2020-06-07 奇迹男孩wonder精读作业——以同学角度写微小说

The first day

(The day Auggie arrived)

Hello, I’m Tony. I am a new student at Beecher prep like Auggie is. On the first day of school, I got there 10 minutes earlier than school started. I saw lots of unfamiliar faces in the crowd, and I was a bit nervous because I’d heard bullies in middle school took your money and stuck your head down toilets. I didn’t have any friends that could stand up for me. So, I was nervous. Then, this kid who his mother and father and older sister walked him to school walked up to the gates. It was then that I saw his face. I couldn’t help it: I gasped. He seemed to have some kind of facial disorder because his face looked scrunched up. I looked at him funny. I admit it: I thought he looked weird and was kind of afraid of him spreading some disease. I was a bit scared of him.

Then, I went to class. I found that Auggie was in the same class as me. Uh-oh. My childish fear of diseases flared up again. I sat as far away from Auggie as I could. It was then I found his name was August Pullman. I also found the principle’s name was Mr. Tushman. Everyone laughed at that, but I didn’t get it. Anyway, back to the story. I was sitting as far away as I could from Auggie, and someone from our table got sat next to him. I cringed at the thought of sitting next to a child who could be carrying a deadly contagious disease. Who knows these days? You can never be too careful. The rest of the day was fine, except when Auggie brushed past me on his way to his locker. I think he was getting bullied by some kid named Julian. I suddenly got this urge to go wash my hands because I was afraid that I was going to get infected, so I did that and went home.

 

The plague

Oh no! What have I done! I am the worst person in school! I started the plague! In case you didn’t know what the plague is, which everyone does, it’s this ‘game’ everyone plays behind Auggie’s back. If somebody touches Auggie, or he touches someone, they will get the plague if they don’t wash their hands or use hand sanitizer in 30 seconds. Yep, it’s very mean. And I caused it. “I caused it” “I caused it” “I caused it” … Was cycling through my head like it was on replay through Math class, English class, Science class, Break time, Lunchtime… then it was the end of school. I was still feeling like the worst kid in school when this kid called Julian came up. I immediately raised my hands in a “Please don’t hurt me” stance and said shakily: “Please don’t bully me. I… I don’t have any money. And please don’t take... take my bag.”

Julian laughed: “I’m no bully, at least not to normal kids, only to orcs.”

I relaxed a little, then asked stupidly: “Who’s an orc?”

Julian laughed again: “You’re so funny, you’ll be a great addition to my team.”

“What team?” I asked stupidly again. (Note to self: stop asking stupid questions, so people don’t think you are stupid.)

Julian ignored my question. “So, are you in or not?”

“Of course not! Why would I be in a bulling team? Just because I’m a bad person, doesn’t mean I’m a bully!” I said angrily.

That was when Julian snapped.

“Fine! Don’t join my team then! See what you’ll get, you m****!” He yelled.

It was a shame that no teachers were around to punish him for swearing.

 

 

The second cold war

(The war)

It all started when Jack punched Julian. You should know this by now. In science class, Julian wanted to be Jack’s partner, and Jack didn’t want to switch partners, so he said no. Julian said, quote-unquote, You don’t have to be friends with that freak if you don’t want to be, you know. That was when Jack punched him in the mouth. He, of course, got suspended.

Anyway, during winter break, Julian hosted this big party in some big partying place. He invited everyone in the grade, except Auggie’s friends. (Yes, I was invited, this is a Primary source.) (I put that in there just so your teacher can make you write a 300-word report on sources. *Evil Laugh*.) In the party, he told a bunch of lies about August and Jack, about how his mother had pleaded to the principle about not expelling Jack, and August having special needs. He even managed to tell them with a straight face! What a miracle! A person with 10 IQ probably could have seen through them, but around 95% of all the peoplebelieved him. I mean, what is this? Has everybody been brainwashed or something? Still, he told us to ignore Jack and give him the cold shoulder if he talked to us. Nobody even objected. They were probably not wanting to be rude to the host before the party even started. At least there was that 5% of people who didn’t buy into Julian. 10 people versus the whole grade. Great.

After the winter break, Jack was un-suspended. He came back and got the silent treatment from almost everyone, and I came down with a cold and couldn’t go to school and un-cold shoulder Jack. As I was saying, the war was cold. At least Charlotte went and told Jack about it. Not knowing why you are being ignored in never a good feeling.

This stuff went on for some time. Then, I found out about the notes that Julian was leaving in Auggie and Jack’s locker. I also found out about the notes Jack and Auggie were leaving in Julian’s locker, but they weren’t mean, just funny.

Finding out that Jack and Auggie were leaving notes was very easy, especially since Jack asked me how to spell something when he was writing a note. So, I peeked at it while I wrote the word for him: “Hi Julian, you’re so inconceivably handsome. I want to marry you. XOXO, Beulah.” Who knew Jack knew the word “inconceivably” but didn’t know how to spell it?

Finding out about Julian’s notes were harder. I had a suspicion that Julian was leaving notes because Jack and Auggie were. So, I lingered around Auggie’s locker a while and saw his passcode. Sometimes you have to do something wrong to accomplish something good, right? Then, I waited until after lunch and opened the door to see a very mean note in Auggie’s locker: “Yo, Darth Hideous. You’re so ugly you should wear a mask every day!”

Call me a snitch, call me whatever you like, but I did the right thing, and that’s what counts. I reported the notes to Mr. Tushman himself. He instantly got an assistant teacher to monitor Auggie’s locker and intercept any notes that came through. He also told me he was going to call Julian in and congratulated me for doing the right thing. One to Tony, zero to Julian.

Fun in a bunk (Not)

(The Nature Retreat)

Annual Nature Retreat. EOTC week. Whatever you call it, it’s just code name for camp. Yep, camp. Let’s face it: I DO NOT like camp. Nope, not a bit. OK, maybe a little. At least the food is nice (nicer than cafeteria food). I mean, I know some people like camping and hiking and stuff, but not me. OK, I admit it, I’m scared. Sleeping in a bunk bed, not knowing what deadly spider is creeping up on you in the complete darkness, it’s not a good feeling. Did I mention I have lygophobia(Fear of darkness)? And arachnophobia (Spiders)? And Ophidiophobia (Snakes)? Also, Acrophobia (Heights), Pyrophobia (Fire), Aquaphobia (Water), Equinophobia (Horses), and Althaiophobia (Marshmallows). OK, I might be exaggerating a little about the last few, but you get my point.

Now, I know you might be asking me: “Tony, why did you go in the first place?” The answer is: my parents forced me to. They wanted to have some time “alone”. Oh, well. Seems I have to be a man and go.

So, I was delighted that after 2 days and one night of torture, we got to see a movie. Just delighted. No spiders, no snakes, no heights, no fire, no water, no horses, and most of all, no marshmallows. Phew.

What I was not so delighted about was that the movie was “the sound of music”. I knew it was kind of interesting, but I’d watched it before, and didn’t need to jog my memory. I was hoping for the newest Star Wars film, the force awakens, which was supposed to be good, or at least secret life of pets. So, I took out my book, What If, by Randall Munroe, and started to read about swimming in a pool with nuclear waste in it.

Suddenly, I wanted to pee, but the toilets were super crowded, so I headed into the woods with a big stick for self-defence.  (Also, I had the newest model of holo-watch and used it to project an image of an AK-47 if my heart rate went above 90 bpm. Yeah, right.) I went in and immediately saw Jack and Auggie in front of me. I moved to the right about 20 meters, did my business, and started walking back. I heard a yell not 10 meters in front of me. I immediately ran over and saw little brawl going on. I hid in the bushes, waiting for the right moment to jump out and ensure the escape of the others, especially Auggie. They all ran away, except for Amos, who was throwing a few punches, and he ran away as someone yelled something. They all got away. Phew. They didn’t even need me.

Suddenly, I thought it was a good idea to stick up and terrorize them into not bullying anyone again in their whole lives. I put on my special foldable slits, that make you look way taller than you are without anyone seeing them, raised the big stick, and walked into the big circle. I raised my stick menacingly and said in the most threatening way I could muster: “Do not bully anyone in your lives again, or you will be sorry.” The flashlight must have cast shadows because it seemed like they were cowering down and grovelling. They probably thought I was Death himself, with my long black coat and long, thin stick with a curve at the end that looked like a blade. Well, at least those bullies are gone.

 

End of school

(Auggie’s standing Ovation)

Finally! I got through 5th grade! I made it! I was that happy when we went to the graduation ceremony in the auditorium. I was also very nervous about the prize-giving because I wanted the overall academic award. After the speeches, the prize-giving started. I was in the High Honour Roll. Ximena got the gold award for overall academics, charlotte got silver, and I got nothing. I was kind of disappointed after all the work I put into my assignments. Then, I tuned out, because it was time for music awards, sport awards, and other stuff I’m not even good at. I was surprised to get a silver in creative writing and music. Seems I’m still good at some stuff. Then, he announced the biggest one in the house, the one I knew I didn’t have a chance at: The Henry Ward Beecher Medal. I thought Charlotte was going to get it because she organised a coat drive and got so many coats to donate to poor people. I was super surprised that Auggie got it. Immediately, I thought: “standing ovation”. So, I stood up, and started to applaud. Everyone followed my lead, and August Pullman finally got his once-a-life standing ovation. At that moment, he was truly a wonder.

 Epilogue

The next year, Julian didn’t come to school. He was going to a different private school. The school was much nicer after that. The school council used his prepaid tuition fee to buy a pretty good 3D-printer. Now we could use google sketch-up to make our own little figurines and other interesting stuff! Yay! (Do not use 3D printing to make a pencil holder. The material and electricity costs come to more than 10 dollars when you could just get one from a 1 dollar shop. Also, it takes about 5 hours to print.)

I have some inside information about Julian. In the end, he saw the wrongs in his ways and finally apologised to August about his bullying. He was only mean to Auggie because he was scared of him. He had nightmares about August, and his mother tried to make him happy by giving excuses to his actions and trying (and failing miserably) to get Mr. Tushman fired. Also, his father (who was a lawyer in case you didn’t know) dropped all suing charges (or whatever that’s called. Sues maybe?) against the school for rejecting Julian’s application offer for the next year. Also, Julian (and also his father) was named after a child who had shrivelled legs, who saved his grandmother’s life when she was 14 years old from the Nazis who were hunting down Jews. Oh, and by the way, the reason Julian wasn’t at the camp was that he was suspended for leaving notes, all thanks to me. How do I know all this? Sorry, but that’s a secret for next time.

  

Finally! I got through 5th grade! I made it! I was that happy when we went to the graduation ceremony in the auditorium. I was also very nervous about the prize-giving because I wanted the overall academic award. After the speeches, the prize-giving started. I was in the High Honour Roll. Ximena got the gold award for overall academics, charlotte got silver, and I got nothing. I was kind of disappointed after all the work I put into my assignments. Then, I tuned out, because it was time for music awards, sport awards, and other stuff I’m not even good at. I was surprised to get a silver in creative writing and music. Seems I’m still good at some stuff. Then, he announced the biggest one in the house, the one I knew I didn’t have a chance at: The Henry Ward Beecher Medal. I thought Charlotte was going to get it because she organised a coat drive and got so many coats to donate to poor people. I was super surprised that Auggie got it. Immediately, I thought: “standing ovation”. So, I stood up, and started to applaud. Everyone followed my lead, and August Pullman finally got his once-a-life standing ovation. At that moment, he was truly a wonder.