The Misfits (11 page)

It's Addie's turn and now we're all into it, weirdly competing with one another for who's been called the most and the worst names. There are some we've all been called. Addie comes up with only eleven, three of which have to do with her height, five with her brains, and three what we call “all-purpose.”

Our final tally covers three napkins. This is what we've got:

Skeezie whistles. “Impressive, man. Are we awesome or what?”

We high-five it around the table, acting like this is a big joke, but we all know it isn't. Then another idea comes to me. I grab a clean napkin and write,
Dweeb.
Then I draw a big circle around it and a slash through it, so it ends up looking like this:

“Here's what we gotta do,” I go on. “We take all these words and write each one on its own sheet of paper. Then we put a circle around it and a line through it and then we put them up all over school.”

“And what do we say about the Freedom—I mean, the No-Name Party?” Addie asks.

I can't believe I have an answer for this. It's all coming to me, without my even having to think about it. “We don't say anything,” I go. “Not at first. That's the beauty of it, see? Ms. Wyman won't even know there's another party in the running. Nobody will
know. We'll keep the suspense going for a couple of days and then we'll hit the walls with posters for the No-Name Party. How're they going to stop us then?”

Addie is practically jumping up and down, she's so excited. She looks dangerously close to hugging me. “It's brilliant, Bobby,” she says.

“There's a name for this,” Joe gives. “Teaser advertising, I think it is. I
love
it! It's so... subverted.”

“Subversive,” says Addie.

“Show-off!” goes Joe.

“Twinkletoes!” Addie goes right back at him.

They both laugh, and Skeezie says to me, “I think
you
should run for president, man.”

“Yeah, Bobby,” Addie joins in, “this is
your
idea.”

“No way,” I tell them. “I'm not getting up in front of the whole school and giving a speech. I'm a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, okay?”

They can see I mean it, so they let it go. Then the Skeeze asks, “But how are we gonna convince DuShawn to go along with this?”

“Are you kidding?” Addie asks. “He's probably got a longer list of names than any of us.”

We all nod, because what do we know, and Addie says she'll talk to him right after lunch.

Meanwhile, I'm having the biggest brainstorm yet. “Wait a minute, you guys, we have to have a slogan, right? What do you think of this: Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will break our spirit.”

I'm looking at them now, waiting for them to laugh, I don't know why, and they're looking at me like that's what they expected, too, that I'd come up with something funny. But what I've come up with is something other than funny. Something even better than funny. What I've come up with is the truth.

MONDAY NIGHT we're back at Joe's house, printing up names on his computer and drawing red circles around them and red slashes through them. Every time we put a slash through one of those names, it's like we're casting a vote for our own party.

It's just the Gang of Five this time. Kelsey's mom doesn't like her being out on school nights, and DuShawn, well, DuShawn got kind of weird when Addie and I talked to him about the new party idea. Not that I blame him. What it went like was this:

Addie: DuShawn, guess what? We've come up with a whole new approach to the Freedom Party. You're going to love it.

DuShawn: Cool.

Addie: It's called the No-Name Party, and what we need is a list of all the names you've ever been called.

DuShawn: Names?

Addie: Yes, names. Put-downs. You know what I'm talking about.

DuShawn: Uh-huh. I get your drift. You're thinkin' because I'm black I've been called names.

Addie: Haven't you?

DuShawn: No.

Me: Never?

DuShawn: No. I mean, I know there are bigots out there, okay. And maybe I'm just lucky, but I've never had to deal with it.

Addie: Well, but will you still run for president on our ticket?

DuShawn: Why do you want me to run, Addie?

Addie: I told you. You're smart and ...

DuShawn: And black, you said so yourself.

Addie: Well, yes, I guess so, but that's not...

DuShawn: That's not what? You got no end to that sentence. And you got eyes that see no further than the color of my skin.

Me: Where are you going, DuShawn?

DuShawn: I'm going to think this over.

Addie: Well, but, you won't let us down, will you?

DuShawn: Who's lettin' who down, Addie? There's somethin' for
you
to think over.

“Do you think DuShawn's going to back out?” I ask Addie as I'm slashing a red line through KNOW-IT-ALL.

Addie shakes her head, exasperated. “I hope not,” she goes. “I tried calling him before coming over here, but his sister said he wasn't home. I don't know why he's being so sensitive. He said himself that the color of his skin is just a fact. The way he said the color of my skin is—”

“Like peach ice cream,” Skeezie pitches in. “Or was it the inside of almonds? The dude is a poet. I'll tell you something else, Addie: The dude likes you.”

“What?!” Addie makes a mess of the circle she's drawing and crumples up LARDO).

“Print that one out again,” I tell her, “It's one of my favorites.”

“I do not know what you're talking about,” she informs Skeezie, getting that tight-lipped look of hers that makes me think of Ms. Wyman. “There is no way
DuShawn Carter likes me. And I'm not saying that because I'm white and he's, you know...”

“The color of night,” says the Skeeze.

“Shut
up!”
Addie goes. I am detecting her peach ice-cream cheeks turning the shade of raspberry sherbet. “I am saying he couldn't like me because he's always picking on me. Spitballs and whoopee cushions and last week he was poking me all through social studies. I could hardly—”

“Breathe?” I go, and Skeezie and Joe and I crack up.

“You guys! This is what I get for having three boys as my best friends.”

“Count your blessings,” says Joe. “Girls'd tease you worse. I mean, if we were
girls,
the whole
school
would know you like Colin by now.”

Joe looks up from REE-TARD and goes, “Oops.”

Silence takes over the room and holds us hostage. Addie glares first at Joe, then at Skeezie.

“You told,” she says. “I can't believe you told.”

Skeezie runs a hand through his hair. “I, uh, well, I didn't mean to, it just kind of came out.”

“It just kind of came out? How lame is that? I can't believe you told them, Skeezie. You promised.”

“Don't get mad at Skeezie,” says Joe, “and, anyway, we're your friends, too. How come you're keeping secrets from us?”

All of a sudden it's Addie who looks like she's been caught. She glances down at FREAK and meticulously circles it.

“I thought you guys would laugh at me” is what she says when she finally speaks. “I've never liked a boy before.”

“So?” Joe says. “Bobby likes a girl, nobody's laughing at him.”

“Not to his face, anyways,” says the Skeeze. I throw a marker at him.

Addie looks at me. You can see she's relieved to get the attention off her. “Who do you like?” she asks.

“Kelsey,” I say, her name coming out like no big thing.

“Kelsey's nice,” Addie says. “Quiet, but nice. Are you going to ask her to go out with you?”

“I don't know.”

“Well,
I'm
going to ask Colin if he wants to go to the dance with me. That is, if a certain party who shall remain nameless but whose initials are Skeezie
Tookis ever comes through on certain promises he made.”

“I
did
come through,” Skeezie protests. “I put a note in his locker and I
told
you that tomorrow I'd put in another one. And, anyways, nobody asks anybody to the dance. You just go.”

“Unless you're going
out
with somebody, then you go with that person,” Addie says, like she's all of a sudden in charge of the rules of the world. “If I could just find out if he likes me, then I could ask if he wants to go out with me. And then we could go to the dance together.”