Texas 8th Grade ELA Question of the Day

Excerpt 1: The antique map went missing from the locked display case sometime between lunch and last bell. Ms. Patel swore she'd turned the key and logged the checkout sheet, but the line for page 32 was blank. A smear of dusty shoe print—left foot larger than right—marked the windowsill, even though the latch was rusted shut. Owen claimed he never left the study table, and the custodian had an alibi: he'd been repairing the auditorium door. I copied the timeline, circled inconsistencies, and resolved to start with whoever "forgot" to sign the ledger.

Excerpt 2: The river pinballed us between boulders, the raft flexing like a living thing. "Paddle left!" I shouted, but the current spun us toward the chute. Spray filled my mouth; the world was noise and white. We hit the drop, slammed, and the rope bag skittered overboard. I lunged, missed, and felt the cold mouth of the next rapid pulling. We had a minute at most to angle for the eddy or we'd be swept into the narrows with no way out.