Because of Mr. Terupt Read Free Page B

great!
    Mr. T had to do some explaining, and after a while we were let back inside, but Luke wasn’t performing any more experiments for us.
    Man, things were just so much fun with Mr. T.

LUKE
    W e moved from cool math right into wicked science. The only thing I didn’t like about our science unit was that we had to have partners. I prefer to do my projects alone, but Mr. Terupt teamed us up. We were working with plants and he said we didn’t have enough space for everyone to have their own. Jeffrey was my partner, which—believe it or not—worked out great because he let me do whatever I wanted. He didn’t care. The only bad part was that he was always
grumpy
(dollar word).
    We studied phototropisms by observing how our plant grew toward light after we stuffed it into a box that had only a tiny hole in its side. Then we studied geotropism by observing how our plant grew toward the ceiling, even afterwe tipped the plant on its side for a few days. And then we were given the opportunity to study a variable on our own.
    Mr. Terupt told us to manipulate the plant’s nourishment. “Feed it whatever you want,” he said. “Make your own concoctions.”
    Jeffrey left me alone. He hated school and everything about it.
    That day I hurried home and studied my periodic table. I had received a special chemistry set last Christmas. Hydrogen and oxygen make a special bond when they come together to form water, so I figured I should try to recreate that special bond with whatever
molecular
(dollar word) ingredients I chose. I looked through the chemicals in my set and picked the ones that would result in the same type of electron balance that occurred in the hydrogen-and-oxygen bond.
    I took my ingredients to school and got ready to measure and mix. Jeffrey was slightly interested at this point. Mr. Terupt, on the other hand, appeared a little uneasy about the whole thing, but he never stopped me.
    “Luke, sometimes when you mix chemicals it can cause a reaction, which then
explodes
(dollar word).”
    “I know,” I said.
    “Maybe we shouldn’t mix these in the classroom without knowing what’s going to happen,” he said. “It might not be safe.”
    “All these potions came from my chemistry set at home. My mom saw it. It’s safe,” I said, trying my best to convinceMr. Terupt. I didn’t tell Mom or Mr. Terupt about the few ingredients I got from Dad’s garage. I knew it would work.
    “Hey, guys, come and look at all the stuff Luke’s mixing together,” Chris yelled.
    I felt everyone gather behind me as I began mixing my substances together in a bowl, but before I could feed my plant, something happened. First the bowl started feeling warmer—then hot. The potion turned dark green—then gray. It started bubbling—first slowly, then rapidly. I knew this was bad.
    “Back up! Everybody back up! Get away from it!” Mr. Terupt ordered.
    Smoke started billowing from my concoction. Then the screech of the fire alarm pounded against my ears. The only other thing I heard was Peter laughing. “This is awesome!” he yelled. “Way to go, Lukester!”
    “Outside! Everybody outside!” Mr. Terupt ordered.
    I was done for. I was sure of it.
    Wrong again.
    Mr. Terupt spoke to Mrs. Williams and took the blame for everything. He even stood up to the fire marshal, who always walks through the building after an unannounced fire alarm. The marshal wanted our dollar-word posters taken off the hallway walls. He claimed they were a fire hazard. Jeffrey thought this confrontation was a big deal.
    “Did you see Terupt say no to that guy?” he said. “He refused to take our posters down.”
    “I saw,” I said. And I saw flashbacks of smoke pouring out of the bowl. I knew I wasn’t ever going to be a
botanist
(dollar word).
    At least Jeffrey had gotten excited about something.
    I wish Mr. Terupt hadn’t trusted us so much. Maybe it was because he was a first-year teacher and didn’t know better. But I don’t think that was