Chapter 28
EIGHT YEARS EARLIER
I don’t like Mr. Riordan.
He’s my least favorite teacher. Actually, he’s everyone’s least favorite teacher. If everyone in the school picked the teacher they disliked the most, he would be on every single list. (Well, not everyone. Not everyone has had him as a teacher. But you know what I mean.)
First of all, he smells bad. He doesn’t smell like he hasn’t showered or something like that, but he has this weird moldy cheese smell.
Jade told me it’s whatever he has for lunch, since we get to have him in the afternoon.
From the second row, where I am unfortunately seated, I can always smell it emanating from him.
He also has the absolute worst combover ever . He has like ten strands of hair combed over his bald spot. It’s seriously hard to look at.
But the worst part is he’s bad at explaining math.
I could deal with the smell and his bald head if he could only explain stuff better.
His voice has like two levels: monotone and yelling.
Monotone is what he uses when he’s explaining math problems to us.
Yelling is what he does when the class gets restless because nobody understands what he’s talking about because he’s bored us nearly to sleep.
And yet, his tests are notoriously extremely difficult.
Right now, he’s passing out exams. As he walks by me, I get a whiff of that moldy cheese smell, and it’s all I can do to keep from pinching my nose with my fingertips. Instead, I breathe through my mouth.
After he passes by, Jade pokes me from the seat next to mine and makes a funny face. Well, at least she’s not still mad at me from last night.
When Mr. Riordan gets to the last student, he hesitates. He looks down at the test paper in his hand, then frowns at the classroom.
“Did anyone get two test papers?” he asks.
Twenty-two kids shake their heads in unison.
He presses his lips together. “I thought I had one extra, but…”
He did have one extra. And now it’s lying in the garbage in my bedroom.
Jade and I exchange looks. We would both be in a huge amount of trouble if he had any idea what really happened to that extra test paper. But nobody knows the truth except the two of us.
Mr. Riordan finally gives the student the last test, but there’s a troubled look on his face. It doesn’t matter though. Absolutely anything could have happened to that extra test paper. He has no idea.
And he never will.