Lucas was a voracious reader, absorbing novels, biographies, and popular science books. His standardized test scores were all quite high. He also got along fine with other kids during recess, laughing and playing like a perfectly normal twelve-year-old. But when the bell rang for class, his facial expression changed. An observer might have been reminded of a prisoner returning to his cell. In class, Lucas was one of those kids who slouched at his desk in the back of the room, gazing out a window or trying to find ways to allay his boredom. To that end, he often drew pictures of spaceships. He also drew pictures of dragons attacking spaceships. When truly inspired, he drew pictures of alien monsters attacking dragons, thus allowing his spaceships to escape to distant galaxies. Indeed, the inside of his desk was a dense clutter of these fanciful sketches. By late afternoon, too drowsy for dragons, alien monsters, or spaceships, Lucas would gaze hopefully at the white clock on the wall, willing the second hand to move faster, faster. Of course, it never moved faster, and, inevitably, he would only become more and more impatient with the painfully slow movement of the hour hand.

The word allay, as used in the paragraph, is best associated with

A. avoiding.

B. detesting.

C. despising.

D. preferring.