Free The Eyes of Kid Midas by Neal Shusterman

a supernova.
    "You're the shortest, creepiest, dwarfiest little midget on the face of the earth!" shouted Nicole.
    Kevin could stand it no longer.
    "OH YEAH?" he screamed . . .
    And that's when Kevin, the dwarf star, went nova.
    Mr. Kirkpatrick was out sick that day—down with a cold he had picked up at the Divine Watch.
    The substitute was a mealy-looking woman in polyester, whose name was so ridiculously long and unpronounceable she herself had problems trying to spell it when she wrote it on the board. Inthe end, she advised the students just to call her Ms. Q.
    Ms. Q. was trying to rein in the terror when Kevin Midas walked in. The classroom was raging with arguments and spitball wars that showed no signs of stopping.
    "Please simmer down," Ms. Q. said to the meltdown situation before her. "I'm taking roll."
    Kevin slithered into his seat, and Josh, who sat just across the aisle, watched him. "Kevin, you don't look too good," he said. Kevin imagined that if he took off the glasses, Josh would see in his eyes just how "not good" things were.
    Kevin ever so gently put his backpack on his desk.
    In the front of the room, Nicole's seat was empty. Josh noticed it right away.
    "Where's Nicole?" he asked Kevin.
    Kevin didn't know exactly how he should answer that question.
    "Kevin," Josh asked again, "what did you do to Nicole?"
    "She called me a midget," said Kevin.
    "And?"
    "She called me Shrimpoid. . . ."
    "And?"
    "And I sort of got . . . mad."
    "Where is Nicole?"
    Kevin didn't say anything. Instead he nodded hishead toward his backpack. The light bulb went on in Josh's head.
    "No!" said Josh. "You didn't!"
    But before Kevin could answer, his backpack was snatched off his desk.
    "The ball is in play!" yelled Bertram as Kevin's pack became the prime object hurtling around the room.
    "Noooo!" screamed Kevin. If there ever was a lime not to play keep-away with Kevin's backpack, this was it. Kevin, as pale as the cloud-covered sky, leapt out of his seat in absolute terror.
    The backpack flew in the air, and Hal, in the back of the room, caught it.
    "I'm giving you five seconds to settle down," said Ms. Q.
    Kevin reached Hal, only to watch helplessly as Hal threw the pack to Bertram again. Kevin reached Bertram, and the pack flew again. Bertram laughed and bit down on his gum wad, squirting bubble-gum juice in Kevin's face.
    "That's it!" yelled Ms. Q., picking up the phone by the chalkboard. "I'm calling the office." But the joke was on her. The phone hadn't worked since school started.
    Bertram grabbed the pack by one thin strap and dangled it out the second-story window.
    "You don't know what you're doing!" screamed Kevin.
    "C'mon, Midas, come and get it," said Bertram brainlessly. "Torn, torn!"
    Kevin climbed Bertram's arm as if it were the limb of a tree. Bertram pulled the pack in from the window and prepared to hurl it across the room once more.
    What Kevin did next came as a complete surprise, to him as well as to Bertram. He simply had to get that pack back . . . so he hauled off and belted Bertram right in the face.
    The pack fell out of Bertram's hands, and Kevin caught it before it hit the ground.
    Now the room was a three-ring circus, raging fully out of control. In one corner, a slapping fight had turned into a brawl. In the center ring, a chorus of kids were performing armpit farts, and by the window, Bertram was reeling from Kevin's blow.
    Ms. Q. chose to break up the brawl in the corner and drag those two kids out in the hall for a reprimand, leaving the rest of the circus without a ringmaster.        
    Bertram's lip had been cut against the sharp track of his braces, and his teeth were covered with blood, as if he had just bitten a chunk out of someone. The chain-saw look filled Bertram's face, and Kevin knew there was no escape. He carefully handed Josh his backpack.
    "Don't let anyone near her!" said Kevin. The second the backpack was out of his hands, Bertram'sfoot made contact with Kevin's butt,