13 by Jason Robert Brown

Author:Jason Robert Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2008-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

“Yo!” Eddie called. “Who’s the weirdo with the stupid suit?”

Did Archie take it in stride? Not a chance. Suddenly he got into defending his crazy purple suit like it was a sacred artifact.

“It’s not a STUPID SUIT!” he called, turning around in his seat. “It’s a lucky suit, it’s not STUPID!”

While Brett, Lucy, Fudge, and Eddie were looking at Archie like he was something that had crawled from out of an Egyptian tomb, Kendra tried to make him feel better.

“Hey, it’s not a stupid suit,” she said. “He didn’t mean it.”

Well, that was all the encouragement Archie needed. Eyes wide, he leaned right in to her.

“HI, KENDRA! HI! HI!”

He was so loud, you could barely hear the Bloodmaster belching.

It was bad enough that I couldn’t watch the movie; now I couldn’t even watch the audience.

Fudge suddenly lost it. Maybe he was trying to impress Lucy with his bravado, but for whatever reason, he started smacking Archie on the back of the head.

“Hey, cripple,” he said. “Why don’t you get out of here? Stop ruining the movie!”

Brett looked over his shoulder and punched Fudge on the leg. “Yo, that’s pretty harsh, Fudgeman.”

But Fudge was on a roll, and not even Brett could stop him. “No, I mean it!” he said, standing up. “Get lost, cripple! Get out of here!”

Then Eddie got in the act.

“He can’t,” he said, giggling. “He’s too busy putting the moves on Kendra!”

Lucy laughed.

“The cripple’s getting some action!” Eddie yelled.

The totally confident Archie from the lobby had disappeared. Instead, he shook his head, pushed himself up on his feet, then flailed around in the dark for his crutches.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m going!”

Seconds later he was clomping pathetically up the aisle. I was stunned. But the catastrophe wasn’t over.

Patrice turned to me. “Are you just going to sit there?”

She climbed out of her seat and ran after Archie.

I remember that my third-grade teacher, Mr. Horowitz, once said that the secret of a life well lived is to take the right action at the right time. I don’t know if that’s true or not. But if it is, I failed. A side of me wanted to defend Archie. But the other side of me felt he deserved everything he got. Sure, Fudge shouldn’t have said what he said. On the other hand, what right did Archie have to crash the party and ruin the movie? What right did he have to coerce me into helping him in the first place?

I watched Archie and Patrice disappear up the aisle while Fudge and Eddie snickered.

“You didn’t have to be so mean, Fudge,” I said finally.

I don’t know if he even heard me. Just then, Kendra pointed at the screen, and Archie was forgotten.

“Brett! She’s got a knife!”

“I’ve got you, Kendra,” Brett said, pulling her closer. “I’m here.”

I turned to the screen. While I had been focused on Archie, things had been heating up in the movie. Like Kendra had said, Jessica’s mom had a knife. The Bloodmaster was begging for his life in his office.

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