R.J.Palacio

was so nervous that the butterflies in my stomach were more like pigeons flying around my insides.

know everybody. I know every brick and every tree trunk and every crack in the sidewalk. I know Mrs. Grimaldi, the lady who’s always sitting by her window, and the old guy who walks up and down the street whistling like a bird. I know the deli on the corner where

Then Mom hugged me, but I could tell she was about to cry, which would have totally embarrassed me, so I just gave her a fast hard hug, turned, and disappeared into the school.

t was all new to me suddenly.

kind of felt everyone’s eyes burning into my back for the few seconds I stood in the front of the class, and everybody looked down when I walked back to my desk.

resisted spinning the combination when I sat down, even though everyone else was doing it, because she had specifically told us not to

t wasn’t a shiny smile, like Mrs. Garcia’s smile, but a normal smile, like she meant it

She looked very different from what I thought teachers were going to look like. I guess I thought she’d look like Miss Fowl from Jimmy Neutron: an old lady with a big bun on top of her head. But, in fact, she looked exactly like Mon Mothma from Star Wars Episode IV: haircut kind of like a boy’s, and a big white shirt kind of like a tunic.

The funny thing is, if he hadn’t put the backpack between us, I most definitely would have offered to help him.

are you into