Lots of rain and wind. Benny Mason has been at school almost a week already, but he’s doing nothing. He’s like me, I guess, doesn’t like fighting, except his problem is that he doesn’t even say anything. He needs to talk back at them and hold his ground. In English, Sammy and Rebar whisper taunts across the aisle, trying to outdo each other in nastiness. Benny turns his back on them, pretending he can’t hear, but I can see out of the corner of my eye that it upsets him. The other thing that happened is that me and Benny Mason became partners yesterday in English. I didn’t want it to happen but I had no choice. Mr. Korda said for everyone to choose a partner for an assignment on The Tempest. The idea was to draw the assignment out of Mr. Korda’s job jar. Kids paired up quickly. The kid I wanted to be with was Danny Whelan, because of his Irish name and because he seems to be pretty smart, but a girl named Birgit Neilsen got to him first. Me and Benny were the only ones left without partners.
