Saturday Boy Read Online Free PDF

because he was short and afraid of being picked on. Instead I crumpled up the note and put it in my desk, which is what I should have done in the first place.
    The clock kept ticking. The bell would ring soon and the day would end and I’d have to climb the tree and I wasn’t very good at climbing trees. But just because I wasn’t that good at it didn’t mean I was scared to. Budgie would soon find out that Derek Lamb was no chicken. Plus about a thousand people heard me say I’d do it.
    * * *
    â€œAll right, Lamb, up you go.”
    Me, Budgie, Barely O’Donahue, and a few kids from recess were all standing at the bottom of the tree looking up. I could see part of the sky and some clouds through the branches. They seemed very far away.
    â€œWhat branch?” I asked.
    â€œWhat what branch?” said Budgie.
    â€œWhat branch did you carve your name on?”
    Budgie glanced at Barely O’Donahue, who shrugged and shook his head.
    â€œYou know—the top one,” said Budgie.
    â€œThere’s more than one branch at the top.”
    â€œQuit stalling!”
    I wasn’t stalling. How could Budgie expect me to climb higher than he did if he couldn’t even remember which branch he carved his name on? I know that if it was me I’d totally remember. If it was me I would’ve hung a flag and claimed the tree for Derekland.
    â€œGo on, Captain Saturday, get up there!” said Budgie.
    â€œYeah, go on!” said Barely O’Donahue. “Whatcha waiting for?”
    â€œWhat’s the matter, Lamb? Chicken?”
    I laughed. I couldn’t help it.
    â€œDude, you sound like that dog food commercial.”
    â€œWhat?”
    Now
I was stalling. I figured the longer I put it off, the more likely we’d get caught and I wouldn’t have to do it at all.
    â€œYou know—the Hungry Pup commercial? With that song?”
    â€œ
I
know that one!” said Barely O’Donahue.
    â€œIf your pup is up and sniffin’ in the kitchen,” I sang, with Barely O’Donahue and a couple of the other kids joining in. “Hungry Pup’s got rice, lamb, and chicken!”
    â€œWhat are you doing?” asked Budgie angrily.
    â€œWhat?” answered Barely O’Donahue. “It’s a commercial.”
    â€œI know it’s a commercial.”
    I looked up at the school building while Budgie and Barely O’Donahue worked things out, hoping we’d be spotted by a teacher or a janitor—somebody,
anybody
with even the slightest bit of authority who might recognize this as a potential breaking of the rules.
    â€œWhat’re you doing now?” said Budgie.
    â€œMaking sure there’s no teachers,” I said. “You wanna get busted?”
    â€œJust hurry up!”
    I looked up into the tree again and swallowed hard. Three hundred feet. At least.
    Ignoring Budgie, Barely O’Donahue, and the others, I walked around the tree looking for a good place to start. Luckily, the tree had some branches close to the ground and I found a sturdy one and climbed up onto it. From there I found another branch a little farther up. It was narrower than the first one but still wide enough for both feet and I hugged the trunk and pressed my cheek against the bark. My hands were starting to sweat and I hoped that Budgie couldn’t see that my legs were shaking.
    â€œThat branch looks wobbly,” said Budgie. “Are you sure it’ll hold you?”
    â€œIt held you, didn’t it?”
    Some of the kids laughed.
    â€œWhat did you just say?”
    â€œHe said, ‘It held you, didn’t it,’” said Barely O’Donahue.
    â€œI heard him.”
    â€œYou know, because you’re fat.”
    â€œShut up!”
    I tried not to listen to Budgie. I tried not to listen to Barely O’Donahue. I’d discovered something I didn’t want to do more than climb the tree and that was fall out of it.