CHAPTER 4: Jason

The following Saturday, Charlie was going to give Kristy, Hannie, and me a ride to the library on the way to a basketball game with some of his friends. All the Stoneybrook High kids get together to play in the school gym on the weekends.

"So, what do you think? You think the Junk Bucket can manage to stay in one piece?" Kristy teased as she pulled on her Mets jacket.

"I'll tell you what, Sis," Charlie said. "If I get a flat tire, lose my muffler, and get into a fender-bender with Mr. D'Amato, I'll help you with your share of the housework for a week."

"Does that include giving Boo-Boo his ear medicine?" Kristy asked.

I hope not, I thought. If there's one thing that poor old cat hates, it's ear medicine. Just looking at it makes him throw a fit, and I'm actually impressed that a cat his age can still do that.

"Sure, why not?" Charlie said.

"'Bye, Nannie!" I called as I grabbed my jacket.

"'Bye, kids," Nannie called from the kitchen. She was giving Emily her breakfast, and from what I could see, more food wound up on the floor than in Emily's mouth. In fact, I saw Emily smack the spoon away, and a glob of Cream of Wheat landed right in Nannie's hair!

"I feed Nannie!" she squealed.

At least she's not trying to feed Boo-Boo, I thought as we left.

At the library, the first thing we did was return the books we'd borrowed. Of the three of us, it turned out that I was the only one who had to pay a fine. Boo. Luckily, only one of my books was overdue.

After that, Hannie and I went downstairs to the children's room while Kristy went to the computer lab to check her e-mail. While we were downstairs, I saw Ricky Torres, my pretend husband, looking at a book. We were married on the playground one day.

"Hi, Ricky," I whispered. I'm really good at remembering to use my indoor voice at the library. Ricky turned around, and that's when we definitely noticed something different: he didn't have his glasses.

"Hi," he said.

"What happened to your glasses?" Hannie asked.

"Aw, they're broken," he answered glumly. "I was cleaning them last night, and I guess I don't know my own strength, because the lenspiece just snapped in half."

"Uh-oh," I said. "Can you still see?"

"A little," he said. "I mean, I can see you two and the blackboard, but I just can't see very far away. Listen, I've got to run. My mom's upstairs waiting for me."

"Okay," Hannie said. "See you Monday."

"See you," I said.

After Ricky left, Hannie turned to me and said, "Did you hear how you just said that?"

"No," I said. "How?"

"It sounded really mushy-gushy, like syrup," she answered. "Not that I'm making fun of you, but I thought I was going to get a cavity just listening to it."

I knew Hannie wouldn't make fun of me, but I was still wishing she hadn't said that.

After we got our books, we headed upstairs to wait for Kristy. There's some leather couches near the book drop where people can read their books before checking them out. I guess my shoe was coming untied, because on the way over, I tripped over my shoelace. I put my hands out to keep from landing on my face, but at the same time, I spilled my books all over the floor.

"Double boo," I whispered angrily. I felt like such a gigundo idiot. Oh, well, at least I didn't hurt myself.

I tied my shoe, and started to pick up my books, when I heard a voice ask, "Need some help?"

I looked up. Kneeling beside me was an older boy, maybe around Kristy or Sam's age. He had black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, green eyes, Vulcan-looking eyebrows, a little shark's-tooth earring in his left ear, and a scar on his right cheekbone He was wearing a red T-shirt with the words "THIN LIZZY" on the front—in black—light blue jeans, black boots, and a black leather jacket.

Now I knew what Kristy meant when she said that Claudia looked like she was ready to pass out. He was CUTE!

"I, uh—well, thanks," I managed to say. After staring at him with my eyes and mouth wide open, and looking like a dork, I had to say something to him, right?

"Sure," he said as he picked up the last of my books. He started to hand it to me, then stopped. "Hey, the Berenstain Bears!" he exclaimed. "I used to read these all the time when I was a kid!"

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. My favorite was the one where they broke their mum's lamp and told her a bird did it!"

Mum? Could this boy—yes! This boy was our new neighbor! How about that!

"Oh, yeah, that's a good one," I agreed, hiding the fact that I knew who he really was.

"Well, I wanted to make sure you were all right," he said as we stood up.

"Thanks," I said as he handed the pile of books back to me. "So, uh, do you live around here?"

"Aye," he answered.

"Huh?"

"Aye. That's how we say yes in Scotland. It's spelled A-Y-E."

"Oh."

"Anyway, we just moved here a few days ago. You know that new apartment complex at the end of McLelland Road?"

"The one that was just built?"

He nodded. "My stepdad's the new superintendent over there. That means he's in charge of groundskeeping, maintenance, things like that."

"Really?" I asked. If I sounded fascinated, that's because I was. "My name's Karen Brewer."

"Jason Everett," he said, politely extending his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Jason," I said as we shook hands. That's when I noticed a ring on his right middle finger. It was a black ring with a silver cross on it.

"That's a Celtic cross," he explained. "Actually, it used to belong to my granny on my mum's side of the family, and she left it to me in her will. Beauty, isn't it? It's Sterling silver, and the cross is onyx."

"Wow!" was all I could say. That ring was a real gigundo beauty!

That's when I heard Kristy calling my name. "Okay, Karen, let's go check out," she said. Then she saw Jason. "Oh, hi, Jason!"

"Hi, Kristy," he said, only he pronounced her name "Kris-teh." I wonder if everybody in Scotland talks this way?

While Kristy and Jason talked, I ran over to where Hannie was sitting. "Hannie!" I whispered excitedly. "Look who's over there!"

She closed her book and looked up. "Is that our new neighbor?" she asked. And let me tell you, when she saw Jason, her eyes were as big as an owl's.

I nodded and giggled. I still couldn't get over how cute he was.

"What a doll!" she squealed. "Just don't tell Scott I said that, okay?" (Scott Hsu is Hannie's pretend husband, by the way.)

"I won't, if you won't tell Ricky," I said.

"Deal." And we pinky-swore.

We both thought Jason seemed like a great guy.