The Pistachio Prescription by Paula Danziger

Author:Paula Danziger [Danziger, Paula]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2006-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Practically every student in the entire school wore sunglasses for a couple of days after my run-in with Stoddard. I was sure Mr. Zimmerman would blame and punish me, but he said he’s used to fads. One year the students pasted little metallic stars all over their faces. Another time just about everyone wore two different shoes to school. Mr. Zimmerman said there are more important things for a principal to be concerned about.

Everyone was talking about me, about how brave I was and why I was really wearing the sunglasses. Then Sean Barker shaved his head and pierced one of his ears with two holes. Everyone’s paying more attention to him now. He should have pierced his brain.

We’ve followed our initial campaign plan. Everyone who’s running on our slate had to talk to a specific number of freshpersons. At first, I was really nervous, but most of the time it turned out well. I got to know some people much better.

It’s hard being out there, though; “vulnerable” is the word Vicki uses. Running for office means that more people get to know you. It’s great when they like you but very difficult when they don’t. It’s like working hard on a painting and then showing it to people. Criticism’s not always easy to take. Sometimes I feel as if I’m walking a tightrope without a net. It seems as if there is a bunch of crocodiles down below just waiting to get me.

One of the good things about the election is that Bernie and I are working on the campaign posters together. It’s been lots of fun, although it’s impossible to get him to color inside the lines. The posters look great—colorful, funny. We even did some in day-glow paint, but the janitor wouldn’t install black light in the halls.

Things aren’t going too badly in some ways.

But at home, whenever no one else is around, Stephie refers to me as “Tweezer Twerp.” At least she doesn’t say anything about it at school.

Stephie and my mother keep teasing me about “my sudden popularity,” how “cute” it is. They tease me about the election and Bernie. I hope the crocodiles eat them.

The movie that Bernie took me to last night was dumb, but we had a great time. Aside from the dumb games I used to play, like post office, he gave me my first kiss—my first real kiss—and my second and my third.

With the election coming up tomorrow, my nerves are shot. I wish it was two days from now. I can’t take the suspense. My nails are chewed all the way down. Rochelle’s nails are beautiful. She’ll win for sure if people look at our hands. She’s also started a vicious smear campaign: says I’m absolutely radical, antischool, and plan to bomb the building if elected. It’s all lies. Vicki says not to worry, that people know it’s not true, but it might actually get us a few extra votes from the maniac fringe.

Speaking of bombing, World War III’s still going on at my house, worse than ever.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.