18- Jessica TRANSCRIPTION (Because of Mr. Terupt)

Act 3, Scene 1
Things weren’t going well. I had betrayed Alexia by being nice to Danielle, thinking that this was what Belle Teal would have done, and then Danielle suddenly turned on me. Without warning. I knew Alexia was behind it. I was alone—except for the friends I had in my books, like Belle— and Anna.

In November Mr. Terupt introduced us to a book that the whole class would be reading, The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars. I had never read this one—or anything by Ms. Byars, for that matter.

“This book won the Newbery Medal back in 1971,” Mr. Terupt said. He held the book up. “It’s not full of action like you guys tend to think of action, but it is a beautifully written book that’s going to give us an awful lot to think about, learn from, and maybe even change because of.”

I straightened up. I was excited. Peter moaned. As for Alexia— well, she was somewhere in la-la land. The boys made faces and the girls exchanged glances. Then Mr. Terupt went a step further.

“We’re not just going to read this book,” he said. “We’re going to do an activity with it. An ongoing activity. More like an experience.”

Now even Alexia was listening, back from outer space.

“What kind of activity?” Peter demanded. “Not some sort of stupid book project, I hope. I hate those.”

“No. No project. I don’t really like those things, either,” Mr. Terupt said.

What did he have in mind? I wondered.

“You’re going to make us dress up as a character, aren’t you?” Alexia said. “Oh, I love doing that.”

“Get real,” Peter said.

“Will you guys be quiet and let Terupt finish,” Jeffrey said.

That worked. No more interruptions, and Mr. Terupt continued.

“I want you guys to think about this book. In the story, there’s a boy with Down syndrome— that’s a mental disorder— named Charlie, and his older sister, not much older than you guys, named Sara. They have a pretty special relationship. That’s what I want all of you to think about.” Mr. Terupt stopped for a second, yet somehow we stayed quiet. He continued, “So what you’re going to do is visit our Collaborative Classroom downstairs over the next few weeks. You’ll go in groups, in the mornings and the afternoons, and simply spend time with these children doing what it is that they do.”

“Mr. Terupt.” I raised my hand. “What exactly is the Collaborative Classroom?” Still being relatively new to the school, I didn’t know.

“It’s where the retards go,” Peter said.

Alexia laughed.

“I hope you’ll answer that question a little differently after this experience, Peter,” Mr. Terupt said, his tone very serious. Peter didn’t say another word. “It’s a classroom for children with a range of special needs, Jessica,” Mr. Terupt continued. “Some of you are probably a little nervous or even scared. That’s why you’ll go in groups. I hope you’ll feel different afterward, too.”

Act 3, Scene 2
My group consisted of Anna and Jeffrey. I still hadn’t quite figured Jeffrey out. On the other hand, I’d been eating lunch with Anna ever since being ostracized by Alexia and her clan. Danielle was back in; I was out. But I didn’t want back in. I much preferred my time with Anna. She’s quiet, but she’s a lot smarter than everyone thinks. She’s the only girl smart enough to stay out of Alexia’s nonsense. Her mom’s advice, she told me. We haven’t talked about her mom or any of the stuff I learned from Danielle, and I haven’t told her anything about me, either. For now, we’ve kept our secrets, and that’s okay. I like Anna. She’d make a great friend to a character in a book, or in one of Dad’s plays. I know she’s going to be a great friend of mine.

We were very quiet on our first trip downstairs. Not one of us uttered a single sound. My hands longed to hold a book, but I hadn’t brought one, so I bit at my fingernails and cuticles instead. It’s funny how when you’re anxious to get somewhere the journey seems to take forever, and when you’re not too anxious the journey is over in no time. My journey from California lasted about as long as a ride on the Viper roller coaster, and our journey to the Collaborative Classroom took no time at all, either.

When we arrived, it was clear the teacher was expecting us.

“Hi, guys,” she said. “Welcome to our Collaborative Classroom. I’m Miss Kelsey.” We introduced ourselves and then she led us inside. “This is Joey.” Miss Kelsey pointed to a little boy with boogers all over his face. “Can you say hi to our friends, Joey?” Miss Kelsey asked. Joey waved in our direction. A gigantic smile stretched across his face. “And this is James over here,” Miss Kelsey said, pointing to a different boy. James looked pretty normal to me. He didn’t say hi to us, though. He didn’t even look at us. “This is Emily over here.” The little girl Miss Kelsey pointed to was very cute. She had drool all over her face and hands and arms, and she moaned a lot. A different teacher used sign language as she tried to communicate with Emily. The teacher struggled to maintain eye contact with her. She told Emily to say hi. “That’s Mrs. Warner helping Emily right now.” Emily tried to say hi to us, but I could tell she wasn’t particularly good at talking.

There were a few other children in the room and Miss Kelsey eventually introduced us to all of them. I became distracted at this point because Jeffrey had walked over to Joey and started playing the game Memory with him. I couldn’t believe it. I heard him say, “That’s a great job, Joey. You’re really smart.” And Joey smiled. Anna and I were on our way out with Miss Kelsey and James and Emily to help them do their “jobs.” Before we left the room I saw Joey giving Jeffrey a big hug.

Act 3, Scene 3
Jobs turned out to be sorting the plastic forks, spoons, straws, and napkins for the cafeteria. Miss Kelsey poured the utensils on the table and James said, “Seven hundred twelve.” I looked at Anna, puzzled.

“What do you mean, James?” I asked.

“Seven hundred twelve,” he said again, looking down at the table.

“Does he always say seven hundred twelve?” I asked. I figured he was yelling out random numbers.

“No, James is telling us that there are seven hundred twelve utensils on the table,” Miss Kelsey said.

“Seven hundred twelve utensils on the table,” James repeated, this time looking at Anna and me and swaying a little as he stood.

“Great job, James!” Miss Kelsey sounded so excited. “You looked at our friends when you said that!”

“Miss Kelsey, do you mean James is right?” Anna asked. “Are there really seven hundred twelve? Is it the same amount every day or something?”

“Well, I haven’t actually counted them to double-check, and no, it’s not always seven hundred twelve, but James has never been wrong before,” Miss Kelsey said.

Anna and I exchanged astonished looks. I was confused. James had done this amazing counting, but Miss Kelsey seemed more excited that he had looked at me. I wanted to ask questions, but decided to wait. I didn’t know if asking was appropriate.

We finished up the jobs and walked back to get Jeffrey.

Act 3, Scene 4
Jeffrey was still playing with Joey, as well as a couple of other kids now. He was helping them paint.

“Jeffrey,” I said. He looked up. “We have to go back now.”

“Oh. Okay.” His shoulders slumped. He turned to the kids. “I’ve got to go, guys. I’ll be back soon.” Then it was hug time again.

We thanked Miss Kelsey and headed back upstairs. We didn’t talk on the way through the halls. I think we each had too many thoughts in our brains. By the time we reached our classroom, Jeffrey was grumpy Jeffrey again. Our very own Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I thought.

Present

 * Jessica Writeman
 * Mr. Terupt
 * Peter
 * Alexia
 * Jeffrey
 * Miss Kelsey
 * Joey
 * James
 * Emily
 * Mrs. Warner

Mentioned

 * Jessica's Dad
 * Terri Adams

Locations

 * Snow Hill School
 * Room 202
 * The Collaborative Classroom

Related
Previous Chapter: 17- Luke TRANSCRIPTION (Because of Mr. Terupt)

Next Chapter:19- Jeffrey TRANSCRIPTION (Because of Mr. Terupt)