Free My Teacher Is an Alien by Bruce Coville

amazing how two such simple sentences could teach me whole new levels of fear.

 

     
     
Microsoft Corporation

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Teacher Conference
     
    The other kids had left. I was alone with the alien.
    At least Stacy had lingered at the door for a few minutes—until Mr. Smith turned to her and said, "It's time for you to go, Miss Benoit. I want to speak to Miss Simmons in private."
    Stacy looked at me with an expression that said, "I tried." Then she hurried away.
    Broxholm/Smith walked over and straddled the chair in front of my desk. He leaned toward me. "I know what you did today," he said.
    "Oh" was all I could manage. I felt as if someone had dropped an ice cube into my heart. The worst thing was, I couldn't even be sure what he meant. Did he know I had skipped my piccolo lesson? Or did he know I had been inside his house?
    I looked at the door and wondered if I would ever go through it as a living person again.
    "Well?" said Broxholm.
    "I'm sorry," I whispered. It was about all my voice was good for at that point. It was also just as vague as his first statement. I wasn't about to say what I was sorry for.
    Broxholm looked at me. "I don't understand why you dislike me so much, Susan," he said. "I'm just trying to do what is right for this class. Yet you've been hostile to me from the moment I walked through the door."
    What an actor! I wondered if I would ever be that good. It was amazing how he was still pretending to be just a teacher who was having trouble with one of his students.
    Suddenly he rose and crossed the room to close the door. "Now," he said, sitting down in front of me again, "let's be honest with each other, shall we, Miss Simmons?"
    Should I say something? Should I tell him I knew his secret?
    "Why are you here, anyway?" I said at last, still playing his game of not saying anything that couldn't be taken at least two ways.
    "I'm here to learn," he said smoothly. "After all, isn't that what school is for?"
    Creep! I thought. But out loud I said, "I thought you were supposed to be the teacher." I tried to keep my voice from cracking. But it did, anyway.
    Broxholm shifted in his chair. "A good teacher is always learning," he said. "Education is a process of give and take. I have to take certain things in order to learn. Look at all I've taken from this class already. I've taken a lot of nonsense. I've taken a lot of snottiness."
    Suddenly he turned and looked directly at me. "And I'll have to take a few more things in order to learn all I can—if you take my meaning, Miss Simmons."
    I shrank back in terror.
    I don't know how he did it, but I could actually see his alien eyes beneath his mask, as if they were burning with a light of their own.
    "And I won't take kindly to any interference with my educational mission," he said in a voice without any emotion.
    He had picked up a copy of Rockets and Flags as he talked. Now he began to squeeze it. I watched his fingers sink right into the cover, compressing the paper with the power of his grip.
    I heard a horrible thumping sound. I glanced around to see where it was coming from, then realized it was the beating of my own heart.
    "The universe is a very big place, Susan," said Broxholm gently.
    He dropped the book. His fingers had left dents half an inch deep in the cover. If only I could get the book out of there, I would finally have proof of what he was. But, of course, he had no intention of letting me have the book. He picked it up and carried it to his briefcase.
    "A very big place indeed," he said. "And there are more things going on in it than you can possibly imagine. It's important to learn all we can. Otherwise, terrible things can happen. Terrible things. That's my job—to prevent terrible things. Can you understand that, Miss Simmons?"
    I shook my head. Maybe I should say I shook my head harder, since I was already shaking all over.
    He sighed. "Well, perhaps someday you will," he said. "For now, I simply want you to know that it is