Road To Nowhere Read Online Free PDF Page B

always the first one done.
    “John decided to drop the answers on Candy’s desk as he went to the front of the classroom to hand in his test. Mr. Sims was nowhere around, he made sure of that. Of course, there were a lot of other people watching. It was a class of forty students. But John didn't think about them much. He couldn’t imagine that one of his classmates would turn him in. That was one thing about John. He gave people a hard time, but he didn’t mean anybody any harm.
    “Maybe it was the stress of the moment. Maybe John had made the girl feel bad earlier in the year and she had just been biding her time to get back at him. It doesn’t matter. John crumpled his scrap paper with the answers on it into a ball. As he got up, he let the paper fall on Candy’s test paper. Candy was ready, waiting for it. But she didn’t have time to get it out of sight before a girl in the back shouted for Mr. Sims to come into the room. Wait, I take that back. Candy did have time to get rid of the evidence. She could have stuffed the ball of paper in her mouth and swallowed it – but she froze. Mr. Sims was back inside in a moment. He wanted to know what was happening. The girl in the back pointed at John and Candy.
    “‘John just gave Candice all the answers to the test,’ the girl whined. She had one of those annoying voices that you just knew would make her future husband want to have extra-marital affairs. Mr. Sims hurried over to John and Candy. He was in a sour mood. His wife had recently left him for a filmmaker of animal documentaries. He had been taking it out on his classes by making his tests harder and harder. Still, John didn’t expect Mr. Sims to slap him down. After all, he was his best student, the only one in class who was getting an A. He watched as Mr. Sims stormed towards him. He whispered to Candy to make the crib sheet disappear. Maybe Candy didn't hear him.
    “‘Are you two cheating?’ Mr. Sims demanded. He wasn’t big – he was short and round. But he had been trying to act bigger since his wife had left him. His face was beet red, and John misjudged how angry he was.
    “‘No, I was just handing in my test,’ John said. ‘I don’t know what Annie's talking about.’ The girl’s name wasn’t Annie. It was Sally. She had a two-ton chip on her shoulder. She jumped out of her seat and hurried to Mr. Sims. All this time, of course, the cheat sheet had been sitting right in the centre of Candy’s desk. Sally triumphantly reached down and picked it up and gave it to Mr. Sims.
    “‘I saw John drop this on Candy’s desk a few seconds ago,’ she pronounced in her whiny voice.
    ‘Is that true?’ Mr. Sims asked Candy.
    ‘No,’ John said quickly.
    ‘It’s a complete lie,’ Candy agreed.
    “Mr. Sims wasn’t buying it. He would have had to be pretty stupid to do so. ‘Then where did this paper come from?’ he asked as he unwadded it.
    “John was feeling cocky. ‘I think it’s Annie’s,’ he said.
    ‘My name’s Sally and you are a big fat liar!’ Sally shrieked in her nasal twang.
    ‘This looks like your handwriting,’ Mr. Sims told John when he had the paper open in his hands. ‘I dare you to deny it.’
    “John shrugged. ‘I don’t deny it,’ he said. ‘I just don’t think it’s that big a deal. Candy didn't have a chance to study on account of her mother being so sick and all. Ain’t that right, Candy?’
    ‘My mom has been feeling lousy since she grew her tumour,’ Candy told Mr. Sims. ‘She’s up practically every night throwing up blood.’
    ‘I saw your mom last month at the grocery store,’ Mr. Sims said, turning redder by the minute. ‘She looked fine to me.’
    ‘You should have asked her out,’ John said. ‘Her old man's such a pain in the ass – you wouldn’t believe it. I think you and Candy’s mom would make a nice couple.’
    “Mr. Sims practically blew a blood vessel right then. Like I said, he was sensitive about his wife leaving him. And