Free Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea

James and Joey and Emily, or any of the Collaborative kids, could come up for a little bit—or, if we wanted, some of us could go down there.”
    “We could bring in games,” Anna added, taking the mike.
    Then it was my turn. “I think we should do what everyone’s suggested for part of the day,” I said, “but maybe we could go outside, too.” Everyone cheered. It was weird, having the other girls agree with me. If Alexia had been her old self, she would have controlled them, but now that Alexia was sidelined, all the girls got along better.
    Not having girl wars didn’t mean everything was perfect. I still had a problem—Anna. I hadn’t gone to her playdate because I’d been too chicken to ask my mom. I made up some excuse about it being a bad weekend for my family. Jessica told me she had a great time and that Anna’s mom was friendly. Now Anna asked us about coming over again.
    “Find out when it’ll be a good weekend for your family, and we’ll plan the playdate for then,” Anna told me.
    I’ve got to mention it to my mom this time. I just have to.
    Mr. Terupt was last to speak at the meeting. “I like what I’ve heard,” he said. “We could plan for part of the day to be spent inside, playing games, then we’d get some fresh air. I’ll think about it some more and let you know. But first you need to earn the last link. Meeting adjourned,” he said. He always ends by saying that.
    I really like these meetings. The first time we had one, Mr. Terupt told us that it was a way for everyone to have a voice. I didn’t get it at first, but now I do.

Peter
    W e finally earned a class reward. Or almost. I really hoped Mr. T would come through for us about going outside. So I shot my hand up as soon as class started the next day.
    “What is it now, Peter?” Mr. T said.
    “Have you thought about us going outside? The school rule says we can’t go out in the snow. We can go out on the blacktop, but it’s too crowded and there’s nothing to do.” Everyone was quiet. They listened because they knew I was right.
    “Well, Peter, I like how you’re thinking ahead. I did talk to Mrs. Williams, and she gave us special permission to go out in the snow as long as
everyone
has snow pants and hats and gloves and boots.”
    “She gave us special permission even after we all saw her underwear?” I said.
    “Yes,” Mr. T said, trying to move us past the giggles that started.
    “Permission for the snow?” I asked again, just to make sure I had it right.
    “In the snow,” Mr. T said. “The key being
everyone
needs to bring their stuff, or else we can’t go out.”
    I couldn’t believe it. When I went to bed that night, I had visions of snowballs dancing in my head.
    It was going to be the best class party day ever.

Jessica
    A ct 7, Scene 1
    The class bubbled with energy. Mr. Terupt had just attached the last link needed for our paper chain to touch the floor. The links were hard to come by with the likes of Peter and Alexia in our classroom, but we did it.
    “Congratulations. You’ve earned your free day,” Mr. Terupt said. “A class party day.”
    Peter couldn’t believe it. None of us could, really, but Peter was beside himself. The only thing he could wrap his brain around was going outside to play in the snow.
    “Don’t forget your snow stuff, California girl,” he said to me. I didn’t need reminding. It was all I could think about, but not because I was excited.
    Act 7, Scene 2
    I raised my hand tentatively and waited for Mr. Terupt to call on me. It was nearly time to go home. I couldn’t wait any longer.
    “You have a question, Jessica?”
    “Yes … sort of,” I said. “I have a problem. I don’t have any snow pants. I didn’t need them in California.”
    Silence. It was like I sucked all the excitement out of the classroom with a gigantic vacuum hose. Peter glared at me. I couldn’t look at him. Then I saw Luke raise his hand. Mr. Terupt called on him.
    “Lukester.”
    “I