1 Monday morning did not start well Can anyone here explain to me what happened to your last teacher asked Ms Weebly It was 9 10 a m At 9 10 a m every day Ms Weebly liked to be in her principal’s office with a mug of coffee and her favorite jar of pink macaroons But not today Today she was in our classroom faced with all of our grubby faces 9
The grubby faces of class 4X Nobody answered I looked at my desk and the ceiling and my fingernails We weren’t very good at keeping hold of teachers Most classes at Purple Hill Elementary were named after their teachers like 3N Miss Nice and 6C Mr Clatterbridge But since first grade so many of our teachers had left that we had become class X Then the children started leaving as well Soon there wouldn’t be any of us left At the front of the room Paige shot up a hand with non-regulation pink nail polish Ms Weebly flicked her eyes around the room ignoring Paige Nobody at all I unhinged my pencil case keeping both hands on the lid as I pried it open so it didn’t make a sound I slid out my little blue notebook and found the right page 10
4 X Ex-Teachers 1 Mr Yau December 6th Went to the stationery cupboard for glue sticks Never came back Ms Weebly had to teach us for the rest of the year 2 Ms Kettle January 5th New year new teacher new record didn’t last a day The twins fell out of the window the ambulance came and she left right behind 3 Mrs Moses March 24th Took early retirement after an incident with jelly in the sandpit She was twenty-seven 4 Mr Austin June 30th Ran away after Daisy-May’s Show and Tell Ms Weebly spotted me checking my notebook Any idea why Mr Austin left Arlo I knew why he left But saying it aloud was different Mr Austin well he I mean It was a Wen nesday 11
