Chapter Two

I run to the park to look for my classmates from when I was in grade 2. My backpack is bouncing behind me and my metal pencil case is rattling like a broken recess bell. The other kids want to run too but their parents won’t let them.

I see Sara on the swing with a book. Her hair is neatly parted at the middle and braided at the sides. Her shoes are so shiny that even the tiny buckles looked as if they were polished. Her cream-colored uniform looked like a cleaner version of cream compared to mine. Sara looks neat and proper except for the flower bracelet she’s wearing. She probably made it herself from the flowers in the principal’s office. She looks as if my mom helped her with her clothes. I go over and talk to her. “Do you have a meeting with big brother?” I ask. She looks at me and asks, “Who?”

“It’s an inside joke. Big Brother is this president man who watched everyone and made sure they followed the rules,” I tell her.

She tilts her head and stares into space. Then, she looks at me and says, “I don’t get it.”

She stares at me like she wants an explanation. Usually, this makes me feel weird, especially when grown-ups do it. But it’s different with Sara because we’re both kids. I stare back at her and try to keep a straight face. It’s a game we always play. Whoever laughs first loses. I try to distract myself by paying attention to my reflection in her glasses.

“I don’t get the joke, either,” I say.

She starts laughing. I win. I start laughing too. “That’s funny,” she says. Then she starts reading the book on her lap again.

“What are you reading?” I ask her. She shows me the back of the book. It reads Holy Bible and beneath the title is a cross shape printed at the center.

“What’s it about?” I ask.

“It’s about Jesus,” she says.

I learned about Jesus a long time ago. My parents and I were walking in the mall during Christmas season and we saw a makeshift stable with lots of fake animals and fake people. Jesus was the baby in the cradle and everyone was happy to see him because he invented Christmas. I wanted to ask Sara why she was reading about a baby, but before I was able to, Tomas Labuyo and Alberto De Guzman arrived together and started teasing us.

“Yiheeeeeeeeee!” Tomas hisses.

“Did you miss each other over the summer?” Alberto asks Sara.

“Leave me alone!” Sara says.

“You hear that, Alberto? Sara wants us to leave because she wants to be alone with Loki,” says Tomas.

“Oh, no! But he’s our friend! We can’t leave him with her! She might try to kiss him!” says Alberto.

They both started making kissing sounds. They laughed together so hard that they had to hang on to each other to keep from falling. Sara looked up from her book. “Look in the mirror, guys. You both look like you missed each other way more than Loki and I did. Are you guys in love with each other? I’m going to the classroom!” Then, she stomps off the playground.

“Hey! Take that back!” Tomas screams.

“Yeah! Take that back!” Alberto screams.

“Why’d you guys have to be so mean to her?” I ask them.

Tomas comes closer and whispers, “She can’t be here right now because we’re about to have a secret meeting.”

“About what?” I ask.

“We’re going to start a cooperation,” says Alberto.

“No, dummy! A corporation! Not a cooperation!” says Tom.

“Why would we do that?” I ask.

“Because that’s how my dad makes money! At first I thought that his job was to play golf because that was all he did. Then, over the summer, they sent me to a golf clinic where I learned the rules. When I finally saw my dad play, he wasn’t very good, so I asked my dad who was paying him to play golf. And he said, ‘No one. I pay to play golf.’ Can you believe that?”

“Grown-ups are weird,” I say. “Why would your dad pay to play such a boring game?”

“I don’t know! Anyway, I asked dad what his job was and he said he didn’t have one! My mom doesn’t have a job either unless someone’s paying her to sit in the lawn and read poetry! So I asked him how he pays for our cars and our house. You know what he said?” asked Tom.

“He said he made a corporation,” says Alberto.

“I wasn’t asking you, Alberto! But he’s right,” Tomas tells me, “my dad said that he made a corporation a long time ago and now the corporation has grown and is paying for everything. See, my dad doesn’t need a job. Our teachers are wrong. We don’t need jobs to get money.”

“Right. So how do you make a corporation?” I ask them.

Tomas and Alberto look at each other. They both shrug.

“You’re the smart one, you figure it out. That’s your contribution to the team,” Tomas says.

“What’s your contribution to the team?” I ask.

“It’s my idea! That’s my contribution! And Alberto here is taller and fatter than the other boys so he’ll be our bodyguard. That’s his contribution,” Tomas says.

Before our meeting is finished, the bell rings.