Scattered Leaves (16 page)

Alanis was standing at the side of my bed.
"Damn. girl, you gonna need an alarm clock. She's dead asleep. too. Lucky
^,
for Granddad. Get up and dressed quickly. Stuart should be here by now if he's going to hook up that gas tank before he takes us to school. Hurry," she urged.
I was so confused. To me it was as if I'd still been in a dream. I didn't wake up fully until after I had washed and dressed and gone down to at least have a piece of orange. Great-aunt Frances finally rose herself and hurried down the stairs in her nightgown.
"Oh, good, you're up." she cried. "I'm sorry I overslept. We'll make sure the clocks are on alarm for tomorrow. Did you have some breakfast?"
I nodded. I really wasn't very hungry. but I remembered what Alanis had told me.
"I need lunch money." I said.
"Oh, dear, lunch money. Yes. I found some money yesterday. I had forgotten about it." Her eyes widened with excitement, and she went to the cabinet under the sink. She pulled out a can of soap powder and opened the top. It was full of tens and twenties. "I don't know why I forgot this," she said. "It's been under here so long."
Lucky Mae Betty doesn't do her job that well, I thought. She would have found it for sure. and I had no doubt she would have taken it.
"Take all that to your room. Great-aunt Frances," I told her. "Otherwise, it will disappear."
"Yes. I will. Yes. Here," she said, handing me a twenty. That should be enough."
"Thanks," I said and reminded her to take the money to her room. "Put it somewhere safe," I said.
"I will. Oh, look at you. That's a lovely dress, a wonderful dress for the first day of school,"
"Thank you. Grandmother Emma bought it for me."
"Emma can be generous when she wants to be. Oh, dear, where's your schoolbag?"
"I forgot it," I said. "Thanks for reminding me."
I ran back upstairs to get it, then hurried back down. She stood at the doorway, waiting.
"Good luck to you, dear. I remember my first day of school like it was yesterday."
"It's not my first day of school: I reminded her. "It's my first day here."
"Oh, yes. Funny," she said, thinking for a moment, "but it's as if you were always here. I must be still dreaming."
She leaned over to give me a kiss. then I opened the door and stepped out. Alanis was in the driveway, waiting, the brim of her hat down nearly over her eyes. She kicked a stone and looked up at me. "That idiot didn't show to hook up the tank. They'll be no time for it now. C'mon," she said, walking ahead down the driveway. She looked at her watch when
I
caught up. "He'd better be here in five minutes or we'll have to take the
bus."
She leaned to look down the road. A car came by and then a bigger truck than Stuart's, but he didn't appear. Alanis looked Yen
^,
annoyed.
"See?" she said. "Boys can't be trusted with anything. Their promises aren't worth a damn," she added when the school bus appeared. It slowed and then stopped in front us. I looked at Alanis, who made no move to board the bus. "C'mon," she said finally and tugged me to walk around and go up the stairway. The bus driver, a round-faced, stout man with just a ribbon of hair above his temples and down over his ears, smiled at us.
"Welcome, girls. Now take your seats and stay in them until the bus comes to a stop at the school. No wandering about in motion." he warned.
Alanis ignored him. She paused and looked down the aisle at the other riders. Everyone looked primped and prepared, especially the other girls. Two older boys sat opposite each other, both taking up the entire seat by putting their legs across them.
I could see that some of the children had their faces pressed to the window, looking up the driveway to catch a glimpse, perhaps. of Great-aunt Frances. Alanis nudged me and nodded at them.
"What are you looking at so hard?" she snapped at them, and they turned away quickly.
The rear seat was empty. Alanis headed for it and dropped herself onto it, folding her arms and glaring out the window. I joined her and the bus started again. She looked back once and then at me. Her face brightened with a thought.
"Hey, did you get your lunch money?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
I showed her and she beamed.
"I told you she had money buried. Did you see where she got it?"
I hesitated just long enough for the smile to fade from her face. "Remember, Sister, no secrets, no lies. Well?"
It seemed to me that there was a time to lie. If I told her what Great-aunt Frances had, she would want to go look for it and might steal it.
"She just gave it to me," I said.
"You didn't see where she took it?" I shook my head.
"You lying, girl," she said. "You're not good at it. You'll have to study me. That's okay. You'll tell me." She smiled with confidence. "Yes, you will. And soon. too. You'll see that I'm the best friend you ever had and ever will have."
She sat back, looked out the window, thought a moment, then leaned forward to take the twenty from me.
"I better hold this for you. Too many thieves in that school." She stuffed the twenty into her jeans and leaned back again.
The bus rolled along, stopping to pick up students along the way. By the time we arrived at the school. I felt nauseous. but I swallowed it back and followed everyone out. This was, after all, the first time I had ever ridden a bus to school. All my school life, my mother had brought me to school on the first day. She'd been there holding my hand and assuring me I was fine and I was going to enjoy the experience. My teachers had been nice and full of smiles. They'd all known who we were.
Because other buses from other directions were unloading at about the same time, a sea of students poured into the entrance. Most were talking loudly, calling to each other and laughing. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. Was I the only new
student in the whole school this year? If anyone looked at me, it was just a glance. Everyone was more interested in hearing from students he or she knew. For a while. I felt invisible, even though I was being bumped and pushed along. I reached into my bag to get my diagram of the school. but Alanis seized my elbow before I could get the paper out.
"Forget that. I'll show you where you go, Jordan. Just move or we'll get trampled."
She held on to me firmly and took me around a corner and down another corridor.
"You're in here," she said, stopping at my classroom, "The cafeteria is down this hall. You turn right and it's right there. I gotta go upstairs. Uh-oh," she said, "here comes Chad."
He approached us quickly.
"Ah, you and the little rich girl," he said. "How cozy."
"Do I know you?" she asked him.
"Funny. Why didn't you call me?"
"I've lost your phone number," she said. "For good."
"Yeah. right. You'll be back," he said, but not with great confidence.
"If I'm desperate," she told him. He smirked, looked at me and walked away, "See?" she said to me. "Keep them in their place. I'll see you at lunch."
You better,
I thought.
You have my lunch money.
"When I see that Stuart, I'm going to tear off an ear," she added and walked on.
I watched her for a moment. Some girls and a boy jostled me back as they hurried into the classroom. I followed slowly. When I entered. I noted that everyone was rushing to choose his or her seat. Our teacher wasn't in the room vet. Those who had sat turned to look my way. Their faces were full of curiosity.
I really am the only new student, I thought. They're not looking at anyone else the same way.
"This is Mrs. Morgran's third grade," a tall, thin, dark-haired girl with thin, almost nonexistent lips told me. The right corner of her mouth dipped at the end of her sentence.
"I know." I said.
"You're in third grade?" she asked and left her mouth open.
I didn't answer. I looked to the seat on the far side in the rear and headed toward it, but just before I reached it. Another student, a chubby boy with hair the color of wet hay, charged past me and slid into the chair as if he'd been sliding into first base in a baseball game. The students around us laughed.
"That's not very polite." I said. He smiled and looked at the students seated around us. I thought of what Alanis had just said and folded my arms, stepping closer to him. "Get out of my seat or I'll rip off your ear," I told him.
His face seemed to sink in the thin smile falling to shatter at his feet. He glanced at the others, at me, and then got up and sliding to the desk two desks ahead. Everyone else stared at me as I took the seat.
Moments later. Mrs. Morgan entered. She was tall, with graying dark-brown hair cut sharply at her tars, every strand perfect. She wore no earrings, but she had a necklace of small pearls that lay just under the open collar of her one-piece dark-blue dress, which fell in a baggy fashion to about two inches above her ankles. The dress seemed to erase any figure she might have. There was no way to
distinguish her waist, and she looked to be as flat chested as some of her sixth-grade girls, but certainly not me.
Her gaunt cheeks were tightened at the corners of her thin pale lips, which pursed as she put her bag on the desk and took out her class register. She put on a pair of dark-rimmed glasses that magnified her dull brown eyes. The other students apparently knew her well enough to quiet down and sit still while she flipped silently through pages. cleared her throat and looked up. She panned the room slowly, nodding. until she reached me. She stared at me so long that I felt like I was under a microscope,
"I know all of you, of course, from move-up day last year, except our new student, Jordan March, Jordan, please stand." she said.
I did, and she looked at me even harder. I didn't know what to do or say because she wasn't saying anything. She looked again at something in her register and then at me.
"Jordan." she said. "has just moved here from Bethlehem. Let's welcome her."
She nodded. and the class clapped.
"I begin every class year with my students writing their biographies. We pass them around so everyone gets to know everyone else well," she said. "Take out a sheet of paper and your pens. please."
Instantly, the chubby boy who had slid into the seat I wanted raised his hand.
"Yes, Gary?"
"I didn't bring
a
pen and paper yet."
"Why not? What did you think we would do today?"
He shrugged.
She looked around.
"Anyone else
ill
prepared?"
No one raised his or her hand.
"Apparently, you are the only negligent student. Gary. You'll start the sixth-grade year with a negative point." She opened her top desk drawer, took out a pen, ripped a sheet of paper off a pad, and brought it to him.
"Okay," she said when she returned to her desk. "Who can tell me what you all should include in your biography?"
Many hands went up.
"Mona," she said.
A small girl with pretty light-brown hair stood up.
"We should tell about our family, where we were born and where we live and lived, what we like to do, what we want to be, places we have gone and favorite things like favorite foods and shows and stuff." she recited.
"Don't say 'stuff.' Otherwise, you are correct. All right, begin please and write clearly, neatly and carefully," she said.
Everyone started. What should I tell about my family? I wondered. Should I tell anything about Ian?
"Miss March," Miss Morgan said. "Please come up front."
All the students stopped writing and looked at me. I rose and walked to her desk.
"I understand you are living with your greataunt," she said. "Yes."
"When you go home after school today. I want you to go directly to her and tell her that you cannot return to school if you do not wear a brassiere. You know what that is, of course?"
I nodded.
"I will not permit you to return to my class unless you do. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," I said.
"Get back to your seat, please:" she said.
I felt the blood rise to my face as I turned and saw all the students looking at me. Some of the boys were smiling, especially chubby Gary. I sat and lowered my head to begin writing. We all looked up again when we heard a knock on the door. It opened, and a girl who looked at least sixteen stepped n.
"Yes, what is it?" Mrs. Morgan asked, not hiding her annoyance.
"The principal would like to see Jordan March." she announced.
Mrs. Morgan tightened the corners of her mouth. then looked at me.
"Go ahead," she said, her voice full of annoyance. "You can leave your things right there. Don't dawdle in the hallway when you return either. Get right back to do your work."
I rose and joined the girl at the door. As soon as she closed it behind us, she turned to me and smiled.
"This is your first day here. right?"
"yYs," I said. "Is that why the principal sent for me?"
"No," she said, widening her smile. "Boy, are you in trouble." she said.

In the principal's outer office, where, behind the long counter, two secretaries scurried between two desks and large file cabinets. Alanis. Nikki and Raspberry sat on the black sofa. waiting. They looked up at me as soon as I entered, my appearance obviously taking them all by surprise.

"Her. too?" Nikki muttered.
"Jordan March is here," the student helper announced. One of the secretaries paused, her face twisting like a rubber mask with displeasure at being interrupted.
"Take a seat with the others." she told me. "And no talking, Mrs. Browne will tell us when to send you in to see her."
Alanis sat between Nikki and Raspberry on the settee. I sat quickly in the only chair. Of course. I wondered why we were all here. I had never been called out of class to go to the principal's office at my school in Bethlehem.
"What is this?" Nikki moaned. "Why did she call all of us to the office? Maybe its got something to do with last night. Why else would she be here?"
"Shut up,' Alanis said. She watched the secretaries and the student helper, and then she leaned toward me.
"Remember. Whatever it is, we die first," she whispered and then sat back.
The door to the principal's office opened, and a policeman stepped out, his hat in his hands. He gazed at us a moment, shook his head and walked out of the office.
"Police! We're in trouble." Nikki muttered, her voice cracking. "Oh, we're in some kind of big trouble."
"I told you to shut up," Alanis said. "Whatever it is. I'll do all the talking.'"
We heard a buzzer. One of the secretaries picked up a phone and said. "Right away_ Mrs. Browne." She hung up and turned to us. "All of you go in now," she said.
We rose. I was too frightened to take a breath. I looked at Alanis, but she didn't seem in the least afraid. She actually smiled at me.
Mrs. Browne's office had a nicer leather sofa and two leather chairs. One wall was covered with shelves of books, and another had plaques and pictures. The walnut brown rug looked brand new. She had a large, dark cherrywood desk with everything on it neatly organized. With her hands clasped behind her back, she was standing by her window and looking out when we entered. It was a large, two-paneled window that faced the ballfield. It had blinds that were pulled up evenly and dark-brown dress curtains with gold tassels,
"Close the door,' she said. I imagined she could see it reflected in the window glass. Raspberry hurried to do so. Then Mrs. Browne turned slowly.
I thought she had wide shoulders for a woman. She had a heavy bosom and wide hips, too, but her face frightened me because it looked like someone had taken an ice pick and poked tiny holes in her cheeks and even in the sides of her chin. She wore a dark red lipstick, which picked up the reddish brown hair she had cut stylishly at the base of her neck. Her eyes rere a bright shade of blue. If it weren't for her pockmarks, she would be pretty, I thought.
"Sit," she commanded, as if she'd been speaking to four dogs. "And you. Alanis, take off that hat. You don't wear your hat in school."
Sullenly. Alanis took it off.
I went for the chair. Alanis sat in the other chair. and Nikki and Raspberry sat on the sofa.
We waited, no one moving, me holding my breath. as Mrs. Browne paused and looked up. It was as if she was reading something off the ceiling or saying some prayer. Then she lowered her head and fixed her eyes on each of us the way someone might fix her target in her gun sights. I had never seen anyone who could turn her eyes into cold, piercing orbs like this. It was as if she'd had tiny flashlights behind them. I felt myself actually shudder with a stab of ice at the base of my neck.
"Let me begin by telling the four of you that I've been principal here for nearly twenty-eight years and this is the first time I've had a serious problem brought to me on the first day, actually even before the day has had a chance to begin. With all the work we have getting organized. I have little or no time for behavioral problems, but this one is so serious..." She paused, put her hand over her heart and took a breath, "Perhaps the most serious one I've had in my twentyeight years. and I have no choice but to deal with it immediately.
"All of your parents are in the process of being contacted." she continued. "You." she said, turning to me. "are living with your Great-aunt?"
I nodded, I was afraid that if I spoke, my voice would fail me and nothing would come from my lips.
"I have papers from your grandmother's attorney assigning guardian rights to your great-aunt. Frances Wilkens," she added, tapping some papers on her desk. "So, unfortunately for her, she will have this. She will have to face something terribly unpleasant immediately."
"What will she face? Why did you contact our parents? Why are we here?" Alanis demanded firmly.
Slowly. Mrs. Browne turned to her.
"Oh, don't worry, Alanis. I'm getting to it, to all of it." She took a deep breath, sat and leaned back. "Last night, a student at our school named Stuart Gavin drove his father's gas delivery truck off the road and hit a tree. He wasn't wearing a seat belt, and he was thrown from the vehicle and broke his left arm in two places. He was fortunate that nothing more serious happened to him.
"A passing motorist noticed the accident and called the police. It seems young Mr. Gavin was intoxicated. The police discovered that the level of alcohol in his blood was way above what is acceptable when driving. Do you know what that means?"
"He was drunk," Alanis said as casually as someone might say he had a cold." It didn't sound bad at all when it came from her lips. "So?"
"So? SO?" Mrs. Browne sat forward. "I imagine that you might see so many people in that condition that it means little to you anymore. However, driving under the influence of alcohol is a serious, very serious, crime. He will probably lose his license for a considerable period of time, and his father depends on him to help with their company's gas deliveries."
"I
still don't get why you called our parents about it, and why did you call us to your office? We didn't do anvthing," Alanis pursued. undaunted.
I
didn't know whether to admire her courage or criticize her stupidity.
"Oh, you don't?" She panned all of us slowly and returned her gaze to Alanis. "Young Mr. Gavin has told the police that he drank all this alcohol at a party you girls had at Jordan March's great-aunt's home," Mrs. Browne responded and turned toward me.
I
pressed my lips together quickly. He has named each and every one of vou."
"He's a liar," Alanis said without hesitation. "He came to Jordan's great-aunt's house, but he was already drunk and we told him to go home. He nearly threw up in the driveway. He had those sweet alcopops that can make you sick to your stomach," she added. "He wanted us to drink them, but we wouldn't." She turned to Nikki and Raspberrv. "Right?"
They both nodded. but Nikki looked surprised.
Mrs. Browne sat back again, then slowly turned her gaze on me.
"As
I
understand it, you haven't been living with your great-aunt very long, have you. Jordan?"
"No." I said. My throat threatened to close and smother any other words.
"In this case adults can be held responsible. She could be in very big trouble. You're all underage. I'm sure you don't want to get her in any trouble, too, do you?"
"Oh, no," I said. The tears were building under my eyelids so fast that I was positive now that I wouldn't be able to keep them from spilling out and down my cheeks.
The softness she pretended evaporated as she leaned toward me sharply.
"Then you had better tell the truth, young lady. Did you have a party at your great-aunt's house and give young Mr. Gavin alcohol to drink?" she questioned. With her gaze firmly on me, I felt like I was in a spotlight.
I glanced at Alanis. What would Ian do? I wondered. He would answer correctly, but also exactly to how the question was asked. I hadn't given Stuart any alcopops and I hadn't had the paid'. Nikki. Raspberry and Alanis had had the party.
"Well?"
"No." I said.
She stared at me. I wasn't lying, but I wasn't sure I didn't look like a liar.
She smiled coldly. "Why would he tell this to the police?" she calmly asked all of us.
"Simple," Alanis said, shrugging and sitting back in her seat. "To get himself out of trouble," Then she sat forward quickly. "We ain't getting into trouble because of him," she added more forcefully. "He got no right telling that story and causing you to call our parents. He's stupid. There's going to be hell to pay. Maybe we should sue him or something." she told Nikki and Raspberry, who both sat wide-eyed.
"Sue him? You haven't exactly been an angel here. Alanis King," Mrs. Browne countered. "I wouldn't press my luck.'
"It's not luck. It's the truth. You can't put the blame on us just because we done something bad once."
"Once?"
"It ain't right to blame us for his stupidity," Alanis insisted. "My mother ain't going to like this. You just taking his side right away. None of our mothers will," she added, nodding at Nikki and Raspberry, who still looked frozen. "I bet Jordan's family really won't like it, and they could afford big lawyers. We all probably have the right to a lawyer or something, don't we? I know my mother's going to call a lawyer and I bet yours does, too. Nikki. Her sister works for a lawyer, don't she?"
Nikki nodded, and Alanis smiled and turned back to Mrs. Browne, "Maybe she'll get him to do it for nothing or part of the money we'll win against the school and the Gavins."
Mrs. Browne thought a moment. Her firm demeanor seemed to crack a little. I could see it in the way her eyes shifted. She nodded softly.
"Yes, you all might very well need to have lawyers." She cleared her throat with a low growl, "This matter will continue under investigation. If it results in proof that you're lying, you will be in even more serious trouble. I will turn the matter over to the police to handle and it won't be a school issue. You'll all go to court. Is that understood?"
Alanis shrugged again. "What's to understand? He's lying. We didn't do it. I ain't afraid of going to court."
How could she be so strong and unafraid? I wondered.
"We'll see," Mrs. Browne said, but her voice didn't have the same confidence and authority it had when we first entered. I could see she wasn't sure who was telling the truth now and she had gone as far as she could.
My respect for Alanis grew instantly. She looked at me with a smile around her eyes.
"In any case, young lady. I would hope you improve your grammar this year. 'Ain't' is not proper."
"Yes, ma'am, I will certainly try my best." Alanis replied.
Her tone was so obviously false that it made Nikki and Raspberry smile. Mrs. Browne snapped herself back in her seat. She glared at her, and then she looked hard at me.
"I know it's difficult to start at a new school. but I would be very careful about whom you choose to be your friends. Now all of you return to your classes. We'll see where this ends,"
Alanis stood quickly, and so did Nikki and Raspberry. I slipped off my seat and followed them out the door. Alanis didn't turn to me until we were in the hallway. Then she put on her hat again and embraced me.
"You did real good in there. Jordan. You are my sister now," she said and squeezed me to her.
"Damn. I was sweating in there." Nikki said.
"You're always sweating," Alanis told her. "You almost gave it all away, trembling so much and looking so gaga-eyed. Don't say anything to anybody, hear? Let's keep all this to ourselves until lunch. See you soon," she told me, and they headed for the stairway.
I returned to my classroom, where everyone was busy writing his or her biography. They all looked up curiously when I entered. Mrs. Morgan didn't say anything. I wondered if she could see how I was still shaking. She nodded at my desk. and I sat and began again. My hand trembled as I picked up my pen to begin writing. I wrote about all the terrible things that had happened to our family when my parents had their accident. but I didn't write about Ian and Miss Harper, All I said about him was that he was very, very smart and wanted to be a medical research scientist someday. Of course. I explained why I had come to live with my great-aunt Frances.
Afterward, Mrs. Morgan collected our biographies. Then she passed our textbooks and workbooks to us. We began reading aloud so she could evaluate how we all read. I thought I did as well as anyone else. By lunchtime, we had been introduced to our English, math and science books. We would start our history book after lunch, and then she said she would give us our homework assignments. Tomorrow morning, after she had read our
biographies to be sure there was nothing offensive in them, she would circulate them so we could all get to know each other better. but I thought they all knew each other well enough. They were all going to learn about me mostly.
She then went into a lecture about class behavior. She told us that everything we did that was wrong carried what she called negative points. She explained that at the end of the quarter she would subtract those points from our class averages and we could actually fail even though we'd passed all the tests. Everyone looked frightened about it. especially Gary. The chubby boy who had come unprepared. I thought she was looking hard at me the whole time.
When the bell rang for lunch. Mrs. Morgan called me to her desk as the class began leaving the room. She waited until everyone was gone.
"I have been told by the school nurse that she has been informed you have had menarche, is that collect? I assume you know what it means."
"Yes. Mrs. Morgan."
"If you should have any problems while you are in my classroom. I don't want you blurting it out. understand? You simply raise your hand and ask to go to the nurse. If you need to go to the nurse, go there. If you can handle yourself on your own, go to the girls' room. I can tell you that I've never in all my years had a girl in my class with this problem." she added.
I don't know why she told me that. It made me feel even more terrible.
"Now go to lunch and be sure you obey all our school rules. I'm sure," she added as I started to turn away. "that I'll learn the reason for your being called to the principals office only minutes after you began here. This is a very busy school year for everyone in this class. I have absolutely no time or tolerance for interruptions."
I said nothing. I guess her husband's not home, I thought, recalling what Alanis had told me about her. I lowered my head and hurried out of the room. The hallway was already cleared, because the students were in the cafeteria. When I arrived there. I found the line was long at the counters. but Alanis appeared quickly and seized my right arm. She was still wearing her hat. Apparently. only Mrs. Browne took the time to tell her not to wear it in school.