It was finally here. The last week of school. We were heading to Super Adventure on Tuesday and graduating on Wednesday. Three days left. Sitting in class Monday morning, it seemed like everything was going my way. Mrs. Lutzkraut was running out of time to torture me, news of my ninjalike kick had spread throughout school, and Josh had been missing in action since the dance. I smiled, realizing I might not see him again this year. His partner in crime sat next to me, sulking, but he didn’t matter to me anymore. Time to coast to the finish, I thought. You’d think I would have learned.
Things didn’t start being bad right away. In fact, Monday was pretty normal—if you consider a crazy teacher normal.
“As you know, we are heading to Super Adventure tomorrow,” Mrs. Lutzkraut announced. We cheered and immediately her right eyebrow started dancing all around. The thought of us having fun was enough to send her over the edge. “Silence!” she shouted. “I can still cancel tomorrow’s excursion if I choose.” That shut us up. Satisfied, she continued. “Toby, Mr. Feebletop has informed me that you’ll be staying with him tomorrow because of your involvement in a certain incident at the dance. . . .”
“But you said you’d take care of old Feeb. . . .”
“Don’t interrupt me, young man!” Mrs. Lutzkraut shouted, suddenly moving toward him like a leopard about to pounce. “A memory can be a dangerous thing.” Normally that would be an odd comment for a teacher to make, but this was Mrs. Lutzkraut, after all. Toby slunk down into his chair as she stood over him. It was interesting to watch someone else go through a Lutzkraut intimidation session. After a nasty pause she headed to her desk.
Toby wasn’t a legendary school thug for nothing, though. As soon as Mrs. Lutzkraut’s back was turned, he scrunched up his face and stuck out his tongue.
“It’ll be hard to eat lunch without that thing!” she snapped, her back still facing him. The woman definitely had superpowers. Soon enough, I would be using all my powers to outsmart her.
The rest of the day I spent as much time as I could with Jessica. We talked about the trip and the summer before us. The late June air was hot, and I soaked it in, feeling good and happy right down to my bones.
That night I was too excited to sleep, but I must have, because the next thing I knew my father was waking me up and it was morning already. A beautiful, sunny morning.
“Rodney, it’s five thirty. Time for Super Land.”
“Super Adventure,” I muttered, getting out of bed.
My class was set to leave an hour before everyone else arrived at school. After a quick breakfast, my dad drove me to Baber and dropped me off in front of the waiting bus. I climbed in and sat down by Rishi, noticing a few chaperones toward the back. Once we got going, Mrs. Lutzkraut stood up, glared at us, and spoke the words I had been sweating.
“I have made up our chaperone groups.” I wanted to be with my buddies, but more than that, I desperately hoped Jessica would be with me. Mrs. Lutzkraut rattled off some names. So far, so good. Finally she announced, “As for our last group, the following students will be together: Rodney, Rishi, Tim, Dave, Greg, Kayla, Samantha, and Jessica.”
It couldn’t have worked out better! It was almost too good. Jessica looked over at me, smiling. Rishi shouted, “It’s a dream come true!” as he high-fived me.
“Enough of that,” Mrs. Lutzkraut interrupted. “Yes, since the eight of you have been so poorly behaved, I have placed you together. And I’ll have no problem keeping an eye on you, since I’ll be your chaperone.”
“Dream come true?” I whispered softly to Rishi. “Nightmare is more like it.” I pondered a day of Mrs. Lutzkraut. I’d be with seven friends, so I doubted she would try anything fishy, but I also knew she wouldn’t allow any fun.
After thirty minutes of driving on the highway past cornfields and truck stops and more cornfields, Mrs. Lutzkraut stood up again and yelled over the noisy bus engine, “May I have your attention?” A couple of the mothers in the back of the bus continued gossiping together. They didn’t see the famous Lutzkraut sneer, nor did they see her trudge down the aisle toward them. Again, more nastily, she shouted, “I would appreciate your attention!” The chaperones snapped to. They looked at her looming over them and shriveled a bit. Mrs. Lutzkraut’s wilting stare lingered on the two moms for a few seconds more before she turned back and faced the rest of us.
“I want to go over our day,” she began. “Each chaperone group may go where they want.”
“We want to go on roller coasters!” Rishi blurted.
“And visit the snack stands,” Slim added.
Mrs. Lutzkraut’s glare became as hard as marble. She continued more slowly in a clipped, annoyed tone that no one dared interrupt.
“Rishi, maybe you’d like to enjoy the inside of this bus today. And, chaperones,” she added, turning to the two moms in the back, “you must focus on your students. This is not a vacation for you.” They shrank even farther down in the green seats. “Do not get separated from your group.” Then she turned from the moms and had a special message just for me. “Remember, Rodney, amusement parks can be dangerous places.”