Chapter Text
Tanner didn’t like the new kid. He always smelled like apple pies and he was always sharing the treats his moms packed him for lunch. Everyone loved the new kid. They all wanted to know everything about him just because he was nice. Tanner called people like him goody-goodies and he didn’t trust them at all. They were teacher’s pets and know-it-alls. Thought they were sooooo cool when they weren’t anything special. Even if all his classmates had fallen for his act, Tanner knew better.
Kally Jenkins wasn’t anyone Tanner wanted to be friends with. Not for all the juice in the world. Not for all the juice and cookies in the world. He watched all his friends flock to Kally at the lunch table again, eyes feeling hot. His sister gave him a warning look from across the cafeteria. She was in fifth grade and hated when Tanner ‘caused a scene.’ She said it embarrassed her. Tanner stuck his tongue out at her. He didn’t care about embarrassing her in front of her stupid friends. But he wasn’t going to throw a fit just because everyone suddenly loved Kally best. Kally was stupid and not worth it.
“Tanner, would you like to try some?” He sounded as soft and smooth as a mother singing a lullaby and the sound of it made Tanner mad faster than anything else could. He glared down the table to see Kally’s hand outstretched in an offer, holding something toward him.
“Gross,” Tanner said, turning his nose up at it like he would if it was broccoli. “Who would want to eat your weird food? It smells so bad, it stinks up the whole lunchroom.” Kally’s face crumpled and his hand closed around whatever he’d been holding out.
“Tanner! Don’t be mean,” Veronica told him before turning to comfort Kally. Tanner stuck his tongue out at her too. He wasn’t being mean and, anyway, he didn’t care what Veronica Ross thought. But Davey and Len and Arthur were all on Kally’s side, too, and he did care what they thought. Stupid Kally was ruining everything and taking all his friends.
Tanner stabbed at his potatoes with a spork and wondered if he could get away with going to recess before he’d finished eating all of his lunch. Sometimes, if you were sneaky about it, you could throw away your food before the lunch attendants caught you at it. Then they had to let you go play. But today when he tried, Ms. Rosemary stopped him and made him go sit back down to finish his chicken sandwich and peas.
Kally left early and his food was barely any more gone than Tanner’s was. Tanner watched him leave the cafeteria without being questioned by any of the grown-ups. They all thought he was responsible and a good eater. He put his lunchbox on the blue rack by all the other second-graders’ and went out to play.
If he can get away with it, Tanner thought, why shouldn’t I?
“Tanner Reed, please come talk with me.”
Tanner froze, only halfway into the classroom. He knew he was busted. Mrs. Greene didn’t call kids like that unless they were in trouble. But he hadn’t done anything wrong at recess, so he didn’t think he deserved that voice. The one that meant a phone call home unless you improved your behavior. He slunk over to her desk, shrinking before her. She had hands on her hips and a frown on her face and Tanner saw Kally standing just behind her. He hadn’t been at recess. He looked like he’d been crying. Suddenly, Tanner knew why he was in trouble.
“Do you know why you’re here?” Mrs. Greene asked.
“I was just joking,” Tanner said, throwing on his puppy dog pout. It had worked all last year on Mr. S.
“Tanner, you know we don’t make fun of our friends. Kind words, remember?”
He nodded. His puppy face had never worked right on her.
“And do you think it was very nice to say what you did to Kally?”
“No,” he said. Because if he didn’t agree with her, he’d just be getting that phone call home and he hated those.
“Can you apologize to your friend?” She asked.
He’s not my friend, Tanner wanted to shout. Especially not now that he’d gone and tattled like a baby.
“Sorry,” he actually said.
“Look at Kally in the eye when you apologize. And you can do better than that,” she added. “I’d like to hear some sincerity please.”
“Sorry, Kally,” Tanner said, looking into Kally’s stupid eyes that were too big behind his stupid glasses.
“That’s okay,” Kally said, fidgeting like he didn’t want to be at the teacher’s desk any more than Tanner did. He shouldn’t have tattled if he didn’t like it but Tanner didn’t say. He didn’t say anything until Mrs. Greene told them to go back to their seats.
Then he said, “Crybaby.”
Tanner had known Kally wasn’t anything good. He’d started at school four weeks ago and his shiny hair and pale eyes had all the girls in the class writing Valentine’s notes to him even though Valentine’s happened after Christmas and it wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet. Tanner didn’t like the girls. They all had cooties. But he liked when they chased him around the playground and he had to go fast, fast, fast because they’d kiss him if they caught him. And he didn’t like that they hadn’t chased him since Kally had come to school.
And Tanner’s friends all liked Kally a lot because he’d share his food at lunchtime. He used to share his food at lunchtime. Lately, Kally had barely even opened his lunch. But Davey and Len and Arthur still all sat next to him.
But the real problem with Kally was that he’d told on Tanner. And Tanner hadn’t even hurt him, he’d just said he didn’t want any of his stupid food. So Tanner had already known that he didn’t like Kally, but now it was personal.
“You’re hogging the monkey bars!” Tanner shouted up at Kally. He’d been the first out to recess every day this week and he was always on the blue monkey bars, sitting on top of them like he thought he was the only kid brave enough to go up there. He wasn’t. Tanner loved the monkey bars too. He just wasn’t able to play on them because Kally was hogging all the space.
“There’s other monkey bars,” Kally told him.
“But I want to play on the blue ones.”
“I was here first.”
“You’ve gotta take turns!”
“No. Go play on the green ones.”
“I don’t want to!”
“Why not?”
“Because I said so! Get off, I want to swing on them and your big butt is in the way.”
“Ooooh, Tanner said a potty word!” A kid nearby said, laughing. Tanner grinned. The playground was the safest place to get away with potty words but even here it was risky to say words like that. Tanner had always been brave enough to say whatever he wanted wherever he wanted. Except for right in front of Mrs. Greene. He didn’t say words like butt to her because she was scary.
“Tanner, stop bullying!” Victoria. Again. Tanner made a farting noise in her face but she didn’t back down.
“You’re being mean, Tanner Reed, and if you don’t cut it out you’re gonna get in trouble. Big trouble.”
“Says who?”
“Says me.”
“Shut up, bossypants,” Tanner said.
“I’ll tell,” she warned.
“Just like Kally,” he glared up again at Kally, still sitting silently on Tanner’s monkey bars. “That’s why you like him so much, ‘cause you and him are both tattletale crybabies.”
“You’re the biggest crybaby. You throw fits like a baby all the time and we’re all sick of it. That’s why we like Kally better than you. He doesn’t throw fits when we’re playing and he’s nice!”
Tanner’s eyes were hot again. He wasn’t a crybaby. He wasn’t, he wasn’t, he wasn’t! Victoria was just stupid and mean and a liar. Everyone liked Tanner. Tanner was funny and cool and brave and he let the other kids draw on his arms and connect his freckles together like connect the dots!
“I hate you!” He screamed in Victoria’s face and then ran away, all the way to the back corner of the playground where the neighbor’s plum tree dropped squishy fruit over the tall fence. He didn’t go back to the monkey bars. He didn’t try to play all recess long.
Tanner knew he was in trouble when he walked in after recess and saw Kally talking to Mrs. Greene. Sure enough, Mrs. Greene caught him looking their way and waved her hand. Not in a friendly way. In a come here right now way. Tanner went there right then.
“I’m going to keep you and Victoria—Victoria,” Mrs. Greene called louder, waving for her to come over too. “I’m going to keep you after school for a moment to work out the fight I heard you had at recess. Both of you go to our science program on Fridays, isn’t that right?”
Both Tanner and Victoria nodded miserably.
“You’ll be a little late but not by much. I’ll send you with notes. And Tanner?”
“Yes?”
“I’m going to have to call your mother about this.”
“But—,”
“No buts. We don’t have time for that. Kally, you may go sit down now, thank you for telling me.”
Kally fidgeted and Tanner glared at him. Now he’d have a phone call home for the second time that month and Mom was gonna take away his computer time because of it. Because of Kally. Even if Kally looked as miserable now as Tanner and Victoria did.
Quietly—everything Kally did was quiet and gentle and it annoyed Tanner a lot, how soft and muted this boy in front of him was, how much like a worn page in one of his dad’s old books he was—Kally brushed by Mrs. Greene without looking at her and then he brushed between Tanner and Victoria.
“Tattletale,” Tanner whispered in his ear, every bit as quiet as the backstabbing little mouse was.