Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Ali Hazelwood
- Language: English
- Genre: Sports Fiction
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The Staring at the Wall Club
I stare at the wall. It’s as wide as my cubicle and stretches up to the ceiling.
A white blank space full of nothing. Mrs Ewens says it’s supposed to help
me think about what I’ve done, the effect it has on the class, the effect it has
on me. But staring at the wall doesn’t feel like it helps me. It feels like
punishment.
All I did was ask Mr Fields if he was wearing a wig.
My class laughed, but he didn’t think it was funny. What did him
wearing a wig have to do with geography?
‘Nothing,’ I said.
‘Yes, nothing, Felix. So get on with your work.’
But I couldn’t concentrate. Jake, my best friend, was sitting next to me
laughing and that made me worse.
‘Sir, do you like crumpets?’ I asked. I don’t know why it was crumpets;
it could have been anything – last week it was beetles, orange peel, fishing
nets, but this morning it was the word ‘crumpet’ that randomly jumped into
my head and out of my mouth.
‘What?’ Mr Fields looked as confused as the kids in my class.
‘Do you like crumpets? I don’t. They’re full of holes like they’ve been
eaten by worms.’
That’s when Mr Fields snapped. That’s when he said, ‘Felix, out!’
So that’s how I got to talk to Mrs Ewens.
That’s how I ended up here in the Staring at the Wall Club again.
*
It’s actually called the Isolation Room, but we call it the Staring at the Wall
Club, because that’s what we do – stare at the wall. It’s my second time this
week, the ninth time this month. It’s not because I do anything really bad,
it’s just that I can’t concentrate or keep still. Apparently it’s called ADHD –
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which my mum and dad say is a
complicated way of saying I’ve got ants in my pants. All I know is that I
can’t help it, but it does mean I get sent to stare at the wall a lot.
But not as
often as James King in Year Nine. He tells me he gets sent here every day.
He’s sitting the other side of the partition wall right now, tapping his foot
against his chair leg. And there are four other kids here – two boys from
Year Eight, two girls from Year Nine. We don’t talk to each other, but
sometimes we smile or nod like we’re members of a secret club.
But most
of the time we sit in our cubicles and stare at the white wall, thinking about
the things we’ve done, except all I can think of is going home with Jake to
fight the cavalry.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
‘James, I think we’ve had enough of that!’
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
‘James.’ Mrs Ewens looks over the top of her computer. ‘Can you stop
it?’
‘But, miss, I’ve been here for ages.’
‘And whose fault is that?’
‘Mine.’ James King sighs.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I stare at the wall.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
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