Small Steps (Holes 2)

He hadn’t, but he didn’t dare admit it now. “Maybe I have,” he said.

“If you’d heard her, you’d know. She’s like my all-time favorite singer. You know, she was born right here in Texas.”

“Have you met her?” asked Ginny.

“We’re all going to meet Janis someday,” said Kaira. “But it won’t be in Texas.” She turned back to Armpit. “Have you heard of the Beatles?”

“Shut up,” he said.

Ginny gasped, but Kaira only laughed.

“So what grade are you in, Ginny?” Kaira asked.

“F-fourth. I was in fourth. I’m g-going into f-fifth.”

“Fifth grade’s great,” said Kaira. “What about you? Are you still in school?”

“I’ll sort of be a senior in high school.”

“Oh, yeah? What sort of senior will you be?”

“He missed a year,” Ginny explained. “He w-was at Camp Green Lake.”

“She doesn’t need to know about that,” said Armpit.

“What’s Camp Green Lake?”

“It’s nothing,” said Armpit.

“A juvenile correctional facility,” Ginny said, carefully pronouncing each word.

“You mean like a jail?” asked Kaira.

“It’s a long story,” Armpit said. “Four years ago I got in a fight and things got out of hand, and so I was sent to a kind of work camp for a year. And now I’m having to take summer school to try to catch up.”

He wondered if Kaira now regretted shutting the door on her bodyguard.

“Can I tell her your nickname?” asked Ginny.

“No.”

Kaira smiled. “What’s his nickname?”

“Don’t tell her, Ginny.”

“Ginny?” coaxed Kaira.

“You better not,” Armpit warned her.

“Come here, Ginny,” said Kaira. “I want to tell you a secret.”

Ginny slid off the couch, and Kaira whispered something in her ear. Then Ginny whispered something into Kaira’s ear. They both looked at Armpit. Then Kaira whispered something to Ginny, and Ginny whispered something to Kaira.

Armpit didn’t like it one bit. And he

didn’t like the way Kaira and Ginny smiled conspiratorially at each other either, when Ginny returned to the couch.

“You told her, didn’t you?”