Chapter Eighteen - Grade Five

“Alright everyone, heads down thumbs up!” Miss Miller announced, her voice cutting through the hubbub of excited fifth graders. The din calmed down into a low chattering simmer - and then silence soon after.

Distracted as usual, I was a little slow complying. Across from me, Zach and Bradley already had their faces stuck on the desk and their thumbs pointed up in the air. I met eyes briefly with the teacher and she gave me an encouraging nod, prompting me to do the same.

The first month of Grade Five had been a mixed bag. From an academic standpoint, everything was going swimmingly. Dropping down a grade had left me at the top of my class. English was a walk in the park, science was straight forward, and I was even on top of math and social studies for a change.

Miss Miller’s class was split, which meant that half the students were in grade four and the other half were in grade five. It was a little weird, but the concept was simple enough. Half the class would be a grade four lesson, and then Miss Miller would pull the fifth graders aside to teach us the more advanced stuff. The refresher was actually kind of nice.

I was still struggling with French, but being in a mixed group with grade four I was allowed to start from nothing. There were plenty of other beginners. Madam Gascon was really nice, and she totally understood that I’d never done French before. She’d even invited me to her after-school Spanish club when I’d mentioned that I’d learned a little in California - although I’d politely declined.

I’d been pretty worried about being in the same class as Zach and Bradley. I’d arrived on the playground on the first day terrified at how the cub scouts would react. Would they call me a liar? Or even make fun of me? They’d definitely been confused at first, the boys exchanging baffled whispers as Miss Miller assigned all three “scouts” to the same table in the classroom - but they’d been perfectly cordial to my face, treating me like just any other classmate.

“Shouldn’t Cooper be over with us?” Val had shouted out loud from his table with a group of other fourth graders, but Miss Miller had assured him I was in the right place. When I’d been the first to finish the math worksheet she’d given us, Zach had practically fallen off his chair!

The Keeo had finally spoken up at lunch, the two cubs flanking me on either side as we lined up in the dining room. I’d braced myself for a confrontation, but it never came.

“So are you like a genius baby or something?” he’d asked instead.

“Huh?” I said dumbly, taken off guard.

“You’re five and in fifth grade.” he’d clarified. “Have you got like two brains or something?”

I stared at him for a long time, baffled. I’d been so sure Zach and Bradley would figure out I was eleven. I’d even planned on begging them not to tell the Beavers - I never supposed they might draw the opposite conclusion. “I dunno…” I eventually squeaked. “I just did some homework after I moved, and the school said I should be in Miss Miller’s class…” I didn’t want to keep lying to everyone, but what I’d said wasn’t a lie - just not quite the whole truth. Zach had nodded sagely, satisfied.

The rumor that I was secretly a five-year-old super genius got around the class pretty quickly. I never actually confirmed it, but that only seemed to fan the fires of the rumor mill - my evasiveness whenever I was confronted taken as incontrovertible proof of the claim. Miss Miller’s attitude didn’t help. Presumably trying to build up my confidence after my breakdown in the meeting last month, she praised me to the extreme for the most basic of tasks. Completing my homework; asking questions in class; even tying my shoelaces - all had resulted in the teacher pinning a comic amount of cheesy stickers on the breast of my polo shirt. By the end of some days I looked like a five star general!

Not a day went by when some well-meaning comment or other from my classmates left me red in the face, but being the baby of grade five certainly had some benefits. The girls in my class were all over me, a few in particular hardly able to resist greeting me with a cuddle each morning or ruffling my hair. The boys seemed to go easier on me too, perfectly willing to forgive embarrassing slip ups that would have earned other kids a lifetime of teasing . One time, I accidentally called Miss Miller ‘Mom’ in class. Instead of an onslaught of mocking boos and jeers however, I’d been greeted instead with an adoring chorus of coos. Of course, I’d still been so embarrassed that I’d almost burst into tears, but all it took was one stern instruction from Miss Miller and the incident was all but forgotten - reduced to just one more piece of everyone to prove my already obvious immaturity.

Most importantly however, bullying was strictly off limits. After all, what kind of monster would pick on a five year old? Well we all knew one - Nate. Although my supposed age rendered me immune in the classroom, the cub scout sixer ruled supreme on the playground. I never stepped a foot outside during recess, instead choosing to earn myself more stickers helping Miss Miller in the classroom or reading by myself in the library. Sometimes I dared to venture over to the lower school playground to play with Laurie, but I never stayed for long. Nate was always there, lurking just over the flimsy chain link fence.

I knew second hand that he was hard at work spreading gossip about me. One kid had even had the gall to ask me if it was true I wore pull-ups, though a protective snarl from Zach had been enough to make him retract the question.

Even if I could evade him though, Nate’s looming presence still had me plenty nervous. His aunt knew the truth, after all. If he ever found out, I knew I’d quickly go from an adorable class curiosity to a freakish wussy wimp - fare game for anyone to torment to their heart’s content.

“Cooper?” Miss Miller’s voice interrupted my daydreams. “I said heads up, sweetie.” she coaxed, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder.

I gave a start, my cheek unsticking from the table as I jolted straight up. I blinked blearily. Had I drifted off? It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibilities. I’d been so stressed about Nate recently, I never slept through the night - interrupted by a never-ending reel of terrifying nightmares. By the end of most days I was dead on my feet.

A chorus of affectionate giggles confirmed my suspicions, the class swooning at the sight of my disheveled hair and sleepy expression. “Sorry!” I sang sweetly, staving off an almighty yawn.

Miss Miller let out a playful tut. “It’s alright, honey.” She turned to address the rest of the class. “That’s all for today, everyone. Have a good weekend! Maybe you can catch up on some sleep, Cooper.” she added, giving me a wink.

I rubbed my eyes and wandered over to the coat pegs as Zach, Brad and Val shoved homework into their backpacks. I hurried to do the same, but I didn’t have much. I was usually able to finish all the work before class ended.

“Ready for tonight?” Val asked excitedly. After school all the scouts, not just the Beavers, were doing another linking event - Apple Day.

Brad shrugged, a smug look on his face. “I got asked to join the scouts this time.” He informed them haughtily. Val’s mouth hung open in surprise, looking like a fish blowing bubbles.

“No way!” he exclaimed, a look of envy flashing in his eyes. “I’m stuck with the stupid Bobcats this year.”

“I’m with the Kindies.” Zach said casually.

“Well yeah, you’re Keeo.” Val grumbled “You’re expected to look after a bunch of babies.” He maintained a bitter scowl before catching a glimpse of me, realizing what he had said. “Err...not you, obviously.” he added hastily. I just giggled, quick to forgive the younger boy.

Zach looked at me with a smirk. “I bet we sell more Apples than the scouts or the Bobcats.” He announced boastfully.

“I don’t really care about that.” Brad retorted, dismissing Zach completely and turning his back on him as he threw on his backpack. I frowned. Brad had been doing that all week. Zach would try to reach out, and every time Brad would coolly reject him - treating him like a ghost.

“Yeah, it’s not a competition.” I told them neutrally as we prepared to leave the classroom. Brad and Val left first, while I waited around by the pegs as Zach talked to the teacher. I had been invited by Laurie to come over to their place after school. I had never actually been to his house before. I knew Zach walked him home every day, so today I was going to leave with him.

“Cooper!” A sickly sweet voice rang behind me. “Can I have my Cooper cuddle?”

I rolled my eyes. For some of the girls in grade five, a little kid joining their class was like a dream come true. They must have thought of me like a little doll to play with. Before I could protest, I felt someone wrap their arms around me and pull me into a tight squeeze. I could tell just from the pungent scent of strawberry that always seemed to cling to her that it was Sarah. The girl was way way too interested in me - to an uncomfortable degree. Sometimes she would plonk herself down next to me at lunch just to pepper me with endless prying questions. She wasn’t much of a conversationalist, never saying anything particularly interesting about herself and just responding to whatever I said with cloying coos and giggles. Of course, she found it just adorable that I was a Beaver scout.

“Let go.” I complained, showing her an unhappy pout.

“Don’t be like that.” Sarah scolded “I heard that the scouts are going door to door today just like us Girl Guides do.” she enthused.

“Yeah but we are only selling Apples, not cookies.” I explained. To be honest, it would have been easier to sell cookies. Who wants to buy an apple? I’d said as much to Taylor, but he’d told me that wasn’t the point. Apparently it was a tradition.

She just giggled and stole another indulgent hug before skipping away. I readjusted my bag and rolled my eyes.

Zach came back from talking to Miss Miller grumbling and in a bad mood as usual. “We need to finish that stupid math worksheet this weekend.” He complained and took my hand. I didn’t fuss. I was pretty used to him leading me places by now.

“I'm already done actually.” I told him, not trying to brag. The assignment was pretty basic stuff, and I had learned it a few times over by now.

“How are you so freaking smart?” Zach said out loud, roughly tugging me through the hallway.

We passed the other classrooms in the small Welton Public School counting down the rooms as smaller and smaller kids ran past us until we got to Grade One. I had always felt weird visiting the smaller grade classes since it seemed like I fit right in - people easily mistaking me for another first grader rather than the sixth grader I was supposed to be. All the teachers knew me by now, but the first couple of days had included more than a few misunderstandings. One time when I’d been playing with Laurie and Ari on the lower school playground, I’d almost found myself being herded back into the first grade classroom along with all the other little kids! I shuddered at the memory. Luckily, my fellow beavers had been happy to explain.

Outside the grade one door, Laurie was busy having a giggly conversation with Ari about some TV show I’d never heard of. It seemed our fellow brown tail had been so excited for Apple Day he’d chosen to wear his vest and hat to school.

Towering over the other students gathered outside the classroom and walking with his sauntering nonchalant big brother attitude, Zach marched right up to the pair of them - dragging me in tow. “Ready to go squirt?” he asked.

“Cooper!” They both sang and ran up for a hug. Not wanting to get caught in the tussle, Zach let me go - leaving me to the mercy of my fellow brown tails. The pair brought me to the ground as I stumbled back, landing on the grimy hall floor in a heap - all of us giggling.

“Where’s Fuzzie, Cooper?” Laurie asked as we picked ourselves up.

After camp, Laurie had decided that since I was the one who had rescued Fuzzie, I should keep him instead of Wubbie. Really though, both toys seemed to belong to us in equal parts. We swapped practically every beaver meeting. Currently, my half of the little wolf duo was stored safely in my backpack. Laurie had wanted me to keep it attached to the belt loop of my jeans, but there was no way I was going to do that in the fifth grade. There was no use making myself look even more little, even if everyone had already convinced themselves I was five years old. “He’s in my bag.” I reassured him.

Laurie smiled at me and looked up at Zach. “Cooper is coming over today!” He exclaimed.

“Yeah Buddy.” He told him and took up my hand. “Can you hold Cooper’s hand for me?”

Laurie snatched up my hand and the two of us browntails squeaked a goodbye to Ari, Zach leading the three of us swiftly away from the first grade class and out of the school. We trooped down the road hand in hand, the two brothers gripping onto my hand on either side of me making me feel like an escorted prisoner - or else a naughty toddler who couldn’t be trusted to walk down the side of the road without running off. Even though he was holding my hand so tight we might as well have been glued together, Zach couldn’t resist lecturing me on road safety.

“Never run into the road, Cooper.” he told me sternly, giving me a serious glare.

“I know that.” I muttered under my breath, but he didn’t seem to hear.

“And look both ways before you cross!” Laurie piped up, keen to demonstrate his own knowledge.

I nodded along, hoping Zach wasn’t planning on treating me like a baby the whole afternoon.