Read Online Stuff Happens by Will Kostakis - Free Book Online Page A

class?’
    â€˜Nup,’ he said. ‘Everyone’s just lining up. We’ve got plenty of time. Relax.’
    â€˜What did you mean before?’ I asked him.
    â€˜When?’
    â€˜When I said I had Mr Johnson and you said it was unlucky. What’s wrong with Mr Johnson?’
    Huck laughed. ‘Oh, nothing much, just that he’s the strictest teacher at Monvale.’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Yeah. Worse than Ms Lucas, and she’s
really
strict. He can see everything. It’s like he has eyes in the back of his head. I had him last year. He always made me pick up rubbish in the playground. Oh, and once, he confiscated my phone, but I stole it back.’
    I could already picture Mr Johnson: a lean, mean, confiscating machine.
Gulp
.
    Huck had stopped. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘this is it.’
    We were standing in front of 5J. Suddenly my heart was pounding and my chest was getting tighter.
    â€˜Good luck,’ Huck said. He was already walking back to the principal’s office.
    I was on my own, staring at the classroom door. I really didn’t want to go in. I didn’t want a strict teacher. I liked being in Mrs McKenzie’s year five class. Last term, when we all did well in our projects, she made us brownies. The kind with icing on top.
    I wanted to go back to 5M, but I was in 5J now. Mr Johnson was my teacher and that was
my
classroom door. I just had to open it.

I held my breath and reached for the handle, but the door opened before I could grab it. Mr Johnson was on the other side.
    â€˜Ah, you must be Sean Summers. Good to see you,’ he said. ‘We’re in a tricky spot and I was worried you wouldn’t find us. I almost sent someone to fetch you.’ He stepped back, smiling. ‘Come in, come in.’
    I was surprised. He didn’t seem as scary as Huck described.
    â€˜I hope you’re excited,’ he said.
    Not exactly. I was at a new school and had to make new friends. I met Eddie and Christian in kindergarten, but I didn’t remember what I’d done to make them like me. I wasn’t excited . . . I was scared. Arriving in the middle of term just made everything worse. The walls were already covered with cardboard projects, and papier-mâché planets hung from strings above us. Everybody had their seats, their bag hooks, their friends and their spots to eat lunch. I had to catch up.
    The entire class was waiting for me now, standing behind their desks. Mr Johnson showed me to my bag hook and then led me to the front of the room. Twenty-six kids stared at me. I had enough time to count them before Mr Johnson spoke.
    â€˜Good morning, everyone.’
    The class replied in unison, ‘Good morning, Mr Johnson.’
    Everybody started pulling their chairs off their desks, loudly scraping the legs across.
    â€˜Quietly,’ Mr Johnson added.
    The noise suddenly stopped. Everybody lifted their chairs onto the floor.
    Mr Johnson cleared his throat and said, ‘As you can see, we have someone new with us today. This is Sean. I want you all to make him feel welcome.’ There was shuffling in the back row as he spoke. Most of the kids were reaching into their pencil cases or drawing margins; they weren’t even listening. He continued, ‘It isn’t easy being new. Don’t be afraid to say hello to him if you see him around.’ He pointed to an empty chair over in the far-right corner and said, ‘Sean, that’s your desk.’
    As I walked over to it, Mr Johnson started writing on the board.
    I was sitting next to Jeff. His name was written on his Monvale Vipers pencil case. Dad had told me the Vipers were an A-division soccer team. Jeff was obviously a big fan.
    He caught me looking at it. ‘Do you like soccer?’
    I didn’t really follow soccer and hardly knew any of the rules. I did want to make a friend on my first day, though, so I said, ‘Yeah.’
    â€˜Cool.