Parts & Labor Read Online Free PDF

his milk way
better than a basketball. But he was really smart, like Sunny. He had an iTouch.
    Eduardo—he
went by Eddie—had a worse weight problem than I had, but he was a math whiz.
He had an iPhone.
    I
had an iPod. As in past tense.
    Sunny,
Dee, and Eddie were in the "gifted and talented program" at our
school. I was in the "everyone else" program. But I hoped one day to
have a gift or maybe a talent. The confidential evaluation report Mrs. Broadus
mailed home to my mom (I wasn't supposed to read it) said I suffered from a
lack of "self-esteem." I wasn't sure what that meant. Sunny pushed
her glasses up and said, "That was rude."
    "Sorry,"
I said. "I've got gas."
    "Not
that. The bullies."
    "Oh."
    "How'd
you do on the fractions quiz?"
    "Not
so good. I can't focus on fractions, not now."
    Sunny
nodded and gave me a buddy pat. Even though she was a girl, we were still
buddies. I really didn't like girls, except Sunny. And Maddy and Scarlett,
but they don't count because they're my sisters. And Mom—you always make an
exception for your mother. I pushed up my glasses then took a big bite out of
my preservative-free-ham-and-cheese-on-stone-ground-whole-wheat-bread-with-Canola-mayonaisse
sandwich and spotted trouble three tables away. Vic and his posse were making
their daily rounds, terrorizing each table of smaller kids.
    "What
was that about?" Dee said. "Vic saying you're dead after school?"
    "They
chased me home yesterday," I said. "Vic smashed my iPod then
gut-punched me. I threw up on their Legends."
    They
laughed.
    "You
puked on their hundred-and-fifty-dollar sneakers?" Dee asked.
    "A
whole day's worth of food."
    "Wow.
That's a lot of hurl."
    "Tell
me. They said I gotta buy them new Legends. Six hundred dollars. Or I'm
dead."
    "You're
dead."
    "Here
they come," Sunny said, nodding at Vic and his crew.
    "Fudge,"
Eddie said.
    "Where?"
I said.
    "No,
not real fudge. Fudge, like, you know …"
    "Oh.
Don't tease me like that. My heart's racing."
    I
loved fudge.
    Vic
led the bullies over to our table. Rod grabbed Dee around his neck and gave
him a noogie while Vic snatched Eddie's lunch box.
    "What's
for lunch, Hobbits?"
    Biff
cackled like Vic was a comedian or something. "Yeah, Hobbits."
    "Give
me my lunch back, Vic."
    "Or
what, Frodo?"
    Biff
laughed again. "Frodo."
    "Or
I'll throw up on you."
    Vic
didn't think that was funny so he turned Eddie's lunch box upside down and
emptied his lunch onto the table then pounded his PBJ sandwich flat with his
fist. The PBJ spewed out the sides like … well, use your imagination.
    "Puking
on our Legends cost Max six hundred bucks," Vic said.
    I
was sucking my chocolate milk through a straw when he grabbed my hair.
    "And
he's gonna buy new sneakers for us, aren't you, Max?"
    The
chocolate milk tasted really good, and I liked to suck the whole carton in one
continuous swallow so I was holding the carton with one hand and still sucking
on the straw and trying to get out of his grip on my hair with my other hand.
    "You
need to cut your hair, Max, you look like a girl."
    "Yeah,
like a girl," Biff said.
    "Is
there an echo in here?" Dee said.
    I
finally squirmed free of Vic's grasp and finished off the first carton of
chocolate milk.
    "Biff,"
Sunny said, "do you ever have an original thought?"
    "Uhh
…" Biff turned to Vic. "Do I?"
    "No,
you don't."
    Biff
turned back to Sunny. "No, I don't."
    "Dee, why do you wear Legend gear?" Vic said. "You ain't never gonna be no
athlete."
    "And
you're never going to be an English major," Sunny said.
    Vic
snorted. "Why would I want to live in England? They don't even play real
football."
    Sunny
rolled her eyes. "ISWC."
    If
Stupid Were A Crime. Sunny and Eddie and Dee had texting capabilities, so
they often lapsed into texting talk. I didn't text, but I had learned the
lingo.
    "Vic,
haven't you ever heard of cyber-bullying?" I said.
    Vic
frowned. "Cyber-bullying? No. What's that?"
    "You
do your bullying over the Internet."
    "But
how can I