Page 5 of Kingpin
Alannah
It’s been three days since I started school in Belleville, and I haven’t seen Dominic since he beat up Billy on my first day. I’ve made a couple of friends, however, so I’m not completely alone when we walk to lunch now. Lisa and Maggie are with me, even though I’m pretty sure they’re the two girls who laughed at me my first day in class. Both of these girls are blonde and they love to gossip about everybody they see. Honestly, they’re the complete opposite of me. My hair is brown, and I don’t like talking bad about other people, so when they do it, I just tune them out.
“Look, there’s Kevin. He’s so cute,” Lisa whispers to Maggie, even though we’re supposed to be walking quietly to the cafeteria.
Maggie whispers, “I know, right?” then looks at me to see if I agree. I pinch my lips together and slowly nod. I’m not a fan of boys who have hair almost as long as a girl’s, but I guess the guy they’re talking about is okay.
Once we’re through the door of the cafeteria, kids are ignoring the monitors and talking super-loud. I’ve learned that the six classes in my hall are the upper classes of the small school. There’s two fourth grade classes, two fifth grade, and two sixth grade. The other fifth grade teacher is Mrs. Webb, who I haven’t met yet, but she’s old and looks like she hates kids. She has lots of wrinkles, gray hair, and everything she says sounds mean, even when she says hello. Her class comes in after ours, and none of them are talking, probably because they don’t want to get yelled at.
“There’s the wicked witch,” Maggie jokes, giggling at herself.
“Oh look, there’s Ugly Dominic walking in right behind her,” Lisa says, laughing.
Dominic walks in behind his teacher as she leads the class to the back of the line. While Lisa and Maggie are laughing their heads off, I watch Dominic. He’s standing there keeping completely to himself, wearing a St. Louis Blues sweater. His classmates behind him are chatting up a storm, but not with him. He’s standing with his back against the wall and his head down, staring at his feet. From looking at him, you’d think it was his first day of school. Even after he gets his tray and sits a few tables down from me, no one talks to him. I don’t know why that is. Do theyallcall him Ugly Dominic? People are so mean.
Dominic is too big for his age, his lips look huge on his face, and he’s got some acne, but he doesn’t deserve to be called ugly. He’s obviously different from everybody else, but he also saved me the other day. He’s a nice person. Nobody else tried to get Billy Hannigan off of me, yet he’s the one they’re making fun of and avoiding like he’s got a flesh-eating disease. I watch him the whole time I’m eating, and it really makes me sad. Not one person speaks to Dominic, and after he dumps his tray, he walks outside to the playground all alone.
When Maggie, Lisa, and I get outside, I immediately start looking for Dominic. It’s hard to make anyone out with so many people running and screaming, but I eventually find him sitting on a bench next to the wall where we go to check out sports equipment. He’s got a basketball and he’s dribbling it behind his legs as he sits. There’s a group of kids playing basketball and he’s watching them like he really wants to play, but he can’t bring himself to ask if he can join. He doesn’t look sad about it, it’s more like he’s used to watching them instead of actually playing.
“There’s Ugly Dominic being a stalker again,” Maggie says as she taps me on the arm.
“Why won’t they let him play?” I ask.
“Because he’s weird, that’s why. Look at him,” Maggie goes on.
“What’s so weird about him?”
“Umm, his face,” Lisa chimes in. “The fact that he’s, like, The Hunchback of Belleville, Illinois.”
Maggie bursts into laughter and Lisa joins her. While they laugh, I look at Dominic again. He sees them laughing, but he ignores it and goes back to watching the others play. I can’t stand the fact that he’s sitting there by himself. He helped me before anybody else would, and they’re laughing at him. I don’t like it, so I walk away and leave them standing there.
“What are you doing?” Maggie asks when she notices, but I don’t even respond. I ignore her and go sit next to Dominic on the bench.
He looks over at me and studies my face for a minute. He squints and wrinkles his forehead, before moving his attention back to the basketball court.
“Hi,” I say, softly.
He looks back at me like he’s surprised. “Hi.”
“Haven’t seen you in a few days. They suspend you?”
He smiles a little. “Yeah, they did. Just three days, though. No biggie.”
“No biggie? My parents would be really mad if I got suspended. Especially my dad.”
“Yeah, my parents are different. Especiallymydad.”
“Must be,” I reply. “So, I wanted to thank you again for saving me from that kid last week. My neck is still a little sore, but it would’ve been worse if it weren’t for you.”
“Fuhgeddaboutit,” he says, his eyes still on the game in front of us.
“What?”
“I said fuhgeddaboutit.”
“Forget about it? What do you mean?”
He finally looks at me and smiles, holding back a laugh.
