Love, Magic and Misfortune by Karla Nikole
7
Then
Violet dug her fingers into the grass at her sides, her mind distraught and swarming with adolescent fury when she heard a familiar voice overhead.
“What are you doing back here?”
Jasper was standing there, his dark hair neatly parted and combed and his face filled with worry.
“Nothing,” Violet mumbled. She pulled at the grass, gripping it in her fist and tearing it from the earth. When she didn’t say anything else, Jasper sat down beside her with his back pressed against the brick wall of the schoolhouse. He shifted, reaching into his pocket to remove a square, complicated-looking puzzle. Focusing on it, he manipulated the toy with his fingers. Unspeaking.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“A brain teaser. I’m supposed to get all the parts to line up so that it makes a symmetrical shape. I think this one is some kind of flower? If I do, Dad says he’ll buy a Jean Claude Constantin lock for me.”
“Who is Jean Claude Constantin?”
“He’s a master puzzle maker—maybe the best.”
Despite her inner turmoil, Violet smiled. “You always like things I’ve never heard of… maybe things most kids have never heard of.”
Jasper shrugged. “I’m weird. Violet, why are you back here?”
She sighed. “I’m sick of Freddie being mean to me. Why is he always picking on me? I haven’t done anything to him.”
Jasper’s fingers paused as if something had struck him but then he thought better of it. His fingers moved once more, his eyes focused on his puzzle. “Freddie is stupid, you know?”
“I know—”
“No, Vi. I mean really stupid. He puts carrots in his nose at lunch to make people laugh. And then he eats them. That’s not funny.”
“No, it isn’t,” Violet said, but she laughed, more so at Jasper’s declaration and disgust than Freddie’s weird sense of comedy.
“One time—it was before you moved here—the teacher left the room for a second to talk to the principal just outside the door. Freddie got on the teacher’s desk and started dancing. But then his pants dropped because he never wears a belt with his uniform. When he went to grab them, he lost his balance and fell off the desk. He broke his arm.”
This time, Violet laughed at Freddie. A piece of the puzzle in Jasper’s hands clicked into place and he smiled, satisfied. He looked over at Violet. “Then he made a big stink about everyone signing his dumb cast. Freddie always wants attention. You moved to this town, and you and Rosie are so different from anyone we’ve ever met. Freddie can’t handle that. It’s like he doesn’t know what to do with himself. Plus, he’s really stupid.”
Violet nodded, a quiet question bubbling to the surface. “Is different so bad?”
“Different is great! How boring would it be if everyone was the same all the time? Freddie probably thinks so, too. But the way he shows it is all wrong.”
Grinning, Violet scooted a little closer to Jasper so that she could lay her head on his shoulder. She sighed. “Talking to you is like talking to an adult sometimes.”
He tinkered with his puzzle. “I’m just weird.”
“No,” Violet said. “You’re different. Different is great, remember? Someone really smart told me that.”
