Mr. Terupt Falls Again (30 page)
Read Mr. Terupt Falls Again Online
Authors: Rob Buyea
JESSICA VO
Long ago my father taught me a trick for whenever you found yourself standing in front of a large group of people. This trick was important in his line of work as a play director—he passed it on to many of his actors. It was a way to rid a person of stage fright. As I looked out over the sea of people before me, I pictured them all naked. That’s it—that’s the trick. And it works! Once all those people in front of you are naked they look pretty ridiculous, and then talking to them is a cinch. The only problem I had was that all the people in the audience were parents and grandparents—it was a tad gross seeing all these old farts (as Peter would say) naked.
JESSICA gives a small, I-see-you smile. Then she takes a deep breath and begins
.
JESSICA
In our class, we recently had an experience with a book titled
The Whipping Boy
. All schools try very hard to make everything in their classrooms fair. I wonder, do young people grow up expecting life to be the same? One of the things our teacher, Mr. Terupt, made apparent for us while reading
The Whipping Boy
is that life is not always fair. If we remind ourselves of all that we’ve been through in the past two years, then we find other examples proving the same point. We’ve learned how to combat unfairness in life by spreading goodness, and to act when we see something that’s not right.
Those of us who became royalty during our
Whipping Boy
experience did not feel good about the treatment our peasant
friends received. In fact, in many ways it was easier to be an angry peasant than it was to be guilty royalty. Staying quiet and allowing unjust situations to occur is as bad as creating them.
In my time at Snow Hill School, I’ve grown to believe that things happen for a reason. And though I am not always able to identify those reasons, still I hold on to this belief. Most kids move through life without experiencing what we’ve encountered over the past two years. That’s what makes us special. We are moving on to the next chapter in our lives, with experiences beyond our years. These experiences make us unique, they’ve happened for a reason, and I think one of those reasons is so we can go forward and try to do for others what our teachers have done for us.
I will never forget my time here, and I know you won’t either. Thank you.
JESSICA looks out over the audience. We see people throughout the gym beginning to stand as the room fills with applause. JESSICA smiles and gives a small wave, then returns to her seat. MR. TERUPT is there and gives her a hug before she sits down
.
MR. TERUPT
(whispering in Jessica’s ear)
You were terrific.
JESSICA
So were you.
MRS. WILLIAMS stands and walks to the podium. JESSICA and MR. TERUPT sit. The audience grows quiet again and MRS. WILLIAMS continues with the ceremony
.
MRS. WILLIAMS
Thank you to each of our class orators. Your speeches were beautiful. You’ve left no doubt about why you were chosen to speak. Your words will not be forgotten. Thank you.
Before we conclude our ceremony we have one last presentation. Each year a committee of Snow Hill School faculty and staff convene to select one student to receive the Snow Hill School Prize. This is an award given to a graduating sixth grader who has made an everlasting mark on our school. This year the award is being given to a student who we feel has bettered herself, has bettered the people around her, and whose quiet presence has graced Snow Hill School. This year’s Snow Hill School Prize is awarded to Anna Adams.
Once again, we see everyone in the gymnasium rise to their feet in applause—this time for ANNA. ANNA walks to the podium and gives MRS. WILLIAMS a ginormous hug. Then she turns and gives MR. TERUPT an even bigger one
.
JESSICA VO
Isn’t it funny that all of us—meaning his students—would say Mr. Terupt has made the magic. But Mr. Terupt would say it’s us, his students, who have done the amazing work. I feel so
good inside to see Anna getting this award, and by the sound of the applause and wild cheering, I know everyone else feels exactly the same.
FADE OUT
.
A
s I sat on the stage at graduation and watched Anna win the Snow Hill School Prize, I remembered the time Peter won the homework pass for having correctly estimated the number of links in our final paper chain. I wanted to kill him after that, especially for the way he rubbed it in my face.
But I didn’t feel like that with Anna. For the first time in my life I was happy to see someone else win. Okay, maybe a tiny piece of me did wish it was me getting the award, but I really did feel very happy for Anna. She’s the sweetest person I know. She didn’t even want to harm her plant last year during our science unit, never mind ever hurt another person. Anna was a great pick for the prize.
Once the ceremony was complete, my mind immediately moved to the next big event. We were now in the final phase
before the wedding. I was anxious to test my last hypothesis. And this was a one-shot deal. We weren’t retesting.
Hypothesis
—If all goes as planned, then there will be a wonderful wedding and terrific ending
.
Detective Luke
A
fter graduation, there was a big outdoor reception with drinks and little snacks. It was a time for people to talk and celebrate and congratulate the graduates, but the only person I wanted to talk to was my father.
My mom and dad both made it for my graduation. As busy as they always were, they never missed the big events. Miss Catalina was also present, and my brother, Richard. He was home from school for the summer.
We sat under a tent, drinking lemonade and iced tea and eating cookies.
“Well, Pete,” Richard said, “now that you’re done with this dump, you get to go to Riverway.” Richard’s always been a moron, but you couldn’t blame him much this time since he’d been away at school. How was he supposed to know I loved Snow Hill School and didn’t want to go to Riverway?
That’s right—I had made my mind up. I’d been back and forth about the decision, thinking I needed to fail to be with Mr. T, but now I knew I didn’t want to flunk sixth grade. But I did want to stay in Snow Hill because I wanted to be with my friends.
“I won’t be going to Riverway,” I said.
“What?!” Richard yelped. He almost choked on his cookie.
“I don’t want to go to Riverway. I want to stay here with my friends.”
“Pete, you’ll make new friends at Riverway. I worried about the same thing. Trust me, you’ll love it way more than any local junior high school,” Richard said. “And way more than this dump.”
“Stop calling it that!” I snapped. “This place isn’t a dump. And the friends I’ve made here aren’t the kind of friends you just let go. We’ve been through way too much together.”
“Pete—”
“That’s enough, Richard,” my father said. “Listen to your brother for once—I finally did.” Dad looked at me. “This does not come as a surprise to your mother and me,” he said. “Once we started paying attention we saw that your friendships here definitely are special. We understand why you don’t want to leave.”
“You do?!” I was shocked. I never expected my mother or my father to understand. Sure, they’d given me time to think about my decision, but not in a million years did I think they’d be okay with me not choosing Riverway. My
plan to fail had failed, but things were working out. I was going to move on with my friends. I was relieved to know I’d be with Luke and Jeffrey, and everyone else—even Lexie and her unique wardrobe, her fast moves and salty tongue, and her rotten farts that I’d somehow get blamed for.
Last year I suddenly felt way lighter when Mr. T took the weight of the accident off my shoulders with his hug. This year my father made me feel that all over again when he told me I could stay.
The only thing left for me to do now was throw one heck of a party for Mr. T and Ms. Newberry.
I
t was close to wedding time. Mom was in the school kitchen with Vincent, putting the final touches on some of the hors d’oeuvres and prepping the main dishes. I planned to help, but I wanted to see Teach and Ms. Newberry get married first. I was so anxious. Maybe that was why I had to pee again—out of excitement.
“Danielle, I’ve got to use the bathroom. C’mon.”
“Again?!” she said.
Danielle was nervous and excited too. She needed to keep busy, so I made her come with me. I sat on the toilet while Danielle waited by the sinks. When I finished I bent forward to pull my underwear back up and saw the red spot. I jumped off the toilet.
“I got it!” I yelled. “I got it! Thank you, Margaret.”
“Got what?” Danielle asked from outside my stall. “Who’s Margaret?”
I fixed my dress and rushed out. “My period,” I said. “I just got my period!”
Danielle gave me a big hug. “Congratulations,” she said. “You’re officially a woman, though I think you’ve been one for a long while already.”
“Thanks,” I said. I stepped back and looked at her. “I hope my period does for me what it’s done for you. I know there are all kinds of changes that come along with it.”
Danielle smiled. I hoped my words sounded nice, because I sure meant them that way. Danielle was totally getting taller and thinner.
“Thanks, Lexie,” Danielle said. “You don’t need your period to look great, though. You’re already beautiful. You always have been.”
We hugged again, but this time I was crying. Maybe it was my period making me emotional.
“I need to put a pad on,” I said, suddenly realizing I forgot to do that in the stall. I’d been too excited.
“You have one?” Danielle asked.
“Of course,” I said. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this day.” I pulled a pad out of my purse and held it up, smiling. Mine was your normal winged pad, not one of those crazy old-fashioned things that Margaret mentioned where you had to wear a belt.
Once I was all situated, we left the bathroom and headed back outside. The wedding was ready to start any minute. We hurried across the grass. Before we got to our seats, I stopped Danielle.
“Do these look bigger now?” I asked her, readjusting my top.
I didn’t see Peter coming until he was right next to us. He must have been on his way back from the boys’ bathroom.
“Nah,” he said. “They still look like a couple of mosquito bites.”
I slugged him good in the arm, and then all three of us were laughing.
The music for the ceremony started, so we hurried to our seats. I was going to miss Teach a lot. I already did. But I was so happy to have my friends going with me to seventh grade, even Peter—especially Peter. I loved picking on him. And he definitely needed more kissing practice.
I was ready for next year. Look out, future, I’m a woman now!
