The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar Page B

Williams out on a date was because of the curse.
    “Hey, Larry,” said Mo, coming up behind them. “Will you teach me that?”
    “What?”
    “You know, how to give someone the finger in Italian.”

22
    F RIDAY AFTERNOON and evening David couldn’t stop thinking about Tori—and Randy. What if he really did ask her out? What would she say to him?
She might be talking on the phone to him right now
.
    Saturday he worried about their date. He wondered where they went, what movie they saw. Was it rated R? What else did they do? Did he put his arm around her?
He might be kissing her right now
.
    Sunday he wondered if she was in love with him. What if she came to school wearing Randy’s jacket? She wouldn’t be allowed to talk to him anymore, not even “Hello, Mr. Ballinger.”
    He was glad he hadn’t put his books in her locker. He’d never be able to get them out. Maybe she’s been in love with Randy all along. Maybe she was just pretending to be nice to David, like Randy used to do. It was some kind of big joke. She pretended to like David, but really she and her friends were all laughing at Curly, the stooge.
    Monday morning he was standing outside the door to Mr. MacFarland’s class when he saw her coming toward him. He didn’t know whether to say hi to her anymore. At least she wasn’t wearing Randy’s jacket. She had on a long multicolored kind of shawl.
    “Hi,” he said.
    She was still a couple of yards away, and he said it so quietly he didn’t think she even heard him.
    “Hi, David,” she said. Her green eyes flashed as she breezed into the room.
    “Hi,” he said again, in case she didn’t hear him the first time. Feeling like a total fool, he eased his way through the desks to his seat.
    Actually, he realized, whether or not he was a fool depended on whether or not she heard the first hi. If she did, then he was a fool for saying hi twice. She and Randy would probably have a good laugh over it together.
    On the other hand, if she didn’t hear him say the first hi, then that meant she thought she said the first hi. That’d be good. If you say the first hi to someone it means you’re making an effort to be nice to that person, but if you say the second hi then maybe you’re just being polite.
    Big deal
! he chided himself. Who cares who said the first hi? He closed his eyes. Big deal. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t …
    He looked at Tori. She seemed half asleep as she thumbed through the pages of her social studies book. Little did she know what a simple hi had done to him.
    I have no face, he thought.
    He had thought about what Larry had said about losing face. If I had a face, he thought, I would just go up to Tori Williams and talk to her and tell her how I feel. If I had a face, I wouldn’t let Roger andhis friends push me around. I would never have laughed at all their stupid jokes.
    I would never have gone with them to steal Mrs. Bayfield’s cane. I would have stood up for her and told them to leave her alone. I would have told her I was sorry instead of giving her the finger. I have a finger, but I don’t have a face.
    Maybe my Doppelgänger is wearing my face.
    He realized that what he should do was go back to Mrs. Bayfield’s house and tell her he was sorry. Better late than never. If she had put a curse on him, that’d be the only way she’d remove it. But even if there was no curse, he should still tell her he was sorry. It was the right thing to do.
    He knew what he should do, but he also knew he wouldn’t do it. Because he had no face.
    “W E FIGURED it out!” Mo told him at recess. “We know how to remove your curse! Larry figured it out.”
    Larry smiled. “It was so simple, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner.”
    “I know,” David muttered. “Tell Mrs. Bayfield I’m sorry.”
    “Huh?” said Larry. “No. That wouldn’t work. No, I got it all figured out.”
    “He does,” Mo agreed. “It’s perfect.”
    “What?” asked