WONDER
Chapter 5
''He's a nice kid''
Summer
Some kids are so strange.
"Why are you friends with 'the freak?'" they ask me.
"He's a nice kid," I say. "And he's not a freak."
"You're a good person," said Ximena. "I couldn't do that."
"Did Mr. Tushman ask you to be his friend?" asked Charlotte.
"No. I want to be friends with him," I said. I sat with August the first day because I was sorry for him. No one was talking to him. He looks very strange, but he's just a kid.
It's true; it isn't easy to look at August's face. We always have lunch together, and he doesn't eat very well. But he's nice.
I don't feel sorry for him now. I sit with him because he's interesting.
This year, the other kids only want to sit and talk after lunch. They don't want to play any more. And they talk about who likes who, and who is cute. August isn't interested in that. He likes to play four square. I love four square, too.
One day, I was talking to Maya. "Don't touch August," she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"You'll get 'the plague.' If you touch August, you must wash your hands in thirty seconds. Or you'll get the plague. Everyone says so."
"That's stupid," I said.
"I know," said Maya. "But I don't want to touch a ball after August has touched it."
Another day, I was talking to Savanna.
"How's your boyfriend?" she asked.
"Who?" I said.
"August."
"He's not my boyfriend."
"I know," she said. "But why are you with a freak all the time?"
"He's not a freak," I replied.
"Julian really likes you. He wants to ask you out."
"Does he?"
"Yes," she said. "He's really cute. But you have to choose. It's Julian or the freak."
August wasn't at school the day after Halloween, but we had lunch together the next Monday. He was very quiet, and he didn't look at me.
"What's the matter, August?" I asked.
"You know, Summer," he said, "you don't need to be with me."
"What?"
"You're nice to me because Mr. Tushman asked you to be," he said.
"No!" I shouted.
"He did."
"He did not! August, I promise."
"Really?"
"Really!" I was angry now.
"OK. I'm sorry, Summer."
He told me about Julian and Jack at Halloween. "But don't tell anyone," he said.
"I promise," I replied.
Before August came to my house for the first time, I told Mom about his face. But, when she came home from work and saw him, she was surprised.
"Hi, Mom. This is August. Can he stay for dinner?" I said.
"Hi, August," she said. "Of course."
"Don't stare at him!" I whispered to her.
After that, she was really nice to August.
We went to my room to do some homework. Then, we went into the living room. August was looking at some family pictures on the wall, and one of them was of me and my dad.
"Is that your dad?” he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"I didn't know he was black. I never see him outside school."
"He died five years ago. He was a soldier," I said.
"I'm sorry, Summer," August said. "I didn't know."
"It's not easy. I miss him a lot."
After that, August and I were together a lot after school. Mom and I had dinner at August's house twice. His parents are cool, and Mom liked them, too.
One day at school, Jack asked me a question.
"Summer," he asked, "is August angry with me? He never talks to me."
"Yes," I said. "But I can't say why. I promised."
"Can you help me? Give me a little idea?" he said.
I looked at him. I promised August, but I was sorry for Jack. He's a nice kid.
"Halloween mask," I whispered in his ear.
