Page 62-64
Words and Definitions
1.
terrorizing
making someone
very scared 
2.
babying him
treating someone
like a baby,
helping someone
too much
3.
solve the problem
do something
to make
a bad thing
become good,
make the trouble
stop
4.
stand up for himself
do something
to protect yourself,
stop people
from hurting you
5.
picture her
to imagine
what someone
looks like
6.
cautiously
to do something
carefully,
not done
dangerously
7.
probably
when it is quite sure
that something
will happen,
very likely
8.
kicked out of school
when someone
has been made
to leave a school
and can’t go back
again
9.
adjectives
words
that tell you
more about nouns,
they describe people
and things
10.
adverbs
words
that tell you
more about verbs,
they describe
how things
are done
11.
a reason
to explain
why you did something ,
why something happened
12.
stuck
when glue
holds two things
together
13.
grabbed
to suddenly
try to take s.t.
14.
pried
to try
to pull something
loose,
to pull two things
apart
15.
never mind
telling someone
not to worry
about something
16.
word quickly spread
very soon
everyone knew
the story
17.
get a peek
try
to see something
secretly
18.
kept wandering past
walking near
to something
or someone
many times
19.
fights dirty
doesn’t follow
the rules
when fighting
20.
impolite
being rude,
not the right
or nice way
to talk to people
Page 62
Bradley walked slowly, holding his hand over his eye so nobody would see it. His mother would have let him stay home from school, but his father said he had to go.
“He’s scared,” his mother had said. “Some bullies have been terrorizing him.”
“Babying him will not solve the problem,” said his father. “He has to learn to stand up for himself and fight back. The only reason the bullies pick on him is because they know he’s afraid.”
Bradley was afraid, but not of bullies. He wasn’t scared of Melinda, either. It was little Lori Westin who scared him. He could picture her standing in the middle of the playground with her big mouth shouting for the whole school to hear: “Melinda Birch beat up Bradley Chalkers and made him cry!”
Cautiously, he walked across the schoolyard, hand over eye, and entered Mrs. Ebbel’s class.
He sat down in the last seat of the last row.
Jeff’s chair was empty.
Good, he thought, still covering his eye. He probably got kicked out of school.
Out of his uncovered eye, he looked at the chart full of gold stars on the wall next to him. He was glad he didn’t have any. He thought gold stars were ugly.
Mrs. Ebbel was in the middle of teaching the difference
Page 63
between adjectives and adverbs when she suddenly stopped and asked, “Bradley, is there something the matter with your eye?”
“No.”
“Then please take your hand away from it.”
“I can’t,” he said.
“Why can’t you?”
He quickly tried to think of a reason why he had to keep his eye covered. His mind raced through a hundred ideas.
“My hand’s stuck,” he said.
“It’s stuck?” asked Mrs. Ebbel.
“I was gluing something and got glue on my hand, and then I accidentally touched my face with my hand and it got stuck.”
“Bradley, take your hand away from your eye.”
He grabbed his wrist with his free hand and pretended to try to pull it away.
“I can’t. It’s stuck.”
“Do you want to go to the principal’s office?” she asked.
“He’s good at unsticking things.”
“Wait, I think it’s starting to loosen now,” he said. He pried his hand away.
There was a bluish-black circle around his eye.
For a few seconds nobody said anything, then everybody started talking at once.
“What happened?” asked Mrs. Ebbel, but then quickly said, “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
She told the class to turn around, and started again on adverbs and adjectives.
Jeff walked in late. He said something to Mrs. Ebbel, then sat down next to Bradley.
Bradley looked the other way, at the chart full of
Page 64
gold stars. Of all the stars, Jeff’s were the ugliest.
For once, he wished he sat in the front of the room. Then only Mrs. Ebbel would have been able to see his face. Where he was, everyone could turn around and stare at him. All morning, Mrs. Ebbel had to keep telling kids to turn around and face front.
When the bell rang for recess, he put his hand over his eye and hurried outside. He went to the far end of the playground where nobody would bother him.
But the word quickly spread that Bradley Chalkers had a black eye and kids kept wandering past him trying to get a peek.
“Melinda fights dirty,” said Jeff, coming up behind him. “She hit you when you weren’t looking. And you couldn’t hit her back because it’s impolite to hit a girl.”
“Right!” said Bradley, turning around. “I would have punched her face in, except it’s impolite. Melinda probably told the whole school that she beat me up, she’s so stupid.”
“No, I don’t think she told anybody.
After you left, she asked me not to tell anyone what happened. She made Lori and Colleen promise not to tell too.”
“She’s probably afraid I’ll punch her face in,” said Bradley.
“Probably,” said Jeff.
“Then, this morning I was called into the principal’s office.
He thought I was the one who hit you.”
“Wha’d (What did) you tell him?” Bradley asked.
Jeff shrugged. “I told him you’re my best friend.” “The principal’s stupid,” Bradley agreed.