Page 65-69
Story
Page 65
Jeff and Bradley
ate lunch together
around the side
of the building,
where nobody
would bother them.
Jeff stood up.
“I’ll be right back,”
he said.
“I have to go
to the bathroom.”
“Which one?”
Bradley asked.
“Boys’,”
said Jeff.
“Oh,”
said Bradley.
“I’ll wait for you
here.”
It was
a very long wait.
“Hey, Jeff!”
Robbie called
as Jeff
stepped out of
the bathroom.
“Me?”
asked Jeff.
It surprised him
because Robbie
had always
called him
Fishnose
or Fishbrain.
“Come over here,”
said Robbie.
A group of boys
was with him.
Jeff recognized
some from his class,
but didn’t
know them all.
One of the boys
had a basketball.
“Hi, Jeff,”
said Brian,
a boy from
his class.
“Hi, Brian,”
he replied.
“How’s it goin’,
Jeff?”
asked Russell.
“Okay.”
“This is Jeff Fishkin,”
Robbie told the boys
who weren’t
in his class.
“He’s the guy
who gave Chalkers
the black eye.”
“Way to go, Jeff!”
said one of
the boys
he didn’t know.
Page 66
“All right, Jeff!”
said another.
“Oh, man,
would I
have liked
to have seen
that.”
“Man,
when I saw
Chalkers’ eye today,”
said Robbie,
“I just smiled.
And then
when I found out
you got called
to the principal’s office,
I thought,
‘Way to go,
Jeff.’ ”
“You didn’t
get in trouble,
did you,
Jeff?”
asked Dan.
Jeff shook his head.
“They probably
gave him
a medal,”
said Russell,
laughing.
The others laughed too.
“You like
to play basketball,
Jeff?”
asked Andy,
the boy
with the basketball.
“Sure!”
said Jeff.
They chose teams.
Robbie and Andy
were captains.
Robbie had first pick.
“I got Jeff,”
he said.
Jeff beamed.
They played basketball
for the remainder
of the lunch period.
Jeff’s team won,
but it was also
the team
with five players.
The other team
had only four.
Everyone told him
he played
a great game.
“I always
wondered
why a guy
like you
was hanging around
with Chalkers,”
said Robbie.
“I guess
it just took you
a while
to find out
who your real friends
were.”
Jeff smiled.
These were
the kind of friends
he had had
back in his old school
in Washington, D.C.
Of course,
it meant
he couldn’t
be friends
with Bradley
anymore,
but …
He shrugged.
Page 67
From around
the corner
of the brick building,
Bradley watched
the end
of Jeff’s
basketball game.
Every time
Jeff took a shot,
Bradley prayed
he’d miss.
When the bell rang,
he hurried back
to class
ahead of Jeff
and the other boys.
He sat at his desk –
last seat,
last row –
and took out
one of his books;
it didn’t matter which one.
He stared at it
very intently
as Jeff sat down
next to him.
Well,
maybe it was okay
for Jeff
to have other friends,
he decided
as he turned
a page.
I’m still
his best friend.
That’s what
he told
the principal.
Jeff wouldn’t lie
to the principal!
Maybe
I’ll get
to play basketball
with his
new friends, too,
like Carla said.
“Jeff,”
he whispered.
He wanted
to tell Jeff
that everything
was still okay,
that they could
still be friends.
“Hey, Jeff!”
Jeff didn’t look up
from his work.
Jeff works hard,
Bradley realized.
That’s how
he gets
all the gold stars.
He had to wait
until after school.
“Hey, Jeff,”
he said
as soon as
the bell rang.
Jeff picked up
his books
and started
out the door.
Bradley hurried
after him.
“Jeff!”
he called.
“Wait up.”
Page 67
Jeff stopped
and slowly
turned around.
Bradley
suddenly felt
very nervous.
“Do you want
to do our homework
together?”
he asked.
“I can come over
to your house
if you want,
or you can
come over
to mine.
We can
use my book.
See.”
He showed Jeff
his book.
“Hey,
out of our way,
Chalkers,”
said Robbie
as he
and Brian
pushed past him.
“Chicken Chalkers,”
said Brian.
“Yeah, Chalkers,”
said Jeff.
Bradley walked away.
He heard Jeff
and his new friends
laughing behind him.
But
when he got home,
his own friends
were very glad
to see him.
“We’re so glad
you’re home,”
said Ronnie.
“We missed you.
We’re glad
you didn’t
go over
to Jeff’s house.”
“You’re
our best friend,”
said Bartholomew.
“Hooray for Bradley!”
shouted
the wooden hippopotamus.
“Hip … hip …”
“Hooray!”
yelled all
the other animals.
“Hip … hip …”
“Hooray!”
“Hip … hip …”
said the hippo
one last time.
“Hooray!”
“Let’s play a game,”
said the donkey.
“What do you
want to play?”
asked Ronnie.
“Anything
but basketball,”
said Bartholomew.
“I hate basketball.”
“Basketball
is a stupid game,”
Ronnie agreed.
Page 69
“It’s the worst game
in the world,”
said the hippopotamus.
“Why would anybody
want to play
basketball?”
laughed
the ivory donkey.
All the other animals laughed too.