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Because of Cockroaches

I sat outside Mrs. Stearns’s office, waiting to hear my fate. I was pretty sure this was the first time in history a kid had gotten in trouble for ruining the Fifth Grade End-of-the-Year Celebration. According to a number of my classmates, I had upended a container of cockroaches on top of Roxie Johnson’s head before running out into the hall and pulling the fire alarm.

I had pulled the alarm—but only to buy myself some time to think, and honestly, the part about me bringing in a box of roaches to get back at Roxie was a much safer explanation than what had...