Eliezer winces. Whoever had put Yudi into a classroom with explosive chemicals clearly hadn’t thought it through

Chana plans for an upcoming school event at Rivky’s house. After a humiliating run-in with Eliezer at the bus, Naftali bonds with Yudi, then spots him with some shady friends.

“I’ve put up with the worst of the worst,” Mr. Jamison says, pacing back and forth in front of Eliezer’s desk.

He moves with such vigor that he nearly knocks over the elaborate Havdalah candle, the wax shaped like a perfect replica of Ohr Gershon, that Rivky had gotten Eliezer for his last birthday. Eliezer subtly pulls it closer to him. “I silenced Daniel Rodin in my class. I got through to Yechiel Kaiman. But I have had it with Yudi Stein.”

“I hear you,” Eliezer says wearily. He’s beginning to regret the memo he’d sent last month in which he’d instructed the teachers to send any Yudi issues directly to him. He hadn’t been sure then if it was because he felt directly responsible for Yudi or because no one else could handle Yudi. Now, he’s fairly certain that he’s just a glutton for punishment.

Mr. Jamison is on the warpath. “I know that there isn’t a lot of value put on secular subjects in this school,” he says, eyes flashing under his thick glasses, and Eliezer sighs internally. Mr. Jamison isn’t shy about what he believes about Ohr Gershon, but he’s also the best chemistry teacher they’ve ever had. “But I like the challenge. I like trying to get boys interested in science. But I can’t do a thing when Yudi Stein is digging through my cabinets before class and pouring delicate solutions over his friends’ heads!”

Eliezer winces. Whoever had put Yudi into a classroom with explosive chemicals clearly hadn’t thought it through. “I’ll speak to him,” he says.

“And it’d be one thing if that was all he did. I can handle that. But he echoes.”

“Echoes?”

“He repeats every word I say, a few seconds later,” Mr. Jamison says furiously. “And when I call him out on it, he claims he’s just mumbling to himself. But I know. I’m onto him.”