Jaden Baker by Courtney Kirchoff

boys gave chase, but as they neared, Jenny pulled her hands from behind her back and gave the water hose to one of the older girls. “Soak ‘em!”
    Pink streamer girl squeezed the nozzle trigger and a stream of cold water pelted the boys, drenching them. Thrilled with victory, the girls held the nozzle in turn and chased the boys around the backyard, jumping excitedly and giggling. The adults came to root for the girls.
    “Surrender!” the girls cheered.
    “NEVER!” said Ryan, and he ran into the stream trying to take the hose, sacrificing himself. Finn and Jaden joined him, but the girls mastered control of the nozzle, and blasted each of them in the face as they ran towards the house.
    “Okay, okay!” Ed called, raising his hands. “The girls win.”
    Beaming, Jenny turned off the water and hugged the girls, who bounced and squealed with delight of victory.
    Jaden, who had taken a jet of water to the face, sat on the wet grass, sopping wet and grinning more broadly than ever. Ryan helped him up off the ground and gave Jaden a high five. “That was awesome, man!” he said.
    “Yeah it was,” Jaden replied, grinning. “We’ll get them next time.”
    “Oh yeah. I put a mouse in my sisters’ room last night. It was sooooo cool, you should have seen their faces!”
    Jaden laughed, imagining it.
    Derek put the food on the grill and the boys helped themselves to chips and dip, talking about different things they did to their sisters and plotting future assaults against them. Jaden had some pretty good ideas considering he didn’t have a sister. He suggested drizzling honey in their hair at night, or putting snakes in the bathtub. These cunning ideas earned him many high fives.
    Jenny and Derek, Jaden noticed, watched him with silly smiles throughout the evening. Jaden had to admit the whole barbecue thing was fun, and his fear completely ridiculous. He ate two hamburgers and a hotdog, with a hefty side of out-of-the-carton potato salad, which Jenny put into her own bowl before guests arrived. For dessert, one of the moms made a fruity cake of some sort for the adults, and brownies with marshmallow frosting for the kids. Jaden had two.
    The night was wrapping up, the sun setting, and the air cooling. Jaden, Ryan and Finn thought it would be funny to start a food fight, but Ryan’s dad called over from his table to put the mustard bottle down, just as Ryan lifted it from the table and popped open the cap.
    “That would’ve been so sweet, too,” Finn said, eating a third brownie.
    “Yeah. We can still do it. At school.”
    School. Jaden hadn’t thought of school.
    “What grade are you going into?” Finn asked Jaden.
    “Fourth,” he said. “Are you guys in the same grade?”
    “Yeah. Fourth grade is Mr. Fartfinger,” Ryan answered matter-of-factly.
    “What?” Jaden asked.
    “Fartfinger. I think his real name is Farnheiner or something, but everyone calls him Fartfinger. Are you going to our school too? That would be soooo cool. We have to wear uniforms, so that kind of sucks, but the teachers are nice.”
    “I don’t know what school I’m going to,” Jaden said.
    “Our school is a smart people school,” Finn commented. “At least that’s what mom says. You can only come if you’re smart.”
    “I’m smart,” Jaden said. It was true, he always tested high. “I like to read.”
    “Ewww, why?” Finn said.
    Jaden shrugged. Maybe that was a bad answer.
    “I hate reading,” Finn said.
    “Yeah, me too,” said Ryan. “But it’s okay if you like it. You should tell your parents you want to go to our school, then we can all hang out together.”
    “They’re not really his parents,” Finn whispered loudly.
    Ryan ignored Finn and smiled at Jaden. “Do you like baseball? I’m on the t-ball team. I bet you’d be good at it. You should come to a few games and see if you’d like to play.”
    “I’ll ask them,” Jaden said. He shot Finn a dirty look then got up to throw his plate in the