Dexter the Tough Read Online Free PDF Page B

the edge of the schoolyard. She was pointing to a boy huddled in the grass back by a bunch of bushes.
    She was pointing at Robin Bryce.
    Ms. Abbott nodded and began hurrying toward Robin.
    Dexter gasped. His heart began pounding, like it wanted to burst completely out of his chest and explode right there all over the pebbles. He took off running—blindly at first, but then with a purpose. He darted into the bushes that surrounded the school grounds.
    Good place to hide . . . have to get there first . . . can’t let them see me . . .
    He had to slow down when he turned the corner. Staying in the bushes, he crept closer and closer to where Robin was sitting. He peeked out and was sure he was too late.
    Ms. Abbott was already there.
    She was crouched down beside Robin.
    â€œNo,” Robin was saying. “Me and Dexter are friends. Sort of. We were at the park together last night.”
    â€œThen he didn’t hurt you yesterday morning? In the bathroom, before school?” Ms. Abbott asked.
    See, Ms. Abbott really does think it matters where the fight happened, Dexter thought. And she knows now that I was lying . . .
    He couldn’t hear Robin’s answer. Desperate, Dexter shoved leaves out of the way, trying to see Robin’s face.
    Robin was turned the other way. But Dexter could tell from behind: Robin was shaking his head.
    He was shaking his head no.
    â€œOkay, then,” Ms. Abbott said, standing up. “Sorry to bother you. I’m very glad to hear that there wasn’t a fight. I just had to make sure.”
    â€œYou don’t know where Dexter is now, do you?” Robin asked, looking up at her. “I was kind of hoping . . . ”
    Ms. Abbott gazed across the playground, squinting into the sun. She lifted her hand to shield her eyes.
    â€œSorry” she said. “I don’t know where he is. He’s got to be around here somewhere.”
    And then Dexter knew he was about to snort with laughter and relief. He pulled back deeper into the bushes, and stuffed his hand over his mouth to keep from making any noise.
    Long after Robin and Ms. Abbott moved away, Dexter stayed in the bushes, shaking. He couldn’t have said anymore what he was holding in, with his hand over his mouth.
    Robin lied for me, Dexter thought. He told his mother what I did, but he lied to Ms. Abbott. Why?
    And why would he say we were friends?

Chapter 9
    I’m the new kid. On my first day here at King Elementary School I beat up Robin Bryce. We were in the bathroom, but that doesn’t matter. I was mad, but that doesn’t matter either. The whole fight doesn’t matter. It was no big deal.
    â€œHmm . . . ,” Ms. Abbott said.
    Dexter waited, trying not to squirm in the chair beside Ms. Abbott’s desk. It had been three days since the last time he’d work-shopped with Ms. Abbott. She’d said that morning that she was getting a little behind.
    â€œBut that’s okay—don’t worry,” she’dtold the class with a little laugh. “Lots of professional writers will take time off between drafts, to think more deeply about their work.”
    Dexter felt kind of proud of this version of his story. It didn’t contain a single sentence fragment. He thought Ms. Abbott would be impressed that he’d put in “King Elementary School”—giving an exact name. And this draft told Ms. Abbott, and anyone else who might read it, that the fight didn’t matter. It wasn’t worth worrying about.
    This was a safe story now.
    Dexter was feeling safer all around. He’d gotten really good at hiding out at recess. Thanks to the bushes, Robin would never be able to find him. When Mrs. Bryce called to see when Dexter was going to come over to get his bike, Dexter told Grandma to say his leg still hurt too much. He planned to let his leg keep hurting for a very, very long time. As far as he was