The Rule of Won by Stefan Petrucha Page A

stunned, I walked up and stood at his back. I was so close that if I’d stretched, I could have touched my chin to the top of his shiny dome head. Not that I’d want to.
    Rip, rip, rip.
    â€œMr. Eldridge?” I said. “Whatcha doin?”
    He nearly leaped out of his skin.
    In tried-and-true
Rule
believer mode, I got all offended and annoyed. I stared at him, like, “Well, young man? Do you have an explanation for this?”
    Usually he has this calm look, like he’s heard it all and nothing some student could ever say would faze or interest him, but now his face looked a little red, maybe from embarrassment, like he thought he was secretly invisible, and no one was supposed to notice he was tearing down posters.
    â€œI . . . ,” he finally said, clearing his throat. “I just don’t think it’s right for some club to take credit for our team’s hard workor our new grant. You kids have enough trouble making it out there without putting your faith in crap like this.”
    Eldridge wasn’t the sort to fail me in trig just because I stood up for myself, so I tapped the pin on my collar. “I don’t think it’s crap. Thirty million people don’t think it’s crap.”
    â€œUnbelievable,” he said, more to himself than to me. “Science teachers can’t mention God
or
teach evolution without an uproar, but something this patently absurd slips in right under the radar and no one blinks. Perfect for someone like you, eh, Dunne? Everything supposedly comes to you without you having to lift a finger.”
    Now he wasn’t just attacking
The Rule
, he was after my slacker ways. The little adrenaline rush was just what I needed to clear my head. All of a sudden, I was totally sure about everything.
    â€œI’m passing trig without lifting a finger, aren’t I, Mr. E?”
    â€œYes. So far. You’re facile, Dunne, that’s clear. But don’t confuse being facile with being smart. Things come easily to you so you’re not used to working for them.”
    â€œIs it smart to be afraid of new ideas?” I said, nodding at the papers in his hand.
    I thought I got him with that, but he just smiled. “You think
The Rule of Won
is a new idea?”
    Fortunately, I’d read the book and even remembered some of it. “Well, technically, no. Knowledge of
The Rule
is ancient, but it was concealed for centuries, to keep people down, to oppress people.”
    â€œDunne, the only reason anyone needs to oppress peopleis to get something they want or to keep something they have: security, control over limited resources, wealth. If, like your
Rule
insists, everyone can have whatever they want whenever they want it just by asking, what’s the point in keeping it secret?”
    Ha. I had an answer. I said, “Uh . . .”
    He crossed his arms. “Let’s say that part’s just an advertising gimmick, okay? Your book also says we get
only
what we ask for. Every rape victim the world over, every victim of child abuse, of war, of famine, of disease, deep down really asked for it. It’s all the victim’s fault.”
    He spoke with a kind of certainty Ethan could only imitate. Not droning or suave, like he was trying to hypnotize, but pleading and sincere, like he really wanted me to realize there was this tiger behind me that I just didn’t see, and if I didn’t move out of the way, it was going to get me.
    I felt his words push at me like physical things, but I managed to hold my ground. After all, this was stuff I’d been thinking about for weeks. “How do you know life
doesn’t
work that way? Isn’t it possible people’s expectations are always screwing them up?”
    â€œSure, sometimes, but your book says it’s
always
true. What about a baby who dies in a car accident? A baby, who doesn’t even know it’s
in
a car. Where’s the baby’s expectations?”
    I