Someday Angeline by Louis Sachar

herself.
    “What’s the capital of Lon—I mean, what’s the capital of England?” asked Mrs. Hardlick.
    “I don’t believe it,” thought Angeline. “She almost gave it away again.”
    Angeline raised her hand, hoping that Mrs. Hardlick would call on her so she could give a wrong answer, but Philip also had his hand raised. “London,” he said.
    “Yes, that’s right,” said Mrs. Hardlick, sounding a little disappointed. She should have called on Angeline. Angeline would have said Mexico City.
    After that, Angeline raised her hand to every question but Mrs. Hardlick refused to call on her, until she had no other choice.
    “Who was the second president of the United States?” she asked.
    Angeline’s arm shot up like a rocket.
    Mrs. Hardlick looked around. There was nobody else to call on. “Okay, Angeline,” she said dejectedly.
    “Betsy Ross!” said Angeline.
    Mrs. Hardlick smiled. “No, I’m sorry,” she said, “but that was good thinking! That is a correct answer, but to a different question. The second president of the United States was—now write this down in your notebooks—John Quincy Adams.”
    Angeline wrote it down even though she knew that John Quincy Adams was the sixth president and that just plain John Adams was the second. But she had to wonder how Mrs. Hardlick could get it wrong when she had the answer writtenright there in front of her.
    Mrs. Hardlick called on Angeline several more times.
    “What was Mark Twain’s real name?”
    “Clark Kent.”
    “How much is twelve times twelve?”
    “Twelve.”
    “No, I can see how you reached that answer but I’m afraid it is incorrect. It shows you were thinking.”
    “Thank you, Mrs. Hardlick,” said Angeline. She was glad that she’d be out of this classroom and away from Mrs. Hardlick in a couple of days. Even though she had discovered how to get along, it was beginning to drive her crazy.
    The birds sang, the leaves crackled, and the garbage truck came screeching around a corner, nearly hitting a parked car.
    “Hey, slow down,” urged Gus as he held on to the dashboard.
    Abel turned and looked at him absentmindedly. “Sorry,” he said.
    “Will you watch the road!” Gus shouted back at him. He buckled his seat belt. It was somethinghe rarely did, since he had to keep getting in and out of the truck to collect the garbage.
    “Sorry,” Abel said. “I wasn’t paying attention. I was thinking about—”
    “Stop!” yelled Gus.
    Abel slammed on the brakes. The truck screeched to a sudden halt, causing garbage to fly out over the top of it and onto the street.
    Gus shook his head and sighed. “You just missed that dog,” he said. “Did you even see it?”
    “Sorry,” said Abel. “I guess I was thinking about Melissa.”
    “No kidding,” said Gus. He unfastened his seat belt, and he and Abel got out of the truck to pick up the garbage that had fallen out. Most of it had fallen out of the garbage bags, so they had to pick up each bit of garbage off the street.
    Abel picked up a milk carton and an empty can of peas. “Beautiful day, don’t you think?” he asked.
    “Lovely,” muttered Gus as he tried to pick up a broken jar of tomato sauce without cutting himself. Actually, he was glad to see that Abel had a woman on his mind.
    “Did I tell you about Melissa?” Abel asked.
    Gus laughed. “You haven’t stopped talking about her.”
    “Well, I just think she’ll make a good teacher for Angeline, that’s all.”
    “Oh, I see!” said Gus. “You’re just worried about Angeline having a good teacher!”
    “That’s right!” Abel insisted. “Why? What else did you think?”
    Gus smirked. “Oh, nothing.”
    “What? Did you think I was in love with her or something?”
    “Why would I think that?” asked Gus. “You’re only looking for a good teacher for Angeline.”
    “That’s right,” said Abel.
    “One that’s beautiful,” Gus added.
    “Yes,” said Abel. “No. Oh, you don’t understand.”
    Gus