Free Extraordinary Losers 1 by Jessica Alejandro Page A

itself.”
    â€œNo! No! Justin and Leonard are always claiming they have been marked wrongly. Does anyone else do that?” I said. My three friends stared at me.
    â€œHow many times have you seen Leonard and Justin running up to our teachers telling them they have been marked wrongly?”
    â€œAlmost all the time!”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAre-are-are-you saying that Leonard and Justin used an eee-eee-erasable ink pen during their test… And-and-and they would erase their wrong answers when the papers were given back…” Janice said excitedly (I thought she was about to have a heart attack).
    â€œThen-then fill in th-the-the right answers with the s-sa-same pen and claim that they have been ma-mar-marked wrongly?” she continued.
    â€œYes!! That’s it!”
    â€œOH!” Her eyes widened.
    â€œYes, oh,” I said. “With 300 scripts to mark in a week, teachers are bound to make mistakes and these guys know it.”

    The four of us looked at each other under the darkness of our huddle. All of a sudden, I heard laughter.
    â€œWait here,” I said. Looking around, I saw that class 5B had gathered at the entrance of the school hall. What in the world?
    â€œQuick! Let’s go check that out!” Clandestino urged. He got up. I caught him pawing the floor with his feet. And then all of a sudden, he powered off! Whoosh! He vanished quickly, speeding off so fast that a cloud of dust trailed behind him.
    The next thing we knew, the cloud separated and revealed him standing at the entrance of the school hall with the rest of the class.
    â€œHe took 1.4 seconds, no? Mundi exclaimed. “To run from here to there!”
    â€œGosh! I never knew he was THE SPEED.”
    â€œHe’s incredible!” Janice added. “Let me try!”
    She was about to paw the ground with her feet too when we all chorused, “No!!!”
    â€œLet’s just hurry!” I yelled.
    We tore off, secretly racing against each other. When we arrived, Clandestino was not in a good mood. His fists were clenched and he was all red, staring at something on the wall. Up on the school’s notice board were four pieces of paper, each with our names on them.

    Everyone was laughing. Leonard and Justin were beaming! Janice fled from the scene, eyes brimming with tears. Mundi stood there, blinking profusely. He didn’t know what to do.
    â€œJustin and Leonard!” I yelled. “That’s enough from you both.” Marching up to them, I didn’t think I had ever been angrier.
    â€œOoooooh. Scary.” Leonard sniggered. “How do you like our poems?”
    Justin immediately blocked Leonard from me. “Can I help you, Dirty Darryl?” He grabbed my shirt and wrung it, baring his knuckles.
    Glaring at the both of them with gritted teeth, I was about to punch Justin. Just then, I heard the air stirring up from behind me. It was the familiar sound of two spinning blades. “Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!” Before I could turn around, two objects whizzed past me, one after another.
    â€œBull’s eye!” Clandestino muttered. The two pens were lodged on the notice board behind where Leonard was standing. One on his left and one on his right. They had missed Leonard’s ears by a hair’s breadth.
    Leonard was momentarily stunned. This angered Justin even more. Damien slowly backed away.
    â€œI have had enough of you, Nosey! Do you have to stick your mucous nose into everything?” Justin tightened his grip on my shirt.
    Mundi was very uncomfortable. “Er, boys, boys. Assembly is starting in exactly five minutes and 43 seconds. No?”
    By this time, a group of students had gathered around us.
    Leonard goaded, “Hit him! Hit him!”
    â€œRun, Darryl, run,” Damien whispered. Justin was gripping something in his pocket and I could hear the unmistakable clacking sound of a penknife being extended.
    â€œYou think I am scared of