The Other Normals (28 page)

“I don’t … really … how will you get back here?”

“You can bring me back after it’s over. Worse comes to worse, you walk me around the lake. We have like five hours until it’s light. Let me get my knitting. And a life preserver. And if we get caught, this was your guys’ idea.”

WE CANOE TO THE BOYS’ SIDE IN STYLE and ease. Sam and I have a level of coordination that makes Anna, sitting in the middle, ask if we’ve done this before. “I think we did it in a game once—” I start, but Sam slaps the side of the canoe with his paddle.

“Water snake,” he explains. “Coming up the side of the boat.”

“No it wasn’t! Perry, it wasn’t a water snake, was it? What game were you talking about?”

“Nothing. Water snake.”

On the shore, I help Anna out first, Sam second. Once our bags are safe and she has her life preserver off, Sam and I haul the canoe out of the water and stash it upside down in the shed. I’ve done this many times before, but it feels different with a girl watching. Better. Provable in court.

I lock the shed and leave the key in the lock, wiping off my fingerprints. We walk on the side of the road, jumping into the trees at the slightest hint of a shoe crunch or vehicular rumble. At one point a Jeep drives by and I think I see Dale at the wheel, furious. I reach my hand out for Anna’s
a few times but always draw back. It seems wrong somehow; it makes me think of the sparkling fingernails on the last hand that held mine. In ten minutes we arrive at the dining hall.

IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT, ABANDONED, the dining hall is like a fort. Under the porch that runs the length of it, smooth stones outline a slope down to its foundation, where huge beams rear up out of concrete. I can imagine snakes and giant insects living there, waiting for an interloper to trip and roll to the center. I clench the knives in my pocket. I haven’t told Anna about them. All we’re going to do is kiss, hopefully, so I really shouldn’t need knives, but the knives make me calmer. I wonder if any wars have ever been started by nervousness over girls. Not like the Trojan War, where the Greeks went to
free
a woman; like the king wanted to talk to a girl, but he was scared, so he started a war instead.

“What do we do?” Anna asks.

“Sam can handle the lock, right, Sam?”

“Sure.”

“So let’s, ah … hang over here while he busts in.” I see a big rock a ways off, like the ones in Central Park where people play guitar and smoke. “We’ll stand guard.”

“‘Guard’?” Sam raises his eyebrows at me. “You got five minutes. I’ll be back with the soda.” He slaps my hand—an
authentic New York
smack
—and bounds up the steps. Anna and I go to the rock.

“You’re not gonna explain the barefoot thing?”

“I just find it more comfortable. You’re not gonna explain the knitting?” She still has the needles by her side; the half-finished mittens hang off them.

“I don’t like wasted time. With this around, I’m always doing something.”

“That’s cool.”

“You ever hold a girl’s hand before?”

I stop.

“It’s okay. I saw you almost try back there. You ever done it? You can tell me.”

“I … uh …” I don’t want to lie about Ada. I feel like she’ll know. What motivated me to do this again? Spite, that’s right. “Yes. Yes I have.”

“Was she nice?”

I stall. I know the answer (
yes yes yes
), but my brain relishes the opportunity to relive the memory. The soft length of Ada’s fingers and the way they stopped time. It was different from adrenaline; it was like adrenaline but with peace added. Once I start thinking about Ada’s hands, I think about her versus Anna, and then my brain messes with me, sparking up an internal dialogue that leaves me speechless for a moment, which may make Anna think I’m deep and mysterious.

What’s wrong with you, Perry, you don’t like
actual
girls from
Earth
?

Ada showed me constellations! She saved my life! It’s perfectly normal for me to miss her!

What are you, some kind of fantasy elf pervert?

“You okay, Perry?”

“Nothing! Yeah! Fine!”

“What’d you bring in your backpack?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s a girl’s trick. You ask them something and they say ‘nothing’ when it’s really super important. You can’t pull that on me. I’m gonna find out.” Anna smiles. The mechanical pencils inside my backpack rattle. I shouldn’t have left Sam. What if this goes wrong? I don’t know how it could go wrong, but … who am I kidding? It already
has
gone wrong! We’re not even supposed to be here!

Anna takes my hand. Hers is plump and light. She twines her fingers around mine. As soon as she touches me, we stop talking. Communication parameters sublimate into tiny variances in the grain of her skin against mine. I become instantly hard. I don’t want to be, but there it is. I try to squelch it with my thighs. I’m suddenly certain—I know it’s bad that this coincides with the erection, but I’m just being honest—that Anna
does
correspond to the princess. We sit on the rock. “What’s that shaking?”

My knee twitches up and down, like a butterfly. “I’ll stop.”

“Are you nervous?”

“It’s complicated. You might not realize it, but you’re very significant.”

“I realize it.”

“Not the way I do.”

“Let me see your bag.” She grabs it before I can stop her and unzips it. She sees something inside, and her face twists. “Are you serious?”

“What?”

“
Creatures and Caverns Rule Book: Other Normal Edition
?” She pulls it out. The genie stares at me from over the pirate ship.

“What? What’s the problem?”

“You’re one of
those
people?”

I squint at her. “Don’t.”

“What?”

“Don’t say that.” I take my bag back.

“I’m just saying. Can’t you take a joke?”

“I’ve never been good at taking jokes.”

“You’re from the city; you should be able to take a joke.”

Anna laughs. She has beautiful teeth. They make me forget her words. She creeps her fingers onto my hand and puts her wrist in my palm. I wrap my hand around it. It’s like when I talked to her back at the dance: I hate her but I want her, too. I think about doing things to her on this rock, about being fluid and hot and unstoppable …
manhood
! This is it! I’m about to hook up with a girl I don’t even like!

“Shut your eyes,” she says. I move my face toward her face. I hear bugs circling us. Bugs don’t care that we’re about to kiss—they just sense two warm bodies that they want to bother. Bugs know the truth. One
baps
into my closed eyelid. I snap my eyes open. I see Anna’s lips and then her feet. She
has open-toed sandals. Her nails are dark. My heart jumps.

“I can’t do this.”

“What?”

“I can’t kiss you.”

“Why not?”

“I just … I like somebody else.”

“Ex
cuse
me? Who?”

“You don’t know her.”

“You’re not allowed to
like anybody else.
I made a bet.”

“What?”

“I bet my friends—don’t worry about it. What do you mean, you’re not going to kiss me? I came out to meet you!”

“I’m a
bet
?”

She sighs, like it’s annoying to explain. “After I told my friends about meeting you at the nurse’s office, they dared me to get with you. You’re the only white boy in camp, and you’re like the dorkiest one anybody’s ever seen. They said they’d take me shopping if I hooked up with you.”

“Screw you!”

“What? It’s not like you have a lot of options. Where are you going?”

“Some princess you are! A
bet
? Seriously?”

“Girls bet on these kinds of things all the time. Come back!”

“Good-bye, Anna!”

“What’s wrong with you? Are you gay? I’m gonna tell people you’re gay!”

“
Tell
them I’m gay!”

“I
will
!”

I stomp back to the dining hall. My face is hot and my stupid penis is still hard. I slap it down, but that just makes it rowdy. “Sam!” I call.

“Over here!” His voice sounds strained. I peek around the corner and he’s there, in the parking lot, but his neck is held back and a knife is pressed against his throat. Ryu holds him tight. Tiny and the Silver Eel flank him. Sam stays taut, eyes wet.

“You,” Ryu says, sneering at me. “White Lotus never forgets.”

“DID YOU REALLY STAB A CAB DRIVER?” I manage.

“Shut up!” Sam hisses. “Do what he says! He took my knife!”

“If you want to fight, Ryu, you messed with the wrong guy.” I pull out my
two
knives. It takes a moment to open the hinged blades. “Stupid … things … hold on—”

“No!” Ryu spits. “Drop those or he gets cut!”

I lay the knives on the ground, blades out.

“That’s good.” Ryu lets Sam go. He runs to me, feeling his neck, making sure it’s still unperforated. Ryu steps forward with the White Lotus Crew. “I don’t even want him. I want you,” he says. “I know what you are.”

“You do?”

“You’re one of those bitches always needs to have the last word.”

“That’s not true—”

“Shut up!”

Behind him, Tiny rubs his fists. The Silver Eel tugs on the stringy hairs that hang over his eyes. “I’ve seen it since I first
saw you. You think it’s funny to try and make other kids think there’s a raccoon outside the yurt?”

“No, I—”

“Who the
fuck
are you? You think because you’re smart you’re better than everybody else?”

“No,” I say, but that’s not entirely true. I do think I’m better than the White Lotus Crew.

“You don’t mess with White Lotus. It’s good for you to learn this now: you don’t mess with
any
crews. Some people in this world got friends who have their
back
, understand, and some are little bitches who sit by themselves and think that makes them better than everybody else. You know which one you are.”

I glance at Sam. Can we coordinate a counterattack with just our eyes, like killer monkeys? Sam mouths,
Run!
I shake him off.

“I’ll fight you, Ryu, if that’s what you want.”

“You don’t fight me.” He picks up my knives and gives one to each henchman. “You fight
us
.” They step forward.

“Tiny? The Silver Eel? That’s not fair! You have knives!”

“Who you calling Tiny?” Tiny asks.

“Sorry, I thought that was your name.”

“Silver Eel? That’s racist.”

“No it’s not! How’s an eel racist?”

“Because I’m Asian.”

“I’m not making this up! A guy told me at breakfast—”

Ryu slashes at me. For the briefest piece of a second, I can’t believe it’s happening, but then the part of my brain that knows
how to handle the World of the Other Normals takes over. I jump backward in a half leap, half trip. Ryu’s blade zips past where my stomach was. I hit the ground on my rear end.

“Stop!” I fling a rock at Ryu’s leg. It misses his shin by an inch. He advances. I back away, my hands scrambling for more rocks, anything to throw—

He steps on my bad ankle.

“Agh!”

I struggle with my other leg but I’m pinned. Ryu draws back the knife. I reach for another rock but all that’s around me is dust—I taste something in the back of my throat, fear or blood—

“Yaaaaaaaaaagh!”
Sam speeds in like a cannonball.

He knocks Ryu over. Ryu’s knife falls to the ground. The two of them roll on top of each other like dogs, snarling and biting. I get up and see a hefty stick a few feet away. I grab it and limp toward Ryu. The Silver Eel steps in front of me.

“I’ll throw this right in your face,” he says, holding his knife like a dart.

“Go for it. Free shot.”

“Perry! Help!” Sam yells. Ryu has him pinned: one hand on his neck, one holding his wrists behind his head.

The Silver Eel throws his knife at me. I swing my stick. Total reflex action, a shot in the dark.
Ping
—the knife ricochets under the dining hall. The Silver Eel goes to retrieve it. “What’s wrong with you?” Ryu yells. “Get him!”

Tiny charges me. I hurl the stick at him. It sails end over
end and cracks him right in the face. His feet kick up while his upper body jerks back. He lands hard on his spine. His knife skids away.

“What are you
doing
?” Ryu yells. Sam takes advantage of his distraction to head-butt him in the cheek. Considering his bald dome, it’s the right move; something
pops
in Ryu’s face and he rolls off, writhing in the dirt.

“Yoo difluffcated muh
juh
!” he screams. Sam rushes over to me.

“Had enough?” I ask Ryu. He sits up, grabs his chin, and pushes his jawbone back into place.
Snap!