Firestarter

Chapter Two

Stop Spying on Me Creeps!

ANNE REFUSED TO TELL ANYONE, BUT SHE HATED SCHOOL. It felt wrong. How could she hate school when her friends loved it and she herself loved learning? Yet she did. Everything reminded her of the lab, especially the teachers. Strict adults having them doing stressful tests which they were judged on, then punished for if they failed. That was on top of questions that made her feel stupid and other kids that liked to pick on her. Kids tugged on her hair and made fun of her skin, or called her names when she couldn't get "simple" answers. Every class seemed to turn her favorite thing, learning, it an unbearable chore.

Every class, there was, except for science. That class was taught by Mr. Clarke. He had helped them make a sensory deprivation tank, and he lived up to the boys' talk about him. Instantly he had taken Anne under his wing. Mr. Clarke rearranged his class plans to slow down when she struggled and, when he realized she was having trouble in other classes, took his lunch period to tutor her on anything he could. When they ended up being only math, he set her up with other kids to help her with English and history.

Anne hurried to her seat. Unlike with most classes, she didn't sit with the boys. There hadn't been an open seat there when she arrived. Instead, she was sat with Sam Doyle and Andrew Ellsworth.

The two were a strange pair. Andrew was only nine, the same age as Lucas's little sister Erica. Yet he'd been smart enough to skip a grade and end up with them. It really showed. Sam, meanwhile, was deaf. She communicated mainly through sign language (something she and Andrew had kindly taught Anne), which was why the group ended up in the front of the classroom. Mr. Clarke wanted her to be able to see everything he wrote, since he himself had been struggling to learn.

'You're late,' Sam signed as Anne attempted to wedge her book bag in next to her seat.

Anne tried to explain, 'Mrs. Byers got up late, so she picked me up late.'

At least, that was the smoother version of it. Something Anne learned was that it took a lot to sign every single word, and often particulars got dropped out. So the whole sentence was shorted down into J-O-Y-C-E up late, pick up late. It was still something Anne struggled with, especially in the quick conversations Sam and Andrew tended to have.

Today's lesson was on the human brain. Only a part of the class was pay attention — which is to say, Andrew, Anne, and the boys. Sam tried. She really did. It was just hard for her to follow along, another a lot of teachers didn't understand but Mr. Clarke did. Which is why he always paused so Andrew could sign what he had just said to Sam and the girl could write it down for later use.

As for the rest of the class...they were bored. This was the first period and they were half asleep. Some were passing notes. One girl loudly popped gum. Anne flinched and glared at the girl. It was rude when Mr. Clarke was doing his hardest for them and got ignored.