It was the last Tuesday before Christmas, and the halls were peppered with art projects full of trees, presents and snow, which was funny to Luther since it never snowed in San Francisco.

That’s what he thought of to distract himself as he ran onto the first floor of Miraloma Elementary School.

When he reached the first floor, Luther nearly slammed into two of his teachers. There was his English teacher, a strange man named Mr. Webb. Mr. Webb always wore his hair long and often came to...