Minecraft: Into the Game (Minecraft Woodsword Chronicles #1). Nick Eliopulos

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СКАЧАТЬ first, she really had to stop standing in the middle of the staircase.

      Ash was late when she reached room 247. She had hoped to slip in unnoticed. Instead, every single one of her classmates slid their eyes over to her as she walked in the door.

      “Please take your seat,” said the teacher,

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      shuffling through some papers on her desk.

      “Um, I don’t have a seat yet,” said Ash. “I’m new.”

      “Oh! You’re the new girl.” The teacher looked up at her now. The woman’s hair was frizzy. Her topknot was held back with knitting needles, as if it were a half-used ball of yarn. “I’m sorry, dear. I’m so scatterbrained before my first pot of coffee.”

      “Don’t you mean your first cup of coffee?” asked Ash.

      “I’m Ms Minerva,” she said, changing the subject. “Why don’t you introduce yourself to the class?”

      Ash turned towards her new classmates. She took a deep breath, tapping her Public Speaking badge for luck and putting on a bright smile. She had been through this before.

      “Hi, everyone!” she said cheerfully. “My name is Ash Kapoor. I just moved here with my family from the West Coast, but I was born in Florida. I like scouting, animals, and video games.”

      A boy in the second row perked up. He pointed

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      to his binder, which was decorated with Minecraft stickers.

      Ash nodded. “Minecraft especially,” she added. Maybe she wouldn’t have so much trouble making friends this time.

      “An animal lover?” said Ms Minerva. “Why, that gives me an idea. How would you like to take care of Baron Sweetcheeks for a while?”

      The boy with the Minecraft binder perked up again. He raised his hand.

      “Baron . . . Sweetcheeks?” Ash asked, uncertain.

      “The class hamster,” Ms Minerva clarified. Then she whispered, “I didn’t name him.”

      “Ms Minerva?” the boy said, waving his hand.

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      “Yes, Morgan?”

      The boy straightened up in his seat. “Baron Sweetcheeks is actually a lot of work.”

      Ms Minerva sighed. “Twenty-four children are a lot of work, Morgan. Baron Sweetcheeks is a hamster.”

      “Sure, he looks cute,” Morgan Mercado said. “From a distance! But if you neglect him even a

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      little bit, he freaks out. He needs food, fresh water, exercise, cute hats, intellectual stimulation . . .”

      “It sounds like you could use a break from the hamster, Morgan,” said their teacher.

      Morgan shook his head. “No, I . . .”

      “I don’t mind,” Ash said. “I’m happy to help. I’ll start today.”

      “It’s settled, then,” said Ms Minerva. “Ash, there’s a free seat in the back there.”

      Ash felt quite happy. The day was off to a good start. And she had so much in common with Morgan! As she walked past him on the way to her seat, she gave him a friendly little wave.

      He didn’t wave back.

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      Chapter 2

      Hypothesis: Our Science

      Teacher Is from

      a Post-Apocalyptic

      Future

      J

      odi Mercado looked over her

      list of equipment. Binoculars:

      check. Sunglasses: check.

      Trench coat: too hot and

      probably not necessary, so she

      had left it at home.

      She had done her

      research. She knew

      all the tools of the

      spy trade.

      “It’s difficult to use

      sunglasses and binoculars

      at the same time, though,” she

      said, switching back and forth

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      between the two.

      “Excuse me,” said a voice at Jodi’s back. She turned

      and saw the new girl

      standing there. “Is this second-period gym?”

      “Yes,” Jodi replied quickly. “Welcome! Here, hold these,

      please.” She handed

      her sunglasses over. The binoculars

      gave a much clearer view. She now saw her science teacher, Doc Culpepper, walking through the school car park with a box full of circuit boards and wires and . . . gadgets of some sort.

      “Sorry, one more question,” said the new girl. “Where is the gym teacher?”

      “Coach Graham is always three or four minutes late,” Jodi answered. “Which means these are the

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      best three minutes of the day to test my hypothesis.”

      “Hypothesis?” echoed the new girl.

      “It means an educated guess,” explained Jodi. “You try to prove your guess is right or wrong through experimentation or observation.”

      “I know what a hypothesis is,” the girl replied. “We already had our science fair at my last school. I meant, what is your hypothesis?”

      “I think our science teacher is from the future,”

      Jodi answered. “I think she was fighting

      evil robots, but the robots were winning. So

      she travelled back to our time to change

      the past and prevent them from conquering the world.”

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