Jay Versus the Saxophone of Doom by Kara Kootstra

Author:Kara Kootstra
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PRH Canada Young Readers
Published: 2017-01-03T05:00:00+00:00

My afternoon classes seem slower than usual, and whenever I picture Ben’s expression it makes a knot in my stomach. Ben’s an okay guy. He was just trying to help me, and I was totally rude. I try to find him in the hallway after school, but I don’t see him anywhere so I resolve to apologize the next day.

Luke comes to my house after school so that we can hang for an hour until it’s time to go to Kaylee’s. His eyes light up when he enters the kitchen and spots a huge mound of cookies that my dad brought home yesterday from the bakery next door to his shop. Luke stuffs one in his mouth, grabbing another two directly after.

“I seriously love coming to your house,” Luke says, still chewing his cookie and showing me the entire contents of his mouth.

“Gross, dude. Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to talk with your mouth full?”

Luke puts another cookie in his mouth, chews for a moment, and then opens it even wider. “What do you mean, Jay? Are you saying I don’t have good manners?” Luke laughs, and I give him a sort of shove and grab a cookie for myself.

We play a video game until it’s time to go (after all, it will no longer be a part of our “research”) and then my mom drops us off at Kaylee’s house.

“You two have fun, now!”

Yeah, Mom. This is going to be a real blast.

I pretty much nailed how this group project is going to go. Kaylee already has everything picked out and drones on about how presenting our work clearly and neatly is just as important as having good content. As she takes out a bunch of duotangs in different colors, Luke closes his eyes and makes a snoring noise, which catches Kaylee’s attention.

“Luke!” Kaylee yells, giving him a stern look. Luke suddenly snaps to attention as if Kaylee’s voice has woken him from a deep sleep.

“What? Huh? What day is this? Where am I?” Luke asks groggily.

“Oh, that is just so mature, Luke,” Kaylee responds, with an eye-roll that could compete with Jodie’s. Luke grins and looks for a high-five from me or Max, but Kaylee shoots us both a don’t-you-dare look.

“Okay, so I’ve already found a bunch of research material. Luke, can I trust you to go downstairs to get it from the printer, or is that job too hard for your tiny, half-functional brain?”

“I’m not sure I can handle it, but maybe with the help of a friend…”

“I’ll do it!” Max shouts, obviously trying to get out of whatever job Kaylee might assign him. Before she can respond, the two of them jump up and dash out of the room, leaving Kaylee and me alone. Thanks, guys.

“Great, it’s already 5:30 and we’ve barely done anything. We should plan to meet at lunch tomorrow and Thursday.”

“Okay, but I can’t on Thursday. I’ve got…something to do,” I say, a little embarrassed to explain.

“You and Luke reading stupid comics does not count as doing something,” Kaylee replies, sorting through the stack of duotangs.

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