A Perfect Mistake by Melanie Conklin

Author:Melanie Conklin [Conklin, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2022-07-12T00:00:00+00:00

18

STANDOFF

There’s a buzz in Ms. Little’s room as we get out our writer’s notebooks. I’m excited to have her check mine, too. I mean, it would be better if Joey wasn’t giving me a sad face emoji every time I glance in his direction. I keep waiting for him to say something about what happened in the arcade, but so far he hasn’t. I don’t know what Jared and Luca are hiding, but I’m not going to get anything out of Joey. I’m going to keep trying, though. We may not be the kind of people who get into fights, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight back.

I lean over to Sam. “We should talk to the Dog Lady next.”

“Yeah,” she says. “I can say it’s for the school paper.”

“She won’t go for that. She lets her dogs chase the reporters off her lawn.”

“Maybe she’s just shy?”

I shake my head. “She barely gave any interviews. She hates people in general.”

Sam frowns. “I’m good at this, Max. Trust me, I can get her to talk.”

“Okay. Are you still grounded?”

“According to my dad, I’m grounded for the rest of my life,” she says, “but sometimes you have to take risks in the service of truth. I don’t care if he doesn’t like you.”

The words hit with a sting. “He doesn’t like me?”

“He thinks you’re, like, a bad influence. He asked me if you shave yet.”

My entire face goes hot. “I don’t.”

Sam’s mouth falls open. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. He was just mad that I skipped my work shift, but it was worth it.” She smiles, but I can’t shake the gross feeling in my stomach. Mr. Bovella thinks I’m a bad guy. He thinks I’m like Jared: big and trouble. The kind of kid who hurts other kids. All because I’m so much bigger than Sam. But what about Luca? He just stood there and let Jared come after me at the arcade. How am I the bad influence here?

I sink into my chair, my knees bouncing as Ms. Little reads today’s picture book: They All Saw a Cat. In it, many different animals see the same cat, but the images are all totally different. What they see depends on their perspective. Their eyeballs. Their height.

Like the way Mr. Bovella sees me.

I glance at Joey while Ms. Little reads. He’s biting his nails. They look raw.

A jolt of guilt stabs my heart, but there’s nothing I can say right now to fix things between us. Even if I apologize for getting them in trouble, Joey won’t tell me what happened that night. He’s as scared of Jared as I am. Just like how the cat looks huge and terrifying to the ants, as long as Joey sees his brother that way, we’re stuck. And I don’t see how that will change.

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