Rooster Read Online Free PDF Page B

relationships. True, it was more work being a counselor and a teacher, but she loved it. She absolutely loved her job, in spite of her occasional objections to Mrs. Helmsley’s ways, and she loved working at Winston High. Right at this second, however, she was in a helluva jam. What skills and abilities did Rooster Cobb have that would help him serve as a team leader to a group of mentally handicapped adults who wished to go bowling once a week? She smiled and cleared her throat. Compounding the problem was the simple fact that for every tick on the clock that she had to think about it, the credibility of what she came up with was reduced.
    â€œWell, Rooster.” She shifted her position in her chair. “When you put your mind to it … ”
    Someone knocked on her door. Before she could say anything, Mrs. Helmsley walked in. “How’s it going?” Her presence filled the room immediately, like an airplane wedging itself into a two-car garage. “He’s all for it, I’m sure? Ready to go?”
    â€œNot quite,” said Mrs. Nixon. “At the moment, as a matter of fact, he’s wondering what skills he has that we think make him suitable for the job.”
    Mrs. Helmsley turned the full force of her attention to Rooster, who remained slouched in his chair, but slightly less slouched than he had been when he was alone with Mrs. Nixon.
    â€œSkills?” said Mrs. Helmsley. “This isn’t about matching you with something we know you can do, young man. This is a challenge. This is about seeing whether or not you have the courage to stand up to something new, take it on and excel at it. It’s for you to show us what skills you have, not the other way around.”
    Rooster looked briefly at Mrs. Nixon, then back into the blinding glare of Mrs. Helmsley. “Well, forget it then,” he said. “I told her I wasn’t going to do it, and I’ll say the same thing to you. Find someone else.”
    Mrs. Helmsley stared at Rooster for another moment, then she looked at Mrs. Nixon, then back at Rooster. “All right,” she said finally. “Get out.”
    Rooster began to lift himself off the chair. “Finally someone who actually listens to me around here.”
    â€œBut if you go now, you leave this office, you leave this school and you never come back. Not this year, not next year, not the year after that. You’re through.” She spoke with the power and clarity of a judge sentencing a criminal. “We’ve broken our backs for you in here. We’ve put up with your bad behavior, your poor performance, your disrespect. Not anymore. If you get off that chair and leave this office, you’re done. That’s it.”
    Rooster froze in mid-motion. The game had changed to hardball, as his stepdad, Irving, would say, and he was woefully unprepared for it.
    Mrs. Helmsley continued. “It’s not my wish to fill my hometown with high-school dropouts. But I am not going to stand here and watch you walk away from an opportunity to get it right, for the first time in your life, and say nothing. That’s not my style. So go now and be done for good, or stick around and try to make something of yourself. Take your pick.”
    Rooster hesitated. He wanted to leave. He wanted to walk away from Helmsley and her stupid power trips, but he knew there would be severe consequences. His mother would have a fit; Jolene might never speak to him again. Even the guys might think he had made a dumb decision, although he wasn’t sure about that one yet. Still, he knew he would regret it.
    Slowly, painfully, he lowered himself back into his chair.
    â€œThat’s a very good idea.” Mrs. Helmsley watched him sit down. “That shows what we’ve suspected all along. You have a brain; you just don’t like to use it.”
    He remained silent.
    â€œMrs. Nixon will fill you in on the details. But let me add this.” She