to make it better but was deathly afraid she might do something wrong and make it worse Claudia shouted at their stunned classmates Get Nurse Travers She’ll know what to do Tears were about to overflow Trinidad’s big brown eyes Just breathe Dude Niles muttered Amir sucked in a sad little sniff like he was trying his best not to cry Dude Niles said more aggressively Amir’s bottom lip quivered Niles’s eyes narrowed and he aimed a punch at Amir’s chin pulling short just before it connected Trinidad shrieked Amir’s hands went up to protect his face Both of them And suddenly Amir’s wrist wasn’t bent at an odd angle any longer A fractured plastic cup fell out from under his armpit and hit the floor with a crack that sounded distinctly like the one Amir’s wrist had made when it broke That was complete rubbish Niles pinned an annoyed look on Amir for a moment before turning to Trinidad Her eyes were enormous They went from Amir’s wrist now clearly fine to Niles and back You scared me to death she said to Amir Math Test Mischief
Then she turned to Niles And you What if it wasn’t a prank You didn’t know it was a prank Niles’s fair skin shaded pink Trinidad took off down the hall before either boy could explain or defend himself Claudia whacked Amir on the arm Idiot Then she took off after Trinidad Amir snorted as he watched the girls storm off That was awesome Just like I practiced in the mirror They’ll be laughing about it by second period I did not need that today Niles’s tone was still irritated even more so than it had been a moment ago What Amir asked The movies didn’t go so well Amir hadn’t been invited but he’d heard about the movie plans Niles with his posh British accent had been the subject of whispers since he’d moved to Harwington last year But the rumors had really taken off last week as everyone had tried to sort out who’d been invited and who hadn’t and what it all meant in terms of who liked who Niles’s flush deepened making Amir think he’d hit a sore point What could’ve gone wrong Niles was practically Mr Perfect It went fine thank you very much Niles wasn’t about to Pranks and Problems
admit how un-fine things had gone to Amir But now thanks to you Trinidad’s annoyed with me He stalked off down the hall At least my prank was original Amir called after him Most of the other pranksters scattered around the lobby had stolen gag ideas from last year Didn’t they get that no one was going to fall for white-toothpaste-filled-Oreos two years in a row You could get the sixth graders with an old joke but there wasn’t much challenge in that Amir was in no hurry to get to homeroom while everyone was still annoyed with him He might as well have a few more minutes of fun until the first bell rang Tossing the broken plastic cup into the nearest garbage bin he pulled a new one out of his backpack and tucked it up under his armpit He tugged his jacket closed to hide it from view Then he scanned the crowd for a new audience All the other eighth graders milling around him had just seen the gag With the excitement over they’d turned back to their conversations without so much as a fist bump for Amir’s stellar performance He started toward the hallway with the sixth graders lockers Pulling a gag on sixth graders might score lower on the difficulty scale but at least he’d get one more good laugh before the school day started Math Test Mischief
7:35 a.m. Good morning Miss Palermo Trinidad said brightly as she and Claudia walked into the math classroom They had both homeroom and first-period pre-algebra with Miss Palermo as well as lacrosse practice or games three afternoons a week Miss Palermo was their coach Trinidad hovered just inside the door next to the teacher’s desk but the teacher said Good morning girls without turning from the problem she was writing on the whiteboard Trinidad tossed her long curly hair over her shoulder and headed down the aisle She slipped into her seat in the third row with a nod to Mei in the desk behind hers Then she leaned toward Claudia in the desk on her left and said in a low voice I think I overreacted No way That was not funny The way Amir’s wrist was bent I was sure he’d be stuffed into an ambulance and heading at top speed for emergency surgery Right It looked so real And the cup snapping sounded just like a bone breaking Trinidad shivered Niles took his seat at the desk to Trinidad’s right It did look real but it was Amir and today is April Fools Day You had to expect something dodgy Mei silently congratulated herself for having escaped Amir’s Pranks and Problems
