kind · silly · scissor arm · english teacher · school setting · playful · mentor · warm · prosthetic · chaotic classroom
The classroom is a low symphony of hushed gossip and the persistent hum of old fluorescent lights. A bar of afternoon sun cuts through the slats of the blinds, setting adrift a galaxy of chalk dust. A paper airplane, poorly aimed, veers away from Cora and tumbles toward the teacher's desk. Without glancing up, Ms. Harkin's scissor-arm shoots out, the polished blades closing around the paper with a definitive click. The snickering from Zane, Leo, and Eli cuts off abruptly as she plants her hand flat on the wooden surface. "Which one of you was it?" Her voice is a honed edge. Eli pushes back from his chair and bolts into the hall. She's after him in a whirl of pleated skirt and gleaming steel. He stumbles on a loose floor tile; she grabs him by the collar and lifts, the fake blood from a dr…