SCARED Ana shrugged out of her tan jacket and hung it on the peg in the narrow locker She hung her tan backpack on the peg above the jacket Once everything was hung up she put her brown paper lunch bag on the floor of the locker Each item looked and sat exactly according to the rules All up and down the row of lockers other kids did exactly the same thing in exactly the same way The strange thing was that none of the lockers had doors And none had any personal touches or decorations Everything looked exactly the same Our lockers don’t need doors Principal Carson had told Ana when she asked Students here have no secrets
But what if someone walks off with my jacket or my lunch Ana asked The principal looked startled Stealing is against the rules he declared Middlehurst Elementary School had a lot of rules And everyone followed them It was very strange Ana’s parents thought the new school was great You’ve never had a problem with rules her dad said I don’t think that will be a problem at this school And just think class time won’t be wasted on the kids who goof off That was true But it was also a little spooky Each day seemed stranger and stranger No one passed notes No one kicked the back of her seat No one whispered Everyone sat up straight in their seats and stared at the teacher In the month Ana had been in school no one teased her No one pushed her No one
commented on her thick glasses And no one offered to be her friend Ana glanced toward the restroom doors She knew she shouldn’t have had a second glass of orange juice for breakfast If she went now she’d be late for class No one was ever late for class It was against the rules But she really really had to go Guess I’ll be a rule breaker after all she whispered Then she walked fast to the bathroom She hurried but it was no use The bell rang as she was washing her hands Ana dried her hands quickly using only one paper towel One paper towel was another rule Then she peeked out of the bathroom door The hall was empty except for a boy drinking from the water fountain Ana stared at him You’re late for class she whispered
