Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Jenna wasn't insulted when none of the boys made room for her. She wasn't the kind of girl the jocks went for. In fact, she had a feeling she scared half of them. That made it even harder to look pathetic and win their sympathy. But she did her best.

'I'm not staying,' she said in a quavering voice. She sniffed loudly and rubbed her eyes.

'What's her problem?' Mike asked.

'Her ring came off her finger and fell into a storm drain outside,' Ken said.

'I dropped my wallet in a storm drain once,' another player said. 'But I got it back. I chewed some gum, put it on the end of a stick, and fished around for it. The wallet stuck to it and I pulled it out.'

'We tried that,' Ken said quickly. 'But we couldn't find the ring.'

'Tough luck,' one boy said.

'Yes,' Jenna said and gave a few more sniffs. 'It was a very special ring. My father gave it to me before he died.'

She thought that adding a sentimental touch like that might mean something to them.

One of the boys spoke. 'Did you see the look on the face of that St. Mark's guy when he tried to make that shot and his ball went into the bleachers? I still can't figure that one out. I thought it would be an easy basket for him.'

'Yeah, how did that happen?' another boy wondered.

'Who knows, who cares?' Mike sang out. He tossed an arm around Charles. 'We've got our good luck charm. He not only helps us win, he makes the other team lose, big time!'

Jenna had to get the conversation back to her nonexistent ring. Clearly sentiment wasn't going to work. She tried another tactic.

'It had diamonds and rubies on it,' she said.

The team members looked at her blankly.

'My ring,' she reminded them. 'The one that fell in the sewer. Diamonds and rubies. And a great big sapphire.'

That impressed them.

'Real jewels?' Mike asked. 'Wow, that sucks.'

Ken snapped his fingers, as if a brilliant idea had suddenly occurred to him. 'I know how you can get it back! Charles, could you come outside with us?'

'Why?' Charles asked.

Ken looked at him meaningfully. 'You know why, Charles. We could, uh, try the stick thing again and. . and you'd bring us luck.' To the others, he added, 'He's just that kind of guy, isn't he? Lucky, I mean?'

Charles glared at him. 'Yeah, well, maybe I don't want to bring you any luck.'

'Aw, c'mon Charles,' Mike said. 'Ken's a pal. Why don't you see if you can help his friend?'

'Yeah, maybe there's a reward in it for you,' another boy said.

Jenna thought rapidly. Charles was in her math class. 'I'll do your math homework for a month,' she offered.

'Hey, that's a pretty good deal,' one of the boys said.

Charles seemed to think so, too. 'Yeah, okay.' He backed his wheelchair into the aisle, and Jenna followed him out of the restaurant. Ken stayed behind at the table.

Thank goodness there really was a drain at the edge of the road just in front of the restaurant. Charles peered down into it.

'I don't see anything,' he said.

'It's in there,' Jenna assured him. She glanced back at the restaurant, where she could see Ken talking to the others. C'mon, Ken, do it fast! I don't know how long I can keep him out here.

'If it's got diamonds, I should see a sparkle,' Charles said.

'The diamonds are dirty,' Jenna said hurriedly. 'I have to get the ring cleaned. Can't you just imagine it in your head and bring it up without seeing it?'

'I don't know. I never tried that.'

'It's gold, and there's a big diamond, and a ruby on each side of the diamond, and lots of little diamonds on the band.'

'I thought you said there was a sapphire.'

'Oh, right. Absolutely. A humongous sapphire.'

'I never saw you wear a ring like that,' Charles said.

'Well, um, I'm not allowed to wear it to school. Look, just concentrate on that image, and I'll bet you can make it come out. You're so gifted, Charles-you've got the most amazing gift. You're so lucky. All I can do is read minds, but you can move things. That's so much cooler.' She was jabbering now, but she'd do anything to keep Charles out here until Ken accomplished what he had to do.

'Shut up, I'm concentrating,' Charles said. A minute passed. 'Nah, this isn't working. I'm going back inside.'

'Just try one more time, please!' Jenna pleaded. 'Think about all that homework you won't have to do!'

'Wait a minute,' Charles said. 'What kind of grades do you get in math, anyway? I don't want you doing my homework if you're going to do a bad job.'

Fortunately, she didn't have to answer that. Ken came out of the restaurant.

'Did it work?' she asked excitedly.

He held up his cell phone. 'I've got it right here.'

'What are you guys talking about?' Charles demanded.

'Your so-called friends,' Ken said. 'We just thought you might like to know what they really think of you.'

He turned on the phone's recording device and pressed Play. The first voice they heard was Ken's.

'So, Charles is hanging out with you now. He's really a pretty good guy when you get to know him.'

A boy spoke. 'Are you kidding? He's a total dweeb! That kid is too pathetic. He doesn't do anything at school-he just rolls around and complains about everything.'

'He can't help being in a wheelchair.' That was Ken's voice again.

'That's got nothing to do with it,' another voice said. 'If he wasn't in the wheelchair, he'd be a walking dweeb.'

Mike spoke next. 'Look, if he can get us into the finals, he can hang out with us. At least till the season's over.'

'But he's really getting on my nerves,' another boy said. 'And we've still got a month left before the finals.'

'But just think how great we'll feel when we win the state championship,' a boy declared.

Mike spoke. 'Not to mention how great we'll feel when we can dump Charles.'

Ken turned off the phone. 'I'm sorry about this, Charles. But you should know what kind of creeps you're hanging out with.'

Jenna was watching Charles's face. What little color he had was gone, and it wasn't hard to see that he was really on the verge of tears. In fact, one tear was already making its way down his cheek.

'You know, Charles, we would be your friends,' she said, 'if you'd let us. I know Emily and Tracey would be, too.' She didn't include Amanda. Charles wasn't that gullible. 'Too bad Tracey and Emily have been kidnapped. Who knows, we may never see them again.'

Fiercely, Charles brushed the tear away, but he didn't say anything. Jenna did a quick scan of his thoughts. He was on the edge.

'I mean it, Charles. I don't lie. All you've got to do is be a nice guy, and you can have all the friends you want.'

There was a long moment of silence. Finally Charles spoke.

'Okay.'

At that moment, a car pulled up alongside them. The driver's window came down, and a familiar voice spoke.

'Get in.'