“Three days later, Mrs. Dalloway was in the hall, blocking the classroom door. 'Hi there, Dick. Are you prone to seizures?''Uh, no.'Thirty minutes later I was wishing I'd said 'Uh, yes,' because then she's have had to turn off the strobe light. Then again, it might not have made a difference; the loud electronic music and Mrs. D's yelling probably would have been enough to do me in anyway.”

“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.”

“Last night I snuck an orchestra into the elevator at my apartment. We made elevator music history until Marvin got his oboe caught in the door and Mrs. Hoffstead started singing "Yes We Have No Bananas Today" in the hall so loud the police were called in from Equador.”

“Amal, you look stunned," said Mrs. Melchor. "Have you been struck by lightning between classes?""Yes," she said. "The lightning of ignorance."Mrs. Melchor raised her eyebrows.”

“Hi," Kami said to Dorothy, the head librarian…"Can you tell me where I could find the books on Satanism?"Twenty minutes later, she had Dorothy convinced that it was for a school project, and she really did not have to telephone Kami's parents.”

“Wait a minute— who is Mrs. Alexander Banks eight thousand and twenty-one?"Uh-oh. He'd spotted the small icon at the top with my log-in name. I felt my face heat up. "It's just, uh, a name. Everyone has to log in under a made-up name."He turned to me, narrowing his eyes. "Is this your made-up name?”