Suspended (3 page)

5

The next morning found us meeting with Miss Little to discuss how we'd play Westfield Ridge with only seven on the team.

“Let's try an all-out attack at the start,” I suggested. “They won't expect that, so maybe we can grab a quick goal and try to hang on to the lead.”

“Let's have Jillian and Jessica play as forwards until — Has anyone seen the twins?” Miss Little asked.

At that moment Jillian and Jessica entered the cafeteria, heads down.

“Oh no!” I said.

They nodded.

“What did you get demerits for?” Miss Little asked.

“We failed a math test,” said Jessica. “Even if we got perfect full marks on the next test, our average would still be below sixty-five.”

“The test wasn't fair,” Jillian added. “Everyone failed.”

“Did you study for it?” Miss Little asked.

The twins looked at each other.

“I did,” said Jessica.

“I didn't,” Jillian admitted.

Miss Little looked discouraged. “Hmmm.”

“Sorry, Miss Little,” they said in unison.

Miss Little put her elbows on the table and briefly rested her chin in her hands, covering her face. Then she looked up and said, “We can't play with only five players. I'll call the league and report that we're dropping out for this year. Sorry, children. We did our best. Those of you still allowed to play can scrimmage. That's Shay, Flip, Quan, Magic and Brandon.”

Flip and Quan glanced at one other. “We got demerits this morning, too,” said Quan. “I got one for swearing when I banged my knee on my desk.”

“And I got one for this,” said Flip. She lifted her sweater to reveal a tank top. “Next time I'll keep my sweater on, but I was so hot after recess.”

Miss Little slowly shook her head. “Then we'll have a scrimmage with just Shay, Magic and Brandon. The rest of you can watch.”

She walked quickly from the cafeteria.

Julie, Toby, Brian and I lingered after the others had gone.

“What are we going to do now?” asked Brian.

“Why are you looking at me?” I said, as they turned their heads in my direction.

“You're the captain,” said Toby.

“There's hardly a team left to be captain of.”

“You're still the captain,” Brian insisted.

“I told you — you're going to have to lead a mutiny to protest the Code of Conduct,” said Julie.

“Yeah — or a sit in,” Brian said.

“Or a protest march,” Toby added.

I rolled my eyes. “It wouldn't help. It'd just make things worse. We'd get even more demerits.”

“You haven't got any demerits,” Brian pointed out. “You're the only one.”

“Magic and Brandon haven't got any, either.”

“They don't count. They never do anything wrong.”

“Let's just try not to break any more rules,” I pleaded. “Then things will calm down, and Mr. Justason and Mrs. Stuart and Ms. Dugalici will forget about it and we'll be able to play soccer again.”

“It's all right for you to say that,” said Brian. “You
can
play soccer. We're suspended from all games, and we can't even practice on the Back Field. We've got nowhere to play.”

“What about the Cemetery Road?” I suggested.

I arrived first at our secret soccer field that night. Julie had to babysit, but said she'd come later.

While I waited, I climbed up the bank towards the woods. At the top of the slope, I sat under a big maple tree and leaned my head back against the trunk, thinking about the Code of Conduct.

Being captain of the soccer team was important to me. It meant the others looked to me for a lead. But where the Code of Conduct was concerned, my lead wasn't working. I'd said we should simply be careful and try not to break the rules, but already Julie, Toby and Brian were suspended for the year, another five players were on their way to being suspended, and Miss Little had withdrawn the team from the league. Not only had my lead been a failure, but I was also beginning to wonder whether I had suggested going along with the rules because I really thought it was the best thing to do, or because I was simply afraid of breaking the rules and upsetting Grandad.

I'd thought of talking to him about it, but I was afraid he'd find out what was going on, and I remembered what he'd said the one time I'd deliberately broken the rules at school. It had been when I was in Grade 1, and I'd refused to change into my indoor shoes when I entered the classroom because they had flowers on them, and the other kids teased me about it. I didn't want to tell Grandad that because he'd bought them for me for my birthday, so I just refused to wear them. After a few days of this, the teacher called Grandad.

When I got home that day, he said, “Rules are rules.” I remember saying I thought having to change shoes was a silly rule, and Grandad saying it was a rule all the same. Then I sulked and said, “I don't like rules,” and Grandad said, “Neither did your father. Don't end up like him.”

I didn't understand what he meant by that until years later, but I knew he was serious, and from then on, although I still got teased, I obeyed the rule. Now, although I hadn't broken any of the rules in the Code of Conduct, I still didn't want Grandad to hear about the brawl with St. Croix, because I knew he'd be disappointed with my part in it.

“Ahoy there,” a voice boomed through the trees, interrupting my thoughts. “Anyone around?”

It was Toby, at the foot of the bank.

I looked down. A few leaves had already started to fall and through a gap in the foliage the evening sun was shining like a golden spotlight illuminating the length of our Cemetery Road soccer field.

I stood so Toby could see me. “Hey, Big T.”

As I ran down the slope to join him, Brian appeared over the other bank, followed by Julie, Linh-Mai and the twins.

We stuck branches in the ground for goals and played girls against boys, then had a penalty shootout until it started to get dark.

When we met after school the next day, Brian brought Flip and Quan, who had received demerits for play-fighting during recess.

“Now we're both suspended from soccer for the rest of the year,” shrugged Quan.

“So I brought them along,” said Brian.

“To the secret club,” said Julie.

“Are we a club?” asked Jillian.

“We're a secret club for suspended soccer players,” I said.

“You can't be a member then,” said Brian.

“It was my idea to play here!”

“But you're not suspended. You don't break rules. You haven't even got one demerit,” Brian challenged.

As I walked home with Julie after our game, I was still thinking about what Brian had said. In a way, I felt like a traitor to my friends, because I hadn't been suspended from soccer yet. I was torn between betraying my friends and letting down Grandad.

6

In the end, I didn't have to make a choice about whom to betray. The choice was made for me.

And I betrayed Grandad.

Julie, Toby and I were heading to the cafeteria when Julie asked how my grandad was feeling. The night before he'd complained of being tired and dizzy, and I'd called Julie's mom, who used to be a nurse.

“He keeps saying he's all right, but I'm not sure,” I told Julie.

“Mom will keep an eye on him,” said Julie.

“I know. But still —” I said nervously.

Julie gave me a reassuring hug. “He'll be all right.”

Miss Little, on duty at the end of the hallway, called, “No touching, children.”

Mr. Justason emerged from his office. “What was that? Who's doing the touching, Miss Little?” There was an uncomfortable pause.

“Nobody,” Miss Little said. “It was only a quick hug.”

“By whom?” he demanded.

Miss Little looked apologetically at us. “Julie and Shay.”

“That's inappropriate,” Justason said sternly. “Both of you get demerits.”

“You can't give me a demerit,” Julie shot back. “I'm suspended from soccer already.”

“In that case …” said Mr. Justason, “I'll … I'll carry your demerits into next year. You're benched for half the first game of next year.”

“Hey, everybody,” Toby wisecracked, “Julie has a demerit credit.”

“That's a demerit for you, too,” the principal replied savagely.

Toby and Julie laughed.

“I suggest the two of you take a lesson from Shay on how to accept reprimands,” finished Mr. Justason icily.

His glance fell to Julie's feet as he turned towards his office. “You're wearing a bracelet on your ankle. That's unnecessary personal decoration. Get rid of it.”

He marched into his office.

“No way,” breathed Julie.

When I started to follow Mr. Justason, Julie tried to stop me. She knew that I was about to do something extreme. She knew it took a lot for me to reach my limit sometimes, but when I did, I went all out. That's what happened in the game with St. Croix, when I attacked Hawler.

“That wasn't fair,” I blurted out at Mr. Justason. “What's wrong with Julie hugging me? She was just trying to … show support about Grandad.”

“Touching is inappropriate in school,” lectured the principal. “What your Grandad allows at home is your business, but I will not tolerate that behaviour here.”

And that's when I betrayed Grandad.

“If I said that was stupid, would that cost me a demerit for being disrespectful?”

“Yes, of course.”

“And if I said the Code of Conduct sucks …”

“That would be two more demerits — for rudeness and for using inappropriate language.”

“Getting a demerit for a hug is stupid and the Code of Conduct sucks.”

“You're suspended from soccer for the rest of the year,” said Mr. Justason, quietly and tight-lipped.

I stalked out and found Miss Little in the hallway.

“I'll try talking to Mr. Justason again,” she whispered.

“It won't do any good,” I muttered.

“I'll try, anyway, and if Mr. Justason won't listen, then perhaps I'll try someone else.” She marched into the principal's office.

Julie and Toby were waiting for me in the cafeteria. Brian was there, too.

“What happened?” said Julie.

“I told Mr. Justason that you and me getting a demerit for inappropriate touching was stupid, and that you getting a demerit for wearing a little ankle bracelet wasn't fair, and that the Code of Conduct sucked, and now I'm suspended from soccer for the year.”

“Congratulations,” said Brian.

“I knew you were going to do something like that,” said Julie. She put her hand on my arm. “Are you calmed down yet?”

“Not until I've broken every rule in the Code of Conduct,” I said.

As we walked home after our next game at the Cemetery Road, Brian said, “But why do you have to break every rule?”

“Because if I'm going to break one rule, I'm going to break them all,” I said.

“It's the way he is,” said Julie.

“Will it do any good?” Toby wondered.

“It won't make Mr. Justason change his mind about the Code of Conduct, but that's not the point. The point is — to make a statement. Are you with me?”

“We've broken most of the rules already,” said Brian. “What's left?”

“There's the rule about academic average, but that's easy to break. All we have to do is flunk a couple of tests.”

“I can manage that,” Brian commented.

“I've flunked already,” Toby said proudly. “So what's next?”

“Not much,” I admitted. “We've all behaved irresponsibly and disrespectfully.”

“And I got a demerit for dressing inappropriately, just because my stomach was showing for half a second when I stretched,” said Julie. She added thoughtfully, “Linh-Mai got one, too, because of her coloured hair and her rings. How come it's just the girls who get demerits for dressing inappropriately?”

“We'll change that,” I said.

That's how Toby, Brian and I came to wear nose rings and show our stomachs at school the next day. We folded our T-shirts inside themselves to bare our stomachs, and borrowed nose rings from Linh-Mai.

“Make sure you wash them before you give them back,” she threatened.

We got ready in the classroom before school started. Julie and Linh-Mai helped us fix our nose rings — they were clip on ones — and we'd just tucked our T-shirts up inside themselves when Ms. Watkins walked in for French. She looked at us and burst out laughing. At recess we paraded up and down the hallway in front of Mr. Justason's office until he saw us. I don't know whether he gave us demerits. That wasn't the point of doing it.

Toby asked, “Can I be exempted from inappropriate touching?” Julie, Toby and I were looking after the flower shop for Grandad on Saturday morning.

“Why?” I said.

Toby flushed. “I'll be embarrassed.”

“We'll do it with you,” I offered. “We got demerits for a little hug; let's break the rule properly this time.”

“I know,” said Julie. “Let's go around kissing everybody! Justason will love that.”

“Bleccch!” said Toby.

We had the “kiss-in” two days later at lunch time in the cafeteria when Mr. Justason was on duty. Julie made sure he watched as she hugged and kissed me. I gave her a quick one back.

“Now you, Brian,” Julie urged.

Brian turned to Jillian, who was sitting beside him, and asked, “Can I kiss you?”

Jillian recoiled in horror. “I'd sooner stick my face in a puddle of cold vomit.”

“Is that a no?” said Brian.

“Just kidding,” said Jillian. She grabbed him and kissed him, and he kissed her back.

Mr. Justason, watching us, just shook his head.

“Are you joining the kiss-in?” Julie asked Toby.

“Later.”

But at the end of the day, Toby still hadn't kissed anyone.

“What's the problem?” I asked.

“Don't know how to,” Toby mumbled.

“What do you mean — you don't know how? You just stick your lips on someone's face. It's easy.” Toby had been hard to steer onto the kissing topic the whole walk home from school.

“Easy for you to say. You've done it.”

“You must have kissed your mom at least.”

“We're not a kissing family. We're more of a hugging and punching family. Mom hugs me, and Conrad punches me — not hard, just lightly, usually on the shoulder. It's what they do instead of kissing me, I think.”

“Didn't your mom ever kiss you good night when you were little?”

“No.”

“What did she do, then? I'm sure she didn't just tuck you in and leave you.”

Toby looked sheepish.

“Well?” I prompted.

“She hugged me.”

“And?”

“And said, ‘Silly billy teepums, time to go to sleepums.'”

I shook my head. “No wonder you're weird.”

“I thought I could find out how to do it from my
How Girls and Boys Are Different
book. There's all kinds of stuff in there, but nothing about kissing. Then I looked up kissing in the dictionary, and all it says is something about touching lips.”

“You can practice when we get home — on a cushion.”

“I'll suffocate.”

“Okay, a balloon. I've got some left over from Grandad's birthday.”

“It might burst. It could blow my head off.”

“Girls know more about kissing than boys,” I said. “We'll ask Julie to help.”

Toby blushed.

When Julie joined us later, I said, “Toby's got a problem.”

“Only one?” said Julie.

“Ha, ha,” said Toby.

“He wants to know how to kiss,” I said. “He needs someone to practice on.”

Julie looked at Toby. “Someone like me, I suppose.”

“Can you show him how?” I pleaded.

“You better be careful, Toby,” she warned. “I don't want you slobbering all over my face. Okay. Close your eyes.”

Toby closed his eyes.

“Put your lips together and push them a little bit forward.”

Toby obeyed again.

Julie crossed silently to him, kissed him, and said, “That's all there is to it.”

“That's easy,” he said.

Conrad arrived to visit Grandad and give Toby a ride home. He came straight in the house and called, “Anyone home?”

I called, “Grandad's watching television. We're up here.”

“Hi, guys,” Conrad called. “What are you doing?”

“Toby's kissing Julie,” I said.

“That boy's out of control,” Conrad muttered.

* * *

The next day, they kissed in the cafeteria, while the rest of us clapped. Toby thanked Julie for helping him.

“How was it?” he asked.

“Yours was lovely …” said Julie.

Toby blushed.

“How was mine?” she pressed.

Toby put his hands over his heart and said, “It was like being kissed by a cloud.”

Julie stuck her finger down her throat and pretended she was going to throw up. Then she turned to me. “Now what rule do we have to break?”

“Next — we do drugs,” I said.