So far, so good. Anna had survived the first half of the school day. When the lunch bell rang, Anna made her way to the last empty table in the cafeteria and sat with her back to the rest of the kids. She pulled out a book and put on her earphones and turned on her own personal invisibility shield. She was so focused on not being noticed that she didn’t see the boy who had sat down directly across from her.
After consuming a quarter of a dry cheese sandwich, Anna finally sensed a presence. She looked up slowly. The boy, for his own part, wasn’t paying any attention to Anna either and stared down intently at his phone. He was smaller than the other boys in eighth grade and wore thick black-rimmed glasses. One of the outcasts, Anna thought. She knew them all too well. But this boy with his mop-like blond hair and crooked grin emitted a funny kind of confidence.
Suddenly he laughed out loud, startling Anna. He laughed again and shook his head.
“Classic,” he said to himself.
Anna didn’t bite.
He turned his phone to Anna and showed a photo of a young girl dressed as Albert Einstein, with a full mustache and wild hair.
“Is this really you?” he asked.
Anna stared, unblinking.
“It is you,” the boy laughed. “For what it’s worth, I think you look great with a mustache.”
“How did you find that picture?” Anna said sharply.
“I heard your name in class. Learned you’re from Boston. Found your not-very-active socials. Easy-peasy.” The boy smiled.
“Well, I’d appreciate you not stalking me,” Anna said flatly.
“Oh, no. You got me all wrong,” the boy said, putting his hands up in defense. “Consider me like the unofficial class yearbook. If you want to know what’s going on—the people to know, the foods to avoid—I’m your guy. People are going to want to know who you are. I figured I’d help.”
Anna wasn’t sure what to think of this strange little boy, and it must have shown in her face. He didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, he didn’t seem to care much and kept on going.
“My name is Scout, but my friends call me Scout.”
“Scout? Really?” Anna said.
“Scout the Third, actually. Doctor says I haven’t hit my growth spurt yet.” Scout began gnawing on a carrot stick like a bunny. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Anna.”
He reached his hand out. Anna let it float there for several seconds before slowly reaching out and shaking his hand back. He seemed harmless.
“Nice to meet you too.”
“So I hear you’re some kind of genius. Your placement tests had you, like, at a college level or something.”
“News travels fast, I see,” Anna said.
“You’re the new kid. So, yeah, you’re a big deal, at least until our attention spans run out. And, since you’re new, let me share some things they never bring up in orientation. For instance, whatever you do, pack your own lunch on Taco Tuesdays. Don’t ask questions. Just trust me.”
“Okay.”
“And another thing. Most kids are pretty nice around here, but some think they were put on this planet to rule over us peasants.” Scout jerked his head in the direction of a pack of girls at the lunch table two rows over.
Anna started to look but Scout stopped her.
“Don’t look at them. If you make eye contact, they might attack.” Scout shook his head and grimaced.
Anna looked over anyway and was met by a fearsome smile filled with white teeth from the prettiest girl at the table. The girl’s lips were curled up in a smile, but the rest of her face was unmoving, and she didn’t blink, like a predator calmly waiting for her prey to move. She appeared to be the leader of the group of girls who surrounded her like a queen. Anna smiled back with the same fearsome smile and unblinking eyes.
“Her name is Blaire. The others sitting around her are Brittany, Bethany, Brianna, and Brooke. I kid you not,” Scout said under his breath.
Anna leaned in. “The Killer Bs?”
“Exactly.” Scout smiled broadly, clearly surprised he hadn’t thought of that one himself. “Say, I like your style, sister. You and me are going to get along just fine.”
“Anything else I should know?” Anna asked. She wasn’t used to this much attention, but it wasn’t altogether horrible.
“Plenty. See those guys over there?” Scout nodded to a group of boys in the corner of the cafeteria. “Good people to know in a pinch.”
“You mean the jock table?” Anna asked.
Anna knew the popular kids from their body language and posture and easy confidence—and that they owned part of the cafeteria, and, most likely, the entire school. She had always avoided their type before, and for good reason. Kids like Anna and Scout were easy prey, picked off from the herd because they traveled alone.
Scout whistled over at the table and waved.
“No, really, you don’t need—”
“It’s no problem. They may look simple, but they’re surprisingly friendly.” Scout continued to wave until he caught their attention. “There’s Max, Theo, Gus, and Guillermo Delgado Gloria, otherwise known as Del.”
Their faces flashed past in a blur except for the last one, Del, the boy in the back with the faded sweatshirt and a smile so bright that it made her pause. Just as Del made eye contact, Anna’s stomach cramped. It was an unpleasant feeling, and Anna didn’t like it one bit.
She cringed and prepared herself for the verbal abuse she was sure would follow. Instead, most of the group smiled back at Scout. The biggest boy, the one named Max, nodded in greeting. One boy even waved back. No sarcasm. No over-the-shoulder snickers that masked their true intent. Their reactions were genuine, and Anna couldn’t be more surprised than if she saw a small lamb playing kickball with a pack of lions.
Anna was still trying to make sense of this new place when two other figures popped into view. They moved so fast it made Anna lean back and shake her head. The two figures, both girls, sat down on opposite sides of Scout.
“Is he bugging you?” the tall girl asked. She didn’t even look at Anna but glared directly at Scout instead, like an angry older sister. “He’s been known to bug people.”
The girl was a good head taller than Scout and outweighed him by at least thirty pounds, most of it lean muscle. She was pretty in a Viking kind of way with her short-cropped copper-red hair. The other girl was Scout’s size and had a small afro pulled back in a neat bun. She smiled serenely and seemed oblivious to the potential violence to her left.
“What’s your name? My name is Lula. My friend’s name is Fiona. I love your shirt. It’s funny,” the small one named Lula said, blurting out her lines so fast and without a break that it sounded like one protracted sentence.
It took Anna a couple of seconds to parse what she had just heard. Before she could respond, Scout jumped in.
“Geez, Hulk, will you give me some room here.” Scout pushed his small frame against Fiona. She didn’t budge an inch. “Her name is Anna, if you must know, and you are rudely butting in on our conversation.”
Fiona ignored Scout. She seemed to have had plenty of practice.
“Congratulations, Anna. I hear you’re officially the smartest kid in school.” Fiona took a fry off Scout’s plate and bit it in half. “I used to share that honor with Blaire before you got here. It doesn’t bother me, but Blaire ain’t going to like it.”
“It was just a stupid placement exam,” Anna argued. “Seriously, it’s no big deal.”
“No, I think it’s awesome. Anything that gets ol’ Blaire worked up into a frenzy is all right by me. We need more smart people around here anyway,” Fiona said, directing her last sentence at Scout.
“And other things I never heard at my old school,” Anna said, smiling. “Ever.”
“Well, ladies, it’s been lovely chatting with you. But I know you have to run along,” Scout said.
The girls didn’t budge. Scout glanced back and forth, shrugged, then slumped back in his chair, defeated.
“Where do you live?” Lula asked, her eyes big behind her glasses. “Can we come over and visit? Do you play any musical instruments? Maybe we can start a band.”
“I’m not sure which question I should answer first,” Anna giggled.
“Just pick one. You’ll get used to it,” Fiona offered.
“Well, I live with my uncle now,” Anna said.
“With your uncle? That’s funny. Why don’t you live with your—”
It took exactly three seconds for Lula’s brain to catch up with her mouth. But when it did, she found she couldn’t go forward—or back—so she sat unmoving, her lips frozen mid-phrase.
“My parents?”
“I’m sorry. It’s none of my—”
“It’s okay. You didn’t know.” Anna shook her head. “My parents had an accident a year ago. A bad one. The worst. And, since the state of Massachusetts doesn’t let me live on my own, I had to choose who would take care of me. My Uncle Jack or Aunt Claire.”
Scout smiled meekly. Lula stared straight ahead, while Fiona looked down at nothing at all. Anna searched for a way to break the awkward silence. She hadn’t talked this much to kids her own age since forever, other than some of the guys from her little league team from her life before. But they were just friendly—like teammates, not friends. This felt good. Better than she had felt in a long time. But now she could sense the conversation slip away, and with it the hope that this time things would be different. Anna was overcome with the urge to pick her things up and retreat into silence.
Then Fiona spoke.
“I’m glad you chose your uncle,” Fiona said, breaking the silence. “Otherwise, how could we start a band?”
A band, of all things. That made Anna smile.