Star by Jennifer Li Shotz

Author:Jennifer Li Shotz
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358108634
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2020-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

★ Chapter 13 ★

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Ms. Hollin strode up and down the rows of desks, passing back homework assignments from the week before. She laid them face-down on each student’s desk. Julian bounced his leg nervously as he waited for the teacher to reach his row. He had worked really hard on the assignment and felt good about the reading techniques Bryan had taught him. But what if he still got everything wrong? He glanced across the classroom at his friend. Bryan gave him a thumbs-up. Julian smiled at the encouragement. Ever since they’d started training Star, they seemed to have their own secret language.

Then Ms. Hollin got to Julian’s desk. Usually she handed back his assignment and kept walking, and he just stuffed his homework in his bag without even looking at it. But today Ms. Hollin paused beside him. “Great job, Julian. I can tell you really understood the reading.”

Julian could hardly believe his ears. He couldn’t remember the last time a teacher had told him he did something right! He flipped over the paper and gaped at the B+ scrawled in red pen at the top of the page. It was the highest grade he’d gotten in English all year. He couldn’t wait to show his parents.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. He was proud of himself, but he didn’t know what to do with the sudden attention.

Ms. Hollin smiled at him before moving on, and Julian couldn’t stop staring at his grade.

“There’s a first time for everything, huh?” Hunter mumbled from the back row. A smattering of snickers spread across the classroom behind Julian. He felt his face turning as red as the B+ on his homework. He quickly turned over the sheet, as if that could hide his shame.

“Knock it off,” Bryan said loudly, and a couple of kids gasped in surprise. Bryan never spoke out of turn in class. Julian shot his friend a grateful look. He knew Bryan was no stranger to being bullied, and it was really brave of him to stand up to Hunter that way.

“No one asked you,” Hunter said.

“Yeah, well, it’s none of your business how other people do on their homework,” Bryan said.

“Bryan Walter, no talking during class.” Ms. Hollin’s voice was stern. She didn’t say a word to Hunter or any of the kids who had been laughing at Julian.

“But . . .” Bryan protested.

Ms. Hollin shook her head. “You know better. I don’t want to have to give you detention.”

Bryan raked a hand through his hair in frustration, but he kept his mouth shut. Ms. Hollin turned back to the whiteboard. At the back of the room, Hunter quietly high-fived his friends. Julian sat frozen at his desk, his hands spread over his homework as if it might fly away. He knew he should have said something in Bryan’s defense, but it had all happened so quickly. He hadn’t even had the chance to get over the shock of his good grade, and now his excitement about it evaporated in the air like steam.

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