Part 6 (1/2)

The cla.s.s remained silent another minute.

Then havoc broke out again.

Mary Anne slid back into her seat, shaking her head. Mallory sat behind Mrs. Simon's desk and read over her notes while spitb.a.l.l.s, papers, and all sorts of odds and ends flew past her.

This was the scene Mrs. Simon returned to. Her presence - combined with the outraged expression on her face - snapped everyone back to attention. ”You will all be writing an additional report on the poetry of Robert Frost,” she said icily. She turned to Mallory. ”Do you feel up to continuing?” Mallory nodded. She came out from behind the desk and began her reading again.

She interpreted it dramatically, with a lot of feeling. I'd read the poem before, but it had never seemed so meaningful to me. When she was finished, I saw that Mary Anne had tears in her eyes. A few other kids did too.

Pete Black raised his hand. ”So do you think the narrator really means he has promises to keep before he dies?” he asked.

”You could look at it that way,” Mallory agreed.

Some other kids made intelligent comments too. When the cla.s.s ended, some kids actually clapped.

Mary Anne and I rushed to Mallory. ”You did it,” Mary Anne said to her. ”You were great.” Mallory didn't look happy, though. More than anything, she seemed exhausted. 'At least it's over,” she said.

”But don't you feel great about how it ended?” I asked. ”You really got their attention.” Mallory shrugged. ”What? For ten minutes?” A boy named Alex walked past the desk. ”Nice job, Spaz Girl,” he said as he went by.

Mallory grinned bitterly. ”That's my new name.” ”They'll forget all about it by next week,” Mary Anne said.