school. I know you can do it, sport.â He winked at me as the car pulled away. I hated being called âsport.â
And they didnât know about Willy.
Chapter 2
Moments of Brilliance
By noon I was feeling better about the day. My math test had been easier than I expected. I only had to fake it on a few of the questions. There was a substitute teacher in language arts who showed us a film about William Shakespeare. And in social studies, the teacher told me my Civil War report looked âinteresting.â
That afternoon I had science and computer lab, my two favorite subjects. So all I had to do was dodge Willy Phillips during lunch. Then Iâd be home free.
I found Jesse in the lunchroom and sat down beside him. Jesse is my best friend. Heâs a Latino boy who likes a lot of the same things I do. We ate lunch together most days. After lunch we would go to science and computer lab together.
âHey, Jesse, whatâs for lunch?â He had gotten a tray of cafeteria food. I could tell he was trying to figure out exactly which food group each item was from.
âToday is Monday, so I guess this must be last Wednesdayâs meatloaf disguised as lasagna,â he said, cutting into the food like a surgeon operating on a patient.
I opened my brown paper bag to see what my mother had packed for lunch.
âBoy, have I got a surprise for you,â Jesse said in a whisper. He looked around to see if anyone was watching.
âI think the coast is clear,â I told him, also whispering. âWhat are we whispering for?â
Jesse opened a notebook. He took out a piece of paper and slipped it to me.
âWith my devilish mind and your computer wizardry, what sort of chaos can we create with this?â he asked.
I looked at the paper. It was a sheet of stationery from the principalâs office. It had the schoolâs name, address, and officialschool seal at the top. The principalâs name was printed at the bottom.
âWhere did you get this?â I asked.
âI just lifted it from Mr. Rippletonâs desk this morning when he wasnât looking.â
âWhat were you doing in the principalâs office?â My eyes widened.
âJust clearing up a little dispute about who glued Mrs. Wrightâs locker shut last week,â Jesse said.
âWell, this really isnât much use without Mr. Rippletonâs signature.â
âWhich you have on the note he wrote when you almost got suspended last month.â
âWhich I happen to have right here!â
I dug around in my backpack. I knew it was in there somewhere. By the time I found it, an idea had hatched in my mind. It was an idea that was perfect for computer lab. Where do these moments of brilliance come from? For some reason, I failed to see the trouble it could cause me.
That afternoon in computer lab I waited for just the right moment. It came while theteacher was busy helping someone with a question. I placed the stationery on the labâs scanner and scanned it into the labâs computer. Then, when the teacher was busy putting a new cartridge in another printer, I scanned the principalâs signature into the computer. The final step was to put both files on my flash drive. When this was done, I gave Jesse the thumbs-up sign. We were good to go.
âWhatâs with the thumbs up, Daniel?â the teacher asked. He took me by surprise.
âAre you pretending to be the emperor of Rome? And now youâre going to allow the gladiator to live?â
âNo, Mr. Saunders.â I had to think fast. âJesse and I had a little bet about who could finish this software problem first. I won.â I laughed nervously and glanced at Jesse.
âOh, I see.â I donât think he really believed me. But another student asked a question just then and saved me. I sighed with great relief and held up the flash drive to show Jesse.
When school was out for the day, I had Jesse
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