“Help!” I screamed. I was running, but I didn’t know why. Something was wrong. Suddenly, there was a girl about 50 yards ahead of me.

“James!” she called to me. I ran for her. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember her name. Suddenly I started falling, like I had walked off a cliff, and I woke up.

“Are you okay, James?” my teacher, Ms. Crowe, asked. I looked around. I was in class, and lying on the floor. I guess I had fallen asleep again. The cliff part of my dream was from me falling out of my chair. I got up, and sat back in my seat.

“Come talk to me after class,” Ms. Crowe said. Probably another detention to add to my collection.

I managed to pretend to pay attention until the bell. I walked over to Ms. Crowe’s desk. She sighed, and started talking, “James, you’re going to fail my class if you don’t do better. Your grades have dropped ever since you started 6th grade. And with the year ending on Friday, you will have to do a lot of extra-credit in the next few days if you want to pass.”

I kept my eyes on the floor. I didn’t want to see her face, with a look of pity like all the other teachers had. The teachers who had given up on me.

“I’ll try harder,” I mumbled, and I walked out the door. I went in the general direction of my locker. Why am I such a screw-up? I asked myself. Lately my ADHD had gotten worse. I was also diagnosed with dyslexia a few weeks ago. I don’t know who I got that from, since my dad’s a writer and my mom’s a teacher.
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I got to my next class a minute late, so Mrs. Aello, the teacher, sent me to the office. Again. I got my third detention for this week, and it’s only Thursday. I was going for a school record.

Later, I decided to try and skip out of detention. I was sick of school, and I just wanted to go home. To get to my house, I would have to walk. I tried to get away on bus before, and the bus driver found out that I was supposed to be back at school. He had to go back and drop me off.

I walked out of school with a group of kids. The teachers are always outside, making sure that no one causes trouble. After we got past the teachers I broke off from the group. I sprinted out of the parking lot. I was almost home free, when Mrs. Aello saw me. I ran onto the street, just as her car flew out of the parking lot. I ran down the road, and then cut across a yard. I tried to run across the street, but I tripped over a pothole. As I got up, Mrs. Aello’s car came screaming around the corner. Instead of slowing down, she sped up! She smiled at me, a smile that was filled with evil, hatred, and every other negative emotion you can think of. I tried to move, but I was paralyzed with fear. She was about to hit me, and I was going to die. It wasn’t a maybe situation. Nobody could survive getting hit at that speed. She would probably drive over my body again; just to be sure I was dead.