grade. She moaned as Audrey successful navigated the hopscotch board.

Gwen huffed for a few seconds, grumpy that she was being forced to cross the playground but quickly got over it and grabbed Jacie's sleeve, tugging her along as she made her way to Audrey.

Nina, who had been sitting on the monkey bars quietly watching the game of Red Rover, hurried over to the small group. She was equal parts terrified and thrilled that somebody might ask her to play.

"Hi, Nina. I like your sweater," Audrey said, surprised to see that the girl had given up her spot on the monkey bars. She was almost as attached to that spot as Jacie was to the last swing.

Nina smiled, showing off white teeth and a sizeable hole that had once held the last of her baby teeth. "Th-thanks, Audrey." She tugged a little at her burnt-orange, macramé sweater; her mother was taking a class.

Gwen looked around again, glad that no boys were anywhere near them. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I've got something to show you all. It's super groovy, but let's start walking back to class first. The bell is going to ring soon anyway."

The girls all sighed loudly: the best part of the day always came and went too quickly, but if they started back early they could at least be in the front of the line to get back into class and not get the drinking fountain just inside the doorway after one of the boys licked it just for spite.

The girls had just begun to pad towards the building when Gwen inserted herself between Audrey and Katy. "I'm sorry Katy, but this is private,
secret
business. You can't come with us." Her voice held a note of true regret.

Katy blinked. "Why not?" "Yeah." Audrey began to bristle at the insult. "Why can't she come?"

"Because she's not on the list," Gwen said between clenched teeth, glaring at Jacie as though she expected her to offer some sort of moral support for her decision.

"She can come if she wants," Jacie said pointedly. "All we're doing is walking back to class and it's a free country."

"Wh-what list?" Nina ventured tentatively, her heart pounding at her daring. All the other girls in the class had gone to the second grade together, and even if they hung out with different groups, they knew each other well. Only she and a handful of boys had been promoted from a different class. And now, even after several months, she still felt, and was usually treated, like an outsider.

Gwen rolled her eyes and held out the paper as she explained that all of them except Katy had last names on the passenger list. "This means we're special," she finally declared. "We might be real Pilgrims! We're practically famous."

Jacie snorted. "I told you, I'm not a Pilgrim."

"Is your name Priest?" Gwen asked curtly. "If it is, then read it and weep. You
are
a Pilgrim." She turned to Katy. "Sorry, Katy. Schaub isn't on the list. I looked twice." Katy looked as though she might cry. "But I'm cousins with Audrey and her last name is on the list. If she's a Pilgrim, then I am, too. We're related." With a quick hand Katy scrubbed the green war paint from her cheeks, then plucked the white feather from her hair in a showing of Pilgrim solidarity.

Gwen drew in a thoughtful breath, then tugged her purple, construction paper bonnet a little tighter on her head so it wouldn't blow off. "I don't think that counts, Katy. I think we should make our own club since we're all on the list. Amy is moving to Toledo over Thanksgiving, so I'll have lots more time to play with you all at recess because I won't have a best friend."

"You don't stop being best friends with someone just because you're apart," Audrey said, frowning. She tugged her skirt a little higher on her thick waist.

"True, but I won't be able to play with Amy ever again." Gwen turned to Nina, who was quietly watching the entire exchange with intelligent, interested eyes. "You never play with anyone, Nina. You just sit and watch." Then she addressed Jacie. "And all you do is swing, swing, swing. Even if there
was
a highest swinging record in
The Guinness Book of World Records
," which she doubted, "the people from the book are never going to come to Hazelwood, Missouri, Jacie." "If I break a world record, they'd have to," Jacie challenged hotly, kicking a rock that wasn't really bothering anyone.

"But wouldn't a club be way more fun than breaking a record?" Gwen glanced at the building nervously, sure the bell was about to ring any second.

"No," Jacie said flatly. "I hate Mickey Mouse Club reruns. They sing too much and act stupid." Miffed, Katy crossed her arms over her chest. "Talent Round-Up Day isn't so bad." "C'mon, Jacie, let's do a club," Audrey enticed, loving the idea of being in something special. "It could be fun." Then she gave Gwen a poke in the chest, causing her to drop the pink passenger list. "But only if Katy can be in it, too."

"No way, Audrey." With a scowl, Gwen pinched Audrey's arm, earning a squeal. Then she picked up the list. "Everyone can't be in the club or it will be too big. No boys and nobody off the list. That has to be the rule. And don't hit or poke me again or I'm telling Mrs. Applebee."

"No fair!" Katy protested, with Jacie nodding her agreement. "I want to be in the club. I would be a good member. Maybe they just forgot my name."

"W-wait." A faint voice interrupted them and all eyes swung to Nina. The girl prayed that her stuttering would magically disappear. But, of course, it didn't. "I th-think," she stopped and forced herself to slow down and think about every word as her mother had reminded her so many times. "I think K-Katy should be able to j-j-join." She exhaled as though she'd just run a mile and smiled. Everyone was still paying attention. "See?" She pointed to a name on the list at the very bottom. The last name wasn't Schaub, but the first name was Katherine.

"That's my name!" Katy crowed, nearly choking on her wad of Bazooka bubble gum. "I'm
Katherine
Schaub. My name
is
on the list."

Gwen's mouth dropped opened. "But your last name isn't on list. There are lots of Katherines."

Jacie and Audrey grinned. "A rule is a rule, Gwen," Audrey reminded. "Katy's name is right there."

Gwen thrust her chin in the air. "Fine. We should take a vote then. And since it's about Katy she can't vote. And since Audrey is her cousin, she can't vote. That leaves me and Jacie and Nina." "I vote that we let Katy in," Jacie said instantly, "and that we make
her
president."

Gwen stuck her tongue out at Jacie, but she didn't protest. After all, the vote had been her idea. "I solved the mystery of all of us being Pilgrims, so I vote for myself to be president. And for only people with last names from the list should be in the club. Sorry, Katy." She turned to Nina. "Nina?"

Nina gulped and ran a hand through her wind-tousled hair, feeling the pressure and sheer importance of the moment. It was truly up to her now. She looked at each girl in turn, unintentionally lingering long enough so that they all began to sweat.

Jacie gave her the tiniest smile of encouragement and Nina felt her confidence pick up steam. "K-Katy is in. I vote w-with Jacie."

"Yes!" Katy and Audrey hugged and jumped up and down in each other's embrace, Audrey's mop of curly brown hair flopping up and down as they moved.

Just then, the bell rang and a horde of 8-year-olds began stampeding for the door.

"Can I be president after Katy?" Gwen asked loudly, accepting defeat graciously and fighting the urge to step aside and lose her space near the head of the line, despite the risk of being trampled.

"Sure," the girls said, clustering near the door.

Nina smiled. She'd never been anywhere near the front of the line before. Her smile grew. Because of her height, she'd never even seen the front of the line. It wasn't that she was short for her age; Nina had gone to only the first few days of first grade before being promoted directly into the second grade.

Mrs. Applebee opened the door and then, waving the children in, disappeared back into the classroom.

"So what will we do in this club?" Jacie asked Gwen as they entered the coatroom, not even noticing the familiar scent of dust, must, and sweat. She wasn't sure she wanted to be in a club at all. And no way was she going to sing or be in a talent show. No way.

Before Gwen could answer, Bucky Lee shouldered his way past Nina, elbowing her hard. "Out of the way, N-N-Nina," he mocked with a cruel laugh. Several of his friends joined in the taunt, all stuttering "N-N-Nina."

Nina grimaced, feeling a bruise bloom instantly on her ribs. She whirled around with her fists in the air, eyes blazing, but she didn't have to say a word.

Audrey and Katy, each of whom had three older brothers, descended upon two of the teasing boys with the practiced ease of hyenas on the prowl, pushing them hard against the pegged wall and knocking several pair of old galoshes from the rack above the jackets onto their heads.

Jacie launched all of her 75 pounds at Bucky Lee, pinning him to the ground and shaking the life out of him by the collar of his shirt before the boy could even blink. He'd recently teased her about her failed world record attempt and this was the last straw. He had this coming.

Gwen stepped in front of Nina, ready to fend off any further attacks, even though she knew her mother would take a strap to her if she tore her last pair of tights. Her face turned the same shade of red as her flaming hair at the thought of having only panties to wear under her dress, but she stood her ground.

Jacie and Bucky Lee rolled around on the floor for a moment, but Jacie quickly regained control. "With teeth like that," she bared her front teeth and made a chittering sound like a beaver chewing wood, "how can you tease anyone,
Bucky
?" He began to squirm beneath her again, but this time her grip was solid. "Say you're sorry, dog breath," she demanded.

"Sorry, dog breath," Bucky instantly replied, laughing hysterically at his own wit.

"You rotten–"

"What is going on here?" Mrs. Applebee walked into the coatroom to find Jacie with her fist raised high above her head, ready to pound Bucky, and Audrey using her considerable bulk to keep her prisoner from escaping as she administered a wedgie he wouldn't forget for weeks. And Katy was industriously stuffing her chewing gum in the ear of a screeching girl who had the bad sense to join in with the boys' mean teasing.

The coatroom went deathly silent.

Mrs. Applebee rolled her eyes and grabbed Jacie by the collar, lifting her off Bucky Lee. As she called out the names of the other fight participants, she pointed towards the door with an authoritative finger. They would all be spending the afternoon in the principal's office.

Nina drew in a breath to protest, but Gwen turned around and clamped her hand over her new friend's mouth. "Shhh! If you say anything then you'll probably get in trouble, too. Mrs. Applebee is already really mad."

"B-but it's not their fault and now they're in t-trouble!" Confusion showed in Nina's blue-green eyes. "Why d-did they do that? I can take care of my-myself."

"Because we're a club, silly. C'mon." She guided Nina back through the coatroom and back to her seat, which was across the aisle from her own. "I live by Audrey," she whispered. "I can go to her house tonight after school and tell her mom that the fight wasn't her fault. And her mom will tell Katy's mom. Maybe then they won't get into too much trouble."

Nina nodded, liking that plan. "I live by Ja-Jacie." She'd seen the girl walking to school but had never had the nerve to approach her. "I'll talk to her mom, too, if you think I-I-I should."

"Of course you should! The most important part of being in a club is being best friends and sticking together." Gwen retrieved her pencil from her desk and pulled a wide-lined piece of paper from her tablet, readying herself for Mrs. Applebee's return.

An enormous smile lit Nina's face. She'd never had best friends. "Really?" she asked hopefully.

Gwen was filled with pride at how their club had defended one of their own. "Really."