Wonder R. J. Palacio

party and managed to turn the whole grade against me.
"It just feels so weird," I said, "to not have people talking to you, pretending you don't 
even exist."
Auggie started smiling.

---

"Ya think?" he said sarcastically.
"Welcome to my world!"
Sides 
"So here are the official sides," said Summer at lunch the next day. She pulled out a 
folded piece of loose-leaf paper and opened it. It had three columns of names.
Jack's Side
Julian's Sides
 
 
Neutrals
 
Jack
 
 
Miles
 
 
Malik
 
August
 
 
Henry
 
 
 Remo
 
Reid
 
 
Amos
 
 
Jose
 
Max G
 
 
Simon
 
 
Leif
 
Max W
 
 
Tristan
 
 
Ram
 
 
 
 
 
Pablo
 
 
Ivan
 
 
 
 
 
Nino
 
 
Russell
 
 
 
 
 
Isaiah
 
 
 
 
 
Luca
 
 
 
 
 
Jake
 
 
 
 
 
Toland
 
 
 
 
 
Roman
 
 
 
 
 
Ben
 
 
 
 

Emmanuel
 
 
 
 
 
Zele
 
 
 
 
 
Tomaso
"Where did you get this?" said Auggie, looking over my shoulder as I read the list.

---

"Charlotte made it," Summer answered quickly. "She gave it to me last period. She said 
she thought you should know who was on your side, Jack."
"Yeah, not many people, that's for sure," I said.
"Reid is," she said. "And the two Maxes."
"Great. The nerds are on my side."
"Don't be mean," said Summer.
"I think Charlotte likes you, by the way."
"Yeah, I know."
"Are you going to ask her out?"
"Are you kidding? I can't, now that everybody's acting like I have the Plague."
The second I said it, I realized I shouldn't have said it. There was this awkward moment 
of silence. I looked at Auggie.
"It's okay," he said. "I knew about that."
"Sorry, dude," I said.
"I didn't know they called it the Plague, though," he said.
"I figured it was more like the Cheese Touch or something."
"Oh, yeah, like in Diary of a Wimpy Kid." I nodded.
"The Plague actually sounds cooler," he joked.
"Like someone could catch the 'black death of ugliness.' " As he said this, he made air 
quotes. 
"I think it's awful," said Summer, but Auggie shrugged while taking a big sip from his 
juice box. 
"Anyway, I'm not asking Charlotte out," I said.
"My mom thinks we're all too young to be dating anyway," she answered.
"What if Reid asked you out?" I said. "Would you go?"
I could tell she was surprised. "No!" she said.
"I'm just asking," I laughed.

---

She shook her head and smiled. "Why? What do you know?"
"Nothing! I'm just asking!" I said.
"I actually agree with my mom," she said. "I do think we're too young to be dating. I 
mean, I just don't see what the rush is."
"Yeah, I agree," said August. "Which is kind of a shame, you know, what with all those 
babes who keep throwing themselves at me and stuff?"
He said this in such a funny way that the milk I was drinking came out my nose when I 
laughed, which made us all totally crack up.