Scrawl

Tod writes this entry in English class later that day. Someone ripped up Mr. Harmon’s quotes on his door; Mr. Harmon thinks that it was Tod. Tod delivered the clothes to Luz earlier in the auditorium, which is decorated for the play. Luz inspected each costume and was impressed with Tod’s work. He claimed that it was his mother’s work, but Tod thought that Luz was beginning to suspect the truth. She told him that she fired Karl; to make the jacket fit the new Criminal, Tod pulled out the padding he had put in it. Luz then revealed that she had to replace her sphinx statue recently with another she had at home after someone (she assumes that it was the janitor) knocked it over. Tod was shocked, and Luz told him that he could keep the statue since her “Artist of the Month” feature would be over. Tod leaves a note for Mrs. Woodrow at the end of the entry, since he assumes that it’s his last day of detention. He claims that he's learned his lesson and appreciates the writing punishment but is ready for it to be over.

A week later, the entry begins with a note from Mrs. Woodrow asking Tod to staple pages from another notebook into this journal and explain what has happened. Tod reluctantly agrees and reveals that he was suspended for a month last Tuesday after school. Mrs. Woodrow came to Tod’s house on Thursday to speak with him and his mother. She asked him for the new notebook he had been keeping that she somehow knew about; his mother encouraged him to show it to her. Tod has stapled those entries in the journal.

Tod’s entries in his separate notebook begin here. He writes that he is not looking forward to his suspension. At the suspension meeting, he was given a pamphlet on anger management for teens, which he ridicules for its ineffectiveness. At lunch on Tuesday, he was ambushed by Rex and Rob who were angry at Tod’s mysterious recent behavior. They blame him for getting caught destroying school property, and the narrative finally reveals what led to the boys’ punishment. Tod had decided to break in and steal the video camera from Mr. Harmon’s room as revenge for the spelling bee. However, he discovered that Greg had illegally borrowed it and left an “IOU” note in its place. Rex knocked over the television cart and was going to smash the television with a desk, but Tod stopped him, and the desk flew through the window, which set off the alarm.

After the boys’ arguing was interrupted by a teacher, Rex almost knocked down the sphinx. Tod went to his locker where he found a coded note from Bernie warning him that Rex and Rob were planning to sabotage the play. He raced to the auditorium where he stayed hidden for hours to make sure that nothing would be ruined. He overheard Karen and the new Criminal, Eric, and discovered that Karen and Greg are bullying the rich kids for fun to prevent them from giving money to Tod. Tod recalled the videos Greg posts online ridiculing Tod, which Mr. Harmon knows about, yet he still lets Greg borrow the camera. Tod still has Greg’s “IOU” note. Tod is angry that teachers like Mr. Harmon have favorites and unfairly allow this bullying to occur.

Tod continues his story. As he was hiding in the auditorium, he saw Rex and Rob enter after the final dress rehearsal to destroy the set for the play. They planned to use Bernie’s lighter and leave Mr. Harmon’s torn quotes behind to frame Tod and Bernie for the fire they planned to set. Tod punched Rob, and all three boys began to fight as the set came down around them. Luz caught them mid-fight and yelled at them. Security guards pulled the boys apart as Luz angrily told Tod that he couldn’t have the sphinx anymore. Tod ends the entry by rewriting points from the anger management pamphlet with an ironic twist.

Tod writes that, after he gave Mrs. Woodrow his new personal notebook, he felt lost. She read through it and asked him if everything was true; she wanted to use it as proof to undo his suspension. She planned to tell the school the truth about Greg illegally borrowing the camera, his cyberbullying of Tod, and Karen’s bullying of the rich kids for fun. Mrs. Woodrow said that Tod is also guilty of this but has paid for his past crimes. Tod didn’t want to get others in trouble but was left with no other choice. Tod reveals that “Rex,” “Rob,” and “Bernie” are all nicknames that describe his friends’ behavior; their real names are Donny, Scott, and Doug, respectively. They call Tod “Pops” because he used to “pop” them when they stepped out of line (219). Before she left, Mrs. Woodrow asked Tod to come to the play tomorrow. She planned to explain everything to Luz. She also asked Tod to write all this down in the detention journal so that she could read it.

Tod goes to the play the next afternoon with a note from Mrs. Woodrow. He searches for Bernie, who has since returned to school after being bullied for staying loyal to Tod. He testified against Rex and Rob for the Disciplinary Committee. Tod sits next to Stuart at the play, and although he claims that the play is stupid, he reviews the costumes in the journal. He notices that Luz added flowers to the dress he made. After the play, Luz tells the whole school that the person who made the costumes is in the audience. Mr. Carnegie asks the person to stand; after some hesitation, Tod stands up. Mr. Carnegie assumes that Tod is lying, so he asks the guards to escort Tod out, but Luz confirms that it is true. The guard lets him go, and Tod walks out of the auditorium proudly.

Tod’s final entry describes his last interaction with Mrs. Woodrow. He asked her why she was so invested in trying to “reform” him. She claimed that she had been interested in his case for years. When she had met him after the vandalism incident, she had asked him and his friends the reason for the incident. His friends remained silent, but Tod had admitted that he was influenced by the grammatically incorrect signs on every school door which read, “[n]o trespassing violators / will be prosecuted” (229). Because they were trespassing violators, they technically shouldn’t have been in trouble. This is what Mrs. Woodrow claimed had gotten her attention, and she and Tod smiled at each other.