Wonder

Ms. Rubin was erasing the chalkboard at the front of the room. She
turned when she heard her name.
“No, Julian!” I whisper-screamed.
“What is it, boys?” she said impatiently.
“Could we switch partners if we wanted to?” said Julian, looking
very innocent. “Me and Jack had this science-fair project idea we
wanted to work on together....”
“Well, I guess we could arrange that ...,” she started to say.
“No, it’s okay, Ms. Rubin,” I said quickly, heading out the door.
“Bye!”
Julian ran after me.
“Why’d you do that?” he said, catching up to me at the stairs. “We
could have been partners. You don’t have to be friends with that freak
if you don’t want to be, you know....”
And that’s when I punched him. Right in the mouth.