Parts & Labor Read Online Free PDF Page A

bap, bap, bap —and dang near knocked me out of my chair. Which
ruined the whole listening experience for me. Vic and his crew buried their
faces on their desks to prevent Mrs. Broadus from hearing their laughter.
Without looking up, she said, "Max, is there a problem?"
    Mrs.
Broadus was a mother as well as a teacher, so she had that spooky mom-knows-all
thing going for her, too.
    "Uh
…" I glanced over at Vic; he was giving me the evil eye. I turned
back to Mrs. Broadus. "No, ma'am."
    Ratting
out Vic wouldn't be good for my health.
    "Don't
eat in class. Wait until lunch."
    "Yes,
ma'am."
    When
class ended, Vic walked past my desk, pushed my book onto the floor, and said,
"See you in math class, Max."
    One-third
divided by two … hmmm … two-thirds? … nope, that doesn't
look right … three-halves … that doesn't make sense … boy, Dad
would know the answer, he was good at math … he was good at a lot of things
… he was … I don't care about fractions. I was staring down at the
fractions quiz but the numbers became a big blur. I tried to wipe my eyes
inconspic … inconstip … inconpits … without anyone noticing, when—
    "Ow!"
    â€”something
sharp stabbed my face. Only it wasn't something sharp; it was something
rubber. A thick industrial-sized rubber band, which could really leave a
mark. I heard Vic giggling two rows over. I didn't need to look. He had shot
me with his clothes-pin-rubber-band-shooting gun that he carried in his
backpack. It really hurt. I felt my eyes water up. Sunny in the desk next to
me scribbled a note and showed it to me: UOK?
    "Yeah,"
I whispered. "My allergies are just acting up."
    I
really did have allergies—cedar was awful in Austin—but I don't think Sunny bought
it. She gave me a sympathetic nod. I snuck a few M&Ms for solace. When
class was over, Vic walked past my desk, snatched the rubber band, and said,
"See you in the cafeteria, Max."
    I
was getting down on the peanut M&Ms again when I walked into the cafeteria
and immediately fell to the floor. Vic had tripped me. I dropped the
M&Ms, and they rolled across the linoleum like marbles. I crawled after
them and stuffed them into my mouth as fast as I could (I had it from a reliable
source that germs could not stick to the candy coating) but Vic tripped Eddie,
and he fell on top of me. Dee stumbled into us, and Sunny into him. Vic and
his posse laughed like it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. They always
sat at the table by the door so they could harass every kid who walked in. The
two teachers who were supposed to be monitoring the lunch room were chatting like
old aunts over in the corner.
    Dee and Sunny helped Eddie up. I was still on my hands and knees when I spotted a blue M&M
rolling across the floor; I lunged for it, but a big foot smashed it. Vic's
big foot. Man, I loved the blue ones.
    "I
want my money, Max."
    "I
want a new iPod."
    I
stood up. Vic glanced over at the teachers then poked me in the chest with a
big finger. It sort of hurt.
    "After
school, Max—you're dead."
    Since
I had only a few more hours to live, I decided to enjoy a big last lunch. We went
over and stood in the food line. I had brought my lunch—Mom said we could only
afford to buy lunch once a week; I picked pizza day—so I bought two cartons of
chocolate milk then found an empty table across the lunch room from the
bullies. The others soon joined me.
    Sun
Hee—everyone called her Sunny—had moved here from Korea a few years ago, but
she could speak English way better than Vic, who had lived here all his life. She
was wearing, what else, a yellow sundress. She had a MacBook.
    Dee—his real name was D'Wandrick, which is why we called him Dee—wore a red Legend Jones
"1" basketball jersey that hung almost to his knees and red Legend Jones
high-topped basketball shoes with the signature "1" on the back
seam. Dee was decked out like a pro athlete, but he dribbled