Dance, Belle, Dance!. Beth Huffman

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СКАЧАТЬ I was hoping Miss Rex would say we’d go back to her room to talk. Instead, we went into a small room that had one desk and one chair. Even with the light on, the room seemed dark because there weren’t any windows. It felt a little creepy.

      “Macey, sit down. I want you to listen very carefully to everything I say. I also want you to feel comfortable in telling me what you’re thinking. I want to know why you lost your temper and pushed Brooklyn so hard.”

      “Kylie stutters when she gets nervous. She can’t help it. Brooklyn teased her all the time last year when we were at recess. She called her Stutter Girl. She always made sure that the recess monitor didn’t hear her. She makes fun of kids all the time. She always gets by with it and that’s not fair.”

      “A lot of things in life don’t seem fair. What matters is how you handle tough situations. Let me ask you this. Did you see Brooklyn make fun of Kylie in class this morning?”

      “Yes.”

      “When she stood up to talk, I noticed your extra loud coughing. You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

      “Yes. I’m fed up with her.”

      “So tell me what happened after I walked all of you to gym class.”

      “My sister is probably the wildest kindergarten kid that Mrs. Heldman has ever had. Mom and Dad are constantly telling her to calm down but it really doesn’t help. When she saw me in the gym, she ran over and hugged me.”

      “Then what happened?”

      “Belle finally let go of me when Miss Richmond told her it was time for lunch. When they were walking to the other end of the gym, Brooklyn acted like a big snob and said how weird Belle was. Then she said that Belle and Kylie are losers. That’s when I shoved her. I’m sorry if you’re disappointed in me but what was I supposed to do?”

      “First of all, I’m not disappointed in you. I’m actually proud of you for defending Kylie and Belle. I just don’t like the way you went about it. Bullies want attention. When you shoved her, she got that attention she wanted. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

      “I understand but it still isn’t fair. She didn’t get in trouble at all.”

      “You made your mistake by doing something that could have physically hurt her. The best way to defeat a bully is to ignore them. She wanted to get a reaction from you and she did. You shouldn’t have responded at all.”

      “What good would that have done?”

      “It would have taken away her power.”

      “I need some more suggestions, Miss Rex. I really don’t think I can walk away from her when she says horrible things about Belle and Kylie.”

      “Then tell a teacher or the guidance counselor. We’re trained in dealing with this. Nothing makes us madder than bullies.”

      “Then why doesn’t she have to miss recess?”

      “Don’t worry about her. I need for you to give me your word that you’ll use better judgment from now on. Do you promise?”

      “I promise.”

      “Good. I have high hopes for you. Don’t let me down.”

      “I won’t.”

      “Then I think it’s time for us to go back to class. Recess will be over in a few minutes. Do you have any questions before we leave?”

      “Just one. This room feels like a prison. Is this where I have to stay?”

      “It is. The time will go quickly. Bring some good books to read.”

      Prison Release

      Recess lasts forever when you’re spending it in detention. As much as I hated sitting in that boring room, it did give me plenty of time to read and to think about my talk with Miss Rex. Her advice about dealing with bullies made sense … until Brooklyn mocked me at lunch.

      “So Macey, what was it like sitting in the principal’s office for five days? Was it fun?”

      “It was a blast. You’ll find out when you finally get caught shooting off your mouth.”

      “Your sister should have been named Macey. It rhymes with spacey and that’s what she is.”

      “Congratulations, Brooklyn! I didn’t know you were smart enough to rhyme words.”

      That comment left her pretty much speechless. She was ticked off, especially when everyone at our lunch table started laughing. It made Kylie nervous. “Macey, what if she tells Miss Rex what you said?”

      “I’m not worried. She started it. Miss Rex knows what she’s like. I don’t want to talk about her anymore. Let’s go out for recess and have fun. I’m not letting anything ruin this day.”

      I couldn’t wait to try out the new tunnel slide. It was the biggest one I’d ever seen. The best part of all was that kindergarteners and 1^st graders weren’t allowed to use it. If they crossed over to our part of the playground, the recess monitors blew their whistles and yelled at them to go back with their classes.

      It seemed like all the 2^nd graders wanted to go down the slide. I could see why after my first try. I couldn’t believe how fast it was. The second I landed, I raced to get back in line. “Kylie, this is so cool. I hope we can go down two more times before recess is over.”

      “I know but there are so many kids in front of us.”

      “Yeah, but at least we’ll get one more try for sure. Let’s see if we can find Belle. She loves to climb things. I bet she’s on the jungle gym. Look for her bright pink tennis shoes.”

      Kylie saw her first. “There she is. I hope she doesn’t get in trouble. She’s hanging upside down from the jungle gym.”

      The recess monitor spotted her immediately. Even though the playground was noisy, we could hear her yell, “Belle Andrews, that isn’t allowed. Pull yourself up right now!”

      She didn’t listen. She kept hanging upside down like an acrobat. So the monitor yelled even louder, “If I have to tell you one more time, I’m sending you to the principal’s office!” By then it was my turn to go down the slide. When I reached the top step, I turned to see what she was doing. Even though she was back on the ground, the monitor was still yelling at her. I could tell that she didn’t understand why she was in trouble.

      A few minutes later, all three monitors blew their whistles twice. That meant it was time for everyone to go back to class. Just as we started walking into the building, the kindergarten monitor blew her whistle nonstop. That meant there was an emergency. Somebody was probably hurt. We all turned around to see what was going on and there was Belle. She was standing on the platform at the top of the slide. Kylie and I started running as fast as we could. She could see us coming and started waving. She thought we were playing a game.

      “Macey, look how high I am! I’m going down headfirst. Watch me!”

      “No! Belle, you can’t! Stand still! I’m coming СКАЧАТЬ