Excerpt: Takin' It Sneezy

As Cody shuffled around, starting to collect the tests, Edgar handed the test back to Pepper, a smile on his face.

“Hey, Pep, look at that, you got four wrong,” Edgar said.

Not two, but four? Pepper felt the blush turning into a flame. She very well might incinerate right there on the spot?

“Four?” she muttered, just barely audible.

“Yep, those last two toughies,” Edgar said helpfully, “and also parasite and sacrilege. Go figure. You hadn’t missed any all year, had you?”

“Four?” Pepper muttered again.

“Yep, sure looks like it. You can check and make sure I didn’t make a mistake. Nobody’s perfect, you know?” Edgar added this last sentence because he saw that Pepper’s face looked flushed, like she might throw up at any second.

“Why not?” Pepper asked, raising her voice. “Why can’t somebody be perfect?!” She was almost screaming.

“Huh, what?” Edgar asked. “Are you feeling okay Pep? You’re face looks really red, like my brother’s did right before he puked his guts out when he had the flu. You’re really looking kinda sick. Maybe you should go to the…”

“Maybe you should shut up!” Pepper shouted, and everyone in the room turned and looked at her. She clapped her hand to her mouth, and she fled. She ran right out of the classroom, down the hallway, shoved open the door to the girls’ restroom, burst into a stall, and began crying.

“Is everything okay back there Edgar?” Mr. Green called out from his desk.

“Yep, I think so Mr. Green. Pepper’s just got the flu, I think. Probably puking her guts out right now.”

A general “ewwwwww” erupted from everyone in the class, Mr. Green shushed everyone and then asked Edgar to go to the nurse’s office and let them know that Pepper might be sick. Edgar did as he was told.

While he was sitting in the nurse’s office waiting to talk to the nurse, it dawned on him that something else was the matter. Pepper had never told him to shut up, at least, not seriously, in the way she had just shouted at him. Something else must be going on. But what? Edgar was stumped. While he sat and waited (the nurse was tending to someone who really did have the flu, and it didn’t sound pretty), Edgar began playing around with a scrap piece of paper that had been dropped on the ground. Edgar twisted it around his finger and pressed it together, so that it shaped into a ring. He kept it wrapped around his finger, and pressed and pressed and pressed on the paper until, when he let go, the paper only sprung back just slightly, clinging to his finger as if it were a real ring.

An idea sprung into Edgar’s mind.

He padded softly out of the nurse’s office and walked down the hallway to the girls’ bathroom. He could hear sniffling coming from inside. He pushed the door open just slightly, then said, “Pep, hey Pep, it’s me, Edgar. Is anyone else in there?”

The sniffling paused, then a snorking snuffle of someone sucking in their snot.

“No, it’s just me, but go away,” Pepper said.

“Okay, I will,” Edgar said, pushing the door open further.

A few more sobs, subdued now, emanated from a stall. Edgar walked over to it. Pepper could hear his footsteps on the tile floor.

“Say, listen Pep, I’m really sorry about what I said earlier.”

“It’s not your fault,” Pepper said. “Nobody’s perfect, anyway.” The last part had a sarcastic sound to it that Edgar wasn’t used to hearing from Pepper.

“Well, yeah, uh, sorry, anyway. Uh, so, listen, um…”

Pepper sniffled and snorked a few more times.

“Just leave me alone, Edgar,” Pepper said, her normal tone returning.

“Okay, yeah, sure Pep,” Edgar replied. “I, uh, made you this ring, um, for some reason. I guess to apologize. I’ll leave it here, by the sink.” Edgar placed the paper ring carefully beside the sink, making sure it didn’t get into any pools of water.

“Well, see you back at class, Pep,” he said as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

Pepper sniffled a time or two more, then peeked out through the slot in the door at the sink. She saw a small piece of paper wrapped in a circular band. She opened the stall door, went over to it, and put the band around her finger. The paper started to unfold a bit more as she placed it around the base of her ring finger.

For some reason, she didn’t feel like crying at all any more.

A small flicker of a smile, even, broke out across her lips.

“I’m not perfect,” she said. And she smiled even bigger.