Holly stood in Scott’s doorway at the top of the stairs. “There are three boys waiting for you on the front porch, a nerdy one, a chubby one, and a jock. They need a dorky one to complete the set and heard about you.”
Mom entered right behind her. “These must be the boys Beatrice told me about. They’re going to show you around Dalriada, introduce you to the other kids, tell you about the programs—”
“What programs?” asked Scott.
“There’s an astronomy club, a rocketry club, ham radio, a book club, baseball—
“Baseball?” questioned Scott.
“Yes, baseball, and music lessons, a dance school, lots of fun stuff,” continued Mom, drawing on her years as a junior high school teacher to make it all sound as appealing as possible.
“Just baseball.”
“To start, sure, but be open to new people, new experiences—I know you will.” Mom turned to go downstairs. “I’m sure they’re nice boys. You won’t have to wait for school to start to make friends.”
“I don’t need any friends. I just want to blend in.”
That is one goal Scott will not reach. He’s the new kid, for starters, and he’s not from Cedar Mills, or Massachusetts, or even New England. He’s from a far-off, exotic place called the Midwest, where things are different, kind of boring and predictable, but they have nice people, so there’s that. Perhaps more challenging, he’s completely clueless when it comes to Dalriada. There’s no “normal” for Scott to conform to.
“Hey. I’m Joe Petrolli. Call me Troll. This is T-Bone, and he’s Gizmo.” Troll was taller than the others and carried himself with an athlete’s confidence. T-Bone was Troll’s pudgy sidekick, and Gizmo was clearly the nerdy one.
T-Bone, or Timmy Hennessy as his parents knew him, looked at Scott expressionlessly, breathing through his open mouth. He nodded and said, “Dude.” Although only one syllable, T-Bone chopped this greeting to a grunt. T-Bone did two things fast, eat and talk. Everything else took as long as it took.
“Greetings, Earthling,” said Gizmo. Trevor Higgins was his name to the outside world, and he wasn’t as easy as the others to get a handle on, but anybody nicknamed “Gizmo” was a safe bet to be president of the robotics club.
“Scott,” he responded.
Troll frowned, “That’s no good. Where’re you from?”
“Indiana,” Scott replied without thinking, a practice he would soon learn to abandon.
Troll smiled appreciatively and said, “Number thirty-three, Larry Bird.” Scott winced. Scott had nothing in common with “Larry Legend” of Boston Celtics fame beyond being a Hoosier.
“Hey, Bird, you play baseball?” T-Bone breathed at Scott.
“Shortstop,” he replied casually, on more solid ground.
“We’ve got a sweet pickup league that plays at the Argylls’ house. You want to play, Bird?”
Scott pondered how the whole nickname thing could go so bad so fast. “Sure,” he replied.
Before Scott could protest, he is given a nickname and Dalriada claims him as one of its own. The nickname thing is all Troll’s doing and good luck getting it rescinded. He’s the natural leader of the boys in the junior high group, outgoing, athletic, and brash. The boys admire him for taking stands and navigating through conflicts with ease. If Troll calls you Bird, your name is Bird.
T-Bone is a perfect sidekick, takes up Troll’s causes, and defends Troll’s leadership. A habitual doodler, T-Bone sketches constantly in group meetings, portraits of the Dalriada kids, or fantastic monsters, hot rods, light saber fights between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, or imaginary cities. His loyalty to Troll will be tested when Xander Cropper dramatically disrupts the group.
Gizmo has his own mind, takes each controversy as it comes, and is willing to opt out or change sides if it makes sense to him. He’s quickly becoming Dalriada’s tech guru. In 1999, that meant being comfortable with the latest generation of PDAs (personal digital assistants) that the kids all had, performing tech support for the desktop computers and their modems, network, and group BBS (bulletin board system), provided by the Argylls, and keeping abreast of new tech innovations. BBS is a fading technology soon to be replaced by browser-based HTML websites and Gizmo will be ahead of the curve.
Although friends, Troll, T-Bone, and Gizmo are not necessarily a solid unit. Natural divisions arise, and each frequently goes his own way without the others feeling betrayed. But, the matter of Xander, grandson of Mr. Cropper and Y2K schemer, motivated by a burning hate for the Argyll family, forces a rift in the group. Troll becomes an apologist for Xander, which neither T-Bone nor Gizmo can get onboard with.
Scott’s friendship with all three is quickly formed and his place in the group is clinched by a spectacular play he makes in his first baseball game. But belonging to the group isn’t as easy as just falling in line behind Troll. Scott will find that Dalriada is going to test him in ways where loyalty to friends won’t protect him and he’ll have to stand alone.
What Then? 