Inconsistent Paper Stars

The last day of school. The words rolled sweetly off of Zacky’s tongue. He couldn’t believe his full school year had gone so smoothly, and now sunshine and bright days lay ahead for him, when he didn’t have to wake up early, he could stay up as late as his little now-six year old body could handle, and--most importantly--he could hang out with Brian, twenty four-seven, and never have to leave him. This made him happier than any other person he knew. Or so he thought.

In actuality, his enthusiasm could only be rivaled by two people. The first one was (rather obviously) Brian himself, who was ecstatic to be able to hang out with his best friend for hours on end, and not have to worry about being too smart at school, or breaking any rules, or having to be in bed by a certain time, or having to actually wake up and face that horrendous bright sunlight and the too-happy kids at school. Just him and his bestest friend in the whole entire world. Zacky Baker.

The other person isn’t so obvious, and we’ve only seen them once in this story. Do you remember Mrs. Burming, the extremely upset kindergarten teacher? Things hadn’t gotten much better since that first day, when she found Zacky and Brian hanging around outside of school (where she found them most mornings after that). Zacky had continued to blab and blurt out things for all of the school year, and no matter how hard she tried to get him to just shut up every once in a while, he never did. Well, actually, he listened to her one occasion only, the day before Christmas break, because she had threatened to have him come to school every weekday afternoon during the break, just to keep him in check. Zacky didn’t say a word for the rest of the day, much to Mrs. Burming’s relief, but to the disappointment of most of Zacky’s classmates, who loved to hear what he had to say, and to see just how far he could push her. Another trend that would follow Zacky throughout his school career.

Zacky bounced out of bed that morning, eager to get his day over with and to begin the wonderful two months of ice cream, Popsicles, and the sanctuary of the cool pool near their houses. He smiled as he put on his star-shaped green sunglasses, and grinned even bigger when he saw how “cool” he looked. He thought he looked just like one of those people in the biker gangs he sometimes saw on TV when his mom didn’t know he’d flipped the channel because she was in the bathroom or making dinner or something. Wearing his favorite Star Wars t-shirt, he felt like he could take on the world, as long as he had Brian at his side.

Running down the stairs, he gobbled up his breakfast of pancakes and vegan sausage (his mother was a vegetarian), then raced his mother outside to the car (he won, of course), then off to Brian’s house to pick him up. It was their routine, Ms. Haner had to get to leave for work just as soon as Zacky and Mrs. Baker got there. She was forced to take longer hours, since she no longer had her husband’s income to live off of, and he wasn’t sending any money for Brian’s care. But that was okay, she decided, because she had Brian, and they were getting by alright for now. And since she worked in the opposite direction of the school, she couldn’t just drop Brian off and then race to work. It just didn’t happen that way in Huntington Beach, you couldn’t really get anywhere fast in a car.

Brian was standing outside his house, backpack in hand, his mother’s car absent. Maria and Zacky were running just the tiniest bit late, even though Zacky had actually gotten up this morning, he had cared about how he looked today (something that Maria was incredibly happy about, because he usually got mad when she made him brush his hair or brush his teeth or even take a bath), so he had taken longer than usual to get ready.

Brian was looking just as chic as Zacky, but with a Hot Wheels shirt on instead, but he’s got the star sunglasses, but with purple frames instead. He smiles like crazy when he hops into the car and sees Zacky’s glasses. “You’ve got a paiw, two!!!”

“Shyeah, I do, who doesn’t?” Zacky’s face mimicked Brian’s. Maria had never seen either kid so happy.

“So, what are your plans this summer, boys?” Maria knew what they were, but she wanted to hear what they had to say.

Zacky, always the person to talk for the both of them, started to blab, like always. “Wew, fiwst we have to find out how much it is to go to da poowl evewy day, only ‘cause it’s onna be hot hot HOT this summer according to da weaderman, and we’reonna eat ice cream and Popsicles a lot, and we’weonna stay up late and watch the stars and we’we notonna be apart, not once dis summer. Dat’s exactly what we’weonna do, wight, Bwian?” Zacky looked at his friend, curious to see if he left anything out.

“You fowgot da beach,” Brian helpfully said something.

“Oh yeah! We’weonna go to da beach if it’s too much for us to go to da poowl evewy day, den we’ll go evewy otha day instead, and go to da beach instead.” Zacky smiled proudly. He thought his and Brian’s summer plans were pretty rad, if he did say so himself.

Brian was just happy to be with Zacky every day, because he felt a kind of protectiveness over Zacky, to watch over him and make sure he didn’t get hurt and nobody messed with him. And he felt like Zacky protected him, as well. It felt good. Brian was slightly confused about everything that Zacky did most of the time, but he loved it all, and couldn’t wait until he saw his bestest friend again.

“Well, that’s quite a plan, and I’m sorry to say, it’s going to have to wait just one more day. Here’s your school, it’s your last day of kindergarten, make the best of it, okay boys?” Maria looked sternly at Zacky, but he kept his eyes wide and innocent as he replied with an “okay” identical to Brian’s.

“Alright, now, don’t cause that teacher too much trouble. Lord knows she’s had enough from the two of you.” Maria rolled her eyes as the boys got out of the car and ran for the front doors. She pulled away smiling, knowing that the boys were so happy to see school go for a whole two months, just like she did when she was young. She drove back home, remembering the good parts of her days of youth.

Meanwhile, the youthful themselves were piled into the kindergarten room for the very last time. They laughed with each other, gave hugs, and some of the girls were crying because they were going to miss their friends so much, and Jimmy was getting tons of handshakes from the guys and hugs and kisses from the girls (when Mrs. Burming saw this, she quickly put a stop to it, saying Jimmy would have to stay away from everyone for a little while). There was even a piece of paper going around with all the kindergarten signatures on it, some with phone numbers, some with little messages next to the names, and more than a few kisses on that, too. Jimmy was quite popular, and would get even more so as the years went on.

Zacky and Brian just sat back and laughed at the whole thing. They knew Jimmy didn’t like this much attention, he would much rather be in the background, creating a scene, but never joining in it, making things that everyone loved, but never being acknowledged. So the fact that he was the center of everything going on in the kindergarten class was hilarious to the two boys, who watched as their best friend came and sat down next to them when Mrs. Burming sent him to relax for a while.

“Zacky, why do awl dese girls like me? It’s kinda gwoss…” Jimmy shuddered.

“My mommy says it’s ‘cause dey watch movies with deir mommies and deir mommies always make out with deir daddies and so dey think dey have to kiss boys to be like deir mommies.” Zacky shrugged. “Dat’s what my mommy said, anywayz. Hey, are youonna be part of our summer plans?”

“Shyeah! Just tell me when to show up!! Here’s my phone numba.” Jimmy pulled a pen out of his backpack and scribbled some pretty big numbers on Zacky’s arm. “Um, I tink dat’s it, anywayz. It’s pwetty cwose. Just change some numbas if it isn’t wight.” Jimmy smiled.

“YAY! Dis isonna be da best summer ever…” Zacky started to daydream. He couldn’t wait until this day was over.