Brendan Buckley's Sixth-Grade Experiment Read Online Free PDF Page B

grade school to middle school, same as us. Knowing Mr. H was somewhere in this big sprawling building helped me feel a little less nervous.
    A blur came at me from the side. Was someone after me already?
    I shouted and put up my hands in a
mak-gee
—a block. After two years of practicing almost every day, Tae Kwon Do moves came as naturally to me as riding my bike.
    The blur rammed into me. Khalfani wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me into his chest. “Hey, man! Where you been? Oscar and I been waiting ten minutes already.” We pretended to spar for a second; then he tugged me in the direction of the far side of the building. Oscar and Marcus stood on the other side of the chain-link fence, throwing a football back and forth.
    I was glad I wasn’t being led to a bathroom stall to have my head flushed in a toilet, but I didn’t feel like playing ball right then. “Wait a sec.” I stopped and Khal let go. “I was headed in to say hi to Mr. H.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œMr. Hammond. Our science teacher.”
    Khal rolled his eyes. “Aw, man. That can wait. Come on, we need you to play two-on-two!”
    A girl’s voice came from behind. “Brendan! Brendan!” I didn’t need to look to know who it was. Even though my Tae Kwon Do integrity meter told me I shouldn’t, I started walking toward the field. Quickly.
    Khal caught up. “Did you become a celebrity recently or something? Because you’ve got a girl chasing you.”
    I didn’t stop. “Oscar and Marcus are waiting, remember?”
    â€œToo late,” Khal said.
    Morgan rushed up, her eyes gleaming. “Hi, Brendan! Isn’t this so exciting? Our first day of middle school! I was hoping I’d see you outside, so we could walk in together.It’s much nicer to walk into a new place with someone you know. Don’t you think?”
    She was talking a mile a millisecond. “Sure,” I said. I didn’t want to be mean, but I already
had
friends to walk into school with.
    Morgan held out her hand to Khalfani. “Hi, I’m Morgan. What’s your name?”
    Khal scrunched his face. “Morgan? As in Morgan Freeman? Isn’t that a boy’s name?”
    â€œActually, it’s unisex. And how do you know I’m not named after Morgan Freeman? He’s an extraordinary actor.”
    â€œExtraordinary?” Khal’s eyes slid over to meet mine.
    â€œThis is Khalfani. My best friend,” I said, so she would know the position was already taken.
    â€œIt’s a pleasure to meet you, Khalfani.” Morgan held out her hand again. If she ever took up Tae Kwon Do she wouldn’t have any problem with tenet number three,
in nae
. Perseverance. “What’s the origin of your name? It’s beautiful.”
    â€œBeautiful?”
Khal’s face scrunched even more. He looked at Morgan as if she had just dropped in from outer space.
    â€œI mean, it’s—it’s very n-nice,” Morgan stammered. Her cheeks turned pink.
    I felt kind of bad for her, but she had brought this on herself. Calling a boy’s name beautiful was never a good idea.
    â€œIt’s Swahili.” Khalfani puffed out his chest and lifted his chin. Morgan and I still stood taller than him. “It means ‘destined to lead.’ But that doesn’t mean I want
everyone
to follow me.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me along.
    The skin between Morgan’s eyebrows crinkled. I saw the hurt look in her eyes, but I turned and walked away before that look could get to me and make me do something I’d regret.
    â€œWho was
that
?” Khal asked.
    I had a feeling she was still there, watching us walk away—watching me do something that I knew was cold. But didn’t
she
know she was embarrassing me in front of my best friend? Maybe this way, she’d get the message.
    â€œJust a girl from my rock club.” I wasn’t about to tell