فصل بیست و پنجم

Chapter 25

I’m going to be good, thought Bradley, and then, when everybody sees how good I am, they’ll know I’m not a monster.

“And Mrs. Ebbel will give you a gold star,” said Ronnie.

Bradley was so excited, he didn’t realize he was putting on two different-colored socks: a blue one and a green one. He tied his shoelaces, then went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.

His black eye was almost all gone. It had faded into a light brownish-yellowish color. He hurried out to breakfast.

His mother made oatmeal for him.

“I hate hot cereal,” he complained.

“You’ll eat what you’re served,” said his father. “This isn’t a restaurant.” He frowned, not because he had to eat oatmeal, but because he realized he never should have said he hated it. That was something the Bad Bradley would say. The Good Bradley liked hot, lumpy cereal.

He took a big spoonful, brought it to his mouth, and swallowed the glop. “Mmm, good!” he said, but as he withdrew the spoon from his mouth, his elbow bumped his glass of orange juice.

Claudia screamed and jumped up.

“Oh, Bradley!” said his mother.

His father glared at him.

“It was an acci—” He started to say it was an accident but then remembered Carla didn’t believe in accidents. That puzzled him. He wondered why he would want to spill his orange juice on purpose. He liked orange juice. It was the oatmeal he should have spilled.

“Are you just going to sit there, or are you going to help your mother clean it up?” asked his father.

He picked up his napkin to help, but his mother told him to stay out of her way. “You’ll only make a bigger mess,” she said.

Silently, he finished eating.

As he headed back to his room, Claudia burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” he demanded.

“Look at your socks!” she laughed.

He looked down at his feet, then back at his sister, the laughing hyena. “Thank you, Claudia,” he said. “I appreciate your sharing that with me.” She stopped laughing and stared at him.

He walked into his room, sat on the edge of his bed, and took off his sneakers.

“Wow!” said Bartholomew. “You were so good. I would have punched her face in if I was you.” “He’s going to get a gold star today,” said Ronnie.

Bradley changed his socks, but once again he was so excited thinking about the gold star that he didn’t pay attention to what he was doing. He took the green sock off his right foot. He took the blue sock off his left foot. He put the green sock on his left foot and the blue sock on his right foot. Then he put his shoes on and left for school, determined to be good.

He walked into class and took his seat—last seat, last row. He sat up straight with his hands folded on top of his desk. He tried to hold back his excitement as he glanced at the chart on the wall next to him.

Jeff came in and sat down—last seat, second to last row.

Bradley saw him out of the corner of his eye, then turned to get a better look. Jeff had a black eye!

“What are you staring at, Chalkers!” Jeff snarled.

“Hey, you two look like twins!” exclaimed Shawne, the girl who sat in front of Jeff.

“Turn your ugly face around,” Jeff snapped.

“Oh, shut up, Bradley,” said Shawne, turning around.

Bradley looked at the back of Shawne’s head. She still thinks I’m a monster, he realized. But once I get my gold star, then she’ll know I’m good. For the rest of the morning, he sat at attention with his eyes fixed on Mrs. Ebbel. He kept wondering if she had noticed how good he was yet.

As he walked outside for recess, he was almost certain there’d be a gold star next to his name when he returned.

Curtis and Doug, two of Jeff’s friends, came out of Mrs. Sharp’s class. “What’s the big idea?” asked Doug. “Hitting Jeff when he’s not looking,” said Curtis.

“Huh?” said Bradley.

Doug pushed him.

He stumbled backward into Jeff, who pushed him back the other way.

Bradley looked around. He was surrounded.

“Jeff’s our friend,” said Robbie.

“Yeah!” said Brian.

“You hit me when I wasn’t looking!” said Jeff. “And my hands were full of groceries. I didn’t want to break the eggs.” “Chicken Chalkers,” said Dan.

There was a space between Andy and Doug. Bradley dashed through it and ran across the playground.

Jeff and his friends chased after him.

Bradley looked back at them and smashed into a girl standing on one foot. The girl fell onto the hard hopscotch ground and wailed.

“I’m telling, Bradley!” said one of her friends.

“I’m sorry,” Bradley said helplessly, then continued running. He ran up the concrete steps and entered the school building through the auditorium. From there, he walked quickly to the library.

“What do you want, Bradley?” asked Mrs. Wilcott, the librarian.

“Nothing,” he muttered as he sat down at one of the tables. He leaned his head against his hands, propped up by his elbows.

What if Carla’s wrong? he worried. What if I really am a monster?

“I don’t want any trouble from you, Bradley,” said Mrs. Wilcott.