Contents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
The Club The Name The Mean Teacher The Birthday The Limit The Game The Wall The Funeral The Cigarette The Bully The Christmas Party The Lie The Evil Nurse The Blackout The Service Project The Illness The Science Fair The Prayer The Return The Path of Service The Bad Mark The Exams The Final Game The Shoes The Graduation The Cemetery The Back to School Special
1 7 12 17 23 30 35 40 46 52 58 70 78 92 100 110 120 125 131 138 153 160 169 175 181 186 195
1
The Club Every September the kids in my school form all kinds of clubs. Some are started by teachers – those are usually the boring ones. Some are started by us kids – usually those are the fun ones. I’m Arwen, a ten-year-old fifth grader. For the last three years at Glendfort Elementary, I’ve been part of the Soccer Club. I love it but my closest friends – Ghada, Aiko and Zeke – aren’t in it with me. The four of us have been friends since we were small. My parents have lived here in Glendfort since forever and they convinced Ghada’s, Aiko’s and Zeke’s parents to move here too. We had a rough beginning. At first I hated Ghada. Even now I still think she’s a little snobby. But when I didn’t know how nice she is, she really ticked me off. I hope her dad figures things out with his boss. If not, they will have to move to another city and I’ll miss her so, so much. I’d also miss Aiko if she left, even if she still doesn’t know when to stop talking! Sometimes I have the urge to hold her lips together. But that would hurt her feelings and Aiko does have interesting things to say.
Zeke and I have been best friends since we met. Mom tells me I’m lucky I’ve found my best friend. She’s still looking for hers and she’s pretty old – although she wouldn’t like to hear me say that. Today all the clubs were holding their first meetings. After mine was over, I met Zeke. ‘How was Chess Club?’ ‘Amazing,’ Zeke said, before starting a lengthy explanation about the club’s new rules. I quickly zoned out. Zeke can be like Aiko sometimes, especially when he talks about chess. But he’s very sick. He goes to the hospital often for treatment and he can’t play sports. But even if he could, I doubt he’d want to. Zeke must be the most intelligent person in the world 2
and that’s because he’s almost always reading a book. He’d never be able to put one down long enough to learn to play. ‘There’s Aiko,’ I said, interrupting Zeke. She jogged to a stop. ‘How was soccer?’ ‘Fantastic.’ ‘Chess?’ ‘Amazing! I . . .’ ‘Oh. Well, Arts Club was terrible.’ That was such an improbable remark coming from Aiko that it caught even Zeke by surprise. ‘How come?’ ‘The new teacher, Mrs Anderson, is terrible!’ ‘What did she do?’ Zeke asked. ‘Nothing!’ Aiko wailed. ‘We always make something at every meeting. But Mrs Anderson wants to discuss’, she spat out the word, ‘technique!’ ‘Isn’t technique important?’ I timidly asked. Aiko is a great girl but she has a short temper. She drew herself to her full height (still shorter than me). ‘Yes, but you learn it through practice!’ Zeke’s cough sounded a lot like a laugh. ‘There’s Ghada,’ he said, diverting Aiko’s attention. Ghada is in the Writer’s Club. She’s going to be a famous author one day. She’s already a journalist for the school newspaper, Glendfort’s Eye. Because of her we know some pretty big words. ‘How was your meeting?’ Ghada nodded vaguely. 3
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked Aiko, who immediately told her about Arts Club. As usual, Ghada had an answer. ‘It’s going to be hard. But learning technique can’t hurt. Imagine if you were doing something that had nothing to do with art. Wouldn’t that be worse?’ Aiko was silent for a few moments, then nodded. ‘I guess it is better than nothing.’ Then she brightened. ‘Who knows, maybe she’ll let us do some more advanced techniques too!’ I was really happy Aiko had found her smile but a thought still weighed on me. ‘Guys . . . Once again, we aren’t in the same club,’ I said. Silence fell. We all wanted to be in the same club but it seemed impossible. Ghada is terrible at soccer, absolutely inept at getting a ball to travel a straight line. No way am I going to go play chess; I’m no good at it. Aiko barely made it in composition, while Zeke can’t even draw a simple smiley face. ‘You know . . . We might as well start our own club,’ Ghada said. ‘What kind of club?’ asked Aiko. ‘A Bahá’í club,’ I promptly said. ‘Isn’t that a little exclusive?’ Ghada said. ‘That’s the point,’ I said immediately. ‘I thought the point was for us to be together, not to be the club,’ Zeke said. ‘It’s the same thing,’ I said. ‘It isn’t.’ Seriously, what is wrong with my friends? Don’t they 4
want to hang out with me as much as I want to hang out with them? ‘Why do you want others in our club? How are you going to tell them about praying, Feast, Bahá’í classes? They won’t understand.’ ‘Lots of kids do the same things but call them something different.’ ‘I want only us four to be in the club!’ The bell rang. ‘Let’s talk about this tomorrow,’ Zeke said. ‘You’re walking home with me?’ I nodded and left, ignoring the nasty looks Ghada and Aiko gave me. I was so mad. After school, Zeke decided to take another route home. ‘Where are we going?’ I asked. ‘On a short detour.’ We soon stopped in front of a Buddhist temple. I reluctantly followed Zeke inside and saw something unexpected. Amongst the worshipers, Egan, the coolest kid in my class, was there, praying. I was stunned. I guess others do things like that too. We waited quietly until people started filing out. I thought Egan would be embarrassed to see us but he smiled and waved. ‘What’s up?’ he asked. ‘Nothing much. We’re just visiting.’ ‘You’re a Buddhist?’ I asked. ‘Yes.’ ‘But you’re Irish!’ I blurted out. Egan laughed. 5
‘Everyone says that religion has nothing to do with where you come from but with what you believe in, you know?’ I nodded. ‘You guys wanted to talk to me about something?’ he asked. Zeke looked at me. When I didn’t speak, he looked a little disappointed. ‘We’re on our way home and decided to visit.’ ‘I’m really glad you did,’ Egan said. ‘Come by any time! I’d love to give you a tour!’ We waved goodbye and started walking away. After a couple of steps, I suddenly called out to Egan. ‘We’re starting a club with people who believe in religion,’ I said. ‘Do you want to join?’ ‘I’d love to!’ ‘We’ll talk about it tomorrow,’ I said. I finally understood what Zeke had been trying to explain. It’s not because someone looks or acts a certain way that I can assume I know what they think or how they will react. Feeling lighthearted, I jogged back to Zeke and together we went home.
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