The Porpoise Pals [2016]

Chapter 3

The days passed quickly. Thanksgiving passed. Before I knew it, it was December and we were going to start the Porpoise Pals program. 

"Are you excited?" Mia asked. We were standing in the guidance office, too excited to sit down. 

I nodded. "You?"

"Duh!" she laughed. 

Mrs. Turner entered the room. "Hey, girls! You were the only ones who could make it today. Come on in! We're going to make gingerbread houses."

I held my breath as Mrs. Turner led us down a back hallway that I hadn't realized existed, through the nurse's office, and into another room. Four kids and three teachers were seated at a big table. The table had several bags of cookie icing and a few slabs of gingerbread. As we opened the door, seven heads turned toward us and fourteen eyes stared at our faces. I felt a little uncomfortable with all the attention, but I was too excited to pay attention to that. 

Mrs. Turner introduced us to the group. Then we sat down next to two of the kids. I was next to a girl with curly red hair, purple wire-framed glasses, and a splash of freckles across her nose. She had a dolphin on her shirt. Mia was next to a boy in a wheelchair. He had a blue shirt on, and his blonde hair was short and spiky. He kept waving his hands around wildly. There was also a girl with glasses and black hair who had an iPad in front of her, and a boy who looked Spanish, with black hair and dark eyes. His cheeky, lopsided grin reminded me of a chipmunk. 

"This is Delfina," the teacher sitting next to the redheaded girl said. 

I had to laugh. "What a perfect name for someone in this program."

"That's true," the woman chuckled. Delfina held out her hand for a high five, and I high-fived her. Her face stretched into a wide, lopsided grin. 

"Nice to meet you, Delfina." I smiled at her, and she smiled back. Her mouth opened, and she exhaled with a sigh and said, "Haaaah."

"She's saying hi," the woman explained. 

I said, "Hi, Delfina!"

Delfina stuck her tongue out. 

"She likes to be called Fina," added the teacher. 

"I like that. Fina."

Fina grinned widely. Then she put her hands to her mouth and wiggled her fingers, covering her eyes. 

"She's really excited," the teacher, who I decided must be Fina's aide, told me. 

I grabbed a bag of icing and started to draw a line around the edges of a gingerbread cookie. Suddenly a speaker started blasting music. I recognized it as Uptown Funk. Fina squealed with delight and started to wave her index fingers around. I noticed that her hands were smaller than usual, and her index fingers stuck out from her palms, almost as if she were double-jointed. I wondered if she was. 

"That's her way of dancing. She loves music," Fina's aide informed me. 

"Me too!" I exclaimed. 

Delfina opened her mouth again, and this time I heard it clearly: "Hhhhhiiiii."

"Hi, Fina! You like that music?" I asked. Then I sang along with the chorus: "Saturday night and we in the spot! Don't believe it, just watch!" 

Fina grinned widely. "Hhhhaaaaiiii!" she squealed, giving me a high five again. I stuck the pieces of the gingerbread house together and started to put icing on the roof. Then I handed her a green Jawbreaker candy. Fina grabbed it, fumbled and dropped it on the floor. I realized that she didn't have the control to pick up something so small, so I handed her a purple gumdrop with a chunk of frosting stuck to it. She picked it up and stuck it onto the roof upside down. I smiled. "Good job, Fina!"

Fina squealed with glee. Then she tossed a gumdrop onto the ground. I pulled the other gumdrops away. "No, Fina. No throwing. See, they go on the house." I demonstrated placing a round hard candy onto the side of the house. Fina gave me a raspberry and swept the Jawbreakers onto the floor. 

"Stop it, Fina." I tried to keep my voice calm. 

I guided Fina's hand toward the gumdrops and she started to move her hand toward the house on her own. I let go of her wrist, and she put a green gumdrop on the house by herself. I smiled. "Yeah, Fina!" She grinned crookedly and high fived me.

Mia was trying to help her partner, Aiden, hold onto a gumdrop and stick it on. He kept flailing his arms and knocking them onto the floor. Another girl had shown up by now. Her partner was the girl with the iPad, whose name was Sophie. Sophie pressed a location on the screen, and the iPad blared, "Nice to meet you!" Sophie searched for another word, and the iPad said, "Popcorn!" for no apparent reason. I smirked. 

"She's looking for a specific name," Sophie's aide explained. "But none of you are on her iPad. Are you allowed to have your pictures taken?" 

Mia and I nodded, as did the other girl. 

"Is Popcorn the name of a person, then?" Mia asked innocently. I stifled a laugh with difficulty. 

"No. She's just started a new program on the iPad, and she's still getting used to it." 

A minute later, the iPad was blaring, "Hello, Mia! Nice to meet you, Elizabeth!" I grinned. I loved this club. 

Fina loved high fives. She held out her hand to every person in the room and knew exactly who she'd already high fived and who she hadn't. We taught her to ask for more, by saying "Muh" and making the sign for "more" with her hands-- pinching your fingers together on each hand and tapping them together twice.

At one point I put my hair up in a ponytail, and Delfina stared at me as if I was a different person, and held out her hand for a high five. I realized that she had noticed my change in appearance, and it looked like I had shorter hair. There was a lot more to her than meets the eye. 

The bell rang and Mia and I groaned. It was time to go back to class. 

"I don't want to leave!" I whined. Mia nodded. "We gotta go, we'll be late. I don't want to leave, either!" 

Fina said, "Haaaaiiiii!" one more time and gave each of us another high five, and Sophie said, "Goodbye, Mia! Goodbye, Elizabeth!" through her iPad. Reluctantly, Mia and I left the room.