Five, Six, Pick Up Sticks
Part Two
By Carolina
super_carolina1@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: Even the little versions of the characters don't belong to me. Thanks to all of those who responded positively to this story, I'm having a great time writing it. Because I don't know exactly how the characters were when they were small, I'm just combining their adult versions with some of my childhood experiences. So although this story is 'Humor,' it also deals with many realistic plots I, and many others, went through growing up. That being said, on with the story.

The shine coming from the sun and onto the school made the sky seem bluer and the day a little warmer. Children ran in and out of the cafeteria, towards the playground, the school, the basketball courts; all the while their voices echoed throughout the entire block. John, Mark, and Peter sat on their favorite bench in front of the playground as Dave reincarnated the last episode of Superman with a little too much enthusiasm, his entire body simulating the movements.

"Then Superman flew to the city and gabbed the bad guy and flew away with him. Then he stopped in the middle of the sky and punched him so hard that the bad guy went flying into outer space and back to his home planet." His face shinning with excitement whenever he spoke about his hero.

"Wow" said Mark, his eyes wide open in amazement

"That's not that cool" said Peter as he crossed his arms in front of him

"Oh yeah, what would Shaft do?" said Dave, always challenging Peter, who got up from his spot and got ready to play the part of his favorite detective. "First of all, he would arrive in his super cool car. Then he'd get off and just stand there, to let the bad guys know he's cool. Then when the bad guys thought it was ok to leave, Shaft would start kicking them and punching them. He can take on 20 men at the same time" retaliated Peter, his face also shinning with excitement

"That's cool" added John, always willing to take Peter's side

"Yeah, well. I bet Shaft can't fly" dared Dave

"He doesn't need to" said Peter "His car takes him everywhere. Besides, normal people can't fly"

"DUH!" Dave threw his hands in the air "You need a cape"

On the other side of the playground, the girls were involved in their favorite game. Kerry and Jing Mei worked with the rope while Liz jumped. Cleo was teaching them a new jump the rope song, and Abby just laid on the ground, drawing something on the floor with a chalk, always trying to keep her hair out of her face, but never succeeding, and involved in her own world. The game came to a stop when Liz tripped with the rope

"I don't like this new song" protested Liz, while looking down to see if her black shiny shoes were damaged

"That's because you don't know how to play" said Cleo with a little attitude

"I do to!" said Liz in defense.

"Let's do something else" added Jing Mei, rubbing her arm

"Like what?" asked Kerry, and only got an "I don't know" from Jing Mei. A few seconds later, Elizabeth just snapped when she remembered something important "Hey! My birthday is this Saturday and my mum said I can invite the whole class for a party!"

"Cool!" shouted Jing Mei

"Yeah! And it's going to be a pool party too!" said Elizabeth as she jumped up and down

"The whole class?" asked Kerry "the boys too?" as she made a weird face

"Yeah" was all Liz said

"Ewww" Jing Mei and Kerry looked at each other "Why the boys?" asked Kerry without Jing Mei

"Because then I'll get more presents" Liz added as the wind made her curly hair fly all around

"Or because you want to see Mark in a bathing suit" said Cleo, never afraid to speak her mind. Kerry and Jing Mei looked at each other and added a "Oooooh!"

"That's not true" said Liz, a little insulted

"Is too" started Cleo

"Is not. And you want to go to see Peter too" Liz dared her

"Well, yeah" Cleo admitted at Liz who frowned, confused by the fact that her plan didn't work. Her thoughts were interrupted when Kerry jumped up "Hey! Let's make a list of everyone, and we can make the invitations with construction paper" she said, not aware that Liz already had the invitations sitting at home.

"Yeah!" added Liz as they all started to walk away "Hey Abby, do you wanna come?" Liz asked, but Abby didn't seem to hear anything that was happening around her, and just remained on the ground, drawing things on the floor, humming a song she had been humming for a long time and only she knew the tune of. The other girls just walked away.

Back to the boys. They had settled down from their earlier dispute and now were looking around the playground, sipping from their little cartons of juice. They all turned around when they saw the girls run by them, giggling and whispering things the boys couldn't figure out

"Chicks in this school are whacked!" observed Dave as he followed them with his eyes. Their attention was again redirected, this time towards Luka, who had being taking a tour of the school with the principal. He walked over and sat next to the boys, all of whom had accepted him into their group for the sole fact that he liked Star Wars.

"Hi guys" said Luka with his thick accent. The rest of the boys acknowledged him.

"Hey, do you guys want to get some pizza at my dad's pizzeria after school?" asked Dave

"Your dad has a pizzeria?" asked Luka in amazement

"Yeah" said Dave "and he's the best pizza cook in town. People from all over the world come here to eat it, and he makes tons of money" he added, always exaggerating his stories to impress others.

"That's nothing" observed Mark "My dad's in the military, and he's a soldier, and he went to the war" they had these fights often, all trying to see whose dad was the best

"My dad's a cop" said Peter, entering the competition.

"My dad has his own business" poor John was always the one to lose in the 'Who's Dad is the Coolest' chats

"My dad is a doctor" added Luka. They all stared at him for a while

"What's cool about being a doctor?" Dave added after a long pause

"Yeah, that's pretty lame" said Mark. They were interrupted by an older kid, who approached them with two of his friends. They went around the boys and pushed them off the bench

"Well look, it's the Sissy Bunch" he said as his two companions laughed

"Shut up Robert" said Peter, getting up. Robert Romano was the bully of the school, always picking on the smaller kids but never molesting the older ones.

"Who's this?" Robert pointed out to Luka "Another addition to the Fag Four?" again, only his two friends laughed.

"Go away Robert" said John, as he also stood up from the ground

"Or what? You're gonna tell on me?" Robert mocked him "Come on boys, let's not waste time with all these babies" he started to walk away, but still looking at the guys

"I hope you go bald!" shouted Mark

"I hope you go bald too" Robert shouted back

Mark just stared at him with hatred in his eyes "Don't worry Mark, that's never gonna happen" said John, trying to calm Mark. As they all cleaned their clothes from the dust on the floor, they began to walk away, Dave walking backwards, starting to talk again about Superman. Peter just rolled his eyes. His conversation was again interrupted when he was almost knocked down when he came into Abby's way, who was still on her same spot

"What are you drawing?" asked Dave

"Nothing" said Abby without looking up

"I bet you're just so poor, you have can't afford notebooks and you have to write everything on the floor like cavemen" Dave said, mostly trying to impress his friends. Abby just looked up and went back to her drawing

"Leave her alone Dave" said John, who had always considered Abby a little sister, even though they were the same age. Since he was pretty much the only kid who ever spoke to her sincerely, she mostly reacted when she heard his voice. Dave started to   walk away, but first took the remaining of his juice and squeezed the liquid all over Abby's drawing. Abby didn't move, just stared at the mess in front of her. Dave, Peter, and Mark walked away, Abby just looked up as tears started to form in her eyes and run down her cheeks. Luka immediately went over and helped her stand up, took a handkerchief off his pocket and wiped her tears carefully. He took Abby's hand, John put his arm on her shoulder and the three walked towards the school.

Cut to: Inside the classroom. Everyone had settled in their respective desks and after art and music, they were now taking the last class, science. Kerry was on the front of the class, it was show and tell. She had pie charts, hand outs, pictures, clay and pottery models, and a very complicated presentation. A few of the students were paying attention, but the rest were looking around, bored out of their minds.

"The dinosaurs were one of a group of extinct reptiles that lived from about 230 million to about 65 million years ago. The word dinosaur was coined in 1842 by the British anatomist Sir Richard Owen, derived from the Greek words deinos, meaning "marvelous" or "terrible," and sauros, meaning "lizard." For more than 140 million years, dinosaurs reigned as the dominant animals on land..." she started her presentation. 20 minutes later, Kerry was still in the front of the class, this time with a projector. Cleo was looking at it with neither intrigue nor interest, Peter was looking out the window, Liz was enjoying Kerry's presentation while Mark was enjoying looking at Liz, Dave was hitting his head on his desk out of desperation, John was playing with Abby's hair, Abby was falling asleep by his action, Luka was just drawing something on his notebook, and Jing Mei was inspecting the back of Luka's head.

"BOOM!!" shouted Kerry as everyone jumped back "a gigantic mass of lava jumps out of a volcano as the complicated carnivorous roamed throughout the land. Dinosaurs had evolved into the most abundant large animals on land, and the dinosaurian age had begun." Everyone moaned when they realized she was just beginning to cover another era.

"Ok Kerry that was great" said the teacher interrupting her presentation

"Mr. Miller, I'm not done yet" protested Kerry

"Doesn't matter, you get an A" said the teacher, pushing Kerry towards her desk "You can save the rest for your thesis, you have enough to cover that and more." he added while Kerry smiled, proud of herself

"Thank God" whispered Dave into John's ear "five more minutes and somebody else would have been extinct" John just laughed

"Let's see, who's next?" the teacher asked himself while looking at his class rooster.

"Please God, if you let the bell right now, I'll never do another prank again" prayed Dave in silence

"Well, it looks like it is..." just then the bell rang and everyone yelled in excitement

"YES!" Dave jumped from his chair, grabbed his backpack and practically knocked everyone out of the way as he ran towards the door.

"Mr. Malucci, seeing as you have so much energy, perhaps you would like to volunteer to go first tomorrow?" said the teacher before Dave could walk out.

"Oh sure teach. I have it all ready to go" Dave lied smoothly

"I'm pretty sure you do. See you all tomorrow. Class dismissed" said the teacher as he began to get his things together. Everyone ran out of the classroom as Kerry was left behind, getting all her things together. Just then, her mom walked in.

"Hi Mom!" Kerry ran to meet her mom

"Hi honey, how was you presentation?" her mom asked

"Great! I got an A!" she said as she began to get all her things together

"I knew you would, smart little girls always get A's" said her mom in a sweet tone

Kerry stared at her mom for a while "Mother, please don't patronize me"

Outside the classroom, all the kids were waiting for their parents to pick them up, those who didn't walk to class. John, Mark, Luka, and Dave were sitting on the steps of the school. Peter and Cleo decided to walk together to Peter's house, while Liz and Jing Mei got inside their nanny's respective cars.

"Time for pizza" Dave danced in front of his friends

"I can't go, Maria's picking me up soon" said John sadly

"Yeah" added Luka "My mom's picking me up too"

"Mark?" asked Dave

"I can go" said Mark, always following Dave around

"Fine" Dave said, a little disappointed "Bye pinheads" he added as him and Mark walked away

"Is he always like that?" Luka asked John

"Always" said John as they laughed when a car parked in front of the school and a honk made John turn around "Oops, I have to go. See you tomorrow Luka"

"Bye" Luka waved good bye and looked around to see if he could spot hi mom's car.

Ms Nelson ran out of the school when she saw someone she had been meaning to talk to "Mr. Lockhart?!" she shouted as the man turned around, with Abby up in his arms. "Yes?" the young man said.

"Is it possible for us to have a little chat?" she asked, motioning him to send Abby away

"Of course" the tired man said as he put Abby down "Honey, why don't you go over there and wait for daddy, okay?" he asked her.

"Okay" said Abby as she walked away towards the school and sat next to her new friend. Luka made room for her and showed her a ladybug he had just caught.

"I wanted to talk to you about Abigail" the teacher started. He let out a big sigh and dropped his head.

"I know what this is about" he interrupted her. He crossed his arms and looked her in the eyes "Abby's mom passed away recently" he began.

"Oh, I'm so sorry" said the teacher sympathetically "How's she taking it?"

"That's the problem, she just hasn't reacted to it yet. She knows her mom is gone, but she hasn't even cried about it. Abby's always been quiet, but ever since her mom died, she just always seems to be in another world"

"Maybe you should talk to someone, it's not good for her to live in denial like that. She's a good student, but she's not going to go long if she keeps sleeping in class and being late to school"

"I know" he said "Look, I have two jobs and I can't afford a nanny to take care of her, so I have to take her to work with me. By the time we get home sometimes it's 12 o'clock and we don't get much sleep. It's been hard for both of us. And I love Abby more than my own life, she's all I have left. But if I don't work, we can't eat."

She looked at him while he talked. He was right, it was a no win situation. "I'll tell you what, why don't you let me figure out what we can do about this and I'll give you a call. Meanwhile, I'll give you the number of a doctor who works with children..."

"Look, she's not crazy. I'm not gonna send her to a psychologist like that" he interrupted her

"I know she's not crazy, no body's saying she is. But if we can get a professional to help her, wouldn't that be good? for her? You're a good  father, I'm not undermining that, but there are some things even the best parents can't control or fix. If you love her as much as I know you do, you'll let me do this for her. Ok?

He knew she was right, but still. It bothered him to think that he couldn't handle this situation. Abby had always thought her dad was a super hero, how was he going to tell her now that she would have to get help from a stranger because her own dad didn't know how to deal with her mom's death? "Ok, fine" he said reluctantly

"Good. His name is Dr. DeRaad, his boy goes to this school and he's helped many kids like Abigail, I'll give him a call today and maybe he can see her tomorrow." she said as she put her hand on his arm "You don't have to do this alone" she said as she walked away

He gave her a grateful look as she left. "Abby, let's go" he called out the girl who had been circling a tree since Luka had been picked up, the hair on her face clouding her vision.

The next day. Everyone was waiting for the teacher to walk into the room and start the class. Elizabeth gets off her desk and stands in a chair.

"Excuse me everyone!" she shouted as everyone quiet down and they all turned their attention to her. "This Saturday will be my birthday" she started with a big smile "and my mum said that I can have a pool party. Soooo... you are all invited to come to me house on Saturday for my birthday pool party!" she said excitedly as everyone started to celebrate. Liz got off the chair and began to pass the invitations around.

"Liz! I thought we were gonna use the invitations we made yesterday" protested Kerry

"Sorry Kerry. These have Barbie on them" Elizabeth said as she passed them around and Kerry looked hurt.

Dave got his invitation from Liz and turned to John "A girly party" he protested

"I think it'll be fun" said Mark as he approached them

"That's because you're in love with Elizabeth" teased Dave

"I am not" said Mark "Besides, I want to go because it's a pool party. I bet I can swim the fastest"

"In your dreams" said Dave as he turned to Luka "Hey Luke, can you swim?"

"It's Luka, Luka!" Luka said in desperation "and yes, I can swim"

"Good, on Saturday we'll see who can swim the fastest, and whoever wins get everyone's pudding cups for a week" dared Dave

"You're on" said Mark

On the other side of the room, Peter and Cleo received their invitation.

"Hey Peter, are you going to the party?" asked Cleo with intrigue

"Yeah, I guess"

"I've been to Elizabeth's house, it's huuuuge. That girl has got cash" said Cleo

"Does she have any brothers or sister?"

"I hope not. I hate little kids" said Cleo as she turned around when the teacher walked in.

"All right class. Sorry I'm late. I have your exams ready. Overall I'm happy with your grades, but they could be better. I know we're all excited because spring is here, but let's not forget that school comes first. Right Mr Malucci?"

"Yeah, 'school comes first' is my middle name teach" said Dave

"Really? Maybe you should talk to your parents about modifying that middle name" she said as she gave him his test

"Oh man!" said Dave as he looked at his grade

"Class, do you know what happens to students that don't work hard? They have to go to other countries to get their degrees" warned the teacher

"Yeah right" Dave whispered into John's ear

The rest of the morning went uneventful until the bell rang and everyone went out for lunch. The boys were in their usual spot and the girls in theirs. Elizabeth was talking about her party when Robert approached them with his two friends in tow.

"Hey girls" said Robert in a fake sweet tone

"What do you want" said Kerry

"Lizzie, I heard you're having a party on Saturday"

"That's right, and you're not invited" said Elizabeth

"Well, I'm very hurt Lizzie. I thought we were friends" said Robert

"No we're not. Everyone hates you, go away" said Kerry

"Shut up, bookworm" Romano tried to tease her

"You shut up, Rocket" Kerry retaliated

"I told you not to call me that again, ok?" he said as he walked away

"Why doesn't he like that name?" asked Cleo

"Because one time he was trying to show off to everyone and fell down from the Rocket shaped monkey bars. His pants got caught in a screw and all the school saw his butt" Kerry smiled at the memory

"I think he likes you Lizzie" said Jing Mei

"Eww" Liz made a weird face "and what's wrong with his hair?" they all finched

On the playground, Abby was alone sitting on a bench and watching a bird on a tree.

"Hi Abby" said Luka as he sat next to her

"Hi" said Abby directing her attention towards Luka

"I brought you something" said Luka as he looked inside his backpack and took out a shiny object. "It's for your hair, that way it won't get in your face anymore"

Abby took it in her small hand. It was a long pin, and it had Ladybugs all over it "It's pretty" said Abby with a tone of amazement and a big smile on her face. Luka took it and put it on her hair "Thank you" she added and gave him an innocent hug

"You're welcome" Luka said back "I have a new dog, do you wanna play after school?"

"I can't. My daddy says I have to go to the doctor" Abby said

"Why? Are you sick" Luka asked concerned

Abby just raised her shoulders and made a weird face "I don't know"

"I hope not, cause then you can't come to the party on Saturday" said
Luka

"Me too" she said

Cut to the girls again. Lizzie was still talking about her party, it was going to be a long week.

"My mom says that the cake is going to be pink, and we can have ice cream too"

"I can't wait" added Jing Mei

"I still wish the boys weren't going" said Kerry. Just then, Dave, Mark, and Peter came running and grabbed Jing Mei's empty lunch box and started to throw it among them while she chased them down the playground.

Elizabeth sighed "Oh dear. What have I done?"

"You're going to have a party from hell" said Kerry

"They're going to destroy your house girl" Cleo spoke as they stared the scene in front of them. Yup, it'll be a hell of a party.

To Be Continued...