Hiding From Us

5. kim

I hopped off the bus behind Grace and said, ‘’We did it! We survived.’’ 

     ‘‘Thank goodness,’’ she replied. ‘’I didn’t think I’d be able to.’’

     ‘‘But you did. And you met a guy.’’ 

     She flushed red. ‘’Um. That’s besides the point.’’

     I said goodbye to her and skipped down the hill towards the house. My brown beaded bag flapped wildly at my side. Seconds later, I found myself humming the tune to Marley’s Is This Love.

     And then my brother whipped past me on his bike, his swearword lost to the wind as he shot down the hill and straight into our driveway. Keegan parked his bike neatly in the garage, made a face at me, and ran inside. 

     Weirdo, I thought. 

     I neared the house beside mine, where a short dude with ash-blond hair stepped over a garden hose in his front yard, but as soon as he did, water exploded from it and drenched him. I slowed down a bit to watch; I’d never seen this kid before, and the whole thing was mildly entertaining. 

     The kid tried to rush inside, but he tripped on a wire and something hooked into his pants and BAM, his tighty whities were out in the open. He really was a skinny bastard.  

     I expected him to swear like his life depended on it. Instead he let out a string of weird curses like, ‘‘Oh, shock! Sam, you mother lover. Fudge.’’ They almost sounded worse than real swearwords. 

     He turned and saw me, and his coffee-brown eyes widened. 

     ‘‘Dude,’’ I said, not unfriendly, but I looked away so as to not humiliate him. ‘‘This is a brilliant way to greet someone. You’re new here, aren’t you?’’

     ‘‘Yeah. Sorry.’’ He crouched down a bit to hide the luminous glow of his underwear. ‘‘Parker.’’

     ‘‘What?’’

     ‘’My name. Parker. I think I’m in your Socials class.’’

     ‘’Oh. I’m Kim. And yeah, I think I might’ve seen you. Um, what’s with the magic tricks?’’ I gestured to the spray of water.

     Parker laughed nervously. ‘’Oh, this? This is the work of Samuel G. Brown. He’s a master at pranks. He’s also my brother.’’

     ‘‘Oh. Well. Are you going to get some revenge, matey?’’ I asked, doing a lame pirate impression. 

     ‘‘Arrgh,’’ he replied unenthusiastically, because he was in his underwear. ‘’I would, but I think I might need another set of hands to help. Do you happen to know anybody who loves pranking?’’

     I did. Though this was her secret and not mine, Robin and Parker would definitely have some fun together. She didn’t like to show it, but she was just as good as a pranker as Parker’s brother, Samuel G. Brown. Maybe even better. 

     I said, ‘‘Tomorrow morning, find locker ninety-six. That’s Robin Hardy’s locker. Dude, Robin Hardy is who you need for this.’’

     Parker grinned like a little kid. ‘‘Coolio. Thank you, Kim.’’

     ‘‘You’re welcome, Parker.’’

     ‘’I will now go inside and get changed while creating my evil plan for Samuel G. Brown.’’

     ‘‘You have fun with that.’’

     ‘’I will. Thanks again.’’

     ‘’No worries.’’