A List of Best Intentions

This kid Dakota muttered a curse under his breath and shoved another Coke can into his bag. Mrs. Downsworth heard it and scolded him, keeping the four of us in line, guiding us around campus as we picked up litter.

A couple’a weeks later, I was forced to endure ISS (processing and stuff, I guess – or the fact that what I did to cause this really wasn’t that huge), which was really kind of more interesting than real classes. Besides the fact that the lady in charge was a total beeyotch, it wasn’t all bad.

The only other kids were Dakota, Yaz, and Ricky. I had math with Dakota, but I never met the others. All three were notorious badasses. Yaz dated anybody who was anybody, Ricky was a sports jock who picked a fight with anyone who looked at him funny, and Dakota was…well, I hear he was a pothead, crackhead, drunk, tweaker, and any other drug-related label you could come up with. I didn’t doubt it.

Out of all of us, he probably landed himself in here the most. That kid was famously infamous. Of course, this was my first time, so I was a newbie to them. Dakota liked to mouth of at Mrs. Downsworth and she liked to give him more work. And you wouldn’t dare laugh or else she’d give you more work too.

Hate to admit it, but I admired that kid’s guts.

What really sucked was that you had to wear these bright yellow vests whenever you went outside the ISS room. Oh man, we were ridiculed so badly. More people than I ever imagined called me by name. I didn’t know I was that famous – man, I really owed I Am You Are. If I never played at their party, nobody would’ve come to my party, and then nobody would’ve went along with Free Hugs Day…

Mrs. Downsworth ushered us to the side of the main office building while she went to talk to a janitor. Like dogs with our tails between our legs, we seemed like we were afraid to talk. But Yaz kept licking her lips like she was sending silent messages to Ricky.

I shuddered. I mean hey, I’m all for sexual freedom, but I didn’t wanna be there when it was gonna happen.

Mrs. Downsworth came over with the janitor, a grungy looking fella with long dreadlocks who had a face that said, “I Hate My Life.” She yanked Dakota and me away from the others, over to him. “This is Dijon. You’ll be helping him out this afternoon, and you will do whatever he tells you to do. Any questions?” she instructed.

Dakota spat at the ground, earning an evil eye from both of the adults.

We followed the janitor around the back to the main building where he got his footing on a ladder. Dijon ushered us to come and Dakota forced his way in front of me.

From the looks of his face, he was naturally a ginger kid. He didn’t have red hair; it was an electric blue someone could spot from a mile away. He always carried a pissed-off demeanor, too. I was a little intimidated, though everyone in Tanglewood was – he was pretty famous around there.

We were on the roof in a matter of seconds. Dijon grabbed two hooked rods and tossed them to us. “Clean da guttahs,” he spoke with a thick accent.

Without objection, we got working. It took me a couple minutes to figure out exactly how to clean a gutter; since Dakota was obviously a veteran, I just watched him.

After a while Dijon left the roof, so I was half-expecting him to run off. The most he talked were just a few curses to himself. Those colorful words increased in volume once the bell rang and normal kids shot up some pretty creative insults on their way to class. The later in the day it was, the more they came up with. (Why the hell didn’t Downsworth yell at them too? Nobody could ever figure that one out.)

Near the middle of what I’m pretty sure was fifth period, Dakota scooped up a glob of wet leaves and grimaced. He tipped his head up to me and said, “So how’s your list goin’?”

I cocked my brow. “How’d you know about the list?”

“Everyone knows, man. When you fill in for a kid like Alyssa Weaver, you don’t go unnoticed anymore.”

It made sense. “But how’d you find out about the list? The only other person who knows should be Cody. I mean, if you know who he is…oh, yeah, and Bruce and Stephanie…”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “You really don’t know what it’s like to have people know who you are, do you?” I said no, and to that he grinned. “Well, you’re famous now. Good luck.”

“How can I be famous from just one gig?”

He looked at me like I was stupid. “Okay dude, for starters, you were up there with I Am You Are. You know who they are, right?”

I nodded. “Kinda hard not to.”

“Good. And with the whole list thing, Bruce kept tellin’ people about it ‘cause you and him went surfing, and everyone spread the word.”

I blushed, hanging my head and feeling like an idiot. I should’ve known that he wouldn’t keep something like that quiet.

“A bunch’a kids started lists. Figured, ‘what the hell.’ I mean who knows? Y2K could really happen,” he smiled.

“Huh. Gnarly.”

He scooped out a dead squirrel and thrust it onto the ground, and as it collided with the sidewalk, he shrugged and went, “Oops,” all sarcastic.

“Man, Downsworth’s gonna be pissed,” I warned.

“Psh. What’s she gonna do. She said everything she could say to me without using cuss words. It’s not like she can really hit me.”

“I don’t know. She seems pretty steamed already.”

He waved his hand. “Nah. She’s always like that. I’m in here at least once a week and every day she’s mad.”

“God,” I gasped. He shot me a blank look. “I mean, not that you’re like a delinquent or nothing-”

“I don’t give a shit. Been there, done that.”

We fell into a silence, a deep pit that took minutes of thinking to get out of. Dakota threw his gutter-fishing stick to the floor. “So tell me. What’s on that list?”

I shrugged. “Just some normal stuff. Rock with a local band, drive a golf cart down a busy street.”

“That’s it? Man. You gotta make up more stuff. Stuff you could do here and now. Crazy shit.”

The gears in my head turned as I processed his words.

Wait a sec…number three!

Jump Over a Huge Gap! That’s it! It was doable and crazy, especially since we were literally on top of a building that happened to be right next to another building!

“Hold up, I got one.” I said it with such pride that I could feel my stance get stronger.

Ever so daring, I stepped back and rubbed my hands together. The gap between that classroom building and office building was a good six feet, and I even though I didn’t work out every day, I wasn’t no couch potato.

I was a genius!

“You’re an idiot, Kev,” Dakota called out.

“I know you are, but what am I?”

I…uh, probably shouldn’t have said that. Dakota started running full speed at me, and that was it. I was going to jump. And it wasn’t just because the thought of him mad scared the shizz out of me. Man, I didn’t care. I had my heart set on soaring.

And I did.

As my feet parted with the solid roof of the structure, I instinctively shot my arms out as if I was a bird.

And I belted out some Sugar Ray while I was at it, a suitable song that I also had stuck in my head during the skydiving adventure. The air took me in its embrace and lifted me higher than I’d ever been, and it felt nice for a second.

Kids in the gym class flocked close as they could to the scene, chattering as if I were committing suicide and yet gathering around once they saw me start to run. They ooh’ed and aah’ed, pointing at that moron bounding across the gap.

All of a sudden, I realized a problem.

The ledge was coming closer and closer, and – oh crap – I wasn’t high enough, and I was heavier than I thought –

PWOOM!

The side of the roof jutted into my gut, and I hit the floor.

You ever get the wind knocked outta you? Yeah, it hurts like a beast, don’t it? Well, that’s how I felt when I came into contact with the roof, and when I flopped onto the ground, it hurt even worse…it was like…experiencing the aftermath of Taco Bell…while getting punched in the nads by Mike Tyson…all while getting run over by a monster truck.

I didn’t just flop. No, I spiraled with limbs sticking out in every direction one could think of. My left leg was in the air, and my right one was the first to slap the grass. As if it would stop my fall. Yeah, tell that to my left arm.

Something snapped. I could hear the crack of a shattering bone as my body became one with the ground. Just like that I curled into a fetal position, cradling my broken wrist, tears stinging my eyes.

God, I was stupid.

But hey…I could cross off number three.

~~~~

As soon as the hospital fed me my dinner, I understood fully why people hated it here.

“That was a real nice jump, Superman,” Cody snorted. “You’re lucky you didn’t kill yourself.”

I glared at him, slapping my fork on the tray where it belonged. “Shut up. At least I’m doing something, unlike you, who has yet to do half the stuff we planned on doing together.”

“Yeah! Suicide! Count me out.”

A painful silence bodyslammed us. I don’t know if it was the fact that I just made a douche bag out of myself or the pain, but I wasn’t exactly cheery.

“It’s not like I wanted to break my wrist. I just wanted to get something on the list done.”

He laughed quietly and shook his head in disbelief. “Kev, you’re gonna end up killing yourself. You gotta grow up sometime. You’re not gonna be fifteen forever.”

“That’s my point. When Y2K comes-”

“And what if it doesn’t? What if everything’s still up and running? What if it’s all just a hoax? You’re gonna regret this, man.” He looked deadly serious – more serious than I’d ever seen him before, that’s for sure.

I gritted my teeth. “You’re the one who filled me in. Better safe than sorry, hypocrite,” I protested.

“You ain’t safe, man. Look at yourself.”

Out of some crazy instinct I smiled. He was so right it was funny.

“So, what? You’re saying you’re not with me anymore?”

“… ‘Course I’m still with ya.”

He had a smirk plastered to his face as he shoved my unharmed shoulder.

In a flash, though, my mom was in the hospital and swerved right into my room in her work outfit (she was a traffic cop, and times where she wore her uniform definitely unnerved me), clearly annoyed. Well…okay, that was an understatement…

“I cannot believe-” was all I understood, since she just started muttering bad words under her breath that I couldn’t comprehend, both in Spanish and English. Mom squirmed her way past Cody and sat down, glaring at me like I was the son of Satan.

“What?” I weaseled.

She clenched her teeth and let her fists hang at her sides. “What? What? You jump across a huge gap and break your wrist, and you ask me what?”

I sighed. “It’s no big deal. I’m fine.”

“It is a huge deal, Kevin! Tú me sacas el monstruo en mi!”

I sneered. I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if curls of smoke started billowing out of her nostrils, especially since she had a tendency to use that phrase whenever I acted up even slightly as a kid. (It means, “you bring out the monster in me.”) After a while of silence she closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat, stressed.

“You’re grounded for the rest of the year.”

All of a sudden, my injured arm began to throb. I got all hunched up and leaned forward, not quite sure what I was hearing.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Back up – what?!”

“You heard me, Kevin. If you keep doing these stupid things, you’ll only end up dead or hurt even worse, and I do not want to lose you to such stupid things.”

Cody shot me a boastful smile. I gave him the evil eye and Mom darted around to see what the problem was. He retracted.

Then she looked back at me in a way that made me realize that what was done was done, and I couldn’t undo my actions.