Ungifted by Gordon Korman Read Free Book Online

a sympathetic smile. “Abigail’s the opposite. If she ever brought home a B-plus, it would be the end of the world.”
    â€œShe practically tore my head off.”
    â€œShe’s under a lot of pressure,” Chloe explained. “She does just about everything, and she’s keeping half the tutors in town in business. She pushes herself pretty hard.”
    â€œI never thought the gifted kids had problems,” mused Deirdre.
    â€œIt’s those big brains,” Nussbaum supplied wisely. “It makes a person top-heavy, out of balance. Like the Atlas statue.”
    â€œHow crazy was that?” Heather exclaimed. “I was at the game! The girl at the end of my row was covered in broken glass!”
    â€œThey still haven’t found the guy who did it,” Deirdre added.
    â€œI heard it was an accident,” I suggested, looking daggers at Nussbaum. “Wear and tear on the statue. It can’t be easy to hold up the weight of the world in the wind and rain year after year—especially when it’s attached by one bolt.”
    â€œOne bolt,” Chloe repeated dubiously. “That’s pretty shoddy engineering. We put more thought into Tin Man’s stress points.”
    â€œTin Man?” Sanderson echoed.
    â€œOur class robot,” I answered, and bit my tongue. “I mean the robot that happens to live in the homeroom I got assigned to.”
    â€œIt’s your robot, too,” Chloe said generously. “You’re on the robotics team now. Maybe you’ll put us over the top at the big meet. We’ve come in second to Cold Spring Harbor three years in a row.”
    You could just see the Daniels swelling up with joy at this new information. Not only did I go to the nerd school, but I was on the robotics team, which was nerd squared. No way could I ever live this down in only one lifetime.
    Chloe waved at the woman she’d arrived with. “Got to go. My mom’s done shopping.” She beamed at me. “See you tomorrow.”
    â€œSee you,” I mumbled.
    â€œWe should hop too,” Heather put in. “Our ride will be here any minute.”
    I hated to see them leave. When it was just me and the Daniels, I knew I was going to get it.
    Nussbaum didn’t disappoint. “Some girlfriend you’ve got there, Donovan. Or is she just a regular friend, and you’re dating Tin Man?”
    â€œI can’t believe Tin Man’s cheating on Tin Woman.” Sanderson clucked disapprovingly. “She must be hot. She probably doesn’t wear her grandfather’s plaid shirt.”
    â€œShut up, you guys. Chloe’s not my girlfriend and it isn’t my robot. I’m only on the robotics team because my homeroom teacher is the coach. I have to try to fit in over there, and believe me, it isn’t easy—and not just because I haven’t got the brainpower. You heard about the guy who tried to flunk the math test—the teacher had to trick him into admitting he understood it. So he’s a genius and a moron all in one. It’s a nuthouse!”
    â€œWell, it’s not safe to come back to Hardcastle yet,” Sanderson advised. “We had an assembly today, and that guy Schultz was standing right at the door. He looked at every single face that came into the gym. I’ll bet he’s searching for you, man! He didn’t even stick around. He just watched us file in and took off.”
    I felt ice-cold tentacles wrapping around my stomach. It was my worst fear coming true, but at least it settled one issue. All day I’d been asking myself what I was doing at the Academy for Scholastic Distinction. Now I knew.
    I was hiding out.

UNCREDITED
MR. OSBORNE
IQ: 132
    I f I didn’t know better, I’d swear that Donovan Curtis wasn’t gifted at all. I’d bet a month’s pay that an eighth-grade boy had been chosen at absolute random and dropped into the top academy for