Note: Mrs. Carmody is Russell's third grade teacher and Kevin is a bully in his class. I don't own UP.

Chapter 2

Russell came to his locker at school and hung up his things. All the kids who knew Russell were staring at him.
Staring and pointing.
His mother died, big deal.
Russell walked into the classroom.
"Russell."
Russell looked at his teacher who had a surprised look on her face. How many times was he going to get that this week?
"Yes Mr. Carmody?"
"We uh, weren't expecting you to come today after... what happened." Mrs. Carmody said remembering the heartbreaking news she read and saw about her energetic student.
"Best to catch up. I missed a lot."
A group of his friends came apart from their whispers and they smiled at Russell. They weren't real smiles, they were "I'm so sorry for your loss' smiles.
"Hi Russell, how are you?" Brandon asked.
What was he supposed to say? Whenever Brandon asked that he chattered about everything that happened after school."
"Um... okay..."
"We're all really sorry." Henry said.
"Yeah sorry you have an adopted new OLD man." Kevin laughed as he walked by.
Russell wanted to push him or hurt the person who'd been unkind to him his whole life. That was the worst thing he ever said. If anybody ever said a thing about Car he didn't know what he'd do.
The announcements came on and they all stood up to say the pledge. Russell barely listened to the announcements. It was just about lunch, recess, birthday and a bunch of other boring stuff. Russell looked at the schedule for the day on the board.

Monday October 21st 2009

8:20-8:30: Settle in, announcements
8:30-9:00: Vocab.
9:00-10:15: Reading
10:15-11:00: Gym
11:00-11:45: Art
11:45-1:00:Lunch/Recess
1:00-2:00 :Soc. Studies
2:00-2:30: Silent Reading
2:30: Go Home

I can make it through the day, Russell said to himself as attendance was being taken. Mrs. Carmody was different then the other teachers when attendance was taken. She didn't go in alphabetical order. She went how everybody was seated in their desks starting with Kevin O'Neal.
"Blake, James!"
"Present!"
"Derkins, Emily!"
"Here as always!"
"Thibduae, Donald!"
"Right here!"
Everyone had a different remark every time. Russell always had a good one. He forgot to think up a new one.
"Susal, Brandon!"
"When would I not be here?"
"Daniels, Jackie!"
"Good morning!"
Russell couldn't think of anything. What would anybody care if he said something else. He wasn't in the mood for happy remarks this morning.
"Christopher, Russell!"
"Here."
Mrs. Carmody hesitated a moment with the next name looking at Russell. Everyone was looking at him. He always said something funny.
"P-Pembroke, Jaime!"
"hu... uh... present."
Russell always made the class cheerful. With him like this, class was different. Once again tears threatened not nobody wanted to see him upset. If he began crying the office would send him home where he and Carl would be sad.
"Alright everybody it's time to start off the day with the vocab. On the board I wrote the words so copy them down please. Remember to leave space and see if you know what they mean before we write the real definition. 15 minutes."
Russell wrote.
Brownie.
Sigh. A delicious dessert, that he and his mother used to bake. How he was going to miss eating those gooey chocolate treats.
Character.
A person in a story or movie, like in the stories his mother read to him, that she won't read anymore.
Frown.
Sadness, he will never smile again.
Heavenly.
Russell heaved a sigh and looked out the window and into the cloudless sky.
A place where his mother was and would never come back to him.
"Russell?"
Russell came out from the daze and looked at Brandon.
"You know that you're supposed to be working, right?"
"I know what I'm supposed to be doing!" Russell snapped making his friend flinch. "I'm not dumb!"
Russell went back to his work, wiping away a little small tear.