I feel Mr. White’s eyes—now they’re hot and pointy—burrowing into my skull.

Two, three, four…(I am not going to look at him until I reach ten.)

…Nine. Nope. He’s not even looking in this direction.

How about my dad? Is he watching? I’m embarrassed to even ASK myself such a question, because if heaven is so dull that there’s nothing better to do than watch your kid take a geography test—then why bother to be good enough to go there?

Oh, NOW I’m really sinking into stupidity.

Meanwhile, as I dither away, minutes slip by, and Mr. White is watching the clock.

“KATIE!” I tell myself. “I order you to pick up your pencil and begin cheating at once!”

I wonder what Mr. White would do if he caught me. When Stu Roper was caught with a cheat sheet in the beginning of the year, Mr. White made him take the quiz all by himself after school. That’s not so terrible. I mean, I’d be humiliated to the BONE, but I don’t think I’d have to shoot myself.

That was only a unit quiz, though. Not a midterm. There’s no telling WHAT he’d do to a midterm cheater.

I can’t do it. I can’t do it because: A) I just can’t. B) It’s making me sick. C) It’s making me crazy.

But how do I NOT? The song is right here, unignorable, rowing around in my head. Animal, animal, cat, boy, cat…

I know. I’ll do the problems out of order. Just pick one and answer it. Then jump around and read another one.

Okay. Number five: The La Paz River…

Rob

Must be how it feels to be smart. Answers line up in my mind—like little kids for pony rides. Easy as ABC. Actually, AACB.

Know what to mark without even reading the question. Number one, A. Number two, A again.

That song “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all”? Well, taking this test is changing my luck.

Done before practically everyone. Don’t want to look suspicious. Usually I’m one of the last. Or I’m the kid who has to have the test ripped out from under him. Not today. Feeling good. Stretch, yawn, look around at the poor fools still sweating away.

Kill time, pretend to check my work. Then I read: The La Paz River runs between A) Nepal and India, B) El Salvador and Guatemala, C) Iraq and Iran.

Trickle of ice water down my spine. Don’t know squat about geography, but do know the Rio de la Paz runs between El Salvador and Guatemala. Ought to know—that’s where my dad was stationed in the Army.

Why’d I mark C instead of B?