Unknown Friendship

Chapter 13: Meet My Best Friend

December 2001

I gulped nervously as I stepped in my teacher's classroom, my daddy behind me. Truthfully, I had no specific idea as to why I was nervous—school started months ago—but maybe it was because of one specific person. Even more specifically—one specific meeting.
"

Why, hello, Katie darling," my teacher called, waving me over. Her graying bun was perfectly wrapped at the nape of her neck and her brown poodle-like skirt-thingy reached down to her feet; her glasses slipped down the tip of her upturned nose.
She never truly lost that fifties feeling. Maybe it was because she was double that age.
"Ms. Ells!" I chirped happily. "Meet my daddy."
"Oh," she chuckled fondly. "You must be Gavin Gardner. Nice to meet you."
Daddy smiled, reaching his hand out for a shake. "Yes, I am. I've heard so much about you from Katie here. She really enjoys this class."
"Well"—Ms. Ells placed her hands on her knees to look me in the eyes an adoring smile covering her face—"it's a pleasure to have her in my class. She's so quiet, and intelligent, too. Just yesterday she was telling me square roots. Square roots, I tell you! What other second grader knows about square roots?"
My daddy laughed, patting my back. "I know. Very smart, she is."
Ms. Ells shook her head and stood up straight. "You must have taught her so much—"
"Actually," Daddy interrupted, "I haven't taught her a thing. Her friend did."
"Her friend?" Ms. Ells looked confused, like she was wondering how old my friend was.
"He doesn't go here, but you can meet him soon. He's in the restroom with my father."
And that was the meeting I was worried about: Ms. Ells would wonder why Percy wasn't in school; Percy would grow annoyed that Ms. Ells was bothering him. It would all end in chaos.
"Oh." Ms. Ells was quiet, and that was when I decided to slip away and visit with my classmates.
I didn't really have any friends, per say, but I did manage to get along with most everyone. The only person who got on my nerves was Ronny Banker; both his parents are geniuses, so, of course, it was expected for him to be one, and he is.
He's just not smarter than me.
Knowing my luck, however, I had to knock into the exact person who thought he was better than everyone. That egotistical jerk.
"Katie Gardner," he said, dusting off his kakis—yes, kakis and a polo with loafers.
"Ronald," I supplied briskly.
He glared at me, and I gave him my best one right back.
A man and woman walked up behind Ronny, the woman placing a delicate, manicured hand on Ronny's back. "Why hello," she greeted. "Who might you be, young lady?"
"Katie Gardner." No need to tell them much more, I thought. Ronny probably told them all about his arch nemesis.
"Oh." The woman was silent for a minute, a fake, cheesy smile plastered on her face. "Well, I'm Ronny's mother, Mrs. Banker."
"I guessed that…" I looked over my shoulder; where was Percy? "And you," I chirped at Ronny's father, "must be his father, Mr. Banker. It's nice to meet you both."
"So mature," Mr. Banker rumbled, and I nodded kindly. He didn't seem to like me, and the silent conversation between him and his wife went a little like this: This is the child who had insulted our family brains? She doesn't look like much, but, then again, no one is as smart as us.
Okay, maybe not quite that insulting, but it was along those lines!
"Well, yes, I guess I am, but I really have to go—"
BANG! "Your door is loud."
And that would be Percy, my best friend.
"Good heavens, who is that?" asked Mrs. Banker in disgust, staring at Percy's ripped jeans and beanie, his devious smile. He probably looks like an idiot in her perfect mind.
Percy weaved his way skillfully through the crowd, not touching a single soul, making his way toward me. "My name, lady, is Percy Jackson. Learn it and then forget it, 'cause I don't plan on rememberin' you."
"Rude," I scolded, nudging his arm.
"Fine." I could tell Percy rolled his blind eyes behind his sunglasses. "What might your name be, ma'am?"
Mrs. Banker stuttered, chocking on her words: "M-M-Mrs. Ba—Banker." She sucked in a deep breath, like it had pained her to say that. Talking to an "idiot" must pain her, I thought bitterly.
"As in, Ronny Banker's mother?" Percy asked innocently, and I knew bad things were about to happen.
"Yes," I grumbled, yanking on his arm. "Exactly that. Now can we please go? I want you to meet Ms. Ells."
Percy shrugged my hand off—probably from a mixture of him still being uncomfortable with touch and the stupid thing he was about to do. "Do you, ma'am, teach your son?"
Mrs. Banker blinked, and then she regained her composure. "Yes. My son is very intelligent." Ronny stood straighter at the mention of his brain.
Percy cocked his head to the side. "Can he do anything else?"
This surprised Mrs. Banker, so much that Mr. Banker had to answer for her: "What do you mean by that, young man?"
Percy glided around the small family, perching himself on a desk; his hands were placed in his lap, fingering his chain. I knew this look—he had done it before to many people.
It was life lesson time.
This was so gonna get me in trouble.
"It's a simple question: Can he do anything else? If you want me to elaborate, I will." Percy looked at ease, as if the Bankers discomfort had the opposite effect on him. "You all, I imagine, are considered geniuses, yes?" There was a nod, and, though I had no idea how Percy knew there was a nod, he continued, "So, is school, knowing how to multiply and use correct punctuation, the only thing you live for?"
"School is a necessity—" Mr. Banker began, but he was cut off by Percy.
"School is not a necessity. Education is. And there is education, learning, in many different forms. You all may be school smart, with high IQs, but there are other types of 'smarts' out there. Do you know how to farm?" Percy popped off the desk and started pacing around the Banker family; murmuring voices traveled to my ears, questions about what was going on, but it was like the four were in their own little world, trapped on an island in the middle of the ocean. Only Percy knew how to escape, and only he could allow them.
"No," Ronny replied brusquely. "Why would we need to anyway?"
"But farming is the whole foundation of our society!" Percy shouted, jumping back up on the desk. He hopped to another desk and went face to face with Ms. Ells, who was about to scold Percy for walking on the desks. "Without farming, none of us would be here!"
"Yes we would," Ronny countered.
Percy smirked. It was like he had everyone wrapped around his little finger; we would all do whatever he told us. "And how would that be?" Leaning forward, the two ended up having a "stare" down, and Percy's whispered breath was barely heard over the roaring silence.
Ronny gulped, leaning back. "I… I don't know."
"Hunting and gathering!" Percy almost danced to the next desk, where people were gawking at him, almost in awe. "But we have farmers, and they have to know what they're doin', don't they? I guess you could say they have to be a genius in their field. I mean, without them, most of us wouldn't be here!"
Silence.
"Mr. and Mrs. Banker, I have heard much about you, and I truly admire your work, but you have to know that you are not the best in the world. Just because not everyone excels at school doesn't make them an imbecile. They're just a different type of genius." Percy grinned and slipped off the desk he had been skipping around on. Grinning, he made his way deliberately to the door; before he left, however, Percy faced the crowd with a sly smirk on his face. "Besides, if this was an IQ test, I would totally win." He did a mock salute, and he was out the door.
I burst after him; after all the trouble I went through to get him here, I was not letting him go that easily. "Percy!" I called, and he stopped at the corner he was about to turn.
"Yes?" Backpedaling several steps, he turned to face me somberly.
"Where are you going?" I dashed over to Percy, gripping his tiny wrists in my hands, making sure he didn't leave me.
He shrugged. "Home."
"Aren't you going to wait for us?" I asked curiously.
Percy shook his head, smiling—and not that fake smile, a real one, but this was…sad. "No, Katie, I'm going home—my other home, not in Alabama."
I froze: the idea that he would leave had never occurred to me. It always seemed like he was an adopted brother or something. "Why?" I croaked out, my throat dry and raspy.
"It's almost Christmas. Didn't you see all those families in there? I'll bet you ten bucks more than half of those grandparents don't live here, that they're only visiting for the holidays."
He was—not sad; sad wasn't good enough. Percy Jackson, my best friend, was depressed. Home sick.
"I'll be back. Remember to shine bright." Percy gave a melancholy smile—just the faintest stretching of his lips—and hugged me.
Hugged. Me.
Hugged.
As in, initiated touch.
In the form of a hug.
I recalled the bright starry poster I had told Percy about the day before: SHINE BRIGHT LIKE A STAR. "Okay," I mumbled. "I'll shine bright like a star."
Percy leaned back. "Nah, don't do that." A confused expression made its way to my face, and Percy gave me a soft pat on the back, as if he knew exactly what I looked like. "I wouldn't be able ta see ya. When you shine, make it so that I can feel you. Make an impact." He grinned cockily—
—And left.
"I wonder if that's why he doesn't like school," I said to myself as I blindly navigated my way back to Ms. Ells's classroom. "Because he wants to show the world that there are different geniuses." Sluggishly, I walked back to the room, where people, milling about and chatting idly, had already forgotten Percy's genii-come-in-different-forms speech.
Ms. Ells kneeled before me. "Was that your friend who taught you the square roots?"
Of course she asks that. Why wouldn't she? Percy Jackson is the boy who doesn't attend school, who thinks differently yet could be—is, in my personal opinion—a genius. He's a mystery to her, and she wants to know what he knows. "My best friendtaught me that." I stared at her, and I'm pretty sure she shivered from my wide eyes. "You could learn a lot from him." She chuckled, as if the idea of learning from a child was preposterous. "I'm serious," I continued, still light-headed from Percy's departure. "Everyone learns something new every day."
The rest of the night was slow and boring, uneventful, not at all like how Percy would like it. My classmates did speeches on the presidents, and Ronny specifically made the night longer with his three page essay on George Washington. "'I cannot tell a lie.'"
Yeah, right, I mentally snorted. Percy would spout out some random fact on how Washington was a spy during the war and reveled in it.
Spies lie, kiddos. It's just the way it goes.
"''Tis well' we're his last words."
"His death was very painful, not at all like you would think first president had died," I remembered Percy telling me not too long ago, when I had first mentioned my report on Theodore Roosevelt.
I missed him already. So, so much.
This was not at all how I pictured the night would be. Sure, I predicted the outburst at the Banker family—Ronny had been teasing me for ages—and even the bouncing on the desks.
But Percy leaving? Never even crossed my mind.
What I wanted to do was properly introduce him after the mind-blowing experience of Percy Jackson. "Meet my best friend," I would've said, "Percy Jackson."
Maybe next year I'll be able to do that.
And that introduction will be huge.
More spectacular than having a boy land on you after riding on an untamed bull.
Yeah, even bigger than that.