Scrap Everything by Leslie Gould

Author:Leslie Gould [Gould, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-49961-5
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2012-10-25T04:00:00+00:00

Elise turned the chicken soup to simmer and stepped to the kitchen window. Dusk cast a golden glow over the backyard. This was her witching hour; when the boys were small, it was the time of day when they fell apart, when fathers with normal jobs were coming home to save the day. But Elise had been on her own to play another game of Stratego with them or to turn on the television so she could make dinner.

Mark stood in the doorway.

“Where are you going?”

“For a walk.” He wore his black sweatshirt.

“Where to?”

“Just around.”

“I need to talk with you first.” She covered the soup. “Mr. Jenkins said you haven’t turned in an assignment for the last two weeks.”

“He’s a creep.” Mark slouched against the counter.

“Mark, the issue is your assignments.”

“He sits at his desk and surfs the Web while we read.”

“That’s not the issue, either.”

“How can I respect a teacher who does that?”

“Why don’t you turn in your assignments after you do them?”

Mark shrugged. “I hate English.”

“That’s not the point, either.” Elise poured herself a glass of water.

Mark opened the cupboard and pulled a handful of animal cookies out of the bag.

“It’s too close to dinnertime.”

“Nag, nag, nag.”

“What will it take for you to turn in your assignments?” Elise leaned against the counter.

“Tell Mr. Jenkins to stop surfing the Web. Shouldn’t he be grading papers or something?” Mark said with a full mouth.

“Shouldn’t you be turning in papers for him to grade?”

“He doesn’t grade anything anyway. If he likes you, he gives you an A. If he hates you, you get a D. Or an F.”

“Michael turns in his work.”

“He likes Michael. Everyone likes Michael. And Michael gets A’s.”

Mark stuffed another cookie in his mouth and grabbed three more. “Bye.” He spit crumbs with the word.

“We’re eating in thirty minutes. As soon as Michael gets home from basketball practice.”

Mark slammed the back door.

Elise yanked the lid off the pot and grabbed the salt and frantically shook it into the soup. That kid. She headed down the hall to the study. Three new e-mails. The first from Mark’s science teacher.

Mark hasn’t turned in an assignment all week. He’s been staring out the window. I sent him to the office today.

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