Chapter Ten

A Nerd's Tale

I was peeping through the curtains in my room awhile later when I saw the Pike family mini van pull into the driveway. Out of it climbed Mallory in all her nerdy glory which made me roll my eyes big time. I was gigundo annoyed by the whole situation. Andrew had been mocking and insulting me yet here I was being punished again while he was being babied and cuddled and taken to the hospital where he would probably get a sticker for being good from the nurse. What a baby brat!

I flopped on my bed and rolled over to face my stuffed cat Goosie. I pretended I was Goosie and said in my best squeaky cat voice, "Do not worry, Karen. I still love you if your own Mommy is a lunatic."

"Thank you,

Goosie. I love you too," I could hear Mommy driving away but Nerdlory was ignoring me. I decided to do some spying to see what she was doing.

I tiptoed out to the living room. Mallory was sitting on the couch texting on her phone. She was wearing a Justin Bieber shirt and watching Teen Mom on TV. Nerdlory always tries really hard to be cool but I think she would be happier watching a horse movie while reading a horse book and wearing a unicorn t-shirt.

Mallory looked up from her phone. Drat, she spotted me. I fumed silently and she looked at me and frowned. I stood and waited for her to tell me to go back to my room. I was sure we would not be having a cake dinner and hanging out in Mommy's closet after Mommy's latest escapades.

Mallory did not yell at me. Instead she patted the spot next to me on the sofa, "Have a seat, Karen."

I rolled my eyes. Why in the world would I want to sit with Nerdlory? "No thank you, Mallory. I am perfectly fine just standing up."

Mallory shrugged, "Suit yourself, Karen. You've had quite a busy day and I thought you might like to talk about it."

I sighed, "You thought wrong."

"You know, at school I had a roommate when I first got there who had your attitude and does not have any friends now because she kept doing mean things like reading my diary and drawing ugly faces on my photos. I am sure you want people to be your friend. " Mallory was apparently practicing the reverse psychology garbage that Stacey McGill used to trick my friend Amanda Delaney.

"Well I do have friends. I do not need everyone to be my friend. Some people like Pamela Harding do not deserve to have any friends whatsoever. She should be grateful I even let her come over here after how atrocious her Daddy was to me." I snapped.

"I heard your friends are mad at you," Mallory reminded me.

Stupid Mommy. Always spilling the beans about my business to everyone. "I will make it up to them and they will forgive me."

Mallory turned the television off and reached into her bag which was on the floor next to her to pull a book out. Apparently she remembered my tv ban. "I would be very sad if Kristy was as mean to me as you were to the other kids. I thought you wanted to be like Kristy."

"Ha! Well Kristy only wishes she could be as wonderful as me. She probably never came up with any idea as great as "Karen's Church". No, all she had was that stupid baby sitter's club. A club is not as great as a religion."

Mallory set her book down. It looked like one of those cheapo romance novels that Mommy reads secretly on nights when Seth has to work late and then hides them in a secret stash under their bed, "Karen, I do not know why you are so interested in going to a church. I go to Stoneybrook Community Church every Sunday and it is not a lot of fun. Sometimes it is very boring. Also one time when I was your age something not very good happened there. We almost did not go back after that."

I was gigundo curious about why Mallory would have not gone back. I sat down next to her. "What happened?"

"Well Margo was just three years old at the time and Claire just a year old. They were little like Emily Michelle but not babies anymore. The church has a room for very small children to go to. It is called Toddler Sunday School. It is a play room with toys and snacks. Toddlers do not know how to hold still for church," Mallory said.

I nodded my head knowingly, "And they are baby brats."

Mallory frowned, "That is not what I meant. Anyway, that Sunday I remember Vanessa and I walking with my mom to take Margo and Claire to the room with the other toddlers. Dad had Nicky and the triplets. There were not many kids there that day because it was supposed to snow and it was very cold but we live close by so it was not too hard for us to get home."

I rolled my eyes, "Get to the point already."

"It's a long story, Karen. Anyway, sometimes after we picked Margo up she would have bite marks or bruises. After eight kids, my parents would shrug it off as kids will be kids. They should not have done that. This was Claire's first Sunday that she was big enough for the toddler room. Claire was ok with it and sat down to play with Margo. There was just one other child in the room. Mom, Vanessa and I were part way down the hall when we started hearing screams from the toddler room. We ran back. It was Claire." Mallory paused for a minute.

"Why did Claire scream? Was she sad you left her?" I would have been screaming with happiness to be away from the nerdy Pikes myself.

Mallory shook her head, "No she was not sad because we left her. We came back in the room. We could not believe it. Mrs. Brecken, the lady who was in charge was holding the other child in her arms. It was a little girl. I think her name was Cara or something like that. Cara was screaming and kicking and straining to get away from Mrs. Brecken and get back to Claire. Margo was standing on a table yelling, "Cara mean!" Claire was sitting on the floor. She had a bad bite mark on her arm and was bleeding. Cara had bit her so hard it bled. Cara it turns out was mean a lot. My parents never complained but other parents complained every Sunday. Mom grabbed Claire and was comforting her. I gave Mom the little first aid kit from her purse so she could clean Claire's bit mark. Pastor Jones had heard the screaming as did a lot of other people and soon Cara's parents came."

Cara sounded like a big meanie mo, "What happened to Cara?"

Mallory thought for a moment before she answered, "When Cara's parents came in, Mrs. Brecken said "That is the last straw. Your daughter is out of control. She bites, kicks and hits every Sunday. She is a spoiled brat. Now she has managed to bite hard enough to draw blood. You two are the worst excuses for parents I have ever seen to let your daughter become this out of control." She was very angry. Cara's mom was pregnant and started to cry. Cara's dad grabbed her and gave her a spanking. Cara continued to scream. Mrs. Brecken demanded that Pastor Jones ban Cara from the toddler room."

"Did he ban her?" I wanted to know.

"He did not say anything. My mom spoke up and said that maybe everyone was overreacting and that sometimes kids bite so maybe the parents needed help rather than criticism. Mrs. Brecken said my mom was delusional and in denial and had so many kids she probably wasn't even aware of how we behaved which really upset my mom. Cara's mom grabbed Cara and said that she would never go to any church ever again because of how people were treating her daughter and that they were judging her as a mom.. Cara's family stormed out of the room. Pastor Jones still hadn't said anything. He was just standing there. My mom was carrying Claire and had Margo by the hand. My dad had come in by this point. She told my dad what Mrs. Brecken had said and insisted we leave so we did. My mom did not want to come back. We stayed home for several weeks. Then one night Pastor Jones came over and talked to my parents and after that we started going back to church. I do not know what he said but I do know we never saw Cara again and someone else was running the toddler room. " Mallory finished the story with a far away look in her eye.

"Maybe Margo and Claire deserved it." I was thinking Cara sounded mean but then I remembered how mean Margo always is to me. We went to Sea City once and she was bossy to me all week. Plus she impersonated a mermaid to trick me. That was very mean of her.

"Karen! No one deserves to be hurt by someone else. I know you do not like Margo but that was not the point of my story. I meant that out of eleven years that I have been going there that was the only exciting thing that ever happened. Most Sundays are very boring. I know you want to go to church but maybe you are lucky that you do not. I sometimes wish my parents did not make me go." Mallory had a gigundoly grumpy look on her face.

"I do not care. I still think I need my church." In case you could not guess or did not know by now I do not give up easily on anything.

Mallory looked at me with her eyes looking extra mean and beady from behind her glasses, "Why?"

I stomped my foot, "because I want it."

"Why do you want it?" Mallory asked.

"All my friends have a church," I replied.

"But why do you need one, Karen?" Mallory continued to press me.

I had not thought of any other reason other than wanting what my friends have. I was not going to let Mallory know that. "The great and wonderful Karen Brewer does not have to reveal her secrets to the likes of you, Mallory Pike!"

Mallory laughed, "I'll bet you don't have a real reason, Karen."

She was right but I was not going to let her know that. I did my tiger growl but I did not have the energy to fight Mallory.