The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer Read Free Book Online

decent, although he probably could have done better in science and math, as he imagined most students could. Besides occasionally forgetting which revolution happened where, he was doing fairly well in his history class, too. And forthe first time in his life, he was actually enjoying assignments in his English class.
    He was confident he hadn’t done anything wrong. So why was he there? He grew paranoid someone had possibly framed him. Was he being held responsible for the graffiti on the lockers or the goldfish put in the faculty toilets? Sure, Conner thought those pranks were hilarious, but he hadn’t done them. If they didn’t think he was guilty, did they think he knew who was and want him to testify? Could he plead the Fifth in school? Did he have the right to a lawyer or a phone call?
    The door to the principal’s office opened and a girl ran out in tears. Conner instantly tensed.
    “Mr. Bailey?” Mrs. Peters called from inside her office.
    Conner gulped. Hearing her call out his name was just as terrifying today as it had been when she taught him in the sixth grade.…
    A huge promotion was the last thing she had expected, but Mrs. Peters had recently come up in the world.
    After twenty-five long years of teaching, Mrs. Peters had made the tough decision to retire. The subject had been on the veteran educator’s mind for quite some time. Unbeknownst to her students, Mrs. Peters kept a calendar at her desk for years and marked down the days until she was eligible.
    She often daydreamed about her life after teaching. She planned all the exotic vacations she wanted to take. She made a list of all the small fixes around her condo she’d finally have the time to make. She assembled everything she needed to start a vegetable garden in her small yard. In other words, she was more than ready.
    But in the final weeks leading up to the conclusion of her teaching career, Mrs. Peters received the offer to become a principal . As appealing as a life of gardening and relaxation was, a life as principal gave her the essence of what she loved the most about being a teacher: authority over impressionable youngsters .
    Needless to say, she didn’t hesitate to take the job. She thrived in the powerful position of administering punishment, and occasionally something would come up that allowed her to do what she loved more than anything, which was why she called Conner Bailey into her office.
    “Have a seat,” Mrs. Peters ordered.
    Conner sat across from her so obediently he reminded himself of Buster, but didn’t expect to be rewarded with a biscuit. His eyes wandered around the room; he noticed Mrs. Peters decorated her office in the same patterns and floral prints as the dresses she wore.
    “Do you know why I’ve called you in here today?” Mrs. Peters asked. She wasn’t even looking at him. Her eyes were busy scanning through a stack of papers in her hands.
    “Not a clue,” Conner said. He could almost see what the papers were in the reflection of her glasses.
    “I wanted to talk to you about the writing you’ve been doing in your English class,” she said, finally making eye contact.
    Conner realized the papers she was going through were in his handwriting. He panicked.
    “Is this about my essay on To Kill a Mockingbird ?” he asked. “I know I wrote, ‘One of the saddest parts about this book is that a girl is named Scout,’ but I talked to Ms. Yorkabout my approach and understand why it could have been better.”
    Mrs. Peters’s eyes squinted and her brow flexed in a judgmental manner; this was bound to happen at least once when she was in the same room as Conner.
    “Or maybe this is about my report on Animal Farm ?” Conner said. “I know I said, ‘I wish George Orwell had used something to represent politics that didn’t give me a major craving for a bacon cheeseburger,’ but that’s really how I felt; I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
    “No, Mr. Bailey,” Mrs. Peters said. “I called you to my