Kickoff! Read Free Page B

was so funny, Tiki figured—they were just relieved it wasn’t them.
    â€œI’m not here for my health,” said Mr. Wheeler, scanning the class again with those eagle eyes. “I’m here for you —so don’t disrespect me.” Then he went back to teaching.
    The day’s lesson was about the planets of the solar system. Tiki had always dreamed of being an astronaut,and normally, he would have been very interested. But for some reason—and in spite of his fear of Mr. Wheeler—Tiki soon found himself fighting the urge to sleep.
    He checked his watch—it was only ten thirty, but he’d already been in school for three whole hours! More important, he’d been up since six thirty in the morning.
    Waves of exhaustion washed over him, and he had to keep willing himself to keep his eyes open. He wondered if Ronde was going through the same thing. He wondered what football tryouts would be like that afternoon. He wondered . . .
    Suddenly he felt something hard hit him on the head!
    Tiki sprang to attention. The whole class was looking at him, laughing! He reached up and felt the top of his head, then looked on top of his desk. There was a crumpled-up ball of paper on it.
    Oh, no!
    â€œDid I say to pay attention, or didn’t I?” Mr. Wheeler asked Tiki.
    â€œYes,” Tiki murmured.
    â€œWhat? I can’t hear you!”
    â€œYes, sir!” More nervous laughter from the class, glad it wasn’t them.
    â€œI won’t tolerate disrespect. Get it through your heads right now, people. All right; let’s get on with—”
    Mercifully, the bell rang, and it was time for lunch. Nota moment too soon, either. Tiki rushed out of the room and ran for the cafeteria as if his life depended on it.
    This was turning out to be the worst day of his whole entire life.
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    Ronde was in a panic. Here he was in his last class before lunch, math—always his best subject—and he had no idea what the teacher was talking about!
    He thought back to sixth grade, when Miss Johnson had first introduced them to algebra. He hadn’t really understood it. Why hadn’t he raised his hand back then to ask her to explain?
    Ronde knew why he hadn’t—because everyone would have laughed at him. But if only he’d taken that chance in sixth grade, he wouldn’t have been so lost now!
    If only somebody else would raise their hand and ask Ms. Black to go over it again! But nobody did. And no way was Ronde going to raise his hand and admit he had no clue!
    He was sure all the other kids already knew about algebra. He could tell, by the questions the brainy kids in the front row asked. He was sitting up front too—right in the middle of them—but keeping his hand firmly down.
    The first day of school hadn’t been so bad until now. He’d gotten through almost the whole morning without any awful stuff happening, and lunch was coming up. If he could just get through the next ten minutes withoutmessing up, he could relax for almost a whole hour. He’d see Tiki; they’d sit together and compare notes, and everything would feel normal again.
    And then, after a few more classes . . . football tryouts!
    Ronde couldn’t wait. He was so excited about it, he’d almost forgotten about Beat the Seventh Graders Day.
    Almost.
    â€œHello? Earth to Ronde?”
    It was Ms. Black, calling his name!
    Ronde came to instant attention. “Um, could you repeat the question?”
    â€œWhat? For the fourth time?”
    The whole class exploded into laughter. Ronde felt like sliding down under his desk, and staying there forever.
    Why hadn’t he been paying attention? Why hadn’t he raised his hand once, just to show her he was listening? Sure, he might have given the wrong answer, but any answer would have been better than none at all!
    Now he looked like a complete