Chapter Eighteen - Suspended

After a terrible Tuesday afternoon, Kat hoped that her Wednesday would be better. She had even found Princess Puffball curled up next to her in bed this morning.

Kat smiled and stroked Puff’s head. Princess Puffball nestled into Kat and began to purr with her eyes closed. She was so loud that she sounded just like the motor on a car. Kat laughed and Princess Puffball realized where she was. She took a quick swipe at Kat’s hand and ran off the bed.

Things are getting better, Kat thought as she slid on her ‘Save Bob’ shirt.

When Kat arrived at school, she was greeted by the same line of various students. As always Jacob’s sister, Sophie, was begging Lily.

“Can I have your autograph please?” Sophie pleaded.

Kat laughed out loud.

“Sophie,” she said. “Why on earth do you want her autograph?”

“You’re famous,” Sophie said beaming like a flashlight.

“Famous?” Kat asked with a puzzled look.

“Ugh,” Lily huffed. “Come on Kat.”

Lily pulled Kat into the classroom. Protests went up from outside in the hallway.

“Door’s closed,” Lily snapped. “Come back tomorrow.”

Lily slammed the door in Sophie’s face and walked away. Sophie stood with her face to the window in the door and continued to ask for autographs.

“Come on Lily! Please! Please!”

Inside the classroom, the students were in an even greater frenzy. All around, children were shrieking and pushing around a newspaper. Ms. Catarinas laughed to herself as she finished getting supplies pulled together for math class.

“What is going on?” Kat asked Lily.

“Don’t you read the newspaper?” Lily asked. “We’re in it!”

Kat’s jaw dropped. She was in the newspaper?

“Well, not really us,” Lily said grabbing the newspaper from Michael. “Bob is in the article. But he is in our class and that makes us famous too!”

Kat scanned the newspaper looking for a big heading and maybe even a big class picture. All she found was a small three by two little piece by Michael’s mother.

“Perhaps Principal Benbrook’s greatest rule of ‘No Bugs’ has finally been exterminated,” Kat read aloud.

Lily beamed proudly at Kat.

“That’s why Sophie wanted my autograph,” Lily bragged. “After all, I’m like an ambassador for Bob.”

Kat tried to hide a snicker behind her hand. Ever since Bob had become an endangered animal in their class, Lily had taken it upon herself to make sure everyone was well informed about Bob. If anyone asked to touch him, she made sure to let them know his leg might fall off.

“And how would he live then?” Lily would say. “Can you deal with that kind of guilt?”

Now people were asking for her autograph too.

Lily pulled on Kat again to show her what was going on.

“Come on Kat,” she said again. “We’re making a banner.”

Kat looked at Lily with a perplexed stare. It seemed that every morning there was some new activity that Lily was orchestrating for Bob. Before you knew it they’d be having a telethon sponsored by PBS to raise funds for ‘Unfair Rules Awareness’.

Kat and Lily walked to their table and saw Jacobs and Veronica outlining huge bubble letters that said ‘Home of Bob’.

“Ms. Catarinas said that we should keep it in the classroom,” Jacob said. “Just to be safe.”

Lily flipped her hair over her shoulder confidently.

“But when they come for the next newspaper article, we’ll have it ready,” she said.

Kat looked over at the banner and smiled. She was a part of Team Bob!

“This looks awesome,” Kat told Jacob.

“I have something to make it even better,” Lily said slyly.

She pulled a plastic container out of her backpack and shook it proudly. Inside the jar, colors shifted like a rainbow. Greens, golds, blues, and silvers. Lily had treasure in a jar.

“Glitter,” Jacob gasped.

Lily quickly grabbed a bottle of glue and set to work outlining each letter in Elmer’s. She shook the glitter carefully as if she were lovingly making sugar cookies, instead of breaking ‘The Rules’.

“Voila,” Lily said as they shook the excess glitter to the floor and saw their finished work.

Kat, Jacob, and Michael smiled. Bob now had a proper home. High above the open window, Bob stood still. The extra commotion and noise sent him into a panic. He stayed as still as possible, hoping that everyone would ignore him.

That was the last thing that Principal Eugene Benbrook had in mind.

The door to Room 222 opened with a bang. Principal Benbrook stood there red-faced, with a newspaper under his arm.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded as he waved the paper in the air.

Kat and Lily hid the banner as fast as they could. Kat grabbed Lily’s container of glitter and stuffed it in her own backpack before Principal Benbrook could see it.

“Well?” Principal Benbrook roared.

The whole class froze. Principal Benbrook’s face looked like an overly ripe tomato as he huffed into the room.’

“I read the paper at dinner last night,” he continued, “and what do I find?”

“A hair in your soup?” Michael joked.

“No!” Principal Benbrook yelled as he threw the paper to the floor. “I find that a daddy long legs is still taking up residence in my school.”

Principal Benbrook looked around the classroom menacingly. He checked every corner of the ceiling, checking for cobwebs that Bob could not possibly make.

Kat shook quietly in her seat. A coldness began to creep u her toes. Principal Benbrook finally turned toward the window and flared his nostrils.

“This ends now,” he said.

“Eugene,” Ms. Catarinas said trying to pull Principal Benbrook out of his anger. “Be rational about this!”

Principal Benbrook stomped towards bob. Nothing would get in his way. No teacher, no student, nothing. As he stormed passed Lily and Kat’s table, he heard an unmistakable crunch under his feet.

Kat and Lily held their breath as they stared up at Principal Benbrook. He turned slowly, like and alien in a horror moved ready to suck out your brains. He didn’t even have to look down to know what was there.

“Who?” Principal Benbrook asked.

The class became a set of statues.

“Eugene,” Ms. Catarinas tried again. “Let’s talk about this later.”

“No one then?” Principal Benbrook asked recomposing himself. He smoothed down his hair and pulled this tie back into place. “Fine, we’ll just check the backpacks.”

Lily handed over her back to Principal Benbrook first. He tipped the whole thing over onto her desk. Papers for her novel flew everywhere. She scrambled to pick them all up, but no glitter.
Principal Benbrook slowly moved around the table as the rest of the class watched on. He dumped Michael’s backpack upside down: a book on the Loch Ness Monster and thirteen pencils. Michael smiled as he picked up all the pencils and shoved them back into his backpack.

“I like to write,” he said unconvincingly.

Principal Benbrook’s shoes clicked as he walked next to Jacob’s desk and tipped his backpack as well. Three novels and a social textbook fell out before Jacob’s football hit the floor and wobbled away awkwardly. Still no glitter.

Kat gripped the sides of her chair until her knuckles turned white. She knew this would be the last straw. She’d be kicked out of school and forced to stay at home with her uncle. Maybe she could become his own personal trainer and they would all move to Hawaii for the Strong Man competitions.

Principal Benbrook made the final approach towards Kat. He grinned like a hungry shark as he pulled the zipper down and unloaded the backpack on Kat’s desk. The glitter container struck the desk and opened. Glitter spewed out and color coated Kat’s desk.

“It’s like fireworks,” Michael said gleefully.

Principal Benbrook took a step back and shook some of the glitter off of his feet.

“Care to explain why you have broken another of my rules Ms. Westwood?” he asked.

Kat looked around the room. Scared faces stared back at his. It was only yesterday that she was hiding her t-shirt from Principal Benbrook. She thought about her uncle and her father. She thought about what Lily had told her about saving a life. Mostly Kat thought about her mother.

I couldn’t save you, Kat thought. But I can save him.

“I’m saving Bob,” Kat said proudly. She stood tall and made sure that Principal Benbrook could see her shirt.

“Suspended,” Principal Benbrook pronounced.

Kat felt her heart skip a beat. Her face showed no sign of backing down. She was determined more than ever to keep their daddy long legs safe. Ms. Catarinas closed her eyes, crest fallen.

“Grab your things and head to my office,” Principal Benbrook said.

He looked around at the classroom before walking Kat to the door like a prisoner.

“A few more things before I go,” he said to the class. “I do not want to see anymore ‘Save Bob’ shirts. Any student who is caught wearing them is in suspicion of inciting protest which is against school safety policy. All t-shirts will be collected and students will be put into after school detention.”

Lily looked at her own t-shirt. Slowly she put on the sweatshirt that was on the back of her chair. For once in her life she wished she were as brave as Kat.

“Ms. Catarinas, I will talk with you this afternoon.”

Principal Benbrook narrowed his eyes and focused on Bob.

“And I will see you later.”