"Pros and Cons of Being Robbie", Chapter One

Okay, everybody! The REAL start of my Robbie and Jack story. The story is really about Robbie, actually, and it's called "Pros and Cons of Being Robbie". Is the title too long, do you think? I intend to have an explanation for it later in the story.

I think this chapter came out quite well. I eventually realized the reason my other attemps at this story (which I didn't post, because they didn't come out well) failed. I wrote too much about Jack, and when writing from a child's point of view it's important to not have other characters take a a major role consistantly, because you loose the self-centered child veiwpoint. That being said, I needed to reread "Ramona and Beezus" to safely get through the later chapters, where Jack will need to play a major role.

I'm taking all my insperation and assistance from the Ramona books, by Beverly Cleary. I've always loved those books and I've collected all of them, so this project is really fun.

...

"Pros and Cons of Being Robbie"
by Carmen Aistrup
Chapter 1: The Umbrella

Robbie didn't like the rain and he didn't like walking to school. He listened to the tapping of rain on the kitchen window monday morning and concluded that it was an omen that he would have a very bad day.

He stalled for time, stirring his oatmeal (plain oatmeal, not even the cinnamon flavored kind. Another bad omen.) for much longer than he needed to cool it off. He willed himself to come down with a sudden cold so he could stay home from school. Robbie liked staying home sick, when he could watch cartoons and eat soup all day, and his mom stayed him from work with him.

"Hurry up, Robbie. You have to go in five minutes," his mom reminded him.

Robbie sighed and ate his oatmeal as slowly as he could. It was flavorless and mushy, but he knew that if he didn't eat it he would get hungry later and then he would be sorry.

It was time to go before he knew it. He trudged to the door, drawing out every step as long as he could.

"Wait!" his mom called, and Robbie's hopes soared. They fell and crashed, though, when his mom simple handed him a bulky pink and yellow object. Robbie mentaly pictured his hopes crashing into a window like a bird.

"Huh?" he said dully.

His mom sighed and snatched it from him. Robbie didn't like that, it made him feel like a little kid who didn't know anything. She clicked a button on the handle and pushed up. An umbrella bloomed from the bundle of loose fabric and flexible poles.

"An umbrella?" he asked.

"Of course! I bought it last week. I wouldn't let you go out in this weather without one. Now, scoot," his mother said, all but pushing him out the door. Robbie stood on the doormat in the rain, safe and dry under his umbrella. He liked the sound the rain made when it hit the fabric. Patpatpatpat. Robbie smiled.

He enjoyed the walk to school. It wasn't very cold, especially since he was nice and dry. He began to doubt that the rain had really been a bad omen after all. He twirled the umbrella and looked up, hypnotised by the way the wires were spinning and twisting with silver light.

As he get to the school he twirled the umbrella faster, because he wanted everybody to see how lucky he was. To Robbie's dismay, however, several other kids also had umbrellas. He didn't like them taking away from his glory.

"Robbie's a girl! He has a girl umbrella!" shouted Tod from acrooss the schoolyard.

Tod was usually one of Robbie's friends, but he loved to tease people. Kids that Robbie didn't even know began to laugh at him. Robbie blushed furiously.

"It is not!" He took it down to eye level and inspected it suspiciously. It was pink, with little yellow ducks around the border. It was a girl umbrella, but he would never be the one to admit it.

"It is! Robbie's a girl! He has cooties! Better run!" Tod yelled.

Robbie knew knew that eight year olds were far too old to be saying that people have cooties, but of course the other kids couldn't resist joining in the fun. As Robbie neared the school building, the children ahead of him ran, shrieking, "Cooties! Cooties!" Robbie tried to ignore them, but it was hard.

The door was open, because Mrs. Crowden never made them line up outside in the rain. Robbie went inside and stuffed his backpack into his cubby by the door. He realized, suddenly, that he didn't know how to close his umbrella. He went and sat in his seat, setting the umbrella on the floor beside him.

The classroom began to fill up and the girl who sat in front of Robbie turned around. "You know," she said, "It's bad lcuk to have an open umbrella inside."

"I don't believe in bad luck," said Robbie to save dignity, but really he did, and he was worried. Was it seven years of bad luck, like breaking a mirror? Seven years seemed like an impossibly long time to Robbie.

"I don't care if you get bad luck, but don't say I didn't warn you." She turned around and nobody said anything else to Robbie until the bell rang.

"Merry monday, everybody!" Mrs. Crowden greeted them.

A few people muttered back, Merry monday, but the girl who sat in front of Robbie spoke up. "It's only merry for Christmas," she said. Know-it-all, thought Robbie.

"Well, maybe you're right, Jenny. But merry means 'happy', so I think that sounds about right. Happy monday?"

Jenny nodded agreeably. Robbie was tired. The warm air of the classroom was comfortable and he started nodding off, his chin dropping to his chest and then back up quickly, only to repeat itself. He was always sleepy on Mondays.

"Robbie?" Robby's eyes snapped open and his head jerked up.

"Would you please close your umbrella and put it away? It's blocking the aisle," Mrs. Crowden said.

"Oh," said Robbie. He leaned over and fumbled with the umbrella. After nearly half a minute of fiddling with it and getting frustrated he sat up and mumbled, "I can't."

"What was that?" Mrs. Crowden prompted.

Robbie took a deep breath. "I don't know how to close it."

The entire class erupted into laughter. Robbie wished that he could just crawl into his desk and disapear, like it could turn into a tunnel to his house. He wondered if he would get in trouble if he just walked right out the door and went home.

But then he would be a cowardly little kid, hiding under a girl umbrella. Tears of self pity stung his eyes. Why did his stupid mom have to give him that umbrella? Robbie would have rather walked in the rain if he had known this was going to happen.

Jenny got out of her seat and grabbed the umbrella. She snapped it shut with a sharp little 'click' and a muffled sounding 'whoomph'. She handed it back to him with a look of distaste.

"Thanks alot, Robbie," she whispered sarcastically, "Now I'm going to have bad luck too."

Robbie bristled, too proud to apologise or even thank her. He took the umbrella to the cubbies and shoved it in. As he made his way back to his seat he could feel everyone's eyes on him. A painful lump had grown in his throat.

"Thank you, Jenny," said Mrs. Crowden, who then looked at Robbie like she was disapointed that he hadn't said it first. Robbie sat down and stared glumly at his desk.

The day seemed to go very slowly to Robbie. It seemed to him that everywhere he looked, someone was whispering or pointing at him and giggling. They had indoor recess that day because the raining hadn't stopped.

Instead of playing with Troy and Tod like he usually did, Robbie very quietly read a book at his desk. He hoped that maybe Mrs. Crowden would notice that he wasn't being rowdy and noisy, and forgive him for not thanking Jenny. Mrs. Crowden was the nicest teacher he'd ever had, he didn't like not being on good terms with her. She didn't seem to notice, though.

The day dragged on until the last bell finally rung. The class stampeded to the cubbies and out the door. Robbie grabbed his backpack and umbrella with a sick feeling in his gut and left the room. Tod was standing outside, waiting like a vulture.

"Girly girl! Girly girl!" he taunted. Robbie could easilly imagine Tod as a vulture, crowing insults while circling the highway. He smiled at the thought. Nobody else joined Tod in teasing Robbie, apparently they'd had enough of that for the day.

The rain had stopped just before school let out, and everything was sparkling. Robbie was in no mood to yell at Tod, so he ignored him and walked across the schoolyard. As he made his way to the gate he tried to hide the awful umbrella behind his backpack.

He was pleasantly surprised when he reached the gate. Jack stood by the fence, head down, hands dug deep into the pockets of his oversized sweatshirt. Robbie grinned.

All the heartbreaks of the day were forgotten as Robbie ran to meet his best friend. "Jack! What are you doing here?" he yelled.

Jack looked up and returned Robbie's grin. "I finished all my work early," he said, "So my mom said I could come meet you."

Jack was homeschooled. Robbie thought that he would not like to be homeschooled, stuck in his boring house all day. It would be like endless homework. Anyways, he would miss the school lunches, especially the chicken nuggets.

"Cool," he said as he caught up to Jack. Jack saw the umbrella almost right away and grabbed it before Robbie could stop him. He fiddled with it for a moment beofre snapping it open. He looked it over and held it up.

"Nice umbrella. Did your mom buy it?" Jack asked, and Robbie nodded. Robbie looked behind him, worried that Tod would see.

"You can close it now, you know. It's not raining," Robbie said, trying to get Jack to shut it before anyone saw.

"I like it. Can we just walk to my house with it open, please?"

Robbie took one look at Jack's pleading face and couldn't say no. It wasn't like the teasing could get any worse, anyways. "Okay," he said, "But we have to close it before we go inside. It's bad luck to have an umbrella open inside."

"Oh, I know that," said Jack. He held the umbrella above his head with one and and grabbed Robbie's hand with the other.

As they walked home, talking about nothing important, Robbie barely even thought about how silly they looked.