Cheating Lessons: A Novel Read Free Page A

by Elizabeth.
    “Mr. Malory! Hey! We beat the sissies!” Bernadette greeted him. The principal’s thin eyebrows snapped together.
    Mr. Malory came out of his reverie. Determination dawned in his eyes. “We sure as damnation did, Bernadette,” he said, and earned his own glance from Spic ‘n’ Span. The use of her first name—her Christian name, he would say—thrilled Bernadette to her socks. He smacked one fist against his palm. “That’s nothing to what we’ll do in the Bowl. The Wickham Warriors will mow them down like the armies of Macduff.”
    “ ‘Warriors’ is so jock,” Lori Besh put in. “Don’t you think?”
    Bernadette and Nadine exchanged incredulous looks. Lori’s dedication to the ancient sport of pompon made her one of the biggest jocks in school.
    Lori continued. “What about a name that’s more, you know, intellectual? Like, I don’t know—like ‘Wizards’?”
    “The Wickham Wizards!”
    “Go, Wizards!”
    “All right, Lori!”
    “Ms. Besh, that’s an excellent suggestion. Literary and alliterative. Let me see, who are our Wizards—”
    With a fluttery start of recollection, Mrs. Standish handed him a second sheet.
    “It appears that Mr. Anthony Cirillo, you yourself”—he nodded at Lori—“Mr. David Minor, Ms. Nadine Walczak, and”—Mr. Malory glanced at Bernadette’s outraged face with amusement—“Ms. Bernadette Terrell were the top scorers on the test. Which makes them the Classics Bowl team. Class, a round of applause for our Wickham Wizards!”
    Groans of disappointment from the five not chosen were drowned out by the belch David reserved for special occasions. It rustled the window blinds and relieved them of Mrs. Standish.
    “I’ll leave you to your fortunate—and, of course, studious—wizards, Mr. Malory. And class—well-done. This means so much to everyone at Wickham. The superintendent will be very proud of us.” There was a tiny quaver in her voice as, with a little wave, she departed.
    Proud of “us”? Bernadette rolled her eyes. As if Spic ‘n’ Span had had anything to do with it. Mr. Malory grinned at her as though he read her mind, and suddenly she laughed. Oh, so what if the principal wanted to bask in their success. Let her. It would be a welcome change from checking the bathrooms for smokers.
    The book bee was abandoned.
    “This could be even better than a debate,” Bernadette said to Nadine in the general discussion. “It’s more about speed and memory than logic. And we’ve already read a ton of classics this year, and anything we haven’t read we can zip through if we skim, so I wouldn’t be surprised—”
    Nadine put a hand on her shoulder and measured her with calm, dark eyes. “Hey, come up for air. You’d think we just beat Pinehurst or something.”
    “Sorry.” Bernadette blew out a deep breath. “I still can’t believe it. We beat them. We’ve debated them at least five times and we’ve never beaten them. Is this strange or what?”
    “ ‘Strange’ is not the word.” Nadine’s laugh was a delighted guffaw. “It’s inconceivable. But so what? You’re the one who always says they’re not smarter, just richer. We proved your point.”
    Bernadette did like to say that. It had always seemed a safe enough claim. “Yeah.” She smiled widely, forgetting to hide her retainer. “I’ll tell my parents they just saved forty thousand dollars. I’m brilliant without private school.”
    Nadine’s eyes lit with answering glee. “I’ll tell mine it’s my Asian genes kicking in.” The Walczaks had adopted Nadine as a baby from a Seoul orphanage.
    “Watch out. They’ll sign you up for Korean lessons.”
    To her relief, Nadine took the bait and launched into her “I’m Polish-American, I refuse to learn Korean” speech, which was good for at least three minutes.
    Bernadette needed the time, because a little voice in her head was trying to ruin her mood. From across the room came another David burp to punctuate