Free Boys Are Dogs by Leslie Margolis

other to shield it from Oliver.
    At least he acted rude to us both.
    “Come on,” said Oliver. He seemed so anxious, I almost felt bad for the guy.
    Tobias finally passed him the microscope. Oliver peered through and said, “Whoa.”
    “What?” I asked.
    They ignored me.
    Tobias took down his notes.
    Oliver kept looking. “That’s pretty cool,” he said.
    “I know,” Tobias replied.
    “Let me see.”
    Oliver tried to pass me the microscope but Tobias pulled it away and grabbed the next slide.
    “Wait, I didn’t get a turn,” I said, which shouldn’t have been necessary. I mean it was obvious I hadn’t seen it.
    “Too late, Spazabelle.” Tobias pointed to the clock. “We’re running out of time.”
    He stared me down, challenging me to object, but I couldn’t.
    I watched them go from slide to slide to slide, and I didn’t say a word.
    Tobias wrote down his observations with my pen. He didn’t even ask this time. He just saw it sitting there and took it. When I tried to see what he was writing, he blocked his page with his elbow.
    They let me look at the last two slides, but only because Ms. Roberts strolled by our table and asked how we were all doing. Slide number five looked like little gray scratches on glass. Slide number six looked like bigger scratches. I’m sure it all would’ve made more sense if I’d seen the sequence from the beginning, but now I had no idea what I was looking at. I told myself it didn’t matter. I could always ask Yumi later on, since she had Ms. Roberts first period. But that wasn’t the point. I was mad at the boys for hogging the microscope for the entire class. And I was mad at myself, too, because I let them.
    I wish I knew what came over me in English class. Why had it been so easy to stand up to Tobias then?
    I couldn’t figure it out.
    Not until I got home and took Pepper for a walk.
    Before I opened the front door I said, “Pepper, sit.” And I hardly recognized my own voice.
    It’s because my tone sounded different—stronger and more commanding. I was only following the instructions. My dog-training book said I had to talk to Pepper like that so he’d actually listen. And it worked.
    But here’s the thing: I’d talked to Tobias that way, too.
    The dog-training lesson worked on a boy.
    Wow. Just thinking about the possibilities made my brain spin. When I first met Pepper, he was wild and unruly. Just like Tobias and the other middle school boys.
    With my dog, all I had to do was learn some rules, pitch my voice a certain way, and give him commands. Pepper’s behavior got better every day.
    It got me thinking. . . . Was it actually possible to train boys like I trained my dog?
    Yes, it already had worked on Tobias this morning. But could it work on other boys, too?
    And what about the other lessons? Would they apply?
    I ran upstairs, sat down at my desk, and opened up the book. Taking a pencil, I crossed out the word “dog” and replaced it with “boy.”

    It totally made sense! I flipped through the book, looking for other lessons to adapt, and found plenty: positive reinforcement, bribery, walking on a leash. Okay, maybe not walking on a leash, but the others would work. This was amazing. Monumental. Completely awesome. If I could actually pull it off, that is.
    Just reading about it made me feel better.
    Later that night, Mom poked her head into my room. “You’re studying hard,” she said.
    I grinned. “Well, like you said, sixth grade is a lot of work.”
    She smiled back. “I was going to remind you to take Pepper outside before you went to bed, but since you’re working, I’ll do it myself.”
    “Okay, thanks,” I said.
    When she brought the dog back into my room, I was almost halfway done translating the book.
    “It’s getting late, Annabelle.”
    I yawned. “I’ll go to bed soon.”
    “Okay, good. Sleep tight.” She kissed my forehead and then headed out.
    I finished one more chapter, changed into my pajamas, and got into bed. I