You by Charles Benoit Read Free Book Online Page B

in the book, then holding up his hand to stop her interruption before it starts.
    â€œMercutio is talking about Romeo and says, ‘’twould anger him to raise a spirit in his mistress’ circle, of some strange nature, letting it there stand till she had laid it and conjur’d it down.’” He looks up at Ms. Casey. “You want me to read jokes about virgins, erections, and hand jobs without laughing? It cannot be done.”
    You’re in the last seat of the row and even from there you can see her eyes narrowing, her nostrils flaring out. If you can see it, so can he.
    â€œAnd then there’s line thirty-eight. I mean I’d expect it in, say, The Naughty Stewardess . But a class assignment? You sure you should be letting us read this porn, Ms. C.?”
    So, like everybody else in the class, you look at the line—the open-arsed part is obvious, but what’s a pop’rin pear? And even though they’re laughing, you know your classmates don’t have a clue. This is Midlands High, not Odyssey. Students here don’t get Shakespeare. Ms. Casey has all but said it since passing out the book a very long week ago.
    But apparently somebody does get Shakespeare. Or he knows how to pretend he does.
    Either way, it makes no difference.
    Without taking her eyes off Zack, Ms. Casey reaches for the pad of preprinted forms they use when they send someone down to the vice principal’s office. You know the form well and you wonder if she’ll check the Disruptive Behavior or the Insubordination box.
    Either way, it makes no difference.
    At the door, checked form in hand, Zack turns back to face the class. “‘Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.’” Butbefore he closes the door, he looks at you and gives a nod. You nod back.
    Two minutes later, the class is back to normal, the students pretending to read silently to themselves and Ms. Casey pretending to care.
    Â 
    T he weather holds and there’s a fire drill during fifth period.
    Â 
    T hursday morning. Homeroom. A summary of the things Ashley says during your eight-minute conversation:
She got the job at the ear-piercing place
Cici also got a job there
This is a good thing because Cici is her best friend
Next week she’ll be spending Thanksgiving at her grandparents’ house
She wants a new phone
She saw the funniest video online
No, she has never seen a porno online and thinks it’s gross
She texts too much
She thinks she needs glasses
She would rather have contacts
She asks if you know the new kid in school named Zack
Just because someone wears a sport coat doesn’t make him gay
He got kicked out of class for swearing at Ms. Casey
This is what everyone is saying
She didn’t know that he was in your English class
She thinks what he really said was funny
She thinks he sounds cool
No, she is not kidding
She has a test in social studies first period
She really should have studied
    With forty-five seconds left in homeroom, she asks you to explain the elastic clause of the U.S. Constitution.
    Â 
    â€œ Y ou didn’t think I’d forget about it, did you?”
    It’s Thursday afternoon. You’re in the boys’ locker room. You’re wearing a pair of black gym shorts and socks—your T-shirt is balled up on the floor and you don’t know what they did with your sneakers.
    They had come in fast—you didn’t see a thing and you are sure no one else did either. So it’ll be your word against theirs. Guess who’ll win that one?
    Three members of the school’s varsity lacrosse team are gathered around the back corner whereyour gym locker is located, watching as the team’s co-captain leans his thick forearm into your neck, pinning you up against a row of cold, metal doors, the dial of a Master lock digging into the back of your head.
    And of course it’s Jake the Jock doing the talking, the “it”