“I didn’t mean any disrespect,” Armpit said.
At least they all remained inside the car. He tried to act casual.
“What’s with the bunny?” asked Sharese.
Armpit tightened his grip on Coo. “Something for school.”
“School! It’s summer!” shouted one of the guys from the back.
“It’s so cute,” Sharese said. “Can I have it?”
“It’s for a school project.”
“I want it,” said Sharese.
Armpit tightened his grip on Coo. “It belongs to my neighbor.” He’d fight all of them if he had to, before giving Coo up.
“That little white retard!” said Cole. “I seen you hangin’ with her. Man, what’s her problem?” He laughed.
Cole wasn’t expecting an answer, but Armpit copied Ginny’s tactic and gave him one.
“There was some bleeding inside her brain when she was born.”
“Oh,” Cole said. “Too bad.”
Armpit slowly walked around the Mustang.
“What are you going to school for?” Cole shouted at him. “Come work with us, and you’ll make all the money you’ll ever need.”
“Thanks, but it’s just something I got to do.”
He kept walking.
He heard the car door shut behind him but didn’t turn around. A moment later he saw the car driving past him. Someone shouted “Fool!” out the window.
Fifteen minutes later he stood in front of the class, all eyes on him, including Tatiana’s.
“This is Coo,” he began.
Everybody laughed.
“Coo has leukemia.”
Some even laughed at that, too.
It wasn’t that they were cruel. All the other speeches had been humorous and they expected more of the same. The sight of Armpit, the biggest and toughest kid in class, holding the little baby toy just added to the comedy, and it took a while for what he was saying to sink in.
He could feel his sweat dripping down his side and hoped it didn’t show on his shirt.
“Coo belongs to my neighbor, Ginny. She has cerebral palsy.”
“You just said she had leukemia,” said Claire, Tatiana’s friend.
“Coo has leukemia. Ginny has cerebral palsy. That’s why Coo should be elected ruler of the world. Because Coo gives her comfort, courage, and confidence.”
That was supposed to be his closing sentence. He didn’t mean to say it so soon. He fumbled with his notecards, but he’d already gotten off wrong, so he just winged it.
“All her life, Ginny has had trouble walking and talking. Some kids at her school call her ’tard, you know, short for retard, but she’s not retarded. She’s really smart. It’s just that her brain has difficulty processing information. It’s like she has to decode everything first. That’s why she stutters when she talks. She knows what she wants to say, but it’s like her brain has trouble sending the signal to her mouth. And then if people pressure her, it just gets worse and worse, and she sometimes has these spastic seizures.”