LIKE A CHAMPION by Chu Vincent

Author:Chu, Vincent [Chu, Vincent]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 7.13 Books
Published: 2018-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

THE LONG WEEKEND

They were whispering about something juicy, Hank just knew it. Miss Shasky balanced on her tippy toes as she looked up at her tree of a boss, nodding only here and there. Hank watched them both through the square window on the door, through the glass with the metal wire grid magically pressed inside. He had stayed up all night again, drinking tea and watching old episodes of Miami Vice , and he was tired, eventually too tired to pay any more attention.

He returned his focus to the waffle bottoms of his shoes which had day-old mud caked into the rubber pretty good. They belonged to his brother Todd, but the soles still had plenty of grip. Hank began picking and scratching, well-positioned to do so sitting Indian style on the carpet like everyone else.

Little Miss Shasky tiptoed back into the classroom followed by Principal Baumhaus whose cropped brown hair swung above her torso like palm leaves.

“Quiet, everyone,” said Miss Shasky before exiting softly stage left.

“Somebody had a very busy long weekend,” announced Principal Baumhaus. “I just got off the phone with several parents as well as the police—well, campus ambassador Officer Escondido. It seems somebody here at Amelia Earhart has decided to misuse the student telephone directory.”

Murmurs erupted among the thirty-two sixth graders. Hank snuck a glance across the room at his best friend Stanley whose puffy morning eyes grew big.

“Fifty prank calls in all were made to students of this school. Today I’ll be meeting with each student, one by one, to see if we can’t match the voice.” Principal Baumhaus observed the speechless room before adding, “Unless, of course, the culprit wants to save everybody the time and come to my office to talk privately . Good day, Miss Shasky.”

Hank’s knees, below his elbows, began to shake.

Saturday night, Stanley had come by for a sleepover. Hank’s parents had recently finalized their divorce and his mom thought it would be a good idea to have a friend stay over during what would be Hank’s first dadless weekend. Hank’s mom left for her night shift at the airport at nine, leaving the two boys alone in the house.

Opening the student directory was Stanley’s idea but Hank made most of the calls. They learned quickly that Hank had the one quality essential for any good prank calling—commitment. No matter what voice he took on or how agitated his victims became, Hank played his part furiously through to the end, never breaking character. Something came over him and before the sun came up he had prank-called an impressive assortment of friend and foe, from Aaron Archego to Beverly Yee.

Morning recess could not come fast enough for Hank and as he ran to the far tetherball court, he could count only three students pulled from class so far. Stanley and Kumar were starting a game when Hank arrived out of breath.

“Can you believe all the drama this morning, boys?” asked Kumar, smacking a hell of a serve.

“Stan, we need to see the principal,” said Hank.

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