The Trouble with Mark Hopper

The Trouble with Mark Hopper Read Online Free PDF Page A

Book: The Trouble with Mark Hopper Read Online Free PDF
Author: Elissa Brent Weissman
she hung up.

Chapter 6
    Mark’s Locker and Mark’s Homeroom
    Mark Hopper and Mark Hopper both got to school early on the first day; they both wanted to make a good impression on their teachers and demonstrate that they belonged in all honors classes.
    Mark packed his backpack the night before, placing six different colored binders, with matching folders, in his backpack. Each contained the note that he had printed out on labels: PROPERTY OF MARK GEOFFREY HOPPER. PRIVATE AND NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. He didn’t want anyone copying his notes or stealing his homework and auctioning off the answers.
    Mark also packed his backpack the night before, though its contents were only a pad of paper, a folder, a blue pen, a black pen, and two pencils. One of the pencils said PROPERTY OF MARK GEOFFREY HOPPER. Grandpa Murray had had those printed up and gave them to Mark when he started kindergarten. Mark was always lending them out, so he had only one left, and he considered it his lucky pencil. He had also written MARK HOPPER nice and big in permanent marker all over his folder. Beth had suggested he put his name on it so someone could return it to him in case it got lost. When Mark proudly showed her how he’d made his name stretch the whole folder, she stifled laughter and said that that wasn’t quite what she had in mind, but it definitely could not be mistaken for anybody else’s.
    Mark Hopper got to school so early that there was hardly anybody else in the hallway. Only a few students were hanging out by the front doors, looking at their watches and checking their outfits and waiting for their friends to arrive. Mark passed a few kids he knew from elementary school on his way to his locker. “Hey, Steve-o,” he said to Steve Dobbs, whom he hadn’t spoken to since second grade. “Don’t have time to compare schedules, but don’t worry. We might be in some classes together if you’re in all honors.” He slapped Steve on the back and continued on, looking for locker 322. He found it on the first floor, right near a girls’ bathroom. He stuck out his tongue in concentration while turning the combination. “Thirty-six . . .” he mumbled. “Turn right two times . . . four . . . turn left to eighteen . . . and . . . presto!” The lock opened with a satisfying click. “Bam!” Mark shouted. A girl with long black hair who was at a locker down the hall turned and gave him a strange look. “How’s yours coming? I got mine on the first try, so if you need help just let me know,” Mark shouted down at her.
    She stared at him as though he was from Neptune, then turned back to her locker.
    Mark knelt down and unzipped his backpack. He took out a box that contained special locker shelves he had had his mother purchase. By the time he had fitted the shelves and placed his afternoon binders on them, a few more students were arriving and chatting. He looked around for Jasmina, who had locker 326, but didn’t see her. He did see Frank Stucco, however, and he looked like he’d put on some weight over the summer. Not wanting Frank to see him, Mark closed up his locker and sauntered in the other direction. He passed the dark-haired girl, who was now leaning against a closed locker and chatting to a few other girls. “How’d it go with your locker?” Mark asked.
    All of the girls looked at him blankly.
    â€œI’m Mark Hopper,” he said.
    The girls looked at one another, each wondering which of them knew him. Finally, one of them spoke. “I’m Laurie,” she said between bites on her nails.
    â€œDo you have homeroom now?” asked the dark-haired girl, who decided to try to be friendly.
    â€œDuh,” Mark said. He gave her his why-would-you-bother-saying-something-so-useless expression that he practiced on his sister daily. “Are you guys in all honors classes?”
    Laurie nearly choked on the fingernail she was
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