Wheels Read Free

wheelchair.
    McKenzie grabbed her rims and leaned forward. “Forget your backpack on my chair again and I put it on eBay. Three, two—” She blasted her horn and they were off.
    Students moved to the sides of the hallway cheering and whistling, and true to his dream, Rudy Hayes took the lead.
    McKenzie rounded the corner a second behind him. Hayes didn’t see Principal Provost roll into the middle of the hallway. He was too busy looking back to check on his lead. McKenzie tried to warn him. She stopped. She gestured wildly. Hayes laughed; then turned and— smack —ran right into Principal Provost’s wheelchair.
    The hallway echoed with a collective intake of breath, and then there was silence.
    Hayes lay sprawled across the Principal’s lap, forehead against one wheel, feet dangling across the other.
    Principal Provost helped him stand up. “Your head has had a run-in with my chair, and I believe you lost.”
    Hayes’ hand floated to his forehead. He winced as fingers met bloodied flesh. His face went a shade paler, and just as he began to sway, Principal Provost grabbed him. “Walk your sorry self down to Nurse Prickel’s office. After she’s finished with you, go directly to my office and wait. Understood?”
    Hayes swayed the other way.
    “ Concentric , help me!” said Principal Provost using one of the many odd expressions for which he was famous. “You.” he said, pointing to a short, decidedly timid-looking, red-haired boy. “Accompany Mr. Hayes to the nurse’s office.”
    The boy eyed Hayes suspiciously and carefully led him away.
    McKenzie began to back up.
    “Miss Wu, where do you think you’re going?”
    First period warning bell rang and the students began shuffling towards their classrooms.
    McKenzie stared at the floor. She took a deep breath and another… I wish, I wish—I wish I could disappear. A hole would be nice. A small hole and I’d be gone.
    A bead of sweat slipped over McKenzie’s nose, dropped to her chin and began the long, slow descent down her neck. Particle by tiny almost invisible particle, the burgundy and gray, granite floor tiles in front of her began to shift. Not dissolving, but rather, rearranging themselves.
    “Ahemmmm!”
    McKenzie blinked and looked up. Principal Provost was staring at her, his mouth open, eyes questioning. What have I done? “The ba, ba, ba—bathroom,” she stammered, for lack of a better distraction. “I have to go—RIGHT NOW!”
    Down the hallway, someone giggled.
    She’d expected to see Principal Provost looking angry, even surprised. What she hadn’t expected, was to see him staring at the floor, his face as pale as if he’d seen a ghost.
    “Miss Wu?”
    McKenzie looked down. The floor had returned to normal. “Yes!”
    “What?”
    “I mean, yes Sir.”
    “Remove that horn from your chair.” Principal Provost was still staring at her strangely. “Give it to Miss Chantos. This is a hallway, not a highway. ‘Excuse me, please’ will serve you just fine.”
    McKenzie grabbed her rims. Principal Provost hadn’t seen anything. Of course, he hadn’t.
    “Go directly to my office and wait.”
    “Yes, Sir.”
    “And calibrate the camber on your wheels. Three degrees max when in school, unless you’d like to be confined to a chair like mine for the next few weeks.”
    McKenzie eyed Principal Provost’s heavy, clunky, old-fashioned wheelchair. “No, Sir!”
    “And given that you’re so worried about being late for class…”
    McKenzie nodded, allowing the sound of Principal Provost’s voice to slip into the background. Down the hallway, Joanne Chang and Penny Nickels were whispering.
    “Therefore,” continued Principal Provost, “compose a 1,000-word essay on the dangers of racing through a crowded hallway. You will have plenty of time to…”
    Penny’s face looked perfectly normal, thank goodness. Joanne smiled, and before she could stop herself, McKenzie smiled back. She couldn’t help it. You smile. I smile. We’re