Wacko Academy Read Online Free PDF Page A

 So I had a whole hour to myself.  Since we had a week off, I didn’t even look at my homework.  I retired to my room with a good book, plopped down on my bed, and began to read.
    I was only about a chapter in when I heard a soft knocking on my window.  With a sigh, I put the book down and opened my window wide enough for a person to crawl through.  Dustin came inside, shivering from the bitter cold.
    From the looks of it, he had been out there quite a while.  Flakes of snow sparkled in his wet hair.  A few had even been caught in his eyelashes.  He wore a heavy winter coat and gloves that had to have cost hundreds of dollars.  The idiot wore no hat or earmuffs, leaving his exposed ears to freeze until they were bright red.
    “Are you insane?!” I hissed, hurriedly shutting the window behind him.  “You could have frozen to death!”
    He shook his head.  “I’m stronger than you give me credit for.  I’m sorry to bother you, but I need to give you my present.”
    He stepped forward and pulled out a familiar rectangular box.  With shaking hands, he handed it to me.
    I looked down at it, suddenly afraid to see what was inside.
    “Open it,” he whispered.
    Slowly, I opened it.  Gasping, I almost dropped the box.  I gingerly took out the beautiful diamond necklace.  A golden pendent dangled from the middle.  It looked familiar somehow.  Where had I seen this exotic piece of jewelry before?  Recognition flooded my memory and my eyes grew wide.  That picture.  The necklace had been his mother’s.  
    “Dustin, this is your—”
    “Mom’s,” he finished for me.  “I know.”
    I put it back in the box and handed it back to him, shaking my head.  “I can’t take this.  It’s way too valuable to give to me.  Why would you give me something like this, anyway?”
    He refused to take it back.  “No.  I want you to have it.  The necklace will look great on you.  Besides, there’s plenty more where that came from.”
    “But what about your dad?  Didn’t he give this to her?” I asked.
    He shrugged.  “He said it was OK that I give it to you.”
    I cast my eyes down.  “I-I don’t know what to say.”
    Dustin closed my fingers around the box with his warm gloved hands.  “Then don’t say anything.  Just take it as a Christmas present from my dad and me.  Here, put it on.”
    With a slight frown, I opened the box again.  Dustin helped secure it around my neck.  We looked at each other in the mirror.  His mother’s jewelry glistened and sparkled against my neck.  I had never ever received something as beautiful and expensive as this.  
    “See, I told you it’d look great on you,” he commented quietly.
    Why was he giving me this?  Yes, I felt honored that he’d done it, but that didn’t stop me from feeling guilty.
    Dustin took a step back.  “Guess I should be going now.”
    “If you ever want this, just ask and I’ll return it,” I told him honestly.
    The ends of his mouth twitched up into a little smile.  “Thanks.  You know, you’re a good friend.”
    “I know how much she meant to you.”
    The smile faltered.  He seemed to be contemplating something.  He took a step closer.  I stared at him, wondering what he was doing.  
    He took a deep breath.  “I haven’t been telling you the whole truth.  I’m not…I’m not who you think I am.”
    His eyes did not meet mine.  Dustin reached out to touch the sparkling horse pendent that rested on my collarbone.  I stood very still, anxious to know what he was about to tell me.  He didn’t say anything else; he continued to study the golden horse.  As he flipped it over, I noticed something on the back.  It was a small computer chip of some kind.  A tiny green light flashed.
    Dustin must have noticed it too, because he stiffened, eyes locked on the flashing green light.  He muttered a curse under his breath.  
    “I’m out of time,” he whispered, talking more to himself than to me.  
    Without