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
Ms Weebly sighed I forgot you’re the wrong child to ask if I want a quick answer she said I was sitting in between Nathan and Daisy May Nathan never really spoke but Daisy-May came to my rescue What Arlo is trying to say is we don’t know she said wrapping a springy lock of black hair around her finger This time Paige started speaking before she was chosen It was Daisy-May’s Show and Tell Ms Weebly Ask anyone It was not Daisy-May said leaping up to defend herself Hissy and Missy are lovely cockroaches It wasn’t my fault they ran up Mr Austin’s pant leg They were just looking for a safe place I get the idea Daisy-May You can sit down now Daisy-May sat If someone is that scared of 12
cockroaches then it is called a phobia she muttered and we really should have been told I nodded sympathetically Daisy-May got like this around animals She seemed to like the really unpopular ones like rats or spiders Maybe that’s why she liked Nathan and me so much we were the unpopular ones of 4X Paige put up her hand again My dad says we are a lively bunch and we get bored easily she said Lively is not the word I’d use Ms Weebly said I was not sure which word Ms Weebly would use I consulted my notebook again January 5th 4X are the most unruly disobedient and unteachable class I have ever had to endure Mrs Kettle Maybe they were the sorts of words Ms Weebly meant 13
