Schooled Read Free

and jerkface wanted to know what buttwipe was looking at.” I turned earnest eyes on the bloody and dirt-smeared brawlers. “You were barely three inches apart. Couldn’t you see you were both looking at each other?”
    The teacher reddened. “Who do you think you are, Jerry Seinfeld?”
    “You must have me confused with another student,” I told him. “My name is Capricorn Anderson.”
    “Are you talking back to me?”
    I hesitated. The whistle-teacher had asked me a question, and I’d answered by talking. “Yes?” I ventured uncertainly.
    By the time he was finished yelling, both fighters had boarded their buses and gone home. I was the one who got sent to Mr. Kasigi’s office.
    I was waiting on the bench when Mrs. Donnelly appeared.
    I leaped up. “Is Rain going to be okay?”
    “That’s why I’m here. Let’s take a ride over there and find out.” Her brow furrowed. “What are you doing in the hot seat?”
    “I have a smart mouth,” I replied honestly. “It’s against the rules.”
    She began leading me down the hall. “Come on, we’ve got a long drive. I’ll straighten everything out with Mr. Kasigi.”
    It took more than an hour to get to the hospital, but it was worth it. Good news—Rain’s operation was a success.
    “So we can go back home?” I asked anxiously.
    Rain smiled sadly. “The doctor was right. This is going to be a long recovery. And because it’s only the two of us at Garland, they’re not going to release me early.” She held my hand. “I know you’re upset, but we’re just going to have to be strong.”
    “I don’t like it out there,” I complained. “It’s too crowded. People dress funny; they talk too fast; and all they’re interested in is things ! Cell phones and iPods and Game Boys and Starbucks. What’s a starbuck?”
    She looked upset, and older than I’d ever seen her before. “I want you to listen to me, Cap, and try not to blame me.”
    “Blame you?”
    “I believe in the community,” she began, “and I believe in the life we’ve built together. But I was fooling myself to think that you were still so young that you wouldn’t have to learn about the world outside ours. It’s not a nice place, and I didn’t want you tossed into it without a little more preparation.”
    I’d read about depression, but this was the first time I’d actually felt it. It was like a stone pressing down on my chest. I couldn’t lift it off because I didn’t have the strength.
    “I’m kind of scared, Rain.”
    “Well, don’t be,” she said firmly. “All you have to do is focus on who you are and what your values mean to you. You’ve passed every state test—always in the top five percent. You’re as smart and capable as anybody—more than most.”
    “What I saw in school today wasn’t on any test,” I observed grimly.
    She gave me a sympathetic smile. “True, information isn’t the same as experience. You know what television is, but you’ve never watched it. You know what pizza is, but you’ve never tasted any. You know about friendships, but you’ve never had a friend.”
    “ You’re my friend.”
    “Of course I am,” she agreed. “But I’m not exactly a teenager.”
    “I’m already finished with other teenagers. I’ve been in real school for one day, and that’s plenty. People are constantly screaming at each other. Two boys actually resorted to physical violence! I thought violence only happened in crimes and wars, but this was over—” I shrugged helplessly. “I can’t even explain it.”
    “You have to feel sorry for them,” Rain said with a sigh. “Nonviolence isn’t something everyone understands.”
    “They’ve got these things called lockers,” I raved on. “The halls are lined with them. And you won’t believe what they’re for! They’re for locking stuff away—so other people won’t steal it! Why can’t everybody just share?”
    Rain must have agreed with me, because she looked really worried.
    I poured it