Chapter Thirteen - Battle Plans

When Ms. Catarinas’ class returned to the classroom, they rushed in to make sure that Bob was still there. He sat at the top of the windowsill. He ate an aphid slowly, sucking the insides out like a sunflower seed.

Kat sat down at her desk quietly. She wasn’t quite sure what she had done. She had told the principal that his rules were dumb and now her dad was going to kill her. Her weekend was over.

The craziest part was the complete revolution that she started in the fourth grade. All around Kat, her classmates were complaining about all of Principal Benbrook’s rules.

“I wasn’t even allowed to bring my lip gloss to school because it had glitter,” Veronica said.

“And at the Fun Fair, the face painter was banned,” Avery complained.

This was the strangest thing that Kat had ever seen. Of course she wanted Bob to live, but she never thought it would come to this.

At her desk, Ms. Catarinas sat quietly looking at the ring on her left hand. At the beginning of the school year, she had gotten engaged. Her fiancé was from Texas and she planned to follow him there after this school year. Her students screamed in protest, but there is no stopping true love. She would teach in Texas if she got a good review this year.

Kat watched Ms. Catarinas’ face twist in torment. She was wrestling with so many ideas that she had completely forgotten her class.

“Let’s go lazy,” Lily said suddenly.

The sound of Lily’s voice jolted Kat out of her own wonderings.

“What?” Kat asked.

Lily crossed her arms tightly and began to tap her foot on the floor.

“We have a project to finish,” Lily said. “The last thing I saw in the library was you losing your chance at the academic award for the year.”

Kat blew out through her nose and looked at Lily. She had too much going on to worry about working with Lily.

“Come on,” Lily pushed.

“Class,” Ms. Catarinas said suddenly. She stood up tall from her desk and look at each of her students as if they were adults rather than nine and ten year olds. “I’ve been thinking about what Michael said.”

“You mean about how awesome it was to watch Ms. Connors fall on her ‘bum’?” Michael asked.

A few giggled came up from the class and even Ms. Catarinas cracked a smile.

“No,” she said pulling her class back together. “About ‘The Rules’. I think it’s time to change Principal Benbrook’s mind!”

“Yeah!” the class cheered.

Ms. Catarinas raised her hand and the class went silent again.

“You’ll still have to work on your insect projects,” she said. “But I’m certain if we get a few more people on our team, then Bob will stay as long as he wants to.”

“We need a plan,” Jacob shouted.

“And paint!” Avery called out.

“And glitter!” Veronica yelled.

“And especially BUGS!” Kat said smiling.

The whole class cracked up in a fit of laughter. Partners got back to their insect research with books that were checked out of the library. Ms. Catarinas walked over to Lily and Kat and kneeled down by their desks.

“Looks like you have a big job girls,” she said proudly.

“Oh, I know,” Lily said with fake concern.

Show off, Kat thought.

“I’m trusting you with someone’s life here,” Ms. Catarinas said. She pointed to Bob and Kat felt her stomach sink again.

The last time she had been trusted with someone’s life, she had left the window open during a storm. Along came a spider and now Kat lived in Virginia.

Kat took in a deep breath very slowly.

“I’ve got this,” she assured Ms. Catarinas.

“We’ve got this,” Lily corrected her.

Ms. Catarinas smiled and left the girls to check on other students. Michael had found the group of aphids in the classroom and was trying to ‘taste test’ them.

“Lily Ho professional author and lifesaver,” Lily said. “It has a nice ring to it.”

Kat laughed out loud and quickly put her hand to her mouth. After the library incident, there was no way that she was going to get into it with Lily. Both of them were already banned from checking out books for the rest of the year.

Lily acted as if it was the greatest tragedy to ever happen. It was as if someone died.

“But Mrs. Connors,” Lily had pleaded. “I’m going to be a published author once NaNoWriMo is over. I have to have books to know how great authors write. It’s just not fair.”

“No,” Mrs. Connors had said. Her hair was still a mess and he held her neck as if she had been in a car accident.

“But Mrs. Connors,” Lily had begged.

It didn’t work.

Lily stared at Kat, narrowing her eyes like a kitten about to pounce on unsuspecting toes.

“You do your part over the weekend,” she said. “And I’ll do my part. That way we never have to look at each other.”

Kat smiled.

“Sounds great,” she said.

Kat looked up at Bob’s tiny body and eight fragile legs. She’d find some way to save him, even if it meant she’d have to work with Lily.