wrote all the answers on his desk before tests. That’s what Sonny hated about the SP. They would do anything for a good mark in the bitch’s book. And she wielded it like she was God choosing who’d go to heaven and hell.
Sonny knew about love from
Gone With the Wind
with VivienLeigh and sex from
Splendor in the Grass
, but Ruben was something else. She wrote his name in her best handwriting, giving the R and O magnificent flourishes and underlining it with a curlicue ending in a heart. She did this several times, feeling a kind of magical power with each effort.
Ruben hated her. He had used her. “I know I’ll feel bad in the morning.” “Sleep late.” He thought she was a tramp. He was in love with the Gooch. The Gooch would kill her. WILL YOU SHUT UP!
She crossed his name out so hard that her pen went through the page. Then she wrote his name backward, hoping there might be some secret message that she could decipher. NEBUR. NEBUR? Now what the hell did that mean?
Love thy neighbor. She did! She did!
She rhymed his name with all the letters of the alphabet and came up with: RUBEN IS A CUBAN. But that didn’t make any sense. He was a P.R. which was okay but her parents would hang themselves if they found out. RUBEN IS A CUBAN. NEBUR LOVES HER.
Mrs. Sonny Ortega. And I’d like you to meet my children: Ruben Ortega Jr., Maria Ortega, and Ellisa Ortega. Oh, my husband’s out in Hollywood doing a film. Yes, he is the Ruben Ortega
… When she grew tired of this game, she began to cross and recross her legs but could not find a comfortable position. Her arm was falling asleep on the desk, so she began to shake it. Then her leg started to
get
pins and needles and her ass ached.
“My aspirins! My aspirins!” the lady from Georgia cried when she accidentally dropped her aspirins out of the taxi window. The driver turned around and said, “Then stick it out of the window
.” Besides, it was getting steamy in her jacket. Sonny raised her hand.
For several minutes, Mrs. King looked directly at her, but would not call her. Finally, after she waved her right arm nonstop like a windshield wiper, Mrs. King called her.
“Yes, Miss Palovsky?”
“Can I please have the pass to the bathroom?”
“Did you read today’s assignment?” Mrs. King asked.
Sonny nodded, even though she had skimmed the book and hadread her mother’s copy of
Peyton Place
from the library instead.
“Could you give us a summary of the chapter?”
“Uh,” Sonny paused. “This man is plagued by a guilty conscience. He loves this woman, I forgot her name, who isn’t his wife. He’s caught in a conflict and doesn’t know what to do. Besides, his wife is sick all the time. She’s this hypochondriac and nags him all the time. But,” Sonny read the word written in bold letters on the blackboard. “But his sense of responsibility is stronger than his passion. Can I please have the pass?”
Mrs. King stood up, pulling on her strand of cultured pearls with a fake diamond clasp. “That’s not a bad summary of the book but you could have taken that off the book jacket. What specifically happens in chapter five?”
Sonny knew the answer to the question, but she couldn’t stand one more moment of class. She stood up and walked to the front of the class.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Mrs. King asked.
“To the bathroom.”
“But you don’t have a pass,” Mrs. King said, dangling the wooden square with the word PASS like she wanted Sonny to wrestle it from her.
“Yes, I do,” Sonny said, walking past her. “Mother Nature gave it to me.”
As she closed the door behind her, she heard Mrs. King tell the class, “Miss Palovsky’s parents will be notified immediately. She’s nothing but a troublemaker. And no manners!”
Manure
. She was free! At last. She could hear some gab going down as she pushed open the door of the third-floor girl’s room. A tall black girl named Dresdene sat on the sink while Florenda was
Sonny knew about love from
Gone With the Wind
with VivienLeigh and sex from
Splendor in the Grass
, but Ruben was something else. She wrote his name in her best handwriting, giving the R and O magnificent flourishes and underlining it with a curlicue ending in a heart. She did this several times, feeling a kind of magical power with each effort.
Ruben hated her. He had used her. “I know I’ll feel bad in the morning.” “Sleep late.” He thought she was a tramp. He was in love with the Gooch. The Gooch would kill her. WILL YOU SHUT UP!
She crossed his name out so hard that her pen went through the page. Then she wrote his name backward, hoping there might be some secret message that she could decipher. NEBUR. NEBUR? Now what the hell did that mean?
Love thy neighbor. She did! She did!
She rhymed his name with all the letters of the alphabet and came up with: RUBEN IS A CUBAN. But that didn’t make any sense. He was a P.R. which was okay but her parents would hang themselves if they found out. RUBEN IS A CUBAN. NEBUR LOVES HER.
Mrs. Sonny Ortega. And I’d like you to meet my children: Ruben Ortega Jr., Maria Ortega, and Ellisa Ortega. Oh, my husband’s out in Hollywood doing a film. Yes, he is the Ruben Ortega
… When she grew tired of this game, she began to cross and recross her legs but could not find a comfortable position. Her arm was falling asleep on the desk, so she began to shake it. Then her leg started to
get
pins and needles and her ass ached.
“My aspirins! My aspirins!” the lady from Georgia cried when she accidentally dropped her aspirins out of the taxi window. The driver turned around and said, “Then stick it out of the window
.” Besides, it was getting steamy in her jacket. Sonny raised her hand.
For several minutes, Mrs. King looked directly at her, but would not call her. Finally, after she waved her right arm nonstop like a windshield wiper, Mrs. King called her.
“Yes, Miss Palovsky?”
“Can I please have the pass to the bathroom?”
“Did you read today’s assignment?” Mrs. King asked.
Sonny nodded, even though she had skimmed the book and hadread her mother’s copy of
Peyton Place
from the library instead.
“Could you give us a summary of the chapter?”
“Uh,” Sonny paused. “This man is plagued by a guilty conscience. He loves this woman, I forgot her name, who isn’t his wife. He’s caught in a conflict and doesn’t know what to do. Besides, his wife is sick all the time. She’s this hypochondriac and nags him all the time. But,” Sonny read the word written in bold letters on the blackboard. “But his sense of responsibility is stronger than his passion. Can I please have the pass?”
Mrs. King stood up, pulling on her strand of cultured pearls with a fake diamond clasp. “That’s not a bad summary of the book but you could have taken that off the book jacket. What specifically happens in chapter five?”
Sonny knew the answer to the question, but she couldn’t stand one more moment of class. She stood up and walked to the front of the class.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Mrs. King asked.
“To the bathroom.”
“But you don’t have a pass,” Mrs. King said, dangling the wooden square with the word PASS like she wanted Sonny to wrestle it from her.
“Yes, I do,” Sonny said, walking past her. “Mother Nature gave it to me.”
As she closed the door behind her, she heard Mrs. King tell the class, “Miss Palovsky’s parents will be notified immediately. She’s nothing but a troublemaker. And no manners!”
Manure
. She was free! At last. She could hear some gab going down as she pushed open the door of the third-floor girl’s room. A tall black girl named Dresdene sat on the sink while Florenda was
Similar Books
