Wired Man and Other Freaks of Nature by Sashi Kaufman

Author:Sashi Kaufman [Kaufman, Sashi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fiction-Young Adult, Young Adult Fiction, Social Themes, Friendship, Friend, Friends, Boy, Boys, Man, Men, Social Themes, Self-esteem, Self-Reliance, Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance, Disability, First love, Fitting In, High School Relationships, Male Friendship, Popularity, Sashi Kaufman, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Identity, Soccer, Wired Man and Other Freaks of Nature
ISBN: 9781512404821
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2016-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

“What are you doing tonight?” Tyler had the cardboard center from a roll of masking tape, and he was hitting it back and forth from hand to hand. He was leaning back against the lockers while Ben contemplated what he actually needed to take home for the weekend.

“I’ve got that thing for my pop culture class—twenty-four hours of TV.”

“Oh, right. Did you ever get out of doing it with that girl?”

“No, but it’s all right. She’s not as bad as I thought she was.”

Tyler looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“No!” Ben said. “Not like that. Just, you know, tolerable.”

“A lot can happen in twenty-four hours.”

“Yeah, but not that. What are you up to?”

Tyler shrugged. “I don’t know. Megan’s going skiing with her family. I don’t know. I feel like I could really get faced tonight. You know, go all out.” He shrugged again. “But whatever, I’ll probably just watch a movie and blaze one by myself.”

“You can come watch TV at Ilona’s,” Ben said, half seriously.

Tyler sneered. “That’s her name? Ilona? Like a-loner? HA! That’s classic.”

Tyler had been his best friend since fourth grade. Ilona was a girl he barely knew. But Ben felt inexplicably defensive. “Ilona Pierce,” he said. “She lives right over on Hawthorne Street.” He knew the number but he didn’t give it, hoping that Tyler would forget he’d even half offered.

For a second Tyler looked like he actually might be considering it. “Nah,” he finally said. “Just text me if there’s anything good on. Or if she tries to break your ankles and tie you up in the basement.”

“Right,” Ben said and shouldered his backpack. He had spent a long time deciding what to pack but settled for a clean T-shirt and boxers, because it seemed like you should have those things, a toothbrush, and extra batteries for his hearing aids. He had already planned how he would change them in the bathroom and what time he would do it to be sure he didn’t get caught in a lapse. He had never even changed them in front of Tyler. Once he had tucked an extra battery behind a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in the very back of the medicine cabinet in Tyler’s bathroom for backup. It was probably dead by now anyway.

He was actually kind of nervous about how the whole thing was going to go. Mom had flipped out when he explained what he was doing. She threatened to call Kapstein and demand that he be excused from the project on account of his health, and she only relented when he promised that he and Ilona had agreed to take shifts and actually get some sleep. So there had been an out after all—an easy out. And he hadn’t taken it. He wasn’t entirely dreading spending more time with Ilona, crazy mother and cats and all. It was weird, but there it was.

They met outside school after the last bell and walked, without saying much, toward Hawthorne Street. It was only three blocks from school.

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