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   Story: Why I HATE Riding on the School Bus 5 of 5   
      
   Chapter 5: A Shocking Day   
      
         I used to think school stunk and wasn't any fun at all, but this   
   year in second grade, I have a really neato teacher, Mr. Miller.  I   
   flunked the first time in kindergarden.  The teacher held me back   
   because I was so mean to the other kids.  Then next year, she kicked me   
   up into first grade, for the same reason, because I was so mean to the   
   other kids.  My first grade teacher did the same thing, flunked me the   
   first time, then got rid of me by sending me to second grade.  Now I'm   
   nine years old, almost ten, big for my age, they say, and I'm in second   
   grade with a lot of really cute scaredy-cat girlies to play with.  Some   
   of them are just barely seven years old.  They sure are lots of fun when   
   they scream!  And the great thing is, Mr. Miller doesn't mind me making   
   them scream.  Instead of getting mad at me, he gets mad at them, and   
   then they really get something to scream about.   
      
         The girl who's the most fun is Wendy Younger.  She rides the   
   schoolbus to school, and every morning when she gets off the bus, we can   
   always tell she's been crying.  The first day of school was great.  I'll   
   never forget it, and I doubt she ever will, either.  She lied to Mr.   
   Miller, and he made her stand up in front of the class and take off all   
   of her clothes on the Show and Tell table.  Then he made her lay down   
   on it so he could tie her up.  We had a lot of fun with her that day,   
   believe me!   
      
         But an even better thing happened a couple of weeks later.  When   
   she got off the bus, she had been crying like usual, but she looked more   
   scared than she ever had before.  As she got off her bus, I saw she was   
   barefoot.  No shoes, not even socks.  But the best thing was, she had   
   a leather dog collar around her neck.  You could see it just above the   
   collar of her dress, in front where her hair didn't cover it.  The shiny   
   spikes on black leather it had made it easy to see, even when she saw   
   people looking, and tried to cover it with her hand.   
      
         Some sixth-grade boys who ride the same bus got off right behind   
   her, and came over to us second-grade boys.   
      
         "Is anyone here in Wendy's class?" one of them asked.   
      
         "I am!" I hollered, raising my hand, shouting down the other kids   
   who also raised their hands.  A big kid, must have been twelve or even   
   thirteen years old, with jet black hair came up to me.   
      
         "You can borrow this today, kid," he said to me.  "Have fun with   
   it!"  He handed me a thing that looked like the controls to my Monster   
   Truck.  It had three buttons on it, and a short antenna sticking out the   
   end.  Two buttons had labels saying 'Warn' and 'Teach' and the other   
   label said 'STOP' in big letters.  I can read just fine.  I said I'm   
   mean, not stupid.   
      
         The STOP button was bright red.  I was just about to push it when   
   the bigger kid grabbed my hand and growled, "Not now!  Wait til you're   
   in class!"   
      
         "What does it do?" I asked, curious.   
      
         "Did you notice Wendy's collar when she got off the bus?"   
      
         "Yea, I thought she looked cute with it on.  All girls should wear   
   tight collars."   
      
         "Of course," he grinned at me, "but we only had one, so Wendy is   
   the dog for the day.  I put it on her, while my buddy Curt here held   
   her arms pinned behind her so she couldn't stop us.  It's an electric   
   dog collar used for teaching dogs to obey their masters.  This button   
   called 'Warn' just gives her a little tingle, telling her she has to   
   do something.  This middle one called 'Teach' is for punishment, if she   
   disobeys, or doesn't do what you want fast enough.  The big red one is   
   to stop her from doing something.  Believe me, when you press that one,   
   she won't be able to do anything until you let up on it.  Except scream,   
   of course!"   
      
         He chuckled, I chuckled, and the boys around us listening to us   
   chuckled.  We all looked over at Wendy, grinning at her.  She saw us   
   looking at her, and ran inside the school.   
      
         "Are you sure it works?" I asked, just checking.   
      
         "We tried it out on the bus, and it works just fine!" he laughed.   
   The bell rang, and we all moved toward the school doors.   
      
         "Why doesn't she just take it off?" I asked, as we waited in the   
   crowd at the doors.   
      
         "She tried that on the bus and learned her first lesson.  If she   
   pulls on it at all, it automatically gives her the worst shock, the STOP   
   setting.  That's how we know she can't do anything but scream when you   
   hit STOP."  All the boys listening pictured Wendy trying to take off the   
   collar, and screaming, and we all snickered again.   
      
         Curt, his buddy from the bus, tugged my sleeve.  "Bring her outside   
   on the playground at recess, and we'll see just how far she'll go to   
   keep from getting shocked.  Oh, by the way, would you like to see the   
   panties she had on when she got on the bus?"  He pulled out a scrap of   
   white cloth with pink hearts on it from his pocket, showed it to me, and   
   tucked it back in.   
      
         It looked more like a tattered rag, with torn edges everywhere,   
   in spite of the hearts on it.  It sure wasn't a pair of girl panties   
   anymore.  I got the message, though.  Wendy wasn't wearing any!   
      
         "What's your name?" I asked the black-haired kid, when we were   
   splitting up to go to our separate classes.   
      
         "Mark!" he called to me.   
      
         "I'm Robert!" I called back.  "Nice to meet ya!!"  I waved to him   
   and tucked the control in my pocket.  He waved and grinned, and went   
   to his classroom, and I went to mine.  I snuck a looksee at Wendy as I   
   entered the classroom.  Her eyes were reddened, and she sat sullenly at   
   her desk, waiting for class to begin.   
      
         Mr. Miller gave the stupid spelling test first, so I had to wait   
   at least twenty minutes before I could try the controls.  At last it   
   was over and he passed out a sheet of arithmetic problems.  Everyone   
   was supposed to sit quietly and work on them.  We had half an hour to   
   do twenty additions and twenty subtractions.  I finished mine in under   
   three minutes by the clock, getting half of them wrong.  I decided this   
   would be a good time to see how the controls worked.  Anyone who wasn't   
   done by now deserved to be distracted, I figured.   
      
         Wendy looked a lot less nervous by now.  Maybe she thought the   
   boys in the other class still had the controls to the collar, and she   
   wouldn't have any trouble until she went home.  She was about to find   
   out how wrong she was.  I hit the warning button a quick one, just to   
   see what she'd do.  Her head came up, and she nervously looked around   
   the class.  I looked away before she saw me watching her.  She looked   
   around a little more, biting her lip, then went back to her arithmetic   
   problems.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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