"I'd like to give you an assignment so that we can all get to know each other better."

A collective groan spread across the class at Frasier Street Elementary and the teacher smiled knowingly. "I promise you're going to love it!"

DJ groaned and glanced at Kimmy. Neither of them had to say a word, for they were both thinking the same thing. When a teacher said "You're going to love it",

it always means the total opposite.

"Class please!" Mrs. Cornell coaxed. "Because we're going to be together all year, I feel that it's important that we share some things about ourselves."

"Do we have to? This is dumb!" A voice called from the back of the room.

DJ and Kimmy looked at each other in shock. Any kid who had the nerve to talk back to the teacher was asking for trouble. DJ didn't dare look back and she felt

a chill when Mrs. Cornell left her spot at the front of the room and made her way toward the culprit. Her teacher was usually calm and collected, but this could

be the breaking point.

"Robert…"

Daringly DJ turned and glanced at her teacher who was standing at the desk of Brian, the troublemaker. Mrs. Cornell was actually smiling. Something was about

to happen.

"Yes, Mrs. Cornell?" Robert grinned.

"You can either do this assignment with the rest of the class or you can spend the hour in Principal Larabee's office, working on extra assignments. Do you

understand?"

The class murmured and riled in their seats, waiting for a response. Robert's reply was barely audible, except for Mrs. Cornell's nod. "That's what I thought.

Thank you, Robert."

She returned to the front of the class and forced a smile. "I'm sorry for the disruption, class. What I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted is that I'm

going to give you an assignment to be done in class just before recess. It shouldn't take you very long, I promise. And when we're through we'll share them with

the class." She began to write on the board as the class pulled out their Trapper Keepers and notebooks to copy the information.

"I want to learn about your family. So I want you to write a short essay, telling me about the members of your family and anything special about them. Now, we

have about an hour before recess so I'll give you that time to work on it-quietly. And then after recess, we'll go around the room and share our stories."

The class got to work, but DJ could only stare at her paper. She glanced over at Kimmy who was writing furiously. Normally this kind of assignment came easily

to DJ, but now her family was broken and everything was different.

"DJ? Is something wrong?"

DJ looked up to see Mrs. Cornell looking at her. All around her, everyone else was writing furiously. "Um, no... I was just… thinking."

"All right, well, this hour will go by fast so you should probably get started, okay?"

"Yes, Mrs. Cornell."

With a sigh, DJ began to write. And once she started, it became easier, even bringing a smile. When she finished, she read over what she'd written. It was a

masterpiece. Her dad would be proud.

"Okay class, you're dismissed for rec-." Mrs. Cornell barely had the words out when everyone dashed out of the room, even Kimmy.

"DJ? You coming?"

"Um, yeah, just a minute!" DJ said. Fifth graders didn't really play at recess. It was more of a social hour. She and Kimmy had a lot to talk about because as they

got older, the more school secrets flowed around them. And DJ wanted in on every one.

She quickly looked over her essay one more time and went to join Kimmy.

At recess they sat at their usual place by the fence and caught up on the day's gossip. But the real topic was Robert and the way he'd boldly talked back to Mrs.

Cornell.

"Oh Mylanta, can you believe that?" DJ asked.

"I know, right? He's in big trouble!" Kimmy replied. "I wouldn't dare talk to any teacher like that."

"Me either." DJ agreed.