Free Mr. Terupt Falls Again by Rob Buyea Page A

lash out and attack others. It could cost you—big-time. You need to learn to handle those situations civilly. You need to always keep control, because to lose it could result in something you don’t intend.”
    “Like a snowball,” Peter mumbled.
    “Yes, like a snowball,” Mr. Terupt said. “I think you get my point.”
    Later that day I arrived home with lots to talk about again, but that was no surprise to Grandma. I filled her in on the fight and the talk we had with Mr. Terupt.
    “We’re tryin’ to keep it civil, but I don’t know how long that’s goin’ to last,” she said.
    What was she talking about? My classroom, or something else? The man from our fields?
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “Oh, nothin’. Here.” Grandma handed me the peeler and a bowl of potatoes. She grabbed a knife and started dicing up the potatoes she had already peeled. “It’s fine to get two different groups of people together, like the state is having your class do with this exchange program,” Grandma said, “but if the two sides aren’t ready to get along, then you’re just askin’ for trouble. You can’t force that sort of thing. And if you try to”—Grandma looked up from her potatoes and pointed her knife hand at me—“you’re gonna get violence.” She went back to dicing.
    “What could possibly be so hard for people to talk about?” I asked.
    “When it gets personal,” Grandma said. And then she mumbled something, but I couldn’t hear her.
    “What did you say?” I asked. I wasn’t sure, but I thought she might have said “land.”
    “Pass me those potatoes you’ve peeled.” Grandma was quick to move past that part of our conversation.
    Dear God
,
    First, let me say thanks. You sure gave that Derek kid a lesson today. I knew you’d get him for me, I just didn’t expect to get to see it. That was great! Forgive me for saying that
.
    God, I suppose ignorance can be bliss, but not if you aren’t
ignorant, and I’m not. Suddenly I’ve got more to worry about. Is Mr. Terupt really okay? And is this man-from-our-fields thing going to get violent? Does it have something to do with land? Are you helping me find answers, or just giving me more questions? I need your help, please. Also, I think you better keep an eye on Lexie. Her so-called wardrobe research was a little over the top, on top, today. Amen
.

I got that kid good before I was pulled off him. He thought he could run his mouth in our room. I wasn’t gonna sit there and let him crack those jokes. I wouldn’t change a thing about what I did. I’d do it all again.
    “Jeffrey, what happened?” Mrs. Williams had me in her office. She was fishin’ for answers. “What made you lash out like that?”
    I stared at the floor. “He was makin’ fun of Terupt. Said he was a retard.”
    “I know how angry that must have made you, but you can’t react like that. You’ve got to control yourself.”
    Mrs. Williams didn’t know how angry that kid made me. She knew I was sensitive about Terupt, like everybody else in my class, and she probably figured I was sensitive to the “retard” comment because of our work with the CollaborativeClassroom last year (which was true), but she knew nothing about Michael, the part of me that was most sensitive to that kid’s mouth. She’d never know. But I nodded.
    “You know there has to be a consequence.”
    I nodded again.
    “Our school policy is that you must serve a three-day out-of-school suspension for something like this,” Mrs. Williams said.
    I didn’t know it at the time, but that suspension would turn out to be a blessing.

I might not be as good as Luke when it comes to observations, but I don’t miss much. Lexie was different. Maybe our exchange guests didn’t take notice of her chest, but I sure did. And I know Mr. Terupt did too. Same for all our boys. Peter was bug-eyed from the moment he spotted her. Here I was, always being nice and helpful, and yet I was still invisible. He was