Summer appears unfazed by his response.
“Etta has the right to think reptiles aren’t the greatest. But thank you for the facts, Henry. You should bring Max in for your talent!”
“Who’s Max?” Blake asks, twisting his hat backward.
“My bearded dragon,” Henry answers.
“Woah!” Noah gasps. “You have a bearded dragon? You never told us that!”
Henry holds his blank expression. “You never asked.”
Summer’s eyes brighten. “See, Henry. Bring Max and you could change some people’s minds about reptiles. What about you, Etta?”
Etta’s sporting a tiny hole in place of the tooth she was wiggling last week. “I like to play hopscotch and jump rope and Simon Says and?—”
“We get it.” Blake rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.
I’m not sure why he’s here if he doesn’t want to be.
“I can do both at the same time! Wanna see?” Etta doesn’t wait for anyone to answer. Her sneakers light up when she jumps to her feet. An imaginary hopscotch unfolds in front of her as she skips one leg across the gym.
I clap because, for a four-year-old, she has some serious body control.
“Wow, that’s impressive, Etta. You should definitely do that!” Summer says.
Etta claps and sends her cornrows in a spin around the back of her neck when she plops back in her spot.
“What about you, Blake?”
“What about me?”
He’s refused to sit with the group and is leaning on the wall off to the side of the gym.
“You look like a guy with a lot of talents.”
He blows a giant bubble, making a smacking sound when it pops. All he does is stare at her.Is he always like this?
“Okay, well… think about it. We’ll circle back to you.”
He pulls his phone from his pocket as Summer moves on to the boy in the wheelchair.
“Isaac, right?”
“Yeah.” He runs his gloved hands over black tires.
“What do you like to do at recess?”
His chin tucks toward his chest. “I like basketball, but I’m not very fast, so I usually look at my basketball card collection and let the other kids play.”
Now that he’s said something, I spot a stack wedged between his thighs.
“Noah, weren’t you saying last week you like Pokémon cards? Maybe the two of you could learn a magic trick or something and use your favorite cards to do it? I bet we could find a YouTube video to learn from.”
“Cool!” They exchange a smile.
One of the many adjectives I’d also use to describe Summer. She’s beautiful and smart and funny and good at everything she does. These kids have wild imaginations, and she runs with all of their ideas, creating an entire interactive show of everything they’re good at. As usual, I’m in awe of her. Barely able to lift my jaw off the ground by the time she says, “Who’s ready to make some props?”
Ten minutes later, she’s raided the teacher’s lounge. How she knew where to find it is a perk of being the principal’s ex, I’m sure. I try hard not to think about how much time she’s spent in this building with him.
