Wonder R. J. Palacio

Olivia's Brother
the first time i meet Olivia's little brother, i have to admit i'm totally taken by surprise.
i shouldn't be, of course. olivia's told me about his "syndrome." has even described 
what he looks like. but she's also talked about all his surgeries over the years, so i 
guess i assumed he'd be more normal-looking by now. like when a kid is born with a 
cleft palate and has plastic surgery to fix it sometimes you can't even tell except for the 
little scar above the lip. i guess i thought her brother would have some scars here and 
there. but not this. i definitely wasn't expecting to see this little kid in a baseball cap 
who's sitting in front of me right now.
actually there are two kids sitting in front me: one is a totally normal-looking kid with 
curly blond hair named jack; the other is auggie.
i like to think i'm able to hide my surprise. i hope i do. surprise is one of those emotions 
that can be hard to fake, though, whether you're trying to look surprised when you're
not or trying to not look surprised when you are.
i shake his hand. i shake the other kid's hand. don't want to focus on his face. cool 
room, I say. are you via's boyfriend? he says. i think he's smiling.
olivia pushes down his baseball cap. is that a machine gun? the blond kid asks, like i 
haven't heard that one before. and we talk about zydeco for a bit. and then via's taking 
my hand and leading me out of the room. as soon as we close the door behind us, we 
hear them laughing.
i'm from brooklyn! one of them sings.
olivia rolls her eyes as she smiles. let's go hang out in my room, she says.
we've been dating for two months now. i knew from the moment i saw her, the minute 
she sat down at our table in the cafeteria, that i liked her. i couldn't keep my eyes off of
her. really beautiful. with olive skin and the bluest eyes i've ever seen in my life. at first 
she acted like she only wanted to be friends. i think she kind of gives off that vibe 
without even meaning to. stay back. don't even bother. she doesn't flirt like some other 
girls do. she looks you right in the eye when she talks to you, like she's daring you. so i 
just kept looking her right in the eye, too, like i was daring her right back. and then i 
asked her out and she said yes, which rocked.
she's an awesome girl and i love hanging out with her. she didn't tell me about august 
until our third date. i think she used the phrase "a craniofacial abnormality" to describe 
his face. or maybe it was "craniofacial anomaly." i know the one word she didn't use 
was "deformed," though, because that word would have registered with me.

---

so, what did you think? she asks me nervously the second we're inside her room. are 
you shocked?
no, i lie. she smiles and looks away. you're shocked.
i'm not, i assure her. he's just like what you said he'd be. she nods and plops down on 
her bed. kind of cute how she still has a lot of stuffed animals on her bed. she takes 
one of them, a polar bear, without thinking and puts it in her lap.
i sit down on the rolling chair by her desk. her room is immaculate.
when i was little, she says, there were lots of kids who never came back for a second 
playdate. i mean, lots of kids. i even had friends who wouldn't come to my birthdays 
because he would be there. they never actually told me this, but it would get back to 
me. some people just don't know how to deal with auggie, you know?
i nod.
it's not even like they know they're being mean, she adds. they were just scared. i 
mean, let's face it, his face is a little scary, right?
i guess, i answer. but you're okay with it? she asks me sweetly. you're not too freaked 
out? or scared?
i'm not freaked out or scared. i smile. she nods and looks down at the polar bear on her 
lap. i can't tell whether she believes me or not, but then she gives the polar bear a kiss
on the nose and tosses it to me with a little smile. i think that means she believes me. 
or at least that she wants to.