We made coconut macaroons at cooking class. And they really came out great. Me and Jennifer ate most, but gave some away to our friends. There weren’t so many to begin with, actually. I took a couple home to show Mom, and she thought they were really good. Light and fluffy and flavourful, she said. She nibbled one, and left the other for Dad to eat. She said I could do baking at home, if I felt like it. Like on the week-end, when she doesn’t do any. I guess it’s fun all right. But we’ve got to do it at school, and I don’t know if I want to waste any time doing it at home, too. Like, there’s always so much other stuff to do.
Almost all the kids have given in their money at school, and Pearl and Sally have been bugging me and Jennifer to get ours in. We kind of didn’t say too much until then. But when they kept after us, we said right out we weren’t going to.
“What do you mean, you aren’t going to?” Pearl asked, like she couldn’t believe her ears. “It’s for Mr. Henderson. Supposed to be a present from the whole class. You’re in the class too, you know.”
“Look”, Jennifer said to her. “No one asked us about how we feel about it or anything, before the big decision was made, did they? Well, we just happen to think it’s a stupid idea, and we don’t want to have anything to do with it.”
“You can’t do that! Everyone’s chipping in. Don’t you care how it’s going to look with your names not on the card? Anyway, everyone’s going to know, and you’re not going to be very popular.”
“That’s okay”, I said. “I told you before how I felt, and that was in front of everyone. It’s the principle of the thing. You didn’t ask everybody’s opinion before you decided to go ahead with it, but then you went around asking for everyone’s money. That’s not very democratic, and I won’t be a part of it.”
“What makes you two think you’re so special, anyway?” Sally asked, just looking for trouble, like she does. “No one else has your cheap attitude.”
“Look Sally, old dear”, Jennifer said to her very slowly and patiently - but I bet she was dying to smack her, “We’re not cheap. It’s the principle of the thing. We happen to agree, both of us, that the gift you’ve decided on is damn stupid. Anyway, two dollars does happen to be a lot of money.”
“I’m sure you can afford it. No one else has complained about the amount. You two are the only ones who haven’t paid up.”
“Maybe we’re the only independent people in the class then, because I know for certain-sure that we weren’t the only ones who didn’t think it was such a hot idea. They’re just afraid to stand up against you, that’s all.”
Well, they got real disgusted with us and trounced off mad. And it seems as if they’ve been spending all their spare time and then some, on talking about us to the other kids. Now everyone’s hassling us, especially me, because I’m the one who started it all, they say. It’s so damn depressing. Sometimes I feel like crying, I feel so bad. As if life isn’t hard enough as it is, without having all those idiots down on me - on us.
Was I ever surprised when Jennifer said to me after about a couple of weeks of that pressure that she thought maybe we should relent, and cough up the two dollars, and get it over with. I was so mad at her! And I let her know it. We decided to keep our integrity anyway, and not have anything to do with the class about that. But we decided that we would make old grouch-pot Henderson cards ourselves. Boy, anyway, the way he’s been picking on me lately, I’m not too sure I want to even make him a card.
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