November Blues by Sharon M. Draper Page B

schedule. Talk about dull!
    A lot of kids tolerated him because he didn’t make themwork hard. If they turned in every single assignment and passed all the quizzes, they were guaranteed to get at least a B. Nobody ever remembered anything they learned in his class, in spite of the fact that no one ever left the classroom.
    Mr. Fox never let students out of class. Ever. He had tossed his hall pass in the wastebasket the first day of school. Counselors who wanted to check a student’s schedule had learned to get that person out of English or gym or band. Not Mr. Fox’s class. Kids learned to use the toilet facilities before class, or hold it until after.
    November wiggled in her seat uncomfortably. She really had to go to the bathroom. Her mother had insisted she drink two large glasses of orange juice before she left for school. November was sure her bladder was about to burst.
    â€œI gotta pee!” she whispered to Olivia.
    â€œYou gotta hold it,” Olivia whispered back.
    â€œI really gotta go bad! Feels like a brick is sitting on my bladder. It’s gonna pop like a balloon!”
    Mr. Fox looked up disapprovingly.
    â€œThat’s no brick. That’s the baby!” Olivia hissed.
    â€œI really gotta get out of here.”
    â€œHe won’t let you!”
    â€œHow is he gonna stop me?” November retorted. She stood up.
    â€œMay I help you, Nelson?” Mr. Fox said, looking up from the book he was reading.
    â€œI need to be excused, sir.”
    â€œSorry. You know my rules.”
    â€œBut this is an emergency.”
    â€œLack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency for me.”
    â€œNobody plans when they have to pee! When you gotta go, you gotta go! And I gotta go.”
    â€œIt’s almost the end of the school year, Nelson. Surely you know I don’t let students out of class. I have not yet, and I do not intend to do so. Now sit down. You can wait thirty minutes.”
    â€œBut I can’t!” November’s voice was pleading and desperate. She hopped from one foot to the other.
    â€œPlease sit down, Nelson.”
    â€œWhat if I walk out? What are you gonna do—shoot me in the back as I leave?” November moved closer to the door.
    â€œNo one leaves my classroom. That’s my only rule. I think that’s quite reasonable.”
    â€œIt not like anybody would miss anything in this boring, bootleg class!” November shouted. “A trained chimp could pass this class!”
    â€œWhat has gotten into you, young lady?” Mr. Fox asked, his voice bristling with anger. The class looked at her in awe.
    â€œWhat’s in me? You really want to know? Well, I’ll tell you! Two glasses of fresh-squeezed orange juice, one large poppy-seed bagel, one bowl of blueberry yogurt, and a baby! Yes, a real, live baby, who is at this moment doing a tap dance on my bladder.”
    Several students gasped at this revelation. November, flushed and angry, continued, “So you’re just gonna have to mark me as AWOL because I’m walking out of that doorthis instant, down the hall, and to the bathroom before I pee all over your floor!”
    She dug her fingernails into her palms to keep from crying, then stormed out of the room. She could hear the class cheering as the door slammed. She knew Mr. Fox would silence their outburst with just a look.
    Well, there goes Mom’s big secret , she thought a few minutes later as she washed her hands. It’s not like it wasn’t gonna creep out eventually . She sighed. Now it begins . She wandered the halls until the bell rang, when she darted into the room, grabbed her books, and scooted back out. She avoided looking at Mr. Fox or anyone else.
    By the end of the day, everybody at school knew that November was pregnant. Cell phones had come out like buzzards after a kill as kids sent calls and text messages to one another, passing along the news and trying to get more