The Rule of Threes by Marcy Campbell (android e book reader txt) 📕

Monday. Maybe I could slow down time somehow, just stay in this day forever.

But I couldn’t. Eighth period came, right on schedule, and all the sixth graders had to file into the gym. It was another of Mr. Villanueva’s assemblies. He’d had an all-school assembly the first day, during which he told us he had a real soft spot for the sixth graders because we were new to the school, just like him. He said his name meant “new house” in Spanish.

I hadn’t taken Spanish yet, but my grandma knew some. She took a class with Grandpa before their trip to Spain a few years ago. She’d even checked out some interior design magazines in Spanish, and we’d looked at them together. I learned words like coche postal (chaise), hueco (alcove), and estante (shelf). I tried to use some of the words with Grandma occasionally, but ever since Grandpa died, it just seemed to make her sad, so I stopped.

That first assembly was all about welcoming everybody, and some rah-rah-we’re-going-to-have-a-great-year stuff, and then Mr. V went through a bunch of rules. Like I said, he loved those. But I had no idea what today’s assembly was about.

We had to sit with our eighth period class, no running around the bleachers to find our friends. I sat next to a girl named Claire, who was pretty nice but always doodling pictures of horses in her notebook, so when she was called on, she never knew what the question was. Olive was a half dozen rows below me, and as soon as she was seated, she turned around and waved with a look that said you forgive me, right? I waved back with a look that said yes.

It was hard to stay mad at Olive, and in any case, she was right about Tony. He would be here soon, and I’d have to deal with it. I couldn’t keep it a secret. I was learning that information traveled fast at Long Branch. Just an hour ago, someone told me a kid had spilled milk in the cafeteria and another kid slipped in it and busted his lip. I didn’t need to know any of that, and yet here I was, knowing it. If news of a milk spill could spread that fast, imagine what these kids would do with information on Tony.

A few rows farther down and to the right, I could see Rachel. That messy bun on the top of her head was unmistakable. She’d once admitted it took her a long time to get just the right amount of messiness. I didn’t understand why she’d take a half hour to make herself look like she’d just woken up.

Mr. Villanueva was standing in the middle of the floor with a microphone. He wore a dark suit every day, but switched out the ties. Today’s was blue, with some little animal or something on it; I wasn’t close enough to see it clearly. He raised his hand in the air, which was the signal for everybody to listen up.

All the kids quieted down pretty quickly, and Mr. V said, “I’d like to introduce our guests.” He pointed toward a side door where a dog and a cop entered the gym. “For those of you new to Long Branch, this is an assembly we do every year, with a few changes each time. Maybe our older students think they don’t need to hear it again, but let me tell you, you can always pick up something new.” He cleared his throat. “Now, Police Officer Lutsky had an emergency at the last minute, so he couldn’t be with us, but Officer Bell was kind enough to step in, along with his special friend, Daisy.”

Daisy was a huge German shepherd who looked kind of cute, but scary at the same time. I liked dogs, but I wasn’t insane about them, like a bunch of other girls who started going awww when the dog walked in. The officer made a series of motions with his hand, and Daisy sat, then lay down, then rolled over, but I noticed she was barely watching the officer. She was more interested in all of us kids in the bleachers, almost like she was trying to size up which kid would be tastiest.

Officer Bell said he was there to talk about drugs and how terrible they are. I wondered if there were kids in my school doing drugs. I mean, no one had ever offered me drugs, but that didn’t mean anything. Maybe that’s why they did this presentation in middle school. Catch us before that stuff starts. I couldn’t help but think about Tony. Had he ever done them?

I felt my face getting kind of hot. I shifted in my spot on the hard wooden bleacher and looked at Claire, who was picking at her fingernail polish. I hated how things were sneaking up on me all of a sudden.

The officer told us Daisy “hated drugs.” On cue, Daisy growled. A few kids in the front row leaned back into the legs of the kids behind them. I was glad to be a few rows up. The cop said the only way to never get addicted to drugs was to never start using them in the first place. Daisy stood on her hind legs and barked, like she was warning us.

The officer said you had to be “vicious” with people who offered you drugs, and Daisy growled even louder. I started feeling really nervous and sweaty, wondering how quickly I could make it to the hallway if Daisy started going psycho. How fast could German shepherds run? Meanwhile, down below, a boy had taken Rachel’s scarf and was playing keep-away with it, and Rachel was laughing and not even trying to get it back.

“You need to just say no if someone offers you drugs.” Officer Bell wanted us to yell it, so some kids did, but then he did that stupid thing grown-ups do where they