1. Faculty Kid: (Ten Days Before) 1. Faculty Kid (Ten Days Before) "Birdsong" is one of my favorite words. It sounds old-fashioned and also like someone made it up, which I guess they did, because how else do we get words? I wake to birdsong-- the chirp-chirrupy-chirp of robins readying their lungs for a full day of humming and hopping and enjoying their birdselves. I press my nose to the open window screen and chirrup back because it is Friday and Max said I can go green today. I've been orange sherbet for six weeks, which is how long she says I have to wait before I dye my hair again; otherwise it will fall out. That's what she says, anyway. I have to listen to her because as the school nurse, she knows the human body, and as my guardian, she buys me Cheetos Puffs. My whole scalp tingles in anticipation. Maybe I can dye it in the teacher's lounge bathroom during lunch so I don't have to wait aaaaaall the way until after school. In the kitchen of our tiny duplex on Battlefield Ave., she catches me tucking the box of lime-green dye into my bag. "Not going to happen." She reaches for the box, but not before I roll back and take a lap around the kitchen table, out of reach. "Bea." "Max." She takes a sip of coffee that is mostly cream and gives me the look-- the grown-up stare that sinks into your soul and scans it for devious intentions. "The school is not a hair salon." "But Josie will love it!" I beg. "Josie loves you no matter what color your hair is." Max picks up her keys. She's right about Josie but wrong about the rest. What's the point of being a faculty kid if you can't use the teacher's bathroom to make a huge mess? I surrender the box anyway and follow her purple clogs out the door, because it is Friday, and there is birdsong, and I've never been one to put up much of a fight. Excerpted from Please Pay Attention by Jamie Sumner All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
