Young Eubie

Eubie was poised to prove his worth to Sam when the opportunity came that day. It was lunch time, and Eubie sat a the end of a long brown formica table with the rest of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, this being second lunch. Sam was in the middle of the table, bookended by her two best friends. Just in case he needed to know, Eubie had made the decision to memorize the names of each, first and last, even though Gertrude Flemming wasn't in Mrs. Plum's class with Gillian Stanz, Sam, and Eubie.
As Eubie eyed Sam from his perch at the end of the table, careful to use mainly his peripheral vision so as not to make her nervous with constant staring, he gathered from a series of actions that Sam's mom had once again botched a sandwich order, and switched Sam's turkey and swiss with ketchup for her brother's banana, peanut butter, and honey. A not uncommon mistake, Eubie had seen this before, and it's a good thing he had, for on this day, Eubie was able to step in and save Sam from a tummy-grumbling second half of the day.
A small smirk crept across Eubie's face. "Ha! Eubie, you've done it again!" he nearly said aloud. Eubie never ceased to amaze himself, though frequently failed to amaze plenty of others in this world: teachers, parents, bullies. This didn't bother Eubie, for no one's opinion of Eubert Sharp's worth mattered more than his own. Well, except for right now in the lunch room, when he was about to open himself up to judgment from Sam. His smiled evaporated just then, and some of his confidence was replaced by a sort of professional seriousness. 'Here we go. Don't worry, she'll love you for this,' he whispered.
Eubie hated turkey, swiss, and ketchup sandwiches. Or at least he had at first, now he was able to stuff them down without much thought, as long as there was a carton of milk around to wash it down. He always ate his sandwich first, before the teddy grahams, when he was hungriest. It flattened the taste.
His dad thought he was crazy. 'You want what for lunch?' he'd said, one eyebrow raised.
'A normal turkey and swiss sandwich. With, ya know, a squirt of ketchup on there for some zip.'
'Zip, huh?'
'Yeah, you know, hit the edge of my palete.'
'Your palete?'
'Is this going to be a problem? I don't ask what you eat for lunch.'
This jab of sass made Eubie's dad suspicious, but also gave an effective mind-your-own-business message, which ended the questions. Eubie's dad had a special consideration for his son's unique and personal needs as a young man.
'I suppose not.'
'And don't bother cutting the crusts off, I've decided I need the extra fiber.'
'Uh huh. Well I'm not sure your grasp of diet is quite as firm as you think, but who am I to argue with a man's preference in matters of lunchtime?'
'Exactly. Thanks Dad.'
Sam was wrinkling her nose in disgust as she peeled back a sticky, honey-slathered piece of bread on the sandwich in front of her. Eubie toyed for a minute with delivering a corny line like 'Never fear, my sweet!' but decided an understated brand of chivalry would suit him better. He grabbed up his untouched main, still fresh in its ziplock pouch, and swung out of his seat at the end of the table. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves, and walked over behind Samantha.
'Excuse me, madmoiselle.' "Oh, nice touch Frenchie," thought Eubie. But she failed to turn around. Instead he got the attention of Gertrude, whom he knew more on paper than in person.
'Huh?' She replied, demonstrating, from Eubie's perspective, a significant lack of intellect.
'Nevermind, Miss Flemming. I was speaking to your friend, not you.' But Samantha had turned away from him, and was now engaged in some seemingly spontaneous giggling with Gillian.
'Who are you? My name is Trudy.'
'I am Eubert Sharp.'
'Weird.'
'It's a family name, and though it may seem esoteric to you, I have a great deal of fondness for it.'
'I would never marry a boy named Eubert.'
'I think I see why we've never spoken before.' Eubie was unable to contain his impatience.
'Yeah.'
Eubie reached over and tapped on Sam's shoulder.
'What do you want?' Gillian was facing Eubie and spoke first. Eubie attributed the lack of friendliness to a childish lag in maturity. No doubt Gillian spent her afternoons playing with dolls, a "No Boys Allowed" sign taped up on her bedroom door.
'From you? Nothing.'
Now Samantha turned her head and face Eubie. She was only a few inches away, and the proximity erased Eubie's mind completely.
'Hi Eubie.' Sam looked up with those pretty green eyes. Her hair was pushed back with an elastic headband, and two clip on earrings twinkled on either side of her face.
Eubie parted his lips slightly and stared. Several seconds passed.
'How are you?' tried Sam.
Eubie nodded a little. More empty seconds passed, filled only with the dull roar of an elementary school cafeteria.
'Um...' Sam said, adding to the thickening awkward surrounding Eubie. She continued to meet his gaze, petrifying Eubie as though she had snakes in her hair. He was a stone, he was inanimate, he was completely helpless. And just when it looked like little Eubie would blow it, a little spark of coherence glimmered.
He was suddenly very aware that he was staring, and that was bad. Eubie quickly shifted his vision to put Sam in the periphery, and that made him feel better. Then, he saw her sandwich sitting there, peeled apart and unwanted, and Eubie's synapses fired once more. The sandwich! Still unable to put words together, and careful not to re-establish eye contact (lest he descend again to complete idiocy) he reached his sandwich out in front of him toward Sam.
She looked at it, confused.
Eubie, frustrated that she didn't comprehend his magnanimous gesture, yet still not back to a verbal state, pushed the sandwich into her hands to make his point. She raised her eye brows in bewilderment, and it was at this point that Gillian and Gertrude began the infernal giggling. Eubie looked at his shoes, then the wall, and his shoes, then the wall, and the giggling kept on coming. Louder and louder, and now Eubie wanted to explain himself, wanted to say he was sorry, and he felt words returning to him, but that giggling! It drowned out his thoughts and all he could do was clap his hands on his ears and run, out of the cafeteria, down the hall to the boys bathroom.
Gerturde and Gillian were beside themselves with laughter next to Sam.
'He's so weird!'
'I know!'
Sam however, had noticed the ketchup stain on the ziplock bag. She opened it up and caught a familiar and welcoming smell of that most unusual combination of fine swiss, oven baked turkey, and bread avec crust, all of it ruined with ketchup, and smiled to herself. Inaudible to her shrieking friends, she said 'Thanks Eubie' and took a bite.