Free Hero–Type by Barry Lyga Page A

I
could
be one of those people like Reporter Guy said—the people who want to ban the Pledge and stuff. Why would anyone even want to do that?
    My curiosity gets the better of me: I start Googling around.
    And I learn some interesting stuff. Stuff about the Pledge. Stuff I'd never even thought of before. Stuff no one ever bothered to teach me. Why did I have to learn this on my own?
    It's weird—you do something almost every day of your life, for as long as you can remember. And everyone
else
does it, too, but no one talks about it. No one knows how it started. No one wonders. It's just a minute at the beginning of every school day, when we all get up and do the same thing without even thinking about it.
    And then one day ... you think about it. And it's like a whole new world.
    As I leave the media center for my next class, Mrs. Grant says, "I hope you found what you were looking for, Kevin."
    And here's the weird thing: I did. I didn't even know
what
I was looking for, but I found it anyway.
     
    Someone has clipped today's
Loco
article and taped it to my locker with the words "LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT" scrawled across it. There's also a sticker of an American flag with the legend "These colors don't run."
    I sit in algebra and I try to pay attention. I really do. But all I can think of is the look of gratitude on Leah's face when we sat together to tape that episode of
Justice!
God, it wasn't even the gratitude that got to me—it was the recognition. It was that this girl I'd been ... I'd been
worshiping
from afar finally saw me. Knew me. Acknowledged me.
    And now that's all gone. Given the news of my unpatriotic heresy, I bet I'm uninvited to her party. Great.
    More than two years of yearning for her and I get my chance to be close to her and the next thing you know, I'm a ... I'm a...
    What did Father McKane call them in CCD? The people no one wants to—
    Pariah! That's it. I'm a pariah.
    A pariah and a Fool. Lucky me.
     
    The bell rings and I slink out of algebra on my way to my next class. I brace myself for what's about to happen. I'll see Leah heading in the opposite direction—English for her on Thursday.
    Sure enough, right on time, she crosses my path—with some Beautiful People in tow—and ducks her head as I pass by. Starting to regret that "Please come," aren't you? I don't know why I get a perverse tickle at the idea of making her uncomfortable. Maybe it's because if I make her uncomfortable, at least she's acknowledging that I'm alive, you know? Tell the truth, I've always been sort of invisible to her, and I guess being noticed—even by the stink of treason—is better than going totally undercover.
    When you, you know, have feelings for someone.
    Ugh. "Feelings"? Could I be any more girly if I
tried?
    "Hey, Kevin?"
    Leah has peeled away from her friends, who have clustered at the end of the hall. Wow—here it comes:
You're uninvited to my party, you terrorist supporter, you.
    "Look, don't ... Don't tell anyone this," she says, looking over her shoulder quickly. She has a slight overbite; I love it. "Don't tell anyone, but..." Her voice, already low, drops even further—I can barely hear her and I'm right next to her. "I really admire what you're doing."
    You could punch me in the face with brass knuckles and not stun me half as much.
    Then she walks off before I can respond, which is good because my response probably would have been something along the lines of "Abba-dabba-ga-dabba-boo." Only not so articulate.
    Wow. Leah Muldoon hates America, too. Cool.

Chapter 16
     

The Unwelcome Return of Reporter Guy
    I DIDN'T THINK I WAS "DOING" ANYTHING AT ALL , much less anything admirable, but if Leah thinks so, maybe there's something to it. Maybe I
should
be doing something.
    I start thinking about the stuff I read on the media center computer. I have this really wild idea.
    If Leah was impressed by me throwing away some magnets, I bet I can
really
get her attention.
    I can't start right away, though,