Pack of Dorks by Beth Vrabel

Becky hadn’t either.
    But then Becky’s horrid giggle trickled across the field and both she and Tom turned toward April’s blanket. Then Becky jerked her thumb toward me! And they both laughed. I felt my face burn.
    “Lucy?” Dad asked as I approached. “Isn’t that Becky? Why don’t you go say hi?” He waved with big windshield wiper arms to Becky and Tom. I guess Operation Be Happy was back in effect for him and Mom. Becky’s mouth fell open and Tom quickly turned his back. Becky gave a pathetic little half wave and collapsed into more giggling, falling into Tom. Now my eyes were burning, too.
    “Can we go home now? Please?” I mumbled.
    Mrs. Chester squeezed Mom’s arm and told her she’d give her a call soon, then headed off toward April’s blanket.
    “Why, sweetie?” Mom asked after saying goodbye to Mrs. Chester. “Your friends are here. Why don’t you go play while we take Molly for a walk?”
    I shook my head. Mom’s fingers, gentle but firm, grasped my chin and tilted my head toward her. “Oh man,” she whispered. “We forgot to put on sunscreen, didn’t we? Your face is flaming!”
    “Her arms look all right, though,” said Dad, poking my still milky white arms, while Mom rooted through her enormous diaper bag for sunscreen. Dad held his hands over my head like a visor, and Mom blew air across my face while her hands searched the bag. Seriously. Now, of all times, Mom and Dad had to pay attention to me. Even though I didn’t want to, I glanced back toward Becky and Tom, who were openly staring at me and laughing. I accidentally-on-purpose bumped Molly’s stroller. Her arms flew out like the sky was about to fall on her.
    Never was I happier to hear her shrieking!
    “Lucy!” Dad admonished.
    “Sorry,” I chirped. “We should go, though. I mean, she sounds hungry or something.”
    Mom sighed, her smile wobbling for a second, and she gave up searching for sunscreen. “Yeah, it’s been a long morning. I’m ready for a nap.”
    We walked back home, Molly screaming the whole way and Dad still trying to keep the sun off my face.
    For the rest of the day, I waited for the phone to ring, for Becky to call and tell me how ridiculous I looked with Mom and Dad and to call me out for sitting with April. I was ready for the call. I was going to scream at her about how she wasn’t just pretending not to be my friend; she was going out of her way to be mean. I was going to tell her she didn’t have to pretend any more. We weren’t friends.
    I would say that, unlike her, I wasn’t willing to do anything it took to be popular. I wasn’t going to be mean to people who were nice to me and be friendly to people who were mean. I was through with her and was going to make my own pack. I mean, friends.
    But she never called. And, truth is, I wouldn’t have said any of that, even if she had.

    “You’re really quiet today,” Sam said. He sat across from me on top of the monkey bars. I don’t know when it happened, but we were spending recess together now, too. Both of us seemed to migrate to the same part of the playground. It was the old section, which just had one set of metal monkey bars and a metal sliding board tucked off in a corner of the playground. Everyone else swarmed on the new bright red playscape, with its tunnels, twisty slide, and rings that you could pedal with your arms to get from one side to the other. Sam and I perched on the monkey bars. The only people nearby were Sheldon and April, who hung out on the slide, and Amanda, who hammered the tetherball by herself.
    I looked at Sam. “That’s funny, coming from you.”
    Sam rolled his eyes. I noticed that while he didn’t talk much, he said a lot with his face. When he was frustrated, he rolled his eyes. When he was mad, he squeezed his eyes shut and his mouth made a straight white line. When he was happy, his cheeks got a little pink and a dimple popped in his left cheek. When I first came into Ms. Drake’s classroom in