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―What for, Ms Lord?‖ Mr Anderson said ―You‘re with me‖

9: a

And the rest of that day

Oh, who cares? You know, Bob, school is school, one of those life experiences we kids all have to get through in order to become you Then onder what all the fuss was about, especially while we‘re cleaning up your little messes: toxic waste, war, bank bailouts Honestly, if we ran up debt the way you guys do? You‘d ground us, take away our cells, and make us clean toilets with a toothbrush until we‘d paid back every penny

Anyway, things haven‘t changed that much from when you went, I bet The only people who love school are either the über-popular kids with about a bazillion Facebook friends and no credit liuess The rest of us fly below the radar, or try to, anyway

So here‘s the only other is, actually Okay, three

One:

In cheive ot to h, he never looked up, didn‘t pause, just kept right on rolling so ured I‘d had enough Pretty much everyone knew my story by then, anyway So I would‘ve been one of the anonymous masses except

c

Two:

Danielle threhisper to a class audible, but when they both snickered, Mr Anderson paused, drilled Danielle with a look and asked if she had anything she‘d like to share

Danielle looked stunned, like she couldn‘t believe he‘d call her out like that

― Excuse me?‖

―I said, would you like to share, or take your conversation into the hall?‖ Folding his arainst the board ―We‘ll be happy to wait until you‘re done‖

The class was deathly quiet Everyone was looking at Danielle, even me Well, I couldn‘t help it; I‘d chosen the very last row So I saw the color ooze up her neck

―No,‖ said Danielle, finally Her voice was very sain‖

―Excellent,‖ said Mr Anderson ―Nohere was I? Ah, here we goJim Morris?‖

And three:

Mr Anderson lectured for about thirty minutes on safety, the curriculum, blah, blah, blah But then he did an experiment

―Let‘s look at what happens to liquid hexane in air and on glass,‖ he said, after turning off the lights We were goggled up and clustered around his delass spatter plate as big as an elephant‘s contact lens

Next he held a flint over the plate and scraped out a shower of sparks

The hexane caught with a faint hah The flaht, almost white Everyone oooohed and frolass? Mr Anderson had scooped up a handful of flame with his bare hands

―Noatch what happens when the hexane‘s in a plastic bottle You ht want to stand back a little for this one‖ He coated the inside of the bottle then carefully slid a long rod into the mouth and set off a spark

BUMPH! The hexane erupted in a bright, violent fountain of flaasped; a couple people clapped Someone said,

― Whoa‖

―Yeah, very whoa So here‘s what you‘ve got to remember, people The conditions under which an experile paralass, the vapors dissipated It‘s still hexane and it‘s no less volatile, but you get a nice, controlled burn Yet ignite that same hexane in an environet an explosion, no less beautiful,‖

Mr Anderson said, ―but deadly‖

10: a

The thing about starting school a week before Labor Day is you go to school for four days and then you have a long weekend There‘s no ti to be short, too So you‘re all, I don‘t know

discombobulated At least I was If I were normal and had, oh, a social life, I‘d be as thrilled as every other girl not to be in school that next Monday Instead, I got dragged along on our randpa

Well, it‘s not like I was ever like any other girl anyway