Super Emma Read Online Free PDF Page A

mean it.
    Me, for instance.
    But
living
it is another question, when there are kids like Jared in your class.

8
trash
    “Where are you going?” Annie Pat squeals. She is tugging urgently at my sweater sleeve. It is morning recess, and I guess Annie Pat is trying to keep me from leaving the classroom.
    “I’m going outside,” I tell her. “I’m going to stand over by the trash cans. I guess it’s time for Jared to teach me a lesson.”

    “But—but wait, aren’t you going to go get your snack first?” Annie Patasks me, pointing toward the cloakroom, as if I might have forgotten how to get there.
    Right
. It is obvious that Annie Pat is trying to make time stand still.
    “I don’t think I’m going to need a snack, not where I’m going,” I say gloomily.
    I might need Band-Aids, but not a snack.
    “Tweet tweet,”
Jared Matthews chirps as he shoves his way past me. By making this noise, he is obviously trying to tell everyone that he thinks I was the little bird who tattled to Ms. Sanchez.

    As he walks out the classroom door, Jared looks like an engine that is pulling a train. Behind him, EllRay scowls as he chugs along, and Stanley gives a foolish giggle. Then Stanley gets a bright-idea look in his mean eyes and starts clucking like a chicken—which means that hethinks
I
am chicken.
“Buk buk buk,”
he says.
    “Shut up,” I tell him.
    “Yeah, shut up,” someone behind me says. Hey, I think it’s Cynthia! Two days ago she admired me, and then yesterday she thought I was stupid. Who knows what she will be thinking tomorrow? It’s hard keeping up with her.
    “Come
on
, Emma,” Annie Pat is begging. “Let’s just eat inside.”
    “For the rest of our lives?” I ask her.
    But I feel almost sorrier for Annie Pat than I do for myself. Her red pigtails, which are usually so springy, seem to be drooping with worry. Her mouth opens and shuts the way a goldfish’s mouth does, but like the goldfish, no words come out.

    I pull away from Annie Pat’s hand and follow the rest of the kids out onto the playground.

    Jared is waiting over by the trash cans. He greets me. “Oh, look who’s here,” he says, rubbing his hands together like a greedy Scrooge McDuck. “It’s Super Emma!”
    “
I
never called me that,” I tell him.
    It is strange, but I feel like I am walking in a dream. My steps are bouncy, as though I am stepping on puffy white clouds. And it is as if those same clouds are making every sound a little bit quieter than it usually is, except for the beating of my heart.
    “Glad you could make it,” Jared says, fake-polite, ignoring my words. But then, I don’t think he’s even talking to me. He’s talking to the circle of kids around him.
    I step into the middle of that circle carefully, as if I am getting on an escalator. “Well, I’m here,” I say.
    “Yeah, after crying like a baby to Ms. Sanchez,”Jared says.
“Ooo, Teacher, save me, save me,”
he says, pretending to be me.
    “I never said that,” I tell him—and anybody else who’s listening.
    “Well, Ms. Sanchez can’t save you now,” Jared says, laughing. “She’s not even here. She’s probably drinking coffee.” His big square hands are closing into fists, opening, then closing again while he talks. I try not to look at them.
    “I don’t even want her to save me,” I lie. “Just go ahead and sock me, you big bully. Get it over with.”
    And I get ready to pound him back, even though he probably won’t feel a thing—because Jared is
big
. I barely even come up to his chin. Hitting Jared will be like slugging a school bus. Jared will be softer, though. But only a little bit softer.
    And I’m going to find out what hitting him feels like pretty soon, because even though I don’t have a chance against Jared, I’m not justgoing to stand here like a big dumb doll.
    Around Jared and me, kids have been cramming snacks into their mouths as if they were at the movies or something. But all of a sudden, something