Class Rules & Orange-Colored Pills

“Now remember, everyone,” said Mrs. Bentley, pointing to the Class Rules poster on the wall. “Stay in your seats and no talking.”

Justin glanced at the poster. He wanted to obey his teacher.

“I need to have a very important discussion with Mr. Bailey,” continued his teacher. “You should all be working on the math lesson.” She waited until everyone was busy copying math problems from the board then walked out into the hallway to speak with the school principal.

Justin settled down to work. He decided to see how much math he could get done before Mrs. Bentley came back into the room. “Five plus two equals seven,” he whispered to himself.

“Justin, shhh,” Jessie hissed.

“Sorry,” Justin whispered back to his friend. He closed his mouth and tried to do the math in his head.

After Justin finished the first four math problems, he turned to see how Jessie was doing. She was still on the second problem, biting the end of her pencil and staring at her paper with a frown. Justin wished he could help her, but Mrs. Bentley had said no talking, so he turned back to his own work.

Just as he started to copy the next problem, he heard a heavy sigh. When he looked around, he noticed his friend Daniel rubbing his forehead. Daniel’s eyes started to close, and his head began to nod. Was he falling asleep? As Justin watched, Daniel slowly slumped over until his head rested on his desk. “Huh? That’s strange,” thought Justin. Something didn’t seem quite right. Justin knew he was supposed to stay in his seat, but he had a funny feeling that something might be wrong. Justin got up from his desk.

“Justin!” Jessie whispered. “What are you doing?”

Without taking time to explain, Justin crept over to Daniel’s desk. “Daniel?” he said quietly, shaking him gently on the shoulder.

Daniel barely lifted his head. “Can you— get my backpack?” he whispered.

No one was doing math anymore— everyone was watching Justin.

“You’re going to get in trouble,” whispered Jessie.

Other kids began to whisper warnings too as Justin hurried to the storage cubbies to grab Daniel’s backpack. “The principal will see you!” “Yeah, Justin, sit down.” “You’re breaking the rules, Justin!” “Mrs. Bentley is gonna punish you for sure.”

Justin paid no attention. Somehow, he knew it was very important for him to get Daniel’s backpack. Justin scooped up the pack and ran back to Daniel’s desk.

“Orange bottle—” said Daniel. “In the front.”

Justin unzipped the front pocket and found a little medicine bottle. He opened it and shook out an orange-colored pill. “Here,” said Justin. “Here’s your medicine.” He held the tiny pill close to Daniel’s hand so he could easily take it and put it in his mouth.

“Is he giving him candy?” someone whispered loudly.

Daniel had just chewed and swallowed his medicine when Mrs. Bentley walked in. “Class! I’m very disappointed—” She stopped when she saw Daniel with Justin at his side. “Oh, my goodness!” She rushed over to Daniel’s desk.

Justin stepped out of Mrs. Bentley’s way as she stooped down next to Daniel. “Are you okay, Daniel?”

The boy lifted his head again and took a deep breath. “I—I think so.”

Mrs. Bentley patted him on the shoulder. “Just relax,” she said.

A girl raised her hand. “Mrs. Bentley, Justin got out of his seat while you were in the hall.”

“And he gave Daniel a piece of candy!” someone else added.

Mrs. Bentley shook her head. “It wasn’t candy, boys and girls. It was a glucose tablet—a pill Daniel has to take sometimes when he’s feeling sick.” She turned her attention back to Daniel. “Are you feeling better now?”

Daniel nodded and smiled as he sat up.

Mrs. Bentley turned to Justin. “Good job, Justin! Thank you for looking out for your friend.”

“But he broke the rule,” said another student.

“Yes, I know. But in this case, it’s a good thing he did,” Mrs. Bentley replied.

“Huh?” The kids looked at their teacher, surprised and confused.

“Daniel has diabetes,” explained Mrs. Bentley, “which means he has to eat just right and take his medicines carefully. I think maybe Daniel didn’t eat enough lunch today. But thanks to Justin, he’s going to be okay.” Mrs. Bentley checked on Daniel again before returning to her desk.

“Listen, class,” she continued, “rules are important, but sometimes you might have to break a rule in order to follow a more important one, like Justin did—especially if someone needs help.”

The whole class was puzzled—including Justin.

“Read Rule #1 on the poster,” she said.

Several kids read it aloud together: “Respect and care for others.”

“Yes,” she said. “Justin did the right thing to care for someone who was sick.” Mrs. Bentley glanced over at Justin.

He was suddenly very glad that he had chosen to help his friend.

Mrs. Bentley smiled at Justin. “I’m proud of you, Justin. You took good care of your friend. And since you showed that you can be responsible, you will be our line leader for the rest of the week.”

Justin was surprised by this reward. It would be great to be the line leader. But mostly he was glad that his friend Daniel was okay now, and that he had chosen to help.

Download Coloring Page