The Seventh Grade Wars

CHAPTER 5: JK

My most dreaded period of the day was always lunch. 

I never really had anyone to hang with, unless some guys just let me sit at their table. When that happened, we never really talked. Well, they did, but they never acknowledged me at all. Sometimes I'd join some basketball games in the playground, but I was always picked last for teams. 

The High school didn't have a playground. And I was basically on my own. 

I bought a Coca-Cola and a carton of chicken strips and surveyed the cafeteria. Where was I going to sit? That was always a struggle. 

Just then, Jessica Malboy came up to me. She was applying lip gloss. 

"Get lost," I said. 

"Why?" she said. "It's not like you have anyplace to go."

I glared at her, but she just grinned and stuck the tube of gloss into the pocket of her super tight jeans. 

"Don't you want to come and sit with us, Johnson?" Jessica asked. I hated the way she sugar-coated everything she said. 

"Who's 'us'?" I asked. 

"Thomas, Yvonne, Harriet, Macy, Ryan, Danny, and me," she responded. 

"Does this have anything to do with that dumb thing you tried to get me to join this morning?" I said. 

She laughed. "Of course. So, you wanna come? I don't have all day while you make up your mind." She waited a second before delivering the jab line. "I mean, with that brain of yours, that could take all day."

"I'm not going anywhere you want—" I broke off. Maybe this year I'd actually belong to a group. Even if Jessica Malboy belonged to it.

"Fine," I said at last. "Take me to the 'us.'"

Jessica led me to the table in the corner of the cafeteria, the most isolated table in the room. "Guys, meet Johnson Kennedy."

"Actually, I go by JK," I said, although I was pretty sure she knew that already.

"Take a seat," Thomas said. "We haven't actually started anything yet. We wanted to wait for you."

Gee, that was a first. 

I sat down at the edge of the table, next to a kid named Ryan, because that was the only available seat at the table. Jessica plopped down besides Macy and began talking. 

"So, as I told all of you, you're here because you're going to help me with this year's prank war," she said. "The first War this school has ever seen."

"We're going to prove A Side's the best, yada yada," Ryan said. He was dipping his french fries into his soda. "You gave that speech to us when you asked us to join your team."

"Good," said Jessica. "Then I don't have to repeat myself."

I glanced around at everyone. We were such a random group of kids. Why us? And why me?

"What I'd like to know," I said, "is why you want us on your so-called team."

"Easy," Jessica said. "Each one of you can benefit the A Side team in some way." Her evil eyes scanned the table. "Harriet is good at art," she said. "I bet she can whip up diagrams in a second."

"I can make them color-coded," said Harriet eagerly, who would have been kind of pretty if not for the giant green stain of paint on her Save the Rainforest T-shirt. 

"Fine," said Jessica. "And Ryan gets a big allowance. He also tends to have a lot of...connections."

I rolled my eyes. This was sounding more and more like a cheesy spy movie. However, I was willing to roll with it. 

"I play football, too," Ryan said. 

"Yeah," said Jessica, "but you're not really as good as Thomas. He's our main football star." Thomas, who was actually pretty muscular, puffed up like a peacock with pride. 

Jessica paused to sip at her Diet Coke, then continued. "Macy is my best friend, and that's why she's here. Yvonne is a major teacher's pet. In English today she even gave Ms. Rendall an apple. Basically, she can get us into places we can't go otherwise."

Yvonne, a girl with long yellow pigtails and a flowery dress, nodded and smiled. "It's true. Last year I turned a history project a day late, but the teacher said not to worry and she wouldn't mark it as late."

"JK, obviously, is here because of his excellent pranks record. And Danny is really smart," Jessica said, as if she hadn't heard Yvonne. "He's only nine but he's already in seventh grade."

I recognized Danny off the bat. Small, bony, redheaded, Danny looked like he could even pass for eight years old. He and I were kind of like the outcasts at school, I guess. Apparently, nobody wants to hang out with a person who's too smart or too dumb. Danny usually just sat in the corner of the playground reading books, but I never talked to him much. Danny was only nine, but I didn't want him making me feel stupid. That would be like salt in an open wound. 

Danny, however, looked awed to be here, sitting at the same table as Jessica Malboy, the most popular girl in the grade. 

"I love physics and math, mostly," he said in a squeaky-sounding voice. "But I also love tech history, and—"

"Great," interrupted Jessica. "We might need you to do some hacking."

Danny frowned. "But, hacking is...it's not allowed."

"Danny, if you're going to be on this team," Jessica said, "you're going to be doing tons of things that aren't actually allowed."

Jessica told me to get a prank ready by the next day, so Danny could come up with the measurements and Harriet could draw it out. Somehow, I knew I couldn't just give them a gum-in-the-water-fountains prank. I had to think big. 

For once, I could play a prank and be admired for it. I knew everyone was familiar with my pranks. Even the girls looked slightly impressed. I had to continue my legacy.