Meng Jia is Not the Color PINK

Chapter Four

"Ka-thwonk. Ka-thwonk. Ka-thwonk."
Taecyeon hops up and down as we walk out of the school.

I'm in a very good mood. I know that my finger crossing has worked because they haven't heard from Mrs. Bradley. I pretend that he's acting perfectly normal. "So Taecyeon, what book are you doing for your report?"

"Ka-thwonk. Ka-thwonk. Ka-thwonk."
He hops around me, making a circle.
"I've never read that book before. Who wrote it?" I tease him, trying to look him in the eye.

That's not easy when someone is jumping up and down all around you. For two more blocks, we walk along. I talk. Taecyeon ka-twonks and talks.

"I'm going to read Charlotte's Web and then do a diorama." I skip along.
"Diorama sounds like a disease that a boy sheep gets - Die . . . O . . . Ram . . .a. Ka-thwonk. Ka-thwonk." Taecyeon hops around me.

I try to step on his foot. "You're acting so silly. You know we made dioramas when we did our reports on the pioneers. Stop hopping and talk to me."

"Ka-thwonk. Ka-thwonk." He jumps too fast for me to get him.

"Enough already." I yell. "Stop that. You're driving me crazy. WHAT are you doing?"

He stands still. "I'm practicing being a kangaroo to get ready for our trip to Australia. Mr. Cohen says that we have three weeks before we go."

"You're not planning on being a kangaroo for three more weeks, are you?" I shake my head. "Taecyeon, sometimes you really are a nut case."

Taecyeon walks over to a tree and picks up a leaf on the ground. "No, actually I am planning to be a koala for part of the time."
"Don't." I yell, just as he chews on a leaf. Grinning, he puts a little more in his mouth.

"Ok Taecyeon. Stop that." I shake my finger at him. "You don't know what yucky bug has slithered on that leaf, or what bird has dropped something on it, or . . ."
"Stop." Taecyeon spits out the bits of the leaf in his mouth.

I can't seem to stop myself. I, Meng Jia, have what Mr. Cohen calls. "An active imagination."
"Or what dog came by while the leaf was on the ground . . ."
"That's disgusting." He makes a face. I take a bow and continue. "Or if you're eating poison ivy, or if you'll catch Dutch elm disease, or whatever it was that my mom said our tree had."

Taecyeon shakes his head. "Meng Jia. You are such a worry wart."
"I'm so worried that you just said that." I stick my tongue out at him. He twitches his nose and sticks out his tongue out at me. Kim Hyuna and Wang Jackson walk past us.

We can hear Hyuna say, "How immature."
"Thank you." We both yell at the same time and bow.
"SOOOOOOOOO immature." Hyuna shakes her head.
Jackson grins at us and waves as they walk down the block.

"Ka-thwonk. Ka-thwonk." Taecyeon looks at me. "Want to race?"
"Sure." I stand next to him. "On your mark . . .get set . . .hop."

We hop all the way back to his house.
"I win!" I yell as I get to the front of his house first.
Taecyeon stops hopping.
I repeat. "I win. You know the rules. You have to say, 'You win,' and then you have to burp. Come on. You know that's the way we always do it."
He's not saying anything.
He's not burping.
He just keeps staring at something on his front lawn. I turn to see what he's staring at. The FOR SALE sign on his front lawn has been covered up by a SOLD sticker. All of a sudden, I don't feel very much like a winner. . .