Seventh-grader Sierra Shepard has always been the perfect student, so when she sees that she accidentally brought her mother's lunch bag to school, including a paring knife, she immediately turns in the knife at the school office. Much to her surprise, her beloved principal places her in in-school suspension and sets a hearing for her expulsion, citing the school's ironclad no-weapons policy. While there, Sierra spends time with Luke, a boy who's known as a troublemaker, and discovers that he's not the person she assumed he would be―and that the lines between good and bad aren't as clear as she once thought. “After turning in a paring knife she accidentally brought to school with her lunch, a high-achieving, rule-following seventh-grade girl is suspended, and her case becomes a media sensation. . . . Provocative and fun, from a master of the school story.” ― Kirkus Reviews “This compelling novel could also spark a discussion about the slippery nature of rules and how they are enforced.” ― School Library Journal “This will make provocative discussion fodder, and it will also encourage kids to think more deeply about their relationship with rules and approval.” ― The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Claudia Mills is the acclaimed author of many books for children including the Franklin School Friends children's book series, including Cody Harmon, King of Pets and Simon Ellis, Spelling Bee Champ . She lives in Boulder, Colorado. Zero Tolerance By Claudia Mills Square Fish Copyright © 2014 Claudia Mills All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-250-04422-8 1     Sierra Shepard sat in the office at Longwood Middle School during lunch recess 5A, waiting to see her principal, Mr. Besser. She adjusted her red plaid skirt so that it draped neatly over her knees and tucked a strand of shoulder-length brown hair back into her matching headband. Outside in the hallway, some kids peered in through the glass windows to see who was in trouble this time. She could tell that they were disappointed when they saw that she was the one sitting there. Oh, it’s just Sierra. Above her head hung the banner she had helped sew with the other seventh-grade members of the Longwood Leadership Club. Letters cut from different-colored squares of fabric were appliquéd onto a large white cloth rectangle, spelling out the four words that formed the Longwood Middle School creed: RULES RESPECT RESPONSIBILITY RELIABILITY It still bothered Sierra that the fourth “R,” the one in RELIABILITY, was slightly crooked. She had wanted to tell Em to snip it off and sew it on again more carefully, but Celeste had already been acting so bossy and critical that Sierra hadn’t wanted to sound that way herself. She would have brought the banner home and fixed the crooked “R” without saying anything. But Mrs. Frederick, who had been the Leadership Club adviser ever since Sierra had joined in sixth grade, had already started folding up the banner to take home to press. So now the “R” was crooked forever. The “R” in RELIABILITY was unreliable. The door to the office opened—not the door into Mr. Besser’s inner sanctum, but the door that led out into the hall. Two boys entered—Luke Bishop and another kid Sierra didn’t know. They were herded by a playground lady who wasn’t exactly dragging them by their collars—touching students wasn’t allowed—but who was keeping them in line with her scowl. Sierra drew herself even more upright and looked down at the folder that she held in her lap. The playground lady turned to Ms. Lin, one of the two school secretaries. “Fighting,” she said. “Again.” “He started it,” the other boy spat out. Luke sneered. “I don’t care who started it,” Ms. Lin said. The playground lady turned on her heel and marched away, as if relieved to be done with the unpleasant duty of delivering them to the office. Ms. Lin pointed to the appliquéd banner. It really was useful to have it hanging right there. “Rules,” she read. “You boys know what the rule is about fighting at school. The rule is that all students involved in a fight are punished by in-school suspension. All students.” Luke dropped down into the chair directly next to Sierra, and the other boy into the chair next to him. Sierra thought about getting up and shifting into the remaining empty chair on the other side of her, but that might look rude, and Luke, who wasn’t dumb even though he was in trouble all the time, might say something rude back. He already called her by her last name instead of her first name, changing it to “Shep-turd.” The only class they had together was health. Sierra was in honors classes for everything else, but there was no honors section for health. Luke had called her by that hideous name one day in health class, and some of the other not-so-good students had laughed. Luke leaned over and said, “What did you do?” At first Sierra didn’t even understand the question. Then she got it. Was Luke joking? “I didn’t do anything!” Luke gla