Free Lunch Money by Andrew Clements Page B

Fertile Crescent.”
    â€œCorrect. Another river that’s in the Fertile Crescent but not in Mesopotamia—Greg?”
    â€œThe Nile River.”
    â€œCorrect.”
    â€œOne of the great ancient cultures associated with the Fertile Crescent—Carl?”
    Greg was glad to get called on so early in the Q&A session. He could relax a little now, because there would probably be at least another ten questions before Mrs. Sanborn called on him again.
    Like everyone else, Greg had his notebook open on his desk. They were all supposed to be taking notes. But Greg began sketching a picture of Creon riding an animal that looked like the Sphinx. And the face on the Sphinx looked a little like Mrs. Sanborn.
    A folded slip of paper dropped onto Greg’s desk from behind him. He quickly put his hand over it, but didn’t dare turn to see who had thrown it. Mrs. Sanborn had just made a turn and was headed back in his direction.
    â€œThe name of the modern nation that includes the largest part of what was called Mesopotamia—Ted?
    â€œIran.”
    â€œIncorrect. Susan—same question.”
    â€œIraq?”

    â€œCorrect. In ancient Mesopotamia, what material was most often used for building—Ennis?”
    The teacher went past him, and Greg quickly unfolded the paper and held it flat on his notebook. It was a note. Holding his pencil and pretending to write, he read the message.
    Greg read it again.
    He’d seen kids passing notes before. But no one had ever slipped one to him. Sure, it was only from Maura. But she had underlined the word love five times. Of course, she was talking about comics. Even so, it was a lot to take in all at once.
    â€œ. . . was the most important use of clay—Greg?”
    â€œUm . . . uhh . . . writing.”
    â€œMore specific?”
    â€œCuneiform writing . . . on clay tablets.”
    â€œCorrect. The rivers in Mesopotamia led to the invention of what important farming practice—Henry?”
    It was a near miss. Had Mrs. Sanborn seen the note? Because if she captured it and read it out loud . . .
    Greg crumpled the slip of paper in his left hand, stuffed it in his pocket, and began taking detailed notes about ancient civilization. But over 80 percent of his mind was worried about current events.
    He thought, Is Maura trying to be, like . . . my friend?
    The answer to that seemed a lot like yes.
    But why? . . . because she loves comic books?
    That seemed odd. And sudden.
    And if she does want to be . . . friends?
    There was no clear answer to that one. Greg felt much more comfortable thinking of Maura as a nuisance, or a competitor—or even an enemy.
    Mrs. Sanborn’s strolling quiz finally ended. During the class discussion that followed, it would have been easy for Greg to turn around and catch Maura’s eye, look her in the face, and try to see what she was thinking. But he kept taking careful notes.
    And when Mrs. Sanborn let them begin their reading assignment, he could have turned and pretended to borrow something from Maura. Instead he opened his textbook. He pumped paragraph after paragraph of dusty history into his mind, trying to dry up his curiosity.
    Greg’s concentration slipped, and he remembered again what Mr. Z had said about Maura. He tried to forget all that, tried to remember his great publishing plans, tried to think about his sales figures for the week, about how he wanted to sell a hundred units, about how he had to make his goal.
    But the end of first period was coming, tickby tock. And then he’d have to walk out into the wide-open hallway. Maura had already warned him: I have to show you something. She was going to track him down, and there was nothing he could do about it.
    So as Mrs. Sanborn dismissed the class, Greg decided all he could do was just walk out the door, head for gym class, and let the future come. And try not to get another black eye.

 
Chapter 12

A LOOK
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    Maura cornered