"Carl Hiaasen - Hoot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hiaasen Carl)

"Therefore, I've decided not to suspend you from school," she said, tapping a
pencil on her chin. "I am, however, going to suspend you from the bus."
"Really?" Roy almost burst out laughing. What a fantastic punishment; no bus
ride, no Dana!
"For two weeks," Miss Hennepin said.
Roy tried to look bummed. "Two whole weeks?"
"In addition, I want you to write a letter of apology to Mr. Matherson. A
sincere letter."
"Okay," said Roy, "but who's going to help him read it?"
Miss Hennepin clicked her pointy yellow teeth. "Don't press your luck, Mr.
Eberhardt."
"No, ma'am."
As soon as he left the office, Roy hurried to the boys' bathroom. He climbed up
on one of the sinks that had a mirror and pulled down his shirt collar to see
what Miss Hennepin had been staring at.
Roy grinned. Plainly visible on each side of his Adam's apple were four
finger-sized bruises. He swiveled around on the rim of the sink and, craning
over his shoulder, spotted two matching thumb marks on the nape of his neck.
Thank you, dumb-butt Dana, he thought. Now Miss Hennepin knows I'm telling the
truth.
Well, most of the truth.
Roy had left out the part about the strange running boy. He wasn't sure why, but
it seemed like the sort of thing you didn't tell a vice-principal unless you
absolutely had to.

He had missed his morning classes and most of lunch hour. He hurried through the
cafeteria line and found an empty table. Sitting with his back to the doors, he
wolfed down a chili burger and a carton of lukewarm milk. Dessert was an
overbaked chocolate chip cookie the size of a hockey puck and just about as
tasty.
"Gross," he muttered. The inedible cookie made a thud when it landed on the
plate. Roy picked up his tray and rose to leave. He jumped when a hand landed
forcefully on his shoulder. He was afraid to lookЧwhat if it was Dana Matherson?
The perfect ending, Roy thought gloomily, to a perfectly terrible day.
"Sit down," said a voice behind him, definitely not Dana's.
Roy brushed the hand off his shoulder and turned. Standing there, arms folded,
was the tall blond girl with the red-framed eyeglassesЧthe one he'd encountered
on the school bus. The girl looked extremely unhappy.
"You nearly knocked me down this morning," she said.
"Sorry."
"Why were you running?"
"No reason." Roy tried to get past her, but this time she sidestepped in front
of him, blocking his path.
"You could've really hurt me," she said.
Roy felt uncomfortable being confronted by a girl. It wasn't a scene you wanted
the other boys to see, for sure. Worse, Roy was truly intimidated. The
curly-haired girl was taller than he was, with wide shoulders and tan muscular
legs. She looked like an athleteЧsoccer, probably, or volleyball.
He said, "See, I punched a kid in the noseЧ"
"Oh, I heard all about it," the girl said snidely, "but that's not why you ran