Chapter 12 - Squashed Dreams

“Well young lady,” Principal Benbrook said again. “What is going on?”

Lily stared with eyes the size of dinner plates. She could feel every bit of color drain out of her face. She had never been to the principals’ office and there was no way she was starting now.

“I, uh,” Lily sputtered. “She, um.”

Mrs. Connors picked herself off the floor and began to screech. Her anger had hit a level no one had ever seen before. Not even the kickball incident was this bad.

“They,” she yelled pointing at Kat and Lily. “My books! Spiders! Think I broke my bum!”

“Spiders?” Principal Benbrook asked.

Kat rubbed her ankle and tried to her head down.

“Ms. Westwood,” Principal Benbrook boomed. “Perhaps you could enlighten me as to why exactly you and Ms. Ho have decided to act like kindergarteners.”

The class was silent as Kat stood to look at Principal Benbrook. She bit her lip to hold back the tears.

“My mom died last year,” she said slowly. “From a spider bite. When we found the daddy long legs in the sink -”

“Bugs?” Principal Benbrook asked a little louder than he meant to. His voice was tinged with fear. “Ms. Catarinas, is there an insect in your classroom?”

Ms. Catarinas calmed her breathing and looked earnest at Principal Benbrook.

“Technically sir, he’s an opilione. He’s a little different than an insect.”

“And his name is Bob!” Michael shouted from his table.

“You’ve named him?” Principal Benbrook asked. His voice was wavering as he thought about a bug making a home in his school.

“Yeah,” Michael said excitedly. “He’s even eating the aphids in our room!”

“Aphids?” Principal Benbrook’s eyebrows rose so high on his forehead that they nearly flew off.

First screaming fourth grades, then his library torn to pieces. Bugs just wouldn’t do. No, bugs just wouldn’t do.

“Ms. Catarinas may I speak with you?” Principal Benbrook asked while he tried to ignore the fact that there were insects in his school.

Ms. Catarinas pulled her hair behind her ears and walked slowly to Principal Benbrook. If the students at Edgeview Elementary thought it was scary going to the principal, they had no idea how scary it was as a teacher. Ms. Catarinas could feel her heart trying to escape from her chest. She couldn’t imagine how anyone could hear anything else. The sound of her heart drowned out all other sounds.

“Now Ms. Catarinas,” Principal Benbrook said in a low voice. “When I hired you this year, I believe I made the rules very clear to you.”

Ms. Catarinas nodded her head. “Yes sir, I remember.”

“And yet you have an insect in your room.” Principal Benbrook said the word insect as if it were rotten food on his tongue.

“Now Eugene,” Ms. Catarinas countered. “It’s not like I brought him in myself.”

Principal Benbrook laughed out loud.

“Rules are rule, Ms. Catarinas. I’d hate to have to put this in your end of the year review,” he said very seriously.

Ms. Catarinas stayed silent.

“Remember, a clean classroom leads to a clean mind,” Principal Benbrook said. “Squish Bob!”

“What?” Kat yelled.

Principal Benbrook turned towards Kat. “Is there a problem young lady?”

“You bet there is!” Kat could feel the courage rising inside of her. “He’s just a bug. He didn’t know what he was doing.”

“But Kat,” Jacob said, “you screamed when you found him in the sink.”

“And he was scared too,” Kat shot back.

“Young lady,” Principal Benbrook said for the twentieth time. “This is my school and you will follow my rules. No paint. No glitter. No animals. And especially NO bugs. Those are the rules.”

Kat tried to hold her tongue, but she had already lost too many people. Bob dying would be too much. She knew she’d regret it, but Principal Benbrook had to know.

“Those are dumb rules,” she said.

Every fourth grader silently gasped. Principal Benbrook looked at Mrs. Catarinas, Lily, and the absolute catastrophe that his library was now.

“Well then,” he said turning back to Kat, “I’m sure your father would be happy to hear that’s what you think.”

Principal Benbrook turned on his heel and left the library. Mrs. Connors followed him yelling something about going back home to England and proper children.

Ms. Catarinas sat down in the closest chair and put her head into her hands. Two tiny tears squeezed through her fingers. This was not how her first year of teaching was supposed to go.

“Ms. Catarinas,” Kat said gently. “I’m sorry.”

Ms. Catarinas lifted her head up and looked at Kat and the rest of the class. Twenty wondering eyes looked back at her. They had never seen a teacher cry.

“I’m sorry,” Kat said again.

“Me too,” Lily said. “But it was mostly Kat’s fault.”

Kat stared at Lily. After everything that just happened, Lily could only think of herself.

“No,” Ms. Catarinas said softly. “I’m sorry. It looks like Bob has to go.”

“No,” Kat cried out again. This time she began to cry too. “You can’t kill him. You can’t!”

“We have to save Bob,” Jacob said.

“You know the rules,” Ms. Catarinas said sadly.

Michael smiled. “We’ll just have to change his mind.”