Chapter 9

“What do I do now?” Noelle asked, looking confused and uncomfortable as she stared at the mass of junk. Carl, now a dozen or so yards away from Noelle and Hoodsey, beamed as he found a couple of rusty mufflers and proceeded to make a pile of treasure.

“Jump in!” Hoodsey yelled, as he extended his maggot-filled hand towards Noelle. She winced as she stared at his hand, contemplating whether to even touch it. Hoodsey, noticing her discomfort, frowned. He lowered his voice so that it was just a whisper.

“What’s wrong, Noelle? Do you not want to hang with us? I mean, I understand if you don’t and all, but-“

“No no no,” spluttered Noelle, clearly very flustered. “I just-I-“ As Noelle struggled with the right words, she anxiously looked around, as if trying to catch some stalker or spy. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“AH!” Noelle must have jumped a thousand miles. She whipped around to find out the culprit that caused her surprise. A perplexed Carl just shrugged.

“Oh, Carl! It’s just you. Hehe. I mean, of course it would be you. And not them.” Noelle clamped her mouth shut as soon as she finished uttering the last three words. Carl could not keep his suspicion to himself.

“Them?” He repeated. Noelle backed away from the two boys.

“I’m so sorry! I thought I could do this. I really could. But I can’t and…I have to go!”

“Noelle, wait!”

But it was too late. She was gone again. And the way she was running? She could been chased by a tiger or a monster.

With only few tinges of regret, Carl was pretty much done.

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Even Hoodsey had to admit that Noelle’s behavior was beyond bizarre. To give a guy false hope that everything would be back to the way it was before and then dash away again? It was just plain unfair. The two boys did not even think twice about attempting to see her again.

Albeit a rough start, their summer was pretty good. Pulling a few pranks on Blake Gripling was one of the biggest highlights. It was easy to pull that stuff off when his family had a garage sale (The Griplings called it “Heirloom sale” to add more class to the name). Really, however, it was just a giveaway of Blake’s baby items that made it all too easy for his fellow classmates to use for blackmail.

It was late August and just as Carl thought he was going to enjoy the remainder of his summer, huge envelopes started arriving in the mail for him. Carl opened them on the kitchen table during Sunday breakfast.

“Perhaps some subscriptions for the Weirdo’s World Magazine?” Carl asked hopefully.

“I don’t remember paying for them this month,” Dr. Dave replied, a tall man with huge spectacles. Still wearing his pajamas, Dr. Dave was going to savor his one day off of the week. About two years ago, he married Lois Foutley, his co-worker and love of his life. Though he was often busy with his occupation as a surgeon and could not be there sometimes, such as when Carl won his writing contest, he still tried his best to make himself available to the family. He was also particularly close to Carl, especially since Carl did not think his Always-MIA biological father made enough commitments to the family.

Aw really? I just though- AW NO!” Carl practically cried when he saw the stacks of homework assignments pour out of the envelopes. Attached was merely one brief letter:

Dear Carl,

Because of your academic success in Lucky Junior High, I was surprised by the course load you chose for next year. As your guidance counselor (and hopefully, future friend) I have made a few course changes.

I have also attached your summer assignments that are a prerequisite for the Honors classes. I realize that this is short notice, and therefore, you will have until the end of September to complete them. Furthermore, I hope that you understand that I have merely made these changes so that you realize your full academic potential.

If you do not agree with these changes, please meet with me after the second week of school.

Sincerely,

Debra Gupta

Grade 9, Lucky High Counselor

“What the-“ He looked at the piles of work in front of him. “And look at these papers. They’re mocking me! Smiling at me with the glee that they are the cause for the loss of my summer.”

“Ouch,” Ginger agreed as she snatched away Carl’s letter and looked at his course load. “Zorski along with these other teachers? Mom, even I have to sympathize with him.”

“Now honey,” Lois replied. “I have to admit that you are brighter than what you chose for yourself. I say that you give these classes a try and then decide later. Now what do you say, kiddo?” Though Carl could see that his mother felt genuine concern for him, he also knew that she would rather eat a snake than let him slack off during high school.

“I don’t really have a choice do I?”

“No. Not really.”

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Her eyes were running with tears threatening to pour out like they had never before. Trying not to show weakness, she balled up her fists with all her strength and sat on them. Her nails dug in so hard that the skin almost broke.

“Back to Sheltered Shrubs, darling!” A blond woman, donned in a very low cut shirt with his hip slung jeans beamed. “Your father has just been offered a new job back in town. Now he’ll be executive manager of- “

“I don’t care. No more. No more.” Noelle thought to herself.

“Why now?” Noelle protested. “I-I was doing so well in this school.” It was a straight lie, however. And she and her mother knew it. Coming back everyday from junior high school with that depressed expression on her face, Noelle would plop on her bed, without a word to either of her parents. The mother, blindly thinking that her daughter was suffering from a week of shopoholic stress as she herself did at that age, would shower her with materialistic presents. At first, Noelle thought it was thoughtful, but then felt a yearning for something more from her mother. Talking or even a hug would have been a start.

At the moment, however, neither was willing to delve further into the subject that would bring more obvious hurt. So the mother changed the subject.

“I think I’m going out with Anne and Cheryl tonight. Will you be okay?” Noelle buried her head in some book, trying not to uncover her own disappointment. Once again, her mother would not be there in her time of need. Once again, she would have to find some way by herself to get over her sadness.

Not waiting for her response, Noelle’s mother put on two fabulous purple satin shoes and headed out for the door. Before she left, however, she popped her head into the living room, just to say some last minute things that she thought were suitable last minute motherly words of comfort:

“It is a good thing, in some ways, isn’t it? That boy you’ll be seeing again. He’s awfully cute, no? Kurt, Clark, I think his name is? Something like that.”

“Carl?”

“Yes, yes! Carl. Now, that’s a bright spot, right? To see him?” The mother walked out, satisfied with herself that she did the right motherly thing for once.

Unbeknownst to her, however, that was probably the one thing that Noelle did not want to hear.