A Whole Lot of Lucky Read Online Free

never had behavior problems with you before. What brings you here today?”
    Never before have I sat in this office. It’s nothing like I imagined. Instead of paddles hanging from hooks ready to discipline troublesome students, fancy diplomas decorate the walls. The plant on her desk is
not
a Venus flytrap like I’ve heard, but an African violet. Classical music plays softly through her computer speakers.
    Still, when I look at her, I see the piercing eyes of an eagle. I fold my hands together and squeeze them. “Is my mom coming?”
    Dr. Taylor leans against her high-back velvety chair. A container of half-eaten Chinese food with a plastic fork sticking out of it lies in her trash can. Everyone knows you’re supposed to use chopsticks when eating Chinese (though I do use a fork myself, but you’d expect an adult to do things the right way). “I called your mother. She and I had a nice chat over the phone.”
    Oh, no.
    â€œSo,” she says, shifting forward in her seat, “what happened in the car lane?”
    The principal called my mom. I’m going to be in so much trouble. My eyes fill with tears.
    â€œHailee?”
    A soft knock interrupts her, and we both turn and see in the doorway the clinic nurse and Amanda, whose knee has a big square bandage on it. “Just a scrape,” the nurse says and pats Amanda’s back. “She’ll live.”
    A smile almost sneaks across my lips, but the daggers shooting from Amanda’s eyes pin my mouth in place.She crosses her arms and stands in the doorway even after the nurse leaves.
    â€œCome in and sit down,” Dr. Taylor says.
    Amanda scoots the other plastic chair far away from mine, then settles into it with a huff.
    Dr. Taylor nods to Amanda. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
    â€œShe pushed me! Right into the cars!”
    â€œThat’s not what happened!”
    â€œYes, it is!”
    Panic leaps in my heart. Why is Amanda saying that? I could get suspended or expelled or even sent to juvie, where girls file toothbrushes into knives and stab each other. I glance from Amanda to the principal. “I didn’t push her into the road; I pushed her out of a crack.” My lips quiver as words find their way to my mouth. “Amanda’s tire was stuck. I was trying to get her out of the crack because Megan and Drew were laughing at her.”
    â€œMegan and Drew,” Dr. Taylor says. She taps her lips with her fingers.
    Amanda twists in her seat and asks in a small voice, “They were laughing at me?”
    â€œThey were
recording
you.”
    Dr. Taylor
tsks
disapprovingly.
    I say, “They’re always making fun of people. They call Sara Lardiss, ‘Sara Lard A—’” I stop right there before a swear word comes tumbling out. “Just becauseshe’s”—I stumble for how to say this—“a little overweight, they call her names. And they’re the ones who threw meatballs at the lunch lady last week, and look what they did to my skirt.” I pull the hem out to show her.
    â€œThey ruined that skirt,” Amanda says.
    Dr. Taylor cranes her neck to see the damage. Then, nodding to herself, she says, “Those are all important things, Hailee, but we need to get to the bottom of what happened today with
you
. The teachers saw you push Amanda into the road—”
    â€œShe was trying to help me.” Amanda sits up straight. “It’s
my
fault I lost my balance. Please don’t get her in trouble.” She lifts her knee. “It doesn’t even hurt.”
    Drumming her pencil on her desk, Dr. Taylor’s piercing eagle eyes dissolve into regular human eyes. “Girls, I think what we have here is a misunderstanding.” She points her pencil at Amanda. “Your bike was stuck.” Amanda’s whole body nods in response. The pencil points at me. “And you were pushing the bike