The Unteachables

On the day of the test, Barnstorm misses the bus. He hobbles along the side of the road until he sees Parker’s pickup truck. Barnstorm steps out in front of the truck, forcing Parker to stop. Parker is taking Grams to the hospital because she’s walking funny. They pass a police officer, and Barnstorm ducks because Parker isn’t supposed to drive anyone but family. While he’s down, Barnstorm notices Parker’s grandmother has “her shoes on the wrong feet” (203). They fix her shoes, drop her at the senior center, and head to school, arriving a few minutes early.

On their way to class, they pass a soaking-wet Mateo coming out of the bathroom. A few of Barnstorm’s teammates come out after him—they’ve been bullying Mateo. Parker gets the rest of room 117 for backup, and the football players run away after seeing Elaine. Afterwards, the kids talk about all the times Elaine beat someone up, but Elaine reveals that none of the stories are true. Mystified, the kids go back to class and take the science test.

A few days after the test, Kiana goes home to find Stepmonster waiting for her. The school called after they graded Kiana’s test but didn’t have a student on file with her name. Kiana and Stepmonster argue about no one registering her. Stepmonster decides to get Kiana registered the next day, but Kiana objects, saying they won’t let her stay in room 117 because she’s “not dumb enough” (212). Kiana tells Stepmonster about the Unteachables. When she’s done, Stepmonster says that if Kiana wants that class, then “that’s the class you’re going to be in, unteachable or not” (213). Kiana hugs Stepmonster, which makes the baby cry. As Stepmonster goes to get him, she tells Kiana that she aced the science test.

No longer the despondent teacher he was at the start of the school year, Mr. Kermit feels like he did when he first started teaching at the beginning of his career. He doesn’t need as much coffee, and he “can’t wait to get into the classroom” (214). Following the science test, he meets with Principal Vargas, who has bad news. When Dr. Thaddeus learned about Kiana’s situation, he disallowed her score and fixed the rest of the scores to make it look like Mr. Kermit’s kids showed no improvement. As of the end of December, Mr. Kermit will be fired—six months too early to claim his retirement.

In a haze, Mr. Kermit leaves the school. Turning out of the parking lot, his car dies, and he can’t get it to start. He looks under the hood and finds that the engine has fallen out. Too numb to care, he walks home in the rain.