Free Mr. Terupt Falls Again by Rob Buyea

she’d still rap you on the knuckles with a ruler. She was one of those teachers Grandma understood.
    Mrs. Stern helped her student sit up, but didn’t bother showing him any sympathy.
    “What did you say this time, Derek?”
    “Nothin’,” Derek muttered. He cupped his hand under his nose, but I didn’t care if he was hurt. Derek was the jerk from the pool—the one who called me a whale.
    Marty and Wendy took him down to the nurse to get cleaned up (Nurse Barton was good at that, as I would soon find out), and the rest of us continued with the first Exchange Day.
    Mr. Terupt had told us that the projects would be bigger and better because we had gotten money from the state. He wasn’t lying. We had a marine biologist come to Snow Hill School to help us perform squid dissections as part of our oceanography unit.
    Our art room was converted into a science lab. We crowded around the tables. I was so excited. I love animals—all kinds. I’ve been thinking about becoming a veterinarian.
    Once we were all settled, the guest biologist, Squid Man, took charge. “Today you will be looking at squid. It’s very important that you listen and follow directions carefully. We want you to explore, but also learn.”
    Squid Man said a few more things and then passed out the slimy creatures. Definitely not what I was expecting. A room full of squid has a very strong odor. It’s the kind of smell that can make some people nauseated. It didn’t botherme. After being around cow poop all my life, I had become used to strong aromas.
    “Teach, I’m not—”
    That was all Lexie managed to say. The next thing out of her mouth was a stream of barf.
    “Eww!” the visitor boys shouted. “Did you see that? The girl with the purple sweater just yakked everywhere.” They laughed and cheered and thought it was great.
    I felt bad for Lexie but I’m pretty sure she smiled when she heard them mention her purple sweater.
    “She ought to take some of that stuffing out of her sweater and clean herself up,” Luke whispered.
    I looked at him, alarmed and embarrassed. I couldn’t talk about that sort of thing with a boy! I couldn’t talk about that sort of thing with anyone!
    “What?” he said. “Lexie looks like a puffer fish. Any detective can tell she added some fake ones. I don’t know much about that sort of thing, but I do know they don’t grow like that overnight.”
    I laughed.
    “Do you think Lexie knows puffer fish inflate to scare off predators, not to attract mates?” Luke said.
    I laughed again.
    Lexie went to Nurse Barton’s. The rest of the dissection went smoothly. Mr. Terupt called for the class meeting as soon as our guests were gone.
    We had our chairs arranged in a circle, and Mr. Terupt sat down with our microphone. He didn’t say a word. Peter held his hand out, and Mr. Terupt gave him the mike.
    “Jeffrey wouldn’t just do that,” Peter said. “That kid hadit coming. I heard them laughing at you, Mr. T, and I’ll bet he said something, too.”
    Anna went next. “I know fighting is wrong, but I think Peter’s right. Something happened that made Jeffrey do that.”
    Then Luke took a turn. “Mr. Terupt, those boys started snickering and laughing when you stuttered. That’s probably when that boy said something. Are you all right?”
    “I’m fine,” Mr. Terupt was quick to say, taking the microphone. “Don’t start worrying about me.”
    When he said that, I thought, Ignorance is bliss. Was this another one of those things an adult didn’t want us worrying about? Maybe Mr. Terupt wasn’t okay. First he stuttered; then, after he bent down and grabbed Jeffrey under the arms and pulled him up, Mr. Terupt stumbled. Jeffrey actually grabbed ahold of Mr. Terupt to keep him from tripping and falling. Did he just lose his balance or was he dizzy?
    “Look, gang,” Mr. Terupt said. “I’m really proud of the way you’re sticking up for Jeffrey. I’m sure he was provoked. But even so, you can’t just