How to Ditch Your Fairy Read Online Free PDF Page B

loudly. “None of your other admirers, Fiorenze. It’s crowded enough here.”
    Fiorenze kept reading, absently putting a forkful of food into her mouth. The three boys hovering behind her walked elsewhere with their trays, which they should have done anyway, seeing as how you get a demerit for stalking Stupid- Name. I glanced around the room. Dozens of boys watching her longingly. When I looked back, Steffi was taking Fiorenze’s hand in his. She glanced down, but didn’t say anything.
    “Thanks,” Steffi said, and smiled at me in a way that made me feel warm al over. How could he smile at me like that while holding her hand?
    Sandra reached across and tapped Steffi’s tie. “It’s crooked.
    You don’t want to get a demerit, do you?”
    Steffi frowned and puled at his tie, making it more of a mess. He stil looked pulchy.

    I itched to fix it.
    “You get in trouble for not having your tie straight?” he asked.
    “Yes,” Sandra said. “Haven’t you read the infractions list?”
    Steffi did his West Coast hand- flicking thing. So doos! “I don’t know. Maybe. There were so many documents. I concentrated on the ones that’d get me up to speed on classes.”
    Up to speed . Sandra and I giggled. Though she was laughing at him, whereas I thought it was adorable. Sandra never found anything adorable. Steffi was stil holding Fiorenze’s hand. Not adorable.
    “You’d know if you’d read it,” Sandra said. “It is vaster and wider than the ocean, ful of infractions beyond number.”
    “I thought they were up to 811?” Rochele said.
    Sandra teeth-sucked. “For your immediate education, Stefan-the-new-boy: the top ten infractions are—”
    “Wait a second. What’s the difference between a demerit and an infraction?”
    Sandra added an eye rol to her teeth suckage. “An infraction is the wrong thing you do; a demerit is what you get if you’re caught committing an infraction. Right now you’re committing an infraction
    —your tie, if a teacher sees, it gets you a demerit. Once you have eight, you get a game suspension, which means you have to miss your next game. Once you have four more demerits—twelve altogether—you get another game suspension. Four more demerits brings you yet another. If you rack up five game suspensions they give you a school suspension. More than one of those and expulsion talk begins.”
    “How’s anyone supposed to remember al of that? Plus— harsh ,”
    Steffi said. “Also—it doesn’t make sense. You get a game suspension every four demerits but a school suspension every five game suspensions?”
    “Because that’s how it is,” Sandra said. “It’s not mathematics, it’s punishment. Besides, you don’t get a game suspension every four demerits until you’ve already gotten your first eight.”
    “Okaaay,” Steffi said, sounding like he thought Sandra was crazy. “Then how do you make your demerits go away?”
    “If your schoolwork is outstanding or you put in an exceptional performance, teachers and coaches can knock off a demerit or two.”
    Sadly, this had not happened to me since I took six wickets against Lower Devon a month ago.
    “Or you can do public service,” Rochele said.
    “So what are the top ten demerits?” Steffi asked.
    “Infractions.”
    “Sorry?”
    “The top ten infractions are cheating, drinking, smoking, doing drugs—other than those prescribed by a doctor or on the okay list: aspirin, yes; flyers, no—accepting paid sponsorship, gambling—”
    “Gambling? But gambling’s legal in New Avalon.”

    “Oh, sure, but if a student from New Avalon Sports High was alowed to gamble, what would stop them from betting on their own team? Or worse, against their team and then doing something to make sure they lost?”
    “Huh,” Steffi said.
    “You need to read the list, Stefan,” Sandra told him.”It’s not just there to take up disk space.”
    Rochele frowned, which meant she thought Sandra was being mean and it was time to change