Felix the Comet

By Cathy Coley

Felix is an enthusiastic kid who loves his dog Cosmo, school, and two best friends, until the November day Dave Spangler moves to town. Spangler gives him a horrible nickname, and Felix begins to doubt everything. On Thanksgiving night, he walks his dog, looks up in the sky, and notices something that takes the roller coaster ride of the week back up again. However, Spangler isn’t through with him yet. Tai and Kelsey have his back, and so do a lot of others, even if he doesn’t know it. He tries to handle everything by himself, especially being picked on, because being called a name really can’t be that bad, can it? The last thing he wants to do is tattle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jul 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483412160

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Copyright © 2014 Cathy Coley.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1217-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1216-0 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 08/08/2014

Contents

Chapter 1 New Kid in Town

Chapter 2 A Bad Day at School

Chapter 3 Back in Class

Chapter 4 Thank the Ancients for Cosmo

Chapter 5 Another Helping of Bad Day, Please

Chapter 6 A Couple of Chats

Chapter 7 A New Day, Almost

Chapter 8 What a Wednesday

Chapter 9 A Minor Disaster

Chapter 10 Nurse Ketchum

Chapter 11 Thanksgiving Hustle

Chapter 12 A Helping of Mike

Chapter 13 Stuffed

Chapter 14 Oh My Stars!

Chapter 15 The Observatory

Chapter 16 Friday & Saturday Newshounds

Chapter 17 A Call from Kelsey

Chapter 18 Monday, Monday

Chapter 19 The Jig Must Be Up

Chapter 20 The Principal’s Office

Chapter 21 The Pressure’s On

Chapter 22 Lunch

Chapter 23 Survival Mode

Chapter 24 Something’s up with Pinky

Chapter 25 Supper Time

Chapter 26 The Not So Long Goodnight

Chapter 27 Getting Through

Chapter 28 The Final Interview

Chapter 29 Wednesday Night and Hello Thursday

Chapter 30 Trials

Chapter 31 Tribulations?

Chapter 32 The Article Waits

Chapter 33 The Article

Chapter 34 Presentation Day

Chapter 35 Of Stars Above and Below

Author’s Acknowledgements

Donor Acknowledgements

About the Author

Felix The Comet

is d

edicated to

my boys,

Kenny and Shea,

and to my girl,

Chloe.

Remain full of wonder, as I am with you.

You are made of star stuff.

We are star stuff harvesting star light.

For small creatures such as we,

the vastness is bearable only through love.

-Carl Sagan, astronomer, cosmologist

Chapter One

New Kid in Town

Felix hopped out of the school bus that chilly November morning with no expectations out of the ordinary. Boy was he wrong.

Tai, last night, I read about Egypt, since we’re going to be doing that 3D pyramid project, and it seems that the pharaohs used an advanced pulley system to move those enormous mega stones into place via huge logs that rolled under them. So they actually moved rather easily along the logs as the people would pull on ropes around the stones. They lined up and laid the ropes over their shoulders, a lot like how the Viking ships were steered by a huge number of people, too, and therefore the weight of the stones was distributed over many people! AND they used a lot of scaffolding and ramps to move the stones up to the great heights of the tallest pyramids and set them in to such exacting standards of measurement.

That’s cool, Felix. Tai quickly switched gears, You know what I figured out last night? Bfm-bfm-tacka-tacka-bfmp! Tai continued his beat box rhythm as they walked into class. Felix laughed about his friend’s excitement.

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Good morning, Tyrell, how are you? Felix greeted his table mate as he hung his backpack on the back of his chair. Then he tripped over the chair leg and bumped the table. Tyrell Bunsen just lifted his pencil and waited for Felix to settle into his seat. Oop, sorry.

No prob, Felix. How about you? Tyrell Bunsen yawned and grinned. As the tallest kid in sixth grade, Bunsen nudged the table about a foot as he stretched with his yawn. Felix chuckled.

I’m well, thanks, and if you keep growing, we’ll be seated on the opposite side of the room! Felix snorted. Both boys pushed the table back to its original position.

He wrote Felix H. Poitmeyer at the top of his morning brain teaser, and glimpsed Principal Rhodes usher a new student into the classroom. She stopped by Ms. Oatley’s desk and placed her hand on the shoulder of the large kid beside her. He was bigger than your average sixth grader. He was nearly as tall as Tyrell, and wider. Felix imagined this new kid as a bulldog. He expected him to bark. He may have been new, but he stood like he already owned the place. He had the beginnings of a moustache. No boy in the class had one yet.

Class, Ms. Oatley, please welcome our newest friend, David Spangler. His family just moved to Emerson Elementary from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Hi David, the class groggily replied together. Felix smiled inquisitively but his smile shrank as the new kid scanned around the room and narrowed his eyes at Felix.

What did I do? thought Felix. His smile shrank under the piercing look.

He watched as Dr. Rhodes continued her introduction. "David, I know this isn’t middle school, but I bet you’ll find a lot to like about our old Emerson. We pride ourselves in fostering a solid K through Sixth foundation for your educational journey." Felix heard some of his classmates groan under their breath.

Hi David, greeted Ms. Oatley.

Spangler - or Dave, he interrupted his new teacher.

Alright, Dave, why don’t you take the empty seat at Felix and Tyrell’s table? That’s a good place to start making new friends. Spangler uncrossed his thick arms and strode across to take a seat with Felix and Tyrell. Felix felt wedged between these two giants as they spread themselves out across the table.

How did you get the black eye? asked Tyrell.

Football.

Felix felt the word closed any further discussion, but saw Tyrell found common ground with the new kid with, Yeah? Me, too.

Felix tried to focus back on his brain teaser, but he barely had room to move the pencil across his page.

What kind of stupid name is Felix? Spangler growled. Felix was surprised that he didn’t feel like answering.

Then Felix thought, Wow, he does bark.

Chapter Two

A Bad Day at School

Felix scooted his way between tables as the rest of Ms. Oatley’s class jostled into line for lunch. The class had just endured a full period of mixed fractions practice. Ahead, he saw Spangler nudge Tyrell Bunsen and point at Ms. Oatley’s computer screen. Then he looked right at Felix and burst out laughing. "Felix Haalley Poitmeyer? What a joke!" Bunsen folded in half, guffawed and slapped his thigh.

Felix felt a pit of anxiety open in his belly and a heavy thing drop to its bottom, but he nervously laughed it off. That was the third time that Dave pointed out something wrong with Felix in his first morning in class. Ms. Oatley filed the class out of the room. She called, Last one out, please get the light! Felix’s hand lingered on the light switch. Tai Nguyen rolled his eyes behind his thick glasses, and pulled his hood up over his head. He proclaimed, Here we go again, and slapped the door frame in a short rhythm on their way to the cafeteria.

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Felix and Tai kept an eye on Spangler as he took charge at a different table with Bunsen and the other football league boys. Kelsey Cunningham slid into her usual chair with Felix and Tai at the table in the farthest corner. What’s up? Is that the new kid? The boys just chewed and nodded and looked at each other. Felix, are you okay? You’re awfully quiet… He just nodded and rolled up the brown paper bag his mother had packed for him. He didn’t want to draw any more attention to himself.

Hi Kels. The new kid - OW! Tai yelped as Felix kicked him under the table and eyed him to stop.

"Sorry, it was an accident." Felix hinted to Tai to keep quiet.

Guys, what’s going on?

Nothing. But they both said it a little too quickly. Felix knew Kelsey would make a bigger deal out of this than necessary.

Okay, we’ll talk on the playground. Meet me by the steps, I have to talk to Meghan and Sasha about our Egypt project, might as well get that out of the way first.

Once out on the playground, Felix saw the two big guys tossing a football across the broad field. Felix caught Spangler’s eye then heard him call loudly to Tyrell, "Hey Bunsen! Get this - Ha-ley! Oh Haaaley!" He fluttered his wrist at Felix, to emphasize the girlish quality of Felix’s middle name. Tyrell chuckled.

Felix, in his informative way, corrected the new kid. "It’s Halley, with a short ‘a’ sound, as in the word alley. It’s after the famous Halley’s Comet which traces a path in its orbit so that it is seen from Earth only once every seventy-six years!"

That’s when Spangler changed it. He jogged toward Bunsen, and call out, "Get a load of Halley over here. The way he talks is like vomit. Hey Vomit!" Spangler waved at Felix as Bunsen punched his new friend on the arm.

That’s a good one, Spangler! Like Comet! Hey Vomit! Felix’s mouth fell open as Bunsen, taken with the new guy’s antics, laughed hard. Felix grappled to understand why Tyrell would find that funny.

Don’t worry about them, c’mon. Tai steered Felix toward the play set at the other end of the school playground. They sat on the steps up to the slide and bridge, and Felix felt every kid on the playground looking between Spangler and himself until Ms. Oatley’s whistle to end recess blew, just as Kelsey walked up.

Well, at least that’s over. Tai suggested.

Felix knew better, Is it?

Okay, now I get it. The new kid is on your case. What a Neanderthal. You know you have to tell.

Kelsey, no - let me deal with this. Felix nearly panicked as she rolled her eyes, huffed once, and hummed her way back into school. The last thing he needed was for her to tattle.

Chapter Three

Back in Class

Felix bent the pencil until it broke in half. He was supposed to be taking his Spelling quiz along with everyone else, something he usually aced, practically with his eyes closed, but the recess taunts of his neighbors at the table hampered him. He didn’t know what to say to make them stop. He didn’t want to fight, his parents said that was never the way to solve a conflict, that it would only lead to more violence. His heart raced, nearly beat out of his chest. His breath was shallow and fast as he tried to come up with a good retort, something to do with bulldog, while they had to be silent. He worried that Kelsey was tattling as he sat.

The clearest among the racing thoughts in his head was: who cares how to spell repellant, the next word Ms. Oatley called for the quiz. His arm wanted to swing out and punch them both right here, right now. How could it feel so right and be so wrong? They deserved it, but the pencil got it instead. It snapped in half where he held it. He took a deep breath to try to concentrate, though he just wanted the day to end. He wanted to go home and throw the crusty old tennis ball with his golden retriever, Cosmo. Cosmo would easily help him forget about this awful day.

"Got something against your pencil, Vomit? What’d it ever do to