100 Days Read Online Free PDF Page A

secret that he was proud of the fact that I could clobber a guy if I wanted to. I spent less time in the Resource room and more time mainstreamed, even though the teacher that year, Mr. Carter, didn’t try to hide the fact that he wasn’t too pleased to have me back in the classroom for most of the day. The first time I got an A on a math quiz (thanks to Ms. Marilyn’s tutoring), Carter was shocked.
    â€œThis can’t be right,” he said, dropping the quiz onto my desk.
    I focused on my fists and braced myself for the usual remarks from my classmates. It was always going to be the same story. No matter how hard I tried, things were never going to change.
    Then I heard Carter saying, “What is it, Miss Delaney?”
    Agnes typically spent math period in the regular classroom, too. When I glanced over toward her desk, she was lowering her hand from the air. “Um, I’m sorry,” she said, “but why not?”
    Carter sighed. “Why not what?” he asked her.
    â€œWhy can’t it be right that Boone got an A? He worked as hard as anybody else.”
    Our teacher didn’t answer. Instead, he ignored her, walked toward the front of the room, and told us to open our textbooks to page ninety-one.

 
    8
    MOIRA
    DAY 93: MARCH 24
    After Agnes stood up for Boone during math, she started asking him to hang out with us. He obviously felt awkward about it, which was just as well. I’d already told him I could defend myself, that I didn’t need a bodyguard. Now I made it clear that I wanted nothing to do with him. Agnes and I were just fine on our own. The last thing we needed was a third wheel.
    Then, one week in the spring of sixth grade, I was out sick for a few days. When I got back to school, I found out that Boone and Agnes had been spending recess together, and they were friends now. Agnes was stubborn about it, too. Despite my protests, she wouldn’t stand for Boone being excluded. Still, it always seemed like he was a little uncomfortable being around us. Sometimes, I’d catch him looking over at the other boys in the class as they held tetherball tournaments on the blacktop or flag football games on the field. But the three of us kept hanging out. For a while, anyway.
    Usually, we’d walk out to the chain-link fence bordering the soccer field. It was the farthest point from the school buildings that was still school property. Boone would give Agnes a piggyback ride out there. Sometimes, whatever teacher was on recess duty would leave us be. Other days, we’d hear the shrill whistle calling us back to the crowded blacktop. I always felt myself deflating when I heard it. To me, it was the sound of a prison alarm ordering me back to the exercise yard to be tortured by the other inmates.
    One day, as we were hanging out by that fence that separated us from the outside world, Boone said something that made me laugh. I can’t even remember what it was now, but I do have a vivid memory of Agnes reaching for her camera and snapping a picture at the exact moment I cracked up. Later, Agnes showed me the image on her computer. I was looking a little sideways at Boone. It might have been the first time I really looked at him, now that I think about it. I was surprised by whatever he’d said and by the fact that he’d made me laugh. My smile was natural and relaxed. It was the last time I looked at my own face and thought it was pretty.
    â€œI think he likes you,” Agnes whispered when the bell rang and the three of us headed back toward the classroom. Boone was walking several yards ahead.
    â€œHa,” I said.
    But Agnes claimed to know about these things. “Any day now,” she whispered, “I figure the two of you are going to start holding hands.”

 
    9
    AGNES
    DAY 92: MARCH 25
    The counter in our high school’s office is taller than I am, so I hold my hand up high to get the secretary’s attention.
    â€œCan I help