Algebra. It was not Munch’s favorite subject but he managed to muddle through. At least he had his homework done. A certain amount of homework had to be done to keep his grade at C level. If he fell bellow a C he wouldn’t be able to go on the art club field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and he HAD to go on that field trip. He had already signed up for it and paid for it. More important than that Thahn Ho had signed up too. To be in the Museum of Fine Arts could be heaven.

Trevor walked into the math class and sat down. He said, “Hey.”

Munch said, “Hey,” back. Trevor pulled his Algebra book out of is back pack and plunked it on his desk top with his completed homework. Perfect Trevor always had his homework done. He glanced back at Munch, saw he had his homework finished and smiled. That smile irritated Munch for some reason. It was almost like saying, “You have been a good boy and I’m proud of you.” It was slightly condescending. Sometimes Munch didn’t know what Lolly saw in the boy. She thought he was Beautiful. If this boy was beautiful, well, he couldn’t see it. What he saw when he looked at Trevor was a scrawny track boy with decent hair and zero taste in clothes. Track pants, baggy shirts and expensive athletic shoes. He wore the same thing every damn day.

There was the clomp of heavy brogans on the floor. It was Quack. Quack walked into the room. He made so much noise. He said hello to all the girls he passed and only a couple even looked at him. He was just about to sit down in his desk when he saw Munch. With a strange gleam in his eye, he nodded his head and told him, “I got some news for you.”

Whatever it was, it better not be about Thahn Ho.

The doofus got up, crossed the room and slid into the empty desk behind Munch. He leaned forward and said, “Seems we got us another new girl. I think you might like her.”

Munch turned and said, "Oh, yeah."

“Yup. She's one tall glass of dark bourbon.”

Munch the vegetarian boy, knew very little about meat, and next to nothing about booze. He did get the tall glass part though. Why would a tall girl ever be interested in his scrawny self.

Quack smirked. "Confused young son. You'll understand when you see her."

The dim wit was baiting him. Munch hadn’t seen any new girl. It was possible she didn’t even exist. Quack could just be messing with him. He wanted to react, but then he knew that’s what Quack wanted him to do. He got off on upsetting people or making them mad. Munch turned back around and stared straight ahead.

The idiot got up, laughed and went back to his seat. Munch didn’t know what he thought was so funny.

Under his breath, Trevor said, “That dude is such a jack ass.”

"Yeah, he is." Was there a real new girl? If there was a real girl and if she’s already had an encounter with Quack, Munch felt sorry for her.

The door opened and a girl walked into the room wearing a floral Maxie dress. The fabric was gorgeous. Sophmore Counselor, Mrs. Dean came in behind her. The girl looked scared. Quack made a sound in his throat. This girl was black and that's what dumb ass meant when he called her dark bourbon. Anger roiled inside of Munch. The new girl was tall like a super model and she was very pretty. No telling what the stupid boys were saying about her or thinking about her. Her eyes scanned the room and locked with Munch’s. There was a brief instant of relief. It always helped to know you weren’t the only black person in a sea of white. Mr. Flynn took the class slip from Mrs. Dean. They exchanged a few words. Mrs. Dean gave the girl a reassuring pat on the arm and left the room.

To the clas, Mr. Flynn said, “This is Grace Thibodaux. Do make her feel welcome.”

Her last name sounded French to Munch.

Mr. Flynn said to Grace, “Go sit behind Michael.” He pointed at Munch. Grace nodded. She walked down the aisle. All eyes followed her. She sat in the desk behind Munch. Her nervousness was palpable. Munch knew he needed to reach out to her. He could only imagine how she felt. Across the room that dumbass Quack was practically leering at her. Munch turned to her and whispered, “Hey, everybody calls me Munch, you can call me that if you like.” He noticed there were tears on her long curly lashes.

“Thanks Munch.” She brushed the tears away with her hand and gave him a watery smile.

When class was over, both Munch and Trevor hung back to wait for Grace. Trevor asked, “How’s it going?”

When Grace stood Munch was very aware of how much taller she was than him. She was even taller than Trevor. She said, “Okay I guess. Thanks for talking to me. No body has talked to me all day.”

Trevor asked, “What’s your next class? Munch and me can walk you to it. My girl friend is really cool. I will introduce you to her.”

“Thanks so much. I have Spanish.”

Trevor smiled, “So do I Senorita.”

They headed into the hall. Munch couldn’t help but notice how all eyes were shifting toward Grace. He knew what that felt like. Somewhere deep inside he was thankful he would no longer be the single token black student of Lyndon Baines High School.

*

Munch’s last class of the day was American History. When Grace walked into the room, she came right to him and asked, “Are any of these desks empty?”

“The one in front of me.”

She slid into it. She turned to him and said, “Trevor introduced me to his girl friend Lolly. She’s so sweet. I also met this girl, I can’t remember her name. She’s super quiet. Um, it started with a T, I think. She’s new too.”

“Oh, yeah that’s Thahn Ho.”

Slowly, Grace said her name. “I hope I can remember that. I thought this day was gonna be horrible but its turned out kinda okay.”

Mrs. Clary called the class to order. She had long blonde hair and wore the coolest bohemian clothes. Munch gave her an A for style. She saw Grace and smiled. “Do you have your class slip?”

Grace got up and took it to Mrs. Clary. All eyes in the room followed her progress. Mrs. Clary signed the slip and said, “Turn this into the office after class. You may take your seat.”

When Grace turned all eyes in the room shot to their desk tops. Only Munch kept his head up. Nervously, Grace made her way back to her desk. Even seated, she might be taller than he was.

It was kind of hard to see over Grace. When he was little, well littler, his mama put him in a booster seat so he could reach the table. He could use a booster seat right now. Fortunately this was not math so he didn’t have to worry about seeing equations on the board. Mrs. Clary launched into a lecture about the Louisiana Purchase. Munch heard not a word of it. In front of him, he couldn’t help but notice Grace had an immaculate Afro. She smelled nice too. In no way did she eclipse Thahn Ho in his mind or heart, it was just he’d never really been around any black girls.

The last bell of the day sounded. Munch leaned forward and asked Grace, “Do you ride the bus?”

“No, I walk. We don’t live far from the school. I gotta go get my sister from the junior high. I hope her day was not awful.” They stood and walked into the hall.

Thanh Ho was coming toward them. She said, “Hi Grace.”

Carefully, Grace said, “Hey Thahn Ho.”

“You got it right that time. Thanks.” She gave Munch a smile and fell into step beside him.

The three of them made their way to the front doors. Out in the parking lot Munch saw the green Volvo. Thahn Ho said, “See you tomorrow.” She made her way toward her mother’s car.

Under her breath, Grace said, “Damn, a Volvo. She don’t act rich.”

Munch didn’t know if Thahn Ho was rich or if her parents were just super cautious and Volvo’s were the safest cars on the planet.

Grace scanned the sidewalk of the Junior High. Munch saw a scrawny black girl that looked miserable huddled beside the crossing guard, Mrs. Mc Farland. This girl was tall too, but she was too far away for Munch to clearly see her features. Grace waved her long arm at her sister and her sister waved back. “See ya, tomorrow Munch.”

“See ya.” Munch watched her head down the side walk. She stuck out. Heads turned as she made her way to the Junior High. Not once did she turn to look at anyone else. She was headed straight for her sister. Mrs. Mc Farland nodded and smiled as Grace crossed the street. Mrs. Mc Farland could be counted on for kindness. When Grace reached her sister, her sister gave her the biggest hug. Not for the first time in his life, Munch wondered what it was like to have a sibling.

Someone poked him in the back. He spun around. It was Lolly. “Hey, the bus is fixing to leave. You riding?”

“Yeah.”

“Well come on. Mrs. Anderson is waiting.”