"Really, Emmaline, your parents might pay attention to you if you ever did anything worth paying attention to. Why don't you bring home some more ribbons and trophies?"
"I have a whole shelf full," Emmy said faintly.
"You'll just have to try a little harder, dear. Fill two shelves."
So Emmy did. Not that anyone noticed.
Still, Miss Barmy said that good girls didn't care too much about being noticed, so—Emmy tried not to care.
She really was a little too good.
Which is why she liked to sit by the Rat.
The Rat was not good at all.
When the children at Grayson Lake Elementary reached in to feed him, he snapped at their fingers. When they had a little trouble with fractions, he sneered. And he often made cutting remarks in a low voice when the teacher was just out of earshot.
Emmy was the only one who heard him. And even she wondered sometimes if she were just imagining things ...
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