Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus

For lunch, Aven joins Zion, who sits morosely alone in the cafeteria. Zion’s brother, Lando, protectively stops by their table to ask about their first day. Lando is a year older than Zion. He is friendly, popular, and the quarterback of the football team. Aven shares a few accessibility difficulties she encountered, and then Lando sits with his girlfriend, Janessa, and other “cool kids” whom Aven compares to tarantula hawks, giving off a ‘stay away’ vibe.

Aven knows that kids are staring as she adeptly eats using her feet. One cute boy surprises her by giving her a flirty look. He is Joshua Baker, a sophomore who bullied Zion in middle school, calling him “Lardon.” Zion warns Aven that Baker is a jerk. The two talk about Aven’s riding lessons, and how she hopes to soon be able to jump her horse, Chili. Zion invites her to Comic Con with his family. After school, Zion and Aven watch Lando’s football practice despite the heat. Lando wants Zion to join the football team. Aven thinks Lando is a jock, but Zion says Lando’s favorite pastime is drawing. Joshua Baker is also on the football team, and he smiles and waves at Aven. Zion is suspicious of Joshua, his “archnemesis,” but Aven thinks maybe Joshua has changed.

Zion’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hill, drive them home after practice. They banter in the car over costumes for Comic Con. Zion objects when Mrs. Hill calls him “baby,” then gets upset when his parents speak Klingon. Lando and Zion have a brotherly fight in the back seat. Aven visits the new smoothie store in Stagecoach Pass to see Trilby, but Trilby’s dad is working instead. He used to be in a punk band called The Square Pegs and is surprised Aven has never heard punk music.

Aven visits Henry, the elderly man who runs the park’s ice cream shop. Henry admits he is often “foggy” and forgets peoples’ names and even what he is doing. Aven worries that if something happens to Henry, they will not know who to contact. Henry says he has no family; he is an orphan like Aven. Aven knows that Henry remembers the far past better than more recent events. Over dinner, Aven mentions Henry’s lack of family and learns that Josephine, the former owner of the park and Aven’s birth grandmother, is Henry’s emergency contact. “Joe” lives in a nearby retirement community. Aven wonders about her birth father and empathizes with Henry: She wants to know more about his family.

Aven writes a blog post of 20 goals to make her first year in high school successful. Items include: making friends with 15% of the 3,000-kid school population; attending a school dance; staying single and not having a crush on anyone; jumping Chili; getting used to the cafeteria and stopping being self-conscious about people staring; and mastering the “politics” of high school. Aven specifically thinks about the problem of one friend hating someone who could be her new friend, but whom she cannot befriend because it would upset her existing friend.

More goals include how to deal with the song “Y.M.C.A.” at a dance; petitioning for air conditioning on school buses; and growing taller so she can reach the highest button on the vending machine and attain her Cheetos. Aven also plans to increase her blasé attitude.

Aven visits her birth grandmother Josephine at the Golden Sunset Retirement Community. They chat about Aven’s first few days of school. Aven insists that although it is hard to start over, she has everything under control. Josephine loudly warns off a mild-mannered looking man across the room whom Josephine accuses of staring at her and stalking her. Aven remonstrates that the man, Milford, a new resident in the community, might just want to be friends. Aven introduces herself to Milford who then nervously approaches and greets prickly Josephine.

When Aven tells Josephine that a boy at school looks at her the same way that Milford looks at Josephine, however, Josephine is excited for Aven, and assures her that lots of boys will like her. If they cannot see past her armlessness to the person she is inside, they are not worth it. Josephine asks if Aven has jumped Chili yet, then calls her “chicken,” knowing that it will challenge Aven to perform the jump.

Connor phones as Aven feeds her listless, rescued tarantula, Fathead. Fathead is missing two legs which Aven hopes will regrow once she molts. Connor declares that his first day was worse than “a blazing dumpster fire of suck” (50). Because of his Tourette Syndrome, Connor has tics that he cannot control, one of which is barking. He complains that someone at school already barked back at him. Connor admits his day was not completely terrible because he met a nice girl, Amanda, who also has Tourette’s, and they ate lunch together. Although Aven is happy that Connor has a friend, she is not happy that his new friend is female. She changes the subject to ask about Connor’s dad. Connor switched schools to be closer to his dad, who had a change of heart and now wants to have a relationship with Connor. Connor, who dislikes eating in public because of his tics, does not want to go out to dinner with his dad, and would prefer being with Aven—or Amanda, which Aven does not like to hear. Both Connor and Aven are going to Comic Con and agree to surprise each other with their costumes. Aven is grumpy after his phone call, though her mom assures her that she is an irreplaceable friend to Connor.

Joshua Baker stops by Aven’s locker. Zion confronts Joshua about calling him names, but Joshua denies it. Joshua offers to carry Aven’s bookbag, but Zion grabs the bag instead. Zion insists that Joshua has not changed his bullying ways, but Aven hopes that he has because Joshua is cute, and she has never been “liked” by a boy. Aven and Zion plan to go costume-hunting at the mall Monday after school.

Aven’s horseback lesson is disappointing. She loves Chili, who was trained by voice commands. She also enjoys riding using custom stirrups that allow her to guide Chili with her feet, but Aven does not like riding in the heat. Aven visits Spaghetti the llama, but Spaghetti’s health is declining, and he is apathetic. Aven heads to visit Trilby at her parents’ smoothie shop.

Trilby has short blonde hair with different colored highlights. She is bubbly, into punk music, and likes to draw chickens. She asks Aven about school but does not think she would like the “politics” that Aven describes because she is a nonconformist and dislikes “the Man’s” rules—though she would like to go to a school dance. Aven does not know who “the Man” is. Trilby believes that Aven is punk inside. She plays some punk music for Aven, who loves it.