Book 5- 1969 (Michael Jackson)

Chapter 18- The Best Of All

Chapter 18- The Best Of All

Date: Saturday, September 28, 1969

Time: 7:43PM

KAYLA'S POV

"This place..." I took a pause to view the scenery, "is huge."

"You got that right," Marlon chimed, "And it's just between Diana and the three of us. Those other boys didn't get too lucky, 'cause they're back with Joseph and always moving. We've got it good now."

"Yeah, that's right," Michael added. "We're gonna be staying with the great Miss Diana Ross! We're so lucky, aren't we?"

"Mmhmm!"

"Where do you figure she is? I need to stop somewhere and do my homework." He took his knapsack off and threw it on his other shoulder. "Lots of English, it looks."

"Hey, speaking of English, do you remember when I was working on my paper at lunch?"

Michael nodded knowingly. "Yes, I remember. Why?"

"The teacher called me to the side the other day and praised me for it. That's the first time my paper has gotten such recognition."

"Well, no-one really checked all of the papers at Garnett. You know they were just looking for grammatical errors in our writing."

I bobbed my head in agreement. "Yeah, I know..."

"Hey, wait a minute," Marlon looked me up and down. "Do that again."

"Do what again?" I questioned, cocking my head at an angle.

"Nod," he commanded simply. "I want you to nod again."

I thought his demand was rather strange, but I abode to it, anyway. In an attempt to mimic exactly how I nodded, I made sure not to exaggerate my moves, as I often did. "Is something wrong?" I asked, still nodding.

"You look like a bobble head," he replied. "Your facial features and the nodding... you just look like some real-life bobble head." He snickered under his breath. "Right, Michael? Doesn't she look just like one of those little bobble toys we used to get at the corner store?"

My mischievous best friend turned in my direction and stared me down. Of course, by this point I had quit nodding, but apparently my features made up for the lack of movement. "Maybe a little. She's got some real big eyes. I remember some time in second grade, I noticed her eyes for the first time. In the beginning, they were freakishly large, but now that I think of it, her eyes couldn't really be any smaller or she'd look a little weird."

"Gee, thanks, you guys," I mumbled, rolling my eyes. "I'm a real-life caricature."

"What's that?" Michael questioned, his brows furrowed.

Marlon went into explanation before I could say anything. "You know those pictures with the faces that look way out-of-proportion?"

As Mike nodded, I shot Marlon the evil eye, as if to say, There's no need to explain to him!

Of course, Marlon was an oblivious soul, and had not caught the message I carried with my expression. "Yeah, those are caricatures."

I took this moment as an opportunity to get back at him. "Hey, Marlon! You're in, what, seventh grade?"

"...Yes?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but at the very moment in which I was about to spout off a comment, my mind drew a blank. I stood in my place, my mouth agape, waiting for something to come to mind. The two boys gazed at me expectantly. Marlon crossed his arms, patiently waiting for a response to come out.