those after watching the film?â Julia questioned.
âWhy not?â Trevor asked.
âDid you fall asleep during the movie?â Julia demanded.
âJulia,â Mrs. Fletcher cautioned.
âBut Mrs. Fletcher, thatâs the very worst thing on the whole menu!â Julia protested. âEach one has over twelve hundred calories and more fat than anybody should eat in an entire day! That guy gained thirty-seven pounds because of that burger!â
âIt wasnât just the burgers,â Trevor said. âAnd besides, itâs not like Iâm going to eat there every day.â
âTrevor has a point,â Mrs. Fletcher said. âNow, this documentary focused on just one fast-food chain, but what about the others?â
âTheyâre all the same,â Julia said.
âAre they?â Mrs. Fletcher asked.
âSure they are. They all serve fried, fatty, sugary foods.â
âYes they do, but donât most chains offer healthy alternatives?â Mrs. Fletcher questioned.
âWellâ¦â
âCanât you get salads and fruit platters and yogurt, mineral water and juices at most of the other places?â
âI guess so,â Julia said.
âSo at most fast-food restaurants it is possible to eat healthier, if not healthy.â
âBut not at Frankieâs,â Oswald said. âThey donât have any of those things. Itâs like theyâre proud of being unhealthy.â
âTheir commercials do brag about offering the biggest servings of fries, the largest soft drinks and the most gigantic burgers,â another person added.
âIan,â Mrs. Fletcher said, and I startled in my seat. âWhat do you think about all of this?â
âMe?â
âYou. Youâve been very quiet through this whole discussion.â
âMaybe Iâve learned that itâs sometimes better to keep your mouth shut,â I said.
âSometimes it
is
better. But not in
my
class. And itâs good to have you back in class,â she said.
âItâs nice to be back.â
This was my first morning in class after a two-day suspensionâI still couldnât believe that Iâd been suspended!
Disrespectful conduct
is what it said on the papers. What that meant is that I had an argument with my law teacher, Mr. Phillips. Iâd made the terrible mistake of pointing out to him that he had no idea what he was talking about, that he was an idiot.
The jerk thought that because he was a law teacher he knew about the law. Both my parents were lawyers. My older sister and both my older brothers were lawyers. In myhouse we talked about the law. My parents had hoped Iâd be a lawyer too. I wasnât sure what I was going to be, but I was pretty sure what I wasnât going to beâI wasnât going to be a lawyer, and I wasnât going to be a law teacher.
In the end, even after I was suspended, the school agreed that Iâd been right and Phillips had been wrong. Unfortunately, both my school and my parents agreed that I probably shouldnât have sworn at him and told him he was an idiotâeven if he was. My father had said that if I hadnât sworn at him they would have fought the suspension.
âSo, Ian, what did you think about
Stuffed
?â Mrs. Fletcher asked.
âI liked it. I mean, it made some good points. There were things he explained that I hadnât known. Iâm not going to be eating at Frankieâsâ¦as often.â
âAs often?â Julia demanded. âDonât you mean ever again?â
âEver again is a long time. Besides, I like the triple bacon cheeseburger melt too.â
Julia shot me a disgusted look.
âI will never eat at a Frankieâs again,â Julia pronounced. âNever, not ever.â
âHow many people feel like Julia?â Mrs. Fletcher asked.
This time only five hands shot into the air. I noticed that Oswaldâs hand