Free The F Factor by Diane Gonzales Bertrand Page B

‘cause it might get me in good with his sister,” Andy replied.
    Javier was starting to understand why Pat got irritated by everyone’s interest in his sister. “Why can’t we just sit with Pat because he’s in our class?”
    â€œSome things never change,” Ignacio said. “Javier always brought home sick birds or lost dogs, and now it’s Pat Berlanga.” But he walked in Pat’s direction anyway.
    Javier sat next to Pat. Ignacio and Andy sat across from them.
    â€œHey, Pat,” Javier said and quickly started a conversation they could all relate to. “We were all talking about that quiz Mr. Seneca gave out. What did you think?”
    Pat looked around at all of them and just shrugged. “It was okay.” He took a bite out of his hamburger and chewed on it slowly.
    â€œObviously a guy with great conversation skills,” Ignacio said, dragging his words along. “So, is this what we can expect tomorrow? Is Javier going to do all the talking?”
    Pat frowned. “Maybe.” He took another bite and slowly chewed it.
    Now it was Javier’s turn to frown. Why was Pat acting like he didn’t want to talk to them? Earlier he had been friendly, even made Javier laugh. What was his problem?
    Andy drummed on his tray with his plastic fork and spoon. “Let’s talk about the weekend. Javier, are you coming to the football game?”
    â€œIf I can find a ride.” Javier just gave the same excuse as last year, but this time he added, “It’s not like I can go on the band bus with you two.”
    Andy shook a spoon at Javier. “Jack, I
told
you back in middle school to play a flute or beat a drum, triangle, cymbals, something! You did Young Astronauts instead.”
    Ignacio chimed in. “Then you became president of the Junior National Honor Society in eighth grade. Could you be more of a nerd, Jack?”
    â€œWhy do you call him Jack?” The question came unexpectedly from Pat.
    They all stared at him. Javier was surprised Pat had spoken to his friends.
    â€œIt’s a nickname from grade school,” Andy said. He started laughing and gestured with his spoon as he talked. “Back in fourth grade, we built a pair of tall wooden ramps for our bikes. There goes Javier down the first ramp. Then he tries to make the jump onto the second ramp. He goes this way, and his bike goes that way! Smash, crash, kaboom! Javier totally wiped out! His bike looked like a pretzel!”
    Ignacio was laughing too. “He had to get stitches under his eye, and his dad started calling him ‘One-eyed Jack’.”
    â€œHa ha ha—so funny!” Javier’s voice was thick with sarcasm. “You guys scarred me for life!”
    â€œAw, well, save it for Brother Calavera.” Andy grinned at Javier. Suddenly his eyes widened. “Hey, what if your scar is magnified when you go on TV tomorrow?”
    â€œWhat scar?” Pat said. He looked curiously at Javier. “You have a scar?”
    Javier self-consciously rubbed his cheek. That zigzag scar was visible under his right eye. He felt worse as Pat studied it for a long moment.
    â€œShoot, that’s no scar!” Pat said. “Have a kidney transplant! Now that’s a scar!”
    They all stared at Pat again. Javier was the first one to say what they were probably all thinking. “Who do
you
know with a kidney transplant scar?”
    Pat took another bite from his hamburger. He chewed slowly.
    Andy’s dark eyebrows tilted as he stared at Pat. “You say something weird like that but don’t explain it. What’s up with that?”
    â€œWhat’s it to you?” Pat said in a gruff voice and took another bite.
    Javier saw Andy draw in a breath and knew from experience his friend was losing his patience. Were Andy and Pat going to start a fight over nothing?
    It was Mr. Quintanilla’s sudden appearance at the end of the table that