CHAPTER 7: March—Logan

I arrived at school on the last day before spring break. According to the calendar, it was also the first day of spring, but I couldn't see it yet. Thankfully, it wasn't snowing anymore, but it was still pretty chilly, and a light rain was falling.

King caught up with me at my locker as I was putting my jacket and umbrella away. As usual, he couldn't resist ribbing me about my baby-sitting. Fortunately, he doesn't do it as often, since he was the one who found a lost Johnny Hobart at the health fair when we were in eighth grade. "So, Bruno, how many diaper pails will you have to clean out during vacation?" he asked.

After homeroom, I met up with Kristy, Mary Anne, Dawn, and Abby outside the math classroom. The five of us went into the room and sat in the back row.

As soon as the teacher, Mr. Warren, entered the room, he said, "Good morning."

"Good morning," we mumbled.

"Hey, come on, people, it's the last day before spring break. Let's see some enthusiasm here," the teacher commented. "It's not like I'm asking you to do my taxes. And besides, my accountant does that. When he does them right, that is."

That, of course, sent the class into a round of laughter. I could be wrong, but I think I heard King or one of his buddies let loose with that God-awful high-pitched laugh from Amadeus. (Jason and I were talking about that recently, and I asked him how that movie could've won for Best Picture, and his only response was, "Mysteries of life.")

After that, the rest of my morning ran like this: second period English with Stacey; third period gym and fourth period French with none of my BSC friends; and fifth period study hall with Kristy, Mary Anne, and Jason.

Sixth period was lunch. The four of us sat at our usual table. The day's lunch consisted of a fish sandwich, French fries, mixed fruit, and milk.

"So, what are you guys doing for Easter?" I asked as I opened my milk.

"Well, Sharon's brother and his family are coming for the weekend," Mary Anne said.

I remembered Dawn and Mary Anne telling me about when Amy, Dawn's cousin, had stayed with them while her parents were in London a couple of years ago, and how she'd been a brat most of the time she'd been there. I'd heard that she'd even escaped from Dawn and Mary Anne while they were playing hide-and-seek, and Stacey had found her at the day care center at Bellair's. At the time, Stacey and the BSC weren't exactly on friendly terms, because Stacey was acting like she was way too mature for them, spending too much time with her now ex-boyfriend, Robert Brewster, and his crowd, and finding Amy had been her ticket back in. I really hoped that Amy had matured a little over the past couple of years.

"Karen and Andrew are spending the weekend with us, but they'll go back to their mom's that night," Kristy said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Staying home," Jason said.

"Wow," I said. "Not much to do, huh?"

"Anything is better than doing Mr. Warren's taxes," Mary Anne pointed out.

After we finished laughing, we took our trays to the trash can. At that moment, the bell rang.

That afternoon, I had seventh period World Geography with Kristy, Claud, Mary Anne, Stacey, and Jason. I had eighth period science with Kristy and Abby.

There was no track practice that afternoon, so I just put on my jacket, grabbed my um-brella and a couple of books, and headed home. I was looking forward to spring break.

That night, I baby-sat for Matt Braddock. We've baby-sat for him lots of times. His older sister, Haley, who's eleven, is a BSC member. That night, Haley would be hanging out with Vanessa Pike, so there would be just nine-year-old Matt.

Matt is profoundly deaf, and uses sign language, but I've recently heard from Jessi that Matt is learning to lip-read. The only thing is, we still have to use sign language, because that's the only way he can communicate with us.

"Hi, Matt," I said, signing at the same time. "How are you?"

"Great," he said. "I made the honor roll at school this quarter, as well as perfect attendance."

"That's awesome," I said as we high-fived. "Would you like to play, or would you like something to eat?"

"Let's play for now," he said, motioning for me to follow him to his room, where he got out his Jeopardy! game.

Don't get me wrong, I've always loved that game, and when I was little, Dad would sometimes make the Daily Double noise whenever a contestant made a selection without actually hitting it. The thing is, Matt has the junior version of the game, and a lot of the questions are way too easy for someone my age. The way we usually play is, we show each other the card, then write our answers down on the notepad and show it to each other. Even though I wasn't sure I wanted to play, it would at least give us something to do.

About an hour later, Matt told me that he was hungry. "Okay, let's get some dinner. Your mom left some tomato soup to be warmed up, and I can make us grilled cheese sandwiches."

"Okay. Sounds great."

At that moment, Haley came in. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," I answered. "We were just getting ready to have some tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches."

"I had something to eat at Vanessa's," she told me.

"That's okay," I answered.

While Matt and I ate our dinner, Haley sat and watched the Braddocks' DVD of It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. About forty-five minutes later, Mrs. Braddock came home.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"It went pretty well," I told her.

After she paid me, I went out the door.

On Easter Sunday, we had the annual Easter egg hunt for Kerry and Hunter. I was involved, too, until I was twelve. "I'm getting too old for this, Mom," twelve-year-old Kerry complained. Part of me was expecting her to say the "I'm getting too old for this shit" line from Lethal Weapon.

"This is your last year, honey," Mom said.

"All right," Kerry said.

As Kerry and Hunter started their Easter egg hunt, I thought that spring vacation had gone very well.