Free The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben H. Winters Page A

tell me that yesterday? I stood up there and announced that the rock rings were caused by aliens from outer space! ”
    “Yeah, no, I know.” He shrugged. “I thought you were going to say that the gophers
were
aliens. I was like, wait, is there a planet of gophers somewhere? Because
that
would be
awesome!”
    “Oh my god, Todd, you are such a moron.”
    Natasha leaned over with outstretched arms and gave Pamela a hug. “You know what, Pamela? It’s not such a big deal. This one time, you didn’t have the best Special Project. I mean, Bethesda—”
    At the mention of Bethesda Fielding’s name, Pamela interrupted her friend with a sharp “Ick!” and pried Natasha’s fingers off her arm like leeches. “You know what? Don’t even talk to me about Bethesda and this rock-show nonsense! In fact …” Pamela leaned forward slightly. “I have a
strong
suspicion that there is something fishy about that whole situation.”
    “Fishy? ” Natasha said, her eyes wide. “What do you mean? ”
    Todd looked up from the table; he had been absently scooping bits of spilled yogurt off the cafeteria table and licking them from his fingers. “I’m so down with the rock show. I was practicing my guitar until one o’clock last night. Then I was like—wait! I gotta put strings on this thing! And
then
I was like—wait! Maybe if I—”
    “Todd! Listen!” Pamela said, and stood in a huff. “So Ms. Finkleman used to be a rock star. Great. Very interesting—but why keep it hidden so long? And how come now she’s suddenly fine with it becoming public knowledge? Not only that, but putting on a big concert? ”
    She looked coolly at Natasha and Todd, who looked at each other, and then said, in perfect unison, “I dunno.”
    “There is dirt to be dug up on this,” Pamela said, “And I am going to do the digging! Like a—like a …”
    “A gopher? ”
    Pamela glared at Natasha, threw up her hands, and stalked out of the lunchroom.
    “What? ” said Natasha to Todd, who shrugged and got back to work on Pamela’s lunch. “What did I say?”

14

AWKWARD POPCORN
    Bethesda Fielding
sat at her kitchen table directly across from Tenny Boyer, her tannish reddish hair serious and unpigtailed, her glasses high on her nose, her right hand holding a sharpened number two pencil. In front of Bethesda were the following things: a well-thumbed copy of
A More Perfect Union: United States History from Plymouth Rock to the Constitution;
a pencil case containing several backup pencils, two blue pens, four fresh erasers, and a fancy highlighter that was either pink or yellow, depending on how you clicked it; and a new spiral notebook, labeled PROJECT: STUDYING WITH TENNY (SWT), opened to the first page, labeled THINGS TO GO OVER (T-GO).
    In front of Tenny Boyer was a red bowl filled with microwave popcorn, from which he was grabbing big handfuls and shoveling them into his face, and a can ofcream soda, from which he was loudly drinking with a straw.
    Bethesda looked at Tenny. He looked back at her, smiled blankly, and then kind of looked around the room. Bethesda took a breath to start talking, but wasn’t sure what to say. Tenny slurped his soda.
    “So,” Bethesda said finally.
    “So,” Tenny answered.
    “You excited?”
    “What?”
    “You know, for the rock show? ” “Oh, yeah. Totally.”
    The clock ticked. Tenny shifted in his chair. Finally Bethesda said, “Hey, do you need a pencil?”
    “What?”
    “A pencil? To write things down? ”
    “Oh,” he said vacantly. “Yup. Totally.”
    As she dug around for a pencil she wouldn’t mind losing (or getting back coated with earwax), Bethesda thought for the millionth time that having Tenny Boyer in her house was approximately the weirdest thing ever.
    She had promised Ms. Finkleman she would do this, had agreed to the deal, and she had no intention of backing out. But it was
so weird.
    Bethesda and Tenny hadn’t even had a conversation since the fourth grade, when everyone in