Things Seen from Above by Shelley Pearsall

Author:Shelley Pearsall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2020-02-03T16:00:00+00:00

The next day, Joey could tell that something had definitely changed at recess. And not in a good way. He did the only thing he could think of to protect himself.

He lay down flat on the playground and closed his eyes.

Revealing Joey’s secret to the bracelet girls definitely didn’t lead to something positive at first, despite what Mr. Ulysses had predicted. Even before I reached the playground on Thursday, I heard the commotion. Two fourth-grade girls passed me in the hallway.

One said to the other: “I told you it was a lie.”

The other replied, “Yeah, I knew that story about him was fake.”

The first girl shook her head. “What a dork.”

My stomach gave a sickening lurch. I knew they were talking about Joey.

I’d planned to get outside early. I had a feeling some of the bracelet girls might pick on Joey, or bug him about drawing something, and I’d already decided to keep an eye on him for the entire recess to make sure they left him alone.

But we had a substitute for language arts, and he’d kept us for an extra few minutes past the lunch bell. By the time I pushed open the glass doors to the playground and charged outside, it was already too late.

I saw it all in one sweeping glance: Joey lying on the ground with his eyes closed. Mrs. Zeff and another teacher shooing a big group away from him. “Stop bothering Joey or we’ll give all of you a detention,” they were shouting. “Go somewhere else and play. You’re wasting your own recess time.” As the kids took off toward the sports fields, I could see some phones reluctantly disappearing into coat pockets. Usually the fourth graders didn’t have phones or bring them outside for recess, so I knew they’d done it to capture whatever Joey was doing.

I felt horrible. Literally, I felt sick to my stomach seeing Joey on the ground and all the kids running away like a pack of wolves. Although I had no idea how to fix the mess, I forced myself to walk over to where Joey was lying. The least I could do was to apologize.

“Hey, Joey.”

Even though the ground was cold and damp, I sat cross-legged on the ground right next to him. “It’s April—I’m the one who made the spirals with you on Monday,” I added, because Joey’s eyes were still closed. They weren’t clenched shut, just peacefully closed—the kind of creepy dead look he often liked to do.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Joey’s head nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Do you want me to help you get up?”

His head shook back and forth emphatically. NO.

“Is it okay if I sit here and talk to you for a couple of minutes?”

No answer.

By now Mrs. Zeff had moved to another part of the playground. Except for a few stragglers, most of the fourth graders were playing on the sports fields. Nobody else was around. I zipped up my jacket because it felt like it could pour at any minute.

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