'He just dropped his phone,' she explains. 'He bent to pick it up. I bent to help him. We bumped heads.' Elaine assumes a faraway expression as she relieves the moment. 'The kids on the steps didn't stand a chance. He took them all out on his way down. It looked like a giant wave of people breaking over the staircase.'

We end up standing there outside room 117, staring at each other in amazement.

'It's just rumors, you guys,' Kiana tells us. 'You know how stories spread in school.'" (pg. 207)

"I'm fired- sacked, kicked to the curb, canned, given the boot- as of December 22.

Merry Christmas.

Worst of all, my career is going to end six months too soon to qualify me for early retirement. Fade to black." (pg. 220)

Grass Question 2: What happens on page 123? He realizes that his students care for him, and he remembers the time when he actually liked teaching.

"The thought knifes through my oxygen-starved brain. They're doing this- for me!

'Kermit!' roars an enraged Dr. Thaddeus. 'Control your students!'

I barely hear him. The flood of emotions brings me back decades- to a time before Jake Terranova and the cheating scandal. Back when I was Emma's age, and I'd step into the classroom every morning with high hopes of shaping young minds." (pg. 123)

"Then the light dawns: 'Thaddeus? The science test? But the scores were good! Kiana's alone-'

'That's just it.' she tells me. 'You know Dr. Thaddeus wants you gone. As soon as he realized what was happening with the Roubini girl, he had her result disallowed.'

'Even without her,' I insist. 'The others have made so much progress! Surely their grades are enough.'

'Almost,' she says sadly. 'Remember, Dr. Thaddeus has access to every test these kids have taken since preschool. He can cherry-pick exactly the numbers he needs to make sure you can't win.'" (pg. 218)

Root Question 2: How would the plot change if Jake Terranova didn't help with the class? SCS-8 wouldn't know how to fix cars, so they wouldn't be able to fix the Coco Nerd. If they didn't get 2nd or below in the science fair, Dawn of the Dead wouldn't have asked about what happened to them and told her son about it,who wrote about it. If that never happened, Dr. Thaddeus wouldn't get complaints and Mr. Kermit would still be fired.

"'Have some respect for the dead,' I say morosely.

'Respect,' Jake echoes wanly. 'Emma says her mom picked out that Chrysler. It's older than she is.'

Mateo pipes up.'You know the part in Harry Potter where Mr. Weasley uses magic to enchant an old car to make it fly?'

'Not now Mateo.' I try to say it kindly. 'We have to come up with a topic for our science fair project.'

'Well that's just it,' he insists. 'The car needs respect, and we need a project. All that's missing is a little magic.'" (pg. 234)