Chapter One

   "You could help him," a calm voice whispered.
   "What?" Michael Halsey turned from watching Trevor picking on some kid over by the swings to see Mr. John Merlin, his science teacher, standing behind him.
   Merlin nodded toward the boy in the distance, "He needs help. You could help him."
   "Me? I don't even know the kid!" Michael scowled and turned away from his teacher. He looked across the schoolyard and saw the kid holding onto the chain link fence, as if it could protect him, as if it could hide him.
   "Benny's a baby! Benny's a baby!" taunted Trevor.
   The kid, Benjamin Lau, closed his eyes.
   "Hey, 'baby Benny', you gonna run home to your momma?" Trevor teased.
   Benjamin started to cry.
   Michael couldn't take it. He looked away.
   "You're strong," Merlin continued, bringing Michael back to the situation at hand.
   "No, I'm not!" Michael said, "Trevor's way bigger 'an me! Besides, you're the teacher. You help him."
   Merlin looked at his pupil and nodded; he understood that Michael was afraid. "If I help him," Merlin explained, "he'll be teased again tomorrow -- only it will be worse. And I didn't say you were big. I said you were strong: inside, where it counts."
   Michael felt uncomfortable, the way every kid did around Mr. M. A feeling like more was always expected of you. "Mysterious Mr. M." -- that's what all the kids called him. He was too tall, too thin, too everything. Mr. M. looked like he was about thirty years old but he never talked about himself. Even his clothes kept his secrets. Mr. M. always wore the same pale blue shirt and gold corduroy blazer with the leather elbow patches. They always looked clean -- some of the kids figured he had a closet full of them.