He Took Jude's Money, Ken Won His Heart novel · Chapter 11 of 40
Chapter 11: On the Clock
Ken called his grandmother from the cafeteria steps, with his back to the crowd.
Jude stood three feet away, pretending not to listen, and listened to every word.
"Hello, Grandma. No, nothing's wrong." Ken's voice was gentle in a way Jude had never heard. "Some kids put a picture of the house on the internet."
A pause.
"They're being unkind about it."
Another pause, a longer one.
Then Ken laughed, one short breath through his nose, and pressed the heel of his hand to his eyes.
"She says it's a good roof," he told Jude when he hung up. "She says she paid for it herself, and anyone who wants to look is welcome to bring a ladder."
"I love her."
"She'd like you." Ken let his hand drop. "She wants me to ignore it."
"Are you going to?"
"I'm going to try."
Jude looked past him, into the cafeteria.
It was packed, as it always was at lunch, with four hundred students at long tables.
A few dozen of them already held phones up in his direction.
He recognized the look on a lot of the faces.
It was the one that said Say something so we can film it.
"No," Jude said.
"No what?"
"You can ignore it. I'm not going to."
He walked into the cafeteria and climbed onto the nearest chair.
Then, because the chair was too short, he climbed from the chair onto the table.
"Jude," Ken said, behind him. "Jude."
"Excuse me!" Jude called.
A hundred heads came up.
The cafeteria went quiet in a ripple, table by table.
Jude held up his phone.
"This is a forum thread," he said. "It was posted this morning by someone with no name and no face."
"It's titled The Pampered Whale and His Farm Boy."
A few people snickered.
"I'd like to read it aloud, since so many of you have already seen it, and I'd hate for anyone to miss the good parts."
He cleared his throat.
"Quote. Ask the tutor what the cows smell like."
He paused.
"I can answer that. They smell like work."
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