The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George Read Free Book Online Page A

interlocutor. Esther is so focused on her job and whatever it is that’s going on inside her head that Jesse imagines she wouldn’t look up once until lunchtime if Jesse didn’t get her attention on purpose.
    “So you hate pep rallies, too,” she opens, a little louder than normal to make sure Esther hears her.
    Esther pauses and looks around, confused, as if trying to identify the source of the sound she just heard.
    “You hate pep rallies, too?” Jesse repeats.
    Esther makes eye contact with her:
Oh, it’s you talking.
    “I oppose them,” she corrects, and turns back to her raking.
    “Me too. I find them hideous.”
    “Where were you registering your objection, if not the main office?”
    “I was actually…” Jesse begins, then pauses to considerwhether she should tell Esther the truth. Esther looks up briefly and nods, a bit impatiently.
    “Yes?”
    “I was actually trying to skip the assembly and Sne-diker busted me climbing out the window of the girls’ room.”
    For a second Esther doesn’t respond, and Jesse thinks it was a mistake to admit this. But then, to Jesse’s relief, Esther laughs, sudden and seal-like, a kind of bark-yelp. When Esther opens her mouth, Jesse notices that her teeth are neat, small, and separate—baby teeth in a grown-up mouth.
    “Oh well,” Esther says. “I guess
that
was a mistake.”
    “Yeah, big mistake,” Jesse agrees, encouraged, “especially since I was planning to use first period to put up my new manifesto around school.” Somehow it’s very important to Jesse that this girl know that she’s serious about things.
    “Oh, that’s you?” Esther raises her eyebrows, curious. “Those manifesto posters, those are you?”
    “My organization.” Jesse nods casually, a quiet pride spreading inside her.
    “I like those.”
    “Thanks.”
    “I look forward to them.” That this girl knows her manifestos, likes them, looks forward to them, sends Jesse’s heart sailing. “They’re hilarious. They’re sort of like episodes of some sitcom about a goofy activist or something.”
    Jesse’s heart hits the ground with a thunk.
    “Sitcom?”
    “Yeah, they’re a parody, right? Like a joke on political manifestos?”
    It seems too late, or too complicated, or just too embarrassing for Jesse to correct Esther. How could she possibly explain at this moment that the manifestos are her earnest work, her best idea about how to change the culture of the school?
    “Yeah,” Jesse says, trying to swing a note of bravado into her voice. “Totally. A joke on manifestos.”
    “That’s cool. Like
The Daily Show
or something, right? Satire? That’s cool.” Somehow when Esther says the word
cool
it’s like your grandma trying to say the word
cool
. Her moist, wide mouth makes the word come out all awkward. And yet it’s also completely sincere. “I mean, that kind of comedy doesn’t change the world or anything, but it’s funny. It gets people’s attention. And it can get people thinking.”
    “Yeah. I always try to get people thinking.”
    Esther stops raking now, holds the rake away from her body and looks at Jesse thoughtfully, sizing her up.
    “What’s your organization called again?”
    “Um, NOLAW?”
    “Which stands for… ?”
    Jesse swallows. “National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos?”
    “Right, very funny. And who are your other members?”
    “Um…” Jesse pictures herself alone at her desk in her room, cutting and pasting, running the posters off in furtive batches on her mom’s printer/scanner/copier before she gets home from work. “We don’t have too many members. We’re not that big an organization.”
    “You know what you could do,” Esther offers, “is join up with
my
new organization, SPAN. Have you heard of us?” Jesse shakes her head. “SPAN? Student Peace Action Network?” Jesse shakes her head again, and Esther sighs, annoyed.
    “Sorry?” Jesse offers.
    “No it’s okay, it’s just, this is our hugest problem.