The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar Page A

said Randy.
    David’s face burned, even though he was fairly sure they had said all that just for his benefit. Somehow Scott must have found out that he liked Tori Williams. Maybe Scott also saw them making moon eyes at each other.
    But Randy still might ask her out for Saturday night, he realized, just because Randy knew David liked her. He wondered if Tori would agree to go out with Randy. She must know Randy’s a jerk. But then he remembered that he himself once thought Randy was a good guy. Randy was good at pretending he wasn’t a jerk.
    “You shouldn’t have stepped out of their way,” said Larry.
    “Huh?”
    “You lost face,” said Larry.
    “What are you talking about?”
    “It’s a Japanese expression,” said Larry. “You reminded me of it when you were talking about Mrs. Bayfield stealing people’s faces. I used to live in Japan, you know.”
    “No, I didn’t know. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
    “You know how Mo always tells you to stand up for yourself. It’s the same thing. When you don’t standup for yourself, the Japanese say you lose face. Like just now, when those guys were coming toward us. We have just as much right to walk on the sidewalk as they do. You stepped aside, so you lost a little face.”
    “There wasn’t room for all of us,” said David. “What was I supposed to do? Push my way through them? It’s not worth getting in a fight over.”
    “Every time they push you around and you do nothing about it, you lose a little more of your face,” said Larry.
    David rubbed his face with his hand. “They push you around too,” he said. “I don’t see you doing anything about it.”
    “That’s different.”
    “How?”
    “I don’t have to fight. I know kung fu.”
    “Yeah, right,” said David.
    “I do,” said Larry. “I have a black belt. If I had to, I could take on all three of them at once.” He karate-chopped the air in front of him. “They wouldn’t have a chance.”
    “Yeah, right,” said David.
    “But that’s not
the way
of kung fu,” Larry continued. “It’s always best to walk away from a fight. Like remember when they wouldn’t let me use the bathroom? I just walked away. You only fight if you have no other choice. Sometimes it takes more courage to walk away than it does to fight.”
    “Well, how come it’s all right for you to walk away, but if I walk away I lose part of my face?”
    Larry didn’t answer. “You know what you shoulddo,” he said. “You should call up Tori Williams and ask her out for Saturday night, before Randy.”
    “Randy’s not going to ask her out,” said David. “They were just saying that. Besides, you know I can’t ask her out.”
    “Why not?”
    “There’s a curse on me, remember? What if I take her to a movie and then pour lemonade on my head. Or her head?”
    “That’s not going to happen,” said Larry. He shrugged. “Just don’t drink any lemonade.”
    “What if she asks me to get her a cup of lemonade?”
    “Tell her they don’t have any. Get her a Coke or something.”
    “You don’t realize how powerful the curse is. Even if I ordered a Coke, the person behind the counter would probably make a mistake and give me a lemonade. Then as I’m about to hand it to Tori, there’d be an earthquake or something, and I’d trip and pour it right on her head! No, there’s no way I can take her out so long as I’m cursed.”
    “Yeah, right,” said Larry.
    David forced a laugh.
    “What?” asked Larry.
    “Oh, I was just thinking,” said David. “Those guys all think they’re so tough. They have no idea you know kung fu. They don’t know you could tear them apart.”
    “Right,” said Larry. “But only if I couldn’t walk away.” He smiled. “Too bad about the curse. Otherwiseyou and Tori would have a great time together.”
    They had reached an understanding. If David would believe Larry knew kung fu, Larry would believe that the only reason David didn’t ask Tori