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    In Front of the Whole Class
    In Front of the Whole Class
    In Front of the Whole Class
    Ebook131 pages1 hour

    In Front of the Whole Class

    By Rick Hughes

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    About this ebook

    School is bad enough for Quinn Compton. Lockers are broken into, robbed, and vandalized. Its a place where false rumors are spread, even on washroom walls. Bullies seem to be everywhere, even on YouTube, and some of them are girls! Its definitely a place where snitches get stitches. Some of the teachers, like Mr. Tiburon, who never laughs, seem to be even meaner than the kids.

    Just when it seemed that things couldnt get any worse, Quinn gets an assignment that means he has to speak in front of the whole class. It might be the thing he fears most in life.

    Luckily, hes got some great people in his corner. Theres his best friend, Keenan, always loyal, who laughs at all his jokes and is a great student too.

    Hes got his new tutors, OnTime, who tells jokes and makes sure hes never late, and Vicky, who keeps him organized. She also believes that you have to face your fears.

    Facing his fears is not going to be easy at this school. Theres a lot to be afraid of. Quinn is in for a lot of action and adventure!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTrafford Publishing
    Release dateMay 17, 2012
    ISBN9781466933712
    In Front of the Whole Class

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      Book preview

      In Front of the Whole Class - Rick Hughes

      © Copyright 2012 Rick Hughes.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

      ISBN: 978-1-4669-3370-5 (SC)

      ISBN: 978-1-4669-3372-9 (HC)

      ISBN: 978-1-4669-3371-2 (E)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012908289

      Trafford rev. 05/11/2012

      7-Copyright-Trafford_Logo.ai

      www.trafford.com

      North America & international

      toll-free: 1 888 232 4444 (USA & Canada)

      phone: 250 383 6864   fax: 812 355 4082 

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter Fourteen

      Chapter Fifteen

      Chapter Sixteen

      Chapter Seventeen

      Chapter Eighteen

      Chapter Nineteen

      Chapter Twenty

      Chapter Twenty-One

      Chapter Twenty-Two

      Dedication

      For my father

      Who taught me how to read

      And my mother

      Who taught me how to laugh

      For my wife

      Who loves books

      And my sons

      Who love life!

      Chapter One

      In Front of The Whole Class

      Mr. Tiburon gave the assignment to the class and Quinn Compton could feel the fear in the pit of his stomach the moment the words were out of the teacher’s mouth.

      It was an oral presentation to be done in front of the whole Grade Six class. Everybody had to do it and there was no getting out of it.

      The question was that if you could spend an hour with any person who ever lived, who would it be? Why would it be that person? What would you want to ask them? What would you want to do together? Mr. Tiburon tried to give examples of things you might want to do. Play ball was his first one, but Quinn got stuck wondering if Mr. Tiburon had ever played ball. It was very hard to imagine him ever playing anything. He was very old and very serious, not to mention very strict.

      Quinn struggled to pay better attention. Mr. Tiburon believed very strongly that you should stay on task. It was an instant detention if Mr. T discovered that you were not following what he was saying. He did not want your mind wandering, even a little. At the moment, he was suggesting that maybe you might want to have dinner with the person you’d chosen. The trouble was that this made Quinn think about his stomach and how even the thought of standing up there in front of the whole class made him feel like he was going to be sick.

      He sat in his seat in total panic. He had absolutely no idea who he would choose. When he tried to think of somebody, he got a brain cramp and Mr. T’s helpful examples were making it worse. He didn’t want to have dinner with anybody. He liked eating in front of the TV.

      Now the teacher was suggesting that you might want to go to a spa with the person. Quinn wasn’t really sure what a spa was. He thought he might have seen a commercial with a lady lying on a bench, covered in towels. He didn’t even like taking a bath.

      He looked over at his best friend Keenan to see how he was taking the news. He was nodding and smiling and already writing something down. Keenan was a good friend but sometimes he could be kind of depressing. Here was Quinn praying that there was some way he could get out of this, and here was Keenan wishing he was up there in front of the class already.

      Quinn put his hand up. He had no choice. He knew that this was definitely not something that Mr. Tiburon wanted to see while he was still speaking. Questions were to be asked afterward. It was a very strict rule, but this was an emergency!

      The teacher went on with his suggestions, ignoring the upraised hand, in the hope that Quinn would remember the rule. But Quinn kept his hand up until Mr. T. couldn’t ignore it any more.

      Quinn? he intoned. It was amazing how long he could make that single word last as he drawled it. It left no doubt how unhappy he was that his strict rule was being defied, that he was being interrupted.

      Quinn knew how how much trouble he was getting himself in, but he had to do something, and fast! He forced himself to speak as the teacher glared down at him.

      May I please go to the washroom? He didn’t even wait for an answer. He just ran out of the classroom! He really was going to be sick!

      Chapter Two

      Imagine Them In Their

      Underwear

      Wow, I thought that you were really going to get it when you came back! The way you just ran out of class! But then Mr. Tiburon didn’t do anything! I think he knew that you’d been sick. You could kind of smell it. Keenan was walking home with him after school.

      Oh no, really? Everybody could? Quinn was already feeling embarrassed enough.

      Yeah, I think so. People anywhere near you, at least. And there’s still a little on your shirt.

      Quinn looked down and there it was, obvious enough that probably everybody saw it when he walked back into class. He tried to brush it off with his fingers. He’d looked in the washroom mirror when he was washing his face afterwards, but he must have missed it somehow. It wasn’t really something that he wanted to know, but he was glad that Keenan had told him. It was what friends were for, he figured.

      You could always say you’ve got the flu. Keenan was trying to help.

      I might have to. ‘Yeah, the flu,’ he thought to himself. ‘The public speaking flu.’ He still felt a little sick.

      Quinn decided not to tell his mother about being sick. He didn’t know why. He just put the shirt he’d been wearing in the laundry and put on a fresh one. He did tell her about the presentation, and when he did, she just groaned.

      "Oh no, not public speaking! I still hate it! I don’t have to do it too often these days, but when I do, I still get really nervous.

      It’s not too bad with just a few people, but when it’s in front of a whole room, my heart really starts to pound."

      Quinn was starting to think that he was not alone in his fear of public speaking.

      She put his juice bottles into his lunch bag. I can still remember the first time I had to go up in front of the school.

      The whole school?

      The whole school. The speech itself wasn’t so hard. I had it all written down, and all I had to do was read it. She put out her hands. My hands were shaking so bad when I took out the paper that I was sure that everybody could see. What saved me was that there was a lectern. I put the paper down on it and I gripped the edge of the lectern to stop my hands from shaking and I held on to it for dear life! When I opened my mouth to speak, my voice came out in this tiny squeak. I was sure that everybody was going to laugh.

      Did they? This was something that Quinn was really afraid of.

      No, because I tried to turn the squeak into a cough as fast as I could, so that everybody would think I was just clearing my throat.

      And it worked?

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