Wonder Read Online Free PDF Page B

Okay?”
    Mr. Tushman was greeting students and parents in front of the school entrance.
    I have to admit: so far, nothing bad had happened. I didn’t catch anyone staring or even noticing me. Only once did I look up to see some girls looking my way and whispering with their hands cupped over their mouths, but they looked away when they saw me notice them.
    We reached the front entrance.
    “Okay, so this is it, big boy,” said Dad, putting his hands on top of my shoulders.
    “Have a great first day. I love you,” said Via, giving me a big kiss and a hug.
    “You, too,” I said.
    “I love you, Auggie,” said Dad, hugging me.
    “Bye.”
    Then Mom hugged me, but I could tell she was about to cry, which would have totally embarrassed me, so I just gave her a fast hard hug, turned, and disappeared into the school.

Locks
    I went straight to room 301 on the third floor. Now I was glad I’d gone on that little tour, because I knew exactly where to go and didn’t have to look up once. I noticed that some kids were definitely staring at me now. I did my thing of pretending not to notice.
    I went inside the classroom, and the teacher was writing on the chalkboard while all the kids started sitting at different desks. The desks were in a half circle facing the chalkboard, so I chose the desk in the middle toward the back, which I thought would make it harder for anyone to stare at me. I still kept my head way down, just looking up enough from under my bangs to see everyone’s feet. As the desks started to fill up, I did notice that no one sat down next to me. A couple of times someone was about to sit next to me, then changed his or her mind at the last minute and sat somewhere else.
    “Hey, August.” It was Charlotte, giving me her little wave as she sat down at a desk in the front of the class. Why anyone would ever choose to sit way up front in a class, I don’t know.
    “Hey,” I said, nodding hello. Then I noticed Julian was sitting a few seats away from her, talking to some other kids. I know he saw me, but he didn’t say hello.
    Suddenly someone was sitting down next to me. It was Jack Will. Jack.
    “What’s up,” he said, nodding at me.
    “Hey, Jack,” I answered, waving my hand, which I immediately wished I hadn’t done because it felt kind of uncool.
    “Okay, kids, okay, everybody! Settle down,” said the teacher, now facing us. She had written her name, Ms. Petosa, on the chalkboard. “Everybody find a seat, please. Come in,” she said to a couple of kids who had just walked in the room. “There’s a seat there, and right there.”
    She hadn’t noticed me yet.
    “Now, the first thing I want everyone to do is stop talking and …”
    She noticed me.
    “… put your backpacks down and quiet down.”
    She had only hesitated for a millionth of a second, but I could tell the moment she saw me. Like I said: I’m used to it by now.
    “I’m going to take attendance and do the seating chart,” she continued, sitting on the edge of her desk. Next to her were three neat rows of accordion folders. “When I call your name, come up and I’ll hand you a folder with your name on it. It contains your class schedule and your combination lock, which you should
not
try to open until I tell you to. Your locker number is written on the class schedule. Be forewarned that some lockers are not right outside this class but down the hall, and before anyone even thinks of asking: no, you cannot switch lockers and you can’t switch locks. Then if there’s time at the end of this period, we’re all going to get to know each other a little better, okay? Okay.”
    She picked up the clipboard on her desk and started reading the names out loud.
    “Okay, so, Julian Albans?” she said, looking up.
    Julian raised his hand and said “Here” at the same time.
    “Hi, Julian,” she said, making a note on her seating chart. She picked up the very first folder and held it out toward him. “Come pick it up,” she said,