The Cat Ate My Gymsuit Read Free Page A

winning?”
    “The blue team.”
    “Don’t you feel well?”
    “I’m O.K. Why?”
    “Just wondered.”
    We sat and watched the game for a few minutes. I didn’t know what else to say.
    She turned and said, “I’m going to ask Ms. Schmidtif I can play. I’m a real clod at volleyball, but it’s fun. Do you want to play too?”
    I shook my head. Looking at me as if she wanted to say something else, she just smiled and walked over to the game. Schmidt obviously said that she could play, because she took off her shoes and joined the red team.
    She really was bad. When someone hit the ball to her, she ducked. When she served, she didn’t always get it over the net. But she looked as if she were having fun, making up her own rules as she went along.
    “It’s a do-over. I forgot to call out the score.”
    “English teachers get an extra serve.”
    “People named Barbara get two extra serves.”
    Someone yelled across the net, “Hey, Ms. Finney. Just pretend that the ball is a direct object and our team is the indirect object.”
    Ms. Finney smiled and volleyed. The ball just missed hitting Nancy on the head. Nancy turned around, laughed, and yelled, “She said a direct object, not a dangling participle.”
    Schmidt blew her whistle and said, “Everyone hurry up. Into the showers and then get dressed.”
    Ms. Finney yelled, “Thanks, everyone, for lettingme play.” Then she came over and said, “That was fun.”
    I just smiled at her and followed the rest of the kids into the locker room.
    One day in class, Nancy raised her hand and asked Ms. Finney if we could do more about how we felt inside. Ms. Finney thought about it and said that we had to use the class time to do what was in the syllabus, the guide that schools give teachers. She said that she felt a responsibility to go over the assigned material. After thinking awhile, she smiled and said, “Why don’t we start a club after school? That’ll work. I’ll tell my other classes and you all tell other friends. We’ll start Monday after school.”
    That’s how Smedley got started.

CHAPTER 4
    S medley wasn’t a person. It was the club. What happened was that twenty-five kids came, which was really good because a lot of the kids had to take buses to school and staying after meant a long walk or having someone pick you up. We figured that the club should have a name. Nancy suggested “The Self Club.” Joel wanted it to be called “Interpersonal Persons.” Alan Smith said that we should be named “The Sherlock Holmes Crew,” because we all would be searching to find ourselves. That kid is probablygoing to be a detective some day, or a peeping tom. A kid from another class said, “Why don’t we just call ourselves Smedley, after that dopey guy in our grammar book who is always looking for the right way to say things?” Everyone liked that.
    Ms. Finney said that we should begin by examining what had just happened, that each of us should look at how we acted in the group and how we all finally agreed. This, she said, was group dynamics in action. She said that she had taken college courses involving that sort of thing, and that she had had a minor in something called Human Organizational something or other. I don’t remember exactly, but it sounded good.
    So we talked about it and saw that some people have different roles in a group. Some are leaders. Some are reactors. (Alan thought that meant that he was like an atomic reactor.) Joel said that Alan and Robert Alexander always acted like clowns when they wanted attention or were afraid of something. They both got mad at him and called him a brainy creep. He called them cretins, and finally Ms. Finney had to tell them to stop.
    “O.K. That’s enough. If you want me to be advisorto this club, you all have to try to work things out. Let’s begin with an exercise to get acquainted.”
    Nancy raised her hand and said, “Ms. Finney. That’s silly. We’ve known each other since kindergarten.”
    Ms.