Verse by Moses Roth Read Free Book Online

it.”
    “Who?”
    “I said—”
    “I think it was you,” and he smacks Sydney in the side of the head. Not that hard, but Sydney pulls back.
    I stand up.
    Sydney says, “No, I told you I didn’t!”
    I grab the tray off the table.
    “You’re a goddamn rat and you know it!”
    I smack the guy in the side of the head with the tray.
    “Ahh—!”
    He’s on me, shoving me and I stumble back, and he pushes me again and I try to keep him off but he’s—
    And then Mr. Narita gets between us, yelling, “Stop it! Both you two! Go to the dean!” and it’s over.
    Narita takes us to the office, and the senior and I wait outside while he talks to Washington. He comes out and sends the senior in.
    The senior comes out and I go in.
    Washington watches me as I sit down. “You almost made it the entire year without getting in trouble again, Manuel. Not quite though. What happened?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Nothing? You were in a fight.”
    I shrug.
    “John said you started it.”
    “Who? Mr. Narita?”
    “What? No. You don’t even know who you were fighting? John Hoyle?”
    I shrug.
    “Great, starting fights with kids you don’t even know. After our conference last year you seemed to be doing so much better. But now this.”
    I shrug.
    The bell rings.
    He says, “Well, I’m going to call your mom about this. And I hope you take the summer and figure out where your priorities should be. Go to class.”
    I leave his office and Sydney is standing out there, waiting for me.
    I say, “Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything.”
    He says, “Thanks,” and he follows me to History.

Chapter 20
     
    We all meet out front, me, Erwin, Faye, Garrett, and Sydney. Erwin has his arm around Faye. She whispers something in his ear and he laughs. Garrett is talking with a new kid.
    I say hi to Kyle, Garrett’s new friend, and shake hands with him.
    The bell rings and we all walk inside.
    I go to Physics with Sydney and Garrett.
    The teacher starts class by saying, “Hello, I’m Mr. Quaid. Welcome to Physics. Now to be honest, physics is mostly math, which can get a bit dry, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun and do some practical demonstrations now and then.” He opens his desk drawer and takes out a yellow balloon marked with black spots.
    He blows it up and says, “The Big Bang.”
    He lets the balloon deflate, “The Big Crunch.”
    Students laugh as he sets the balloon aside. He says, “You all know what the Big Bang is, right? It’s the way the universe was formed. All matter and energy were once compressed into a single point in space. That point exploded, creating the universe. And this year we’ll be doing some of the math that scientists actually used to formulate the theory. Yes?”
    Sydney has his hand raised. “Where did the point come from?”
    I look at Sydney, but he stays focused ahead.
    Quaid says, “Now that’s an interesting question. Remember the Big Crunch? As you saw, it’s the opposite, the idea that one day, gravity will pull the universe back into one single point. Which leads us to the Big Bounce. Some scientists think that the Big Bang and Big Crunch are actually a cycle, each one causing the next, so that our universe is constantly in the process of being made and unmade. Now how did scientists calculate that? We need to calculate how much matter there is in the universe, which leads us to dark matter, and we also need to understand how gravity works. Yes?”
    Sydney says, “Yeah but still, where did it all come from?”
    “Well, um, before the Big Bang, if there was a time before the Big Bang, time didn’t necessarily exist. So it didn’t necessarily have a source as we would, you know… And even if it does, it may not even be possible for us to perceive the true origins of the universe.”
    “But it must have all come from somewhere.”
    “Maybe.”
    Sydney says, “That was God.”
    What?
    A boy shouts, “Shut up!” and Sydney deflates.
    Quaid says, “Please,” to the