Lars lay on his bed, arms folded, scowling at the ceiling. Sandy was being unfair. Flunking Spanish wasn't entirely his fault. If he mispronounced something or used the wrong word, Senora Lopez wouldn't bother to correct him; she just marked him wrong. And all those mistakes had added up. Lars made his worst mistake right before the teachers had to decide on students' final grades for the semester.
Lars had been reading a note Animal had passed to him when Senora Lopez called on him, catching him by surprise. Without thinking, Lars blurted out the first Spanish phrase that came into his head, "Como ballas, grande trasero."
This, unfortunately, roughly translated to "eat slugs, large bottom." Senora Lopez (using English) asked Lars to repeat himself.
"Mi no habla ingles." (I don't speak English.)
Senora Lopez thought Lars was being a smart aleck and gave him detention. Then Sandy found out and grounded him.
Grades weren't thing Sandy was unfair about. There was also Twister (who by the way flunked just as many subjects as Lars had). Sandy had barely screeched at him for doing poorly in school. Twister never got grounded or yelled at. All he ever got were hugs and kisses. He wasn't even twelve yet, but he already had a cute, caring girlfriend. Girls never looked at Lars twice.
No one loves me, Lars thought bitterly, a tear running down his face.
He spotted his hockey bag in the corner of the room and got an idea. Swiftly and silently, Lars gathered up comic books, clothes, a blanket, ect. and stuffed them in the duffel bag. Sandy and Raoul would be happier if he ran away. They could spend more time with Twister. Lars wasn't sure where he could run away to, but at the moment, he didn't. He slung his bag over his shoulder, then dropped out of his bedroom window into the night.