conversation with you carrying on like that.
Me: You have to rewrite that last chapter. I hate it, I hate it!
Ms. Park: Hold on there. You want to get out of doing the silkworm project, don't you? This is the perfect solutionâno eggs, no project. I would think you'd be pleased.
Me: I do want to get out of the project] But there's gotta be another way!
Ms. Park: If you think of anything, just let me know.
Me: That's great, just great. You get to do the easy parts and leave the hard stuff to me.
Ms. Park: Don't say I didn't warn you. You wanted to decide something big. Now here's your chance.
Me: I didn't mean something like this!
Ms. Park: Picky, picky picky.
Me: Youâyouâjust wait. I'll get you for thisâ
8
Patrick picked me up for school as usual the next morning. But things were still weird between us, and we hardly said anything the whole way there. We were having a science test that day, and he didn't even suggest that we quiz each other on the Animal Kingdom as we walked.
Patrick and I were on parallel tracks at school, which meant we had the same teachers and books and homework and everything. But we had only one class togetherâtech class, last period.
Science was first period. I took the test and was relieved that I knew most of the answers. I'd been worried about it, because I hadn't studied with Patrick the night before.
It was lucky for me that I got the test over with right away, because after that things started to go crazy. No, that wasn't rightâeverything was normal. I was the one that was going crazy.
Second period, social studies. The currencies of South America. Lots of pesosâArgentina, Chile, Uruguay. Reals in Brazil. Bolivianos in Bolivia.
Third period, math. Story problems. Sam makes three dollars an hour and works ten hours a week. Joe makes five dollars an hour but works only three hours a week. If Sam makes three hundred dollars, how many weeks does Joe have to work to make the same amount?
Fourth period, lunch. Three quarters for change. No Connecticut, of course.
I was starting to feel really paranoid.
Everything was about money.
Every period had something in it that reminded me of what I'd done to Patrick. I felt more and more guilty as the day went on. I had to keep telling myself that I was only being fair to expect him to pay for half, that I hadn't lied to him.
Thank goodness for English class. We were reading and discussing a book about a girl named Karana, who gets stuck by herself on this island where she has to make everything she needs to surviveâher own little house, her own fishing stuff, her own clothes out of skins and feathers...
...which meant she didn't need any money.
Gak! Even the classes that didn't have anything to do with money were making me think of money!
By the time tech class came around, I felt almost panicky. I'd have to use money to pay for stuff
for the rest of my life.
Every time I thought of money I'd be reminded of what had happened.
I was going to feel guilty forever.
I got to class and sat down and started clicking and typing right away so I could pretend not to notice when Patrick came into the room.
We were learning to build a website, and the day's lesson was how to put an e-mail link on your site. I got mine to work almost right away. Mrs. Moran went around helping the kids who were having trouble, so that left me free to think some more.
Why did my mom have to bring up the idea of a silkworm project in the first place? Why did Patrick have to go and get so excited? Why did he just plunge right into everything and not even bother to ask me what I thought? Why couldn't it have been some other idea that got him all fired up? Why couldn't Mr. Maxwell have been less enthusiastic about it? Why did Mr. Dixon have to have a mulberry tree? It was like a whole bunch of people were conspiring against me, and I'd been forced to come up with a plot to fight them.
But in a corner of my brain, I knew that what I was
Me: You have to rewrite that last chapter. I hate it, I hate it!
Ms. Park: Hold on there. You want to get out of doing the silkworm project, don't you? This is the perfect solutionâno eggs, no project. I would think you'd be pleased.
Me: I do want to get out of the project] But there's gotta be another way!
Ms. Park: If you think of anything, just let me know.
Me: That's great, just great. You get to do the easy parts and leave the hard stuff to me.
Ms. Park: Don't say I didn't warn you. You wanted to decide something big. Now here's your chance.
Me: I didn't mean something like this!
Ms. Park: Picky, picky picky.
Me: Youâyouâjust wait. I'll get you for thisâ
8
Patrick picked me up for school as usual the next morning. But things were still weird between us, and we hardly said anything the whole way there. We were having a science test that day, and he didn't even suggest that we quiz each other on the Animal Kingdom as we walked.
Patrick and I were on parallel tracks at school, which meant we had the same teachers and books and homework and everything. But we had only one class togetherâtech class, last period.
Science was first period. I took the test and was relieved that I knew most of the answers. I'd been worried about it, because I hadn't studied with Patrick the night before.
It was lucky for me that I got the test over with right away, because after that things started to go crazy. No, that wasn't rightâeverything was normal. I was the one that was going crazy.
Second period, social studies. The currencies of South America. Lots of pesosâArgentina, Chile, Uruguay. Reals in Brazil. Bolivianos in Bolivia.
Third period, math. Story problems. Sam makes three dollars an hour and works ten hours a week. Joe makes five dollars an hour but works only three hours a week. If Sam makes three hundred dollars, how many weeks does Joe have to work to make the same amount?
Fourth period, lunch. Three quarters for change. No Connecticut, of course.
I was starting to feel really paranoid.
Everything was about money.
Every period had something in it that reminded me of what I'd done to Patrick. I felt more and more guilty as the day went on. I had to keep telling myself that I was only being fair to expect him to pay for half, that I hadn't lied to him.
Thank goodness for English class. We were reading and discussing a book about a girl named Karana, who gets stuck by herself on this island where she has to make everything she needs to surviveâher own little house, her own fishing stuff, her own clothes out of skins and feathers...
...which meant she didn't need any money.
Gak! Even the classes that didn't have anything to do with money were making me think of money!
By the time tech class came around, I felt almost panicky. I'd have to use money to pay for stuff
for the rest of my life.
Every time I thought of money I'd be reminded of what had happened.
I was going to feel guilty forever.
I got to class and sat down and started clicking and typing right away so I could pretend not to notice when Patrick came into the room.
We were learning to build a website, and the day's lesson was how to put an e-mail link on your site. I got mine to work almost right away. Mrs. Moran went around helping the kids who were having trouble, so that left me free to think some more.
Why did my mom have to bring up the idea of a silkworm project in the first place? Why did Patrick have to go and get so excited? Why did he just plunge right into everything and not even bother to ask me what I thought? Why couldn't it have been some other idea that got him all fired up? Why couldn't Mr. Maxwell have been less enthusiastic about it? Why did Mr. Dixon have to have a mulberry tree? It was like a whole bunch of people were conspiring against me, and I'd been forced to come up with a plot to fight them.
But in a corner of my brain, I knew that what I was
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