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his name is! Ha-ha!). He’s creating half animal, half human creatures on this island, like a half pig or a half wolf or whatever. It’s kind of a cool concept.
    On the team, one of the best things you can call someone is a beast. “You’re a beast, man!” Like if J.P., who’s our best pitcher, strikes out ten guys, you’d say that.
    Anyway, we’re most of the way through the book. Like I said, it’s short. There are no assigned seats inEnglish because Mr. Haun doesn’t “believe in them.” But Andy and I usually get there early enough to sit across the aisle from each other. Sometimes we sit one in front of the other in the same aisle, but that’s not as good, because one of us has to turn around to talk.
    Anyway, today we’re across from each other, like two-thirds of the way back. Perfect location. The bell hasn’t gone off yet, and we’re talking about what sort of half human, half animal we’d be.
    â€œI’d be, like, I’d be…” says Andy.
    He’s taking too long, so I start in: “Donkey! Skunk! Monkey-butt!”
    â€œShut up!” he says. “I think I’d be a jaguar.”
    â€œYeah, right!” I say.
    â€œNo, seriously, think about it.”
    â€œI am. That’s why I said ‘yeah, right.’”
    â€œSeriously, I’m kind of small but pretty fast.”
    â€œI think that’s cheetahs,” I say.
    â€œI’m not that fast,” says Andy, and then the bell rings.
    â€œHalf tiger!” I say quickly, in that second when everyone is opening up their notebook and straightening out in their seat.
    Andy rolls his eyes, but tigers are tougher than jaguars, and it’s too late for him to change his pick. Mr. Haun is already talking.
    Andy and I don’t have all of the same classes, but wealways meet up at lunch. Whoever gets to the caf first saves a seat. By the time I navigate my tray of Mexican Surprise through the rows, I can see that Andy is already sitting down and eating. He really is fast. Maybe not jaguar fast, but still. Tim Liu is across from him, and I slide my tray into the reserved parking spot next to him.
    â€œWhat are you losers talking about?” I say.
    The answer is baseball, of course. Most of the time it’s about our team, but sometimes it’s the big leagues. Opening day is coming up, so it’s on our minds. (It’s not like it wouldn’t be on our minds after opening day, but you know how it is. April baseball is kind of low stakes in the majors.)
    Jackson wore a Yankees hat into school this morning, and so we’re talking about whether or not the Yankees are evil. I guess it would be more accurate to say we’re talking about how evil the Yankees are and whether or not that makes Jackson evil, too.
    â€œTheir payroll is like a billion dollars,” Tim says.
    â€œNo way,” I say. “It’s like two hundred–some million.”
    â€œYuh-huh,” says Tim. “I mean total, long-range. They’ve got those big guys on like five- and ten-year contracts at ten or twenty million a pop.”
    Those are what you call ballpark figures. I mean, there’s a pretty big difference between five and ten yearsand ten million and twenty million dollars. The thing is, though, he’s sort of right.
    â€œAnd Kansas City pays like forty million bucks for the whole team,” he adds.
    I think that might be a little low, but again, ballpark.
    â€œEvil,” says Andy.
    â€œEvil,” Tim and I agree.
    There’s a little pause.
    â€œThe Sox are, like —” I say.
    â€œLike two-thirds of the Yankees,” says Tim.
    If you just say the Sox, you mean the Red Sox. If you mean the White Sox, you have to say so. That’s just the way the world works.
    And then Chester plunks his tray down on the table.
    â€œHello, losers,” he says. We use that word a lot. It’s OK to call someone a loser