Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea Read Free Book Online Page B

Jessica. ’Cause like, you’re the smartest. Anna’s too stupid to read that stuff.”
    Anna stared at the floor. She used to do a lot of that, but not as much these days. It wasn’t just her head that went down this time—her entire body sagged after Alexia’s nasty comment. Alexia looked at Jeffrey next, but she didn’t have the nerve to say anything. Then she smiled at me and Danielle. She got nothing in return from me, but I could see Danielle half smiling.
    Jeffrey and I collaborated on the research, while Anna and Danielle were in charge of designing the arts and crafts activity. I wanted to work with Jeffrey. I had shared my secret with him, and he needed another chance to share his with me. Anna and Danielle had done fine together with the plants, so I knew they’d work well together this time. Plus, I hoped Danielle would become friends with Anna despite her grandmother’s warnings. Alexia named herself as our group manager. According to her, she was responsible for overseeing all of our work. Or as she put it, “Like, I’ll just watch and make sure everybody is doing what they’re supposed to do. I’ll be, like, our manager.” I think she meant
boss
.
    We went along with Alexia’s grand plan because it was easier not to have her involved in our tasks. But that wasn’t good enough for Alexia. No, she tried her best to get everyone mad at each other. That’s what she was all about.
    Act 4, Scene 2
    One day during project time I was meeting with Jeffrey and Anna, discussing how to put our center together. Danielle was nearby organizing the arts and crafts materialsthat she and Anna had been working tirelessly to create. Then Alexia made her move.
    “Like, don’t you guys think Danielle should be in charge of the food?” Alexia said loud enough for Danielle to hear. I braced myself for what was coming next. “I mean, just look at her. Like, she’s so fat, she must be good with food.”
    Danielle hurried out of the room. None of us said or did anything. It was as if we thought pretending nothing had happened would make everything better. It didn’t. My turn to be hurt came next. Alexia didn’t spare me.
    Act 4, Scene 3
    Jeffrey and I decided that making a trivia game about Ramadan was the perfect way for people to learn about our holiday and what we’d researched. It took loads of work. We had just finished writing all our research as questions on the trivia cards.
    Enter Alexia. She must have just come from the bathroom. She wore fresh shiny lip gloss and chewed on a new piece of gum. She paraded over to us with an exaggerated hip motion in her jean skirt and zebra tights, bent down, and grabbed some of the trivia cards. She looked them over, but I don’t think she read any of them. She snapped her gum that she wasn’t supposed to have.
    “Like, nobody’s gonna understand these questions.” She stared right at me. “Nobody ever understands you, not with all your stuck-up words. Like, you just want to make everyone else feel stupid. You think you’re so smart.” She flicked the card at me.
    That wasn’t true. I didn’t try to do that.
    Act 4, Scene 4
    Enter Mr. Terupt.
    “Alexia.”
    I looked up. I didn’t even know he was there. Alexia didn’t, either. She spun around, alarmed.
    “I think it’s time for you to follow me.”
    He escorted her out of the room. They were gone for a while.
    Act 4, Scene 5
    Enter Mr. Terupt, without Alexia. Where was she?
    “I need to talk to the four of you now,” he said, looking at Jeffrey, Danielle, Anna, and me. We sat down in our project area.
    “I’ve watched Alexia be unpleasant to all of you. I hoped that one of you was going to stand up to her and tell her to stop. You didn’t.”
    I looked down. I knew I should have done something. I wasn’t strong like the friends in my books.
    “If you let people get away with being mean, they’re going to keep being mean. You need to stick up for each other. Even Alexia isn’t tough enough to make