1 OFF TO A BAD START It wasn’t like Grady Hopkins loved school but he definitely didn’t like being late for it But that’s exactly what happened Tuesday morning The sun peeking through the venetian blinds in his room warmed up his eyelids making them snap open Grady rolled over and looked at his dresser The face of his alarm clock was dark Is the power out Grady wondered sleepily 5
Grady his mom shouted from the basement What are you doing Are you still in bed He shot out of bed as if he’d been electrocuted Stumbling around the piles of clothes on the floor he found a pair of jeans that didn’t smell too bad a shirt he hadn’t worn since last week and some socks without holes in them Grady skidded into the bathroom His light brown hair was sticking up in the back Brushing his teeth with one hand he slapped on as much water as he could to plaster his hair back down Grady Muh mumming mah Grady groaned through a mouthful of toothpaste He glanced out the bathroom window and saw how high the sun was in the sky It was late and he was going to be even later for school 6
Back in his bedroom he snatched up his backpack and scanned his cluttered desk for his homework He had a bad habit of leaving his work right there when he was done but it was nowhere to be found Opening up his pack he saw that his folders were already tucked in all nice and neat I don’t remember doing that Grady thought but he shrugged There wasn’t time to think about anything but getting to first period and fast As he came downstairs Grady saw his mom waiting at the bottom of the steps She didn’t look happy Was there a power outage or something Grady asked He found his shoes at the bottom of the steps and tried to tug one on For some reason his foot didn’t fit No there wasn’t his mom replied But you’re going to be late Becky has already left 7
