Junie B., First Grader (at Last!) (3 page)

“Wow, José!” I said. “You really speak two languages?”

“Cool,” said Herb.

“Big deal,” said May. “I know Spanish,
too. I can count all the way to three in Spanish. Does anyone want to hear me?”

The rest of us looked at each other.

“Not really,” said Herb.

“Not me,” said Lennie.

“Me neither,” said José.

May didn't pay attention to us. “
Uno, dos, tres
,” she said real loud.

I leaned nearer to her.

“Shh!” I said.

Then everyone laughed and laughed.

But not May.

Pretty soon, the bell rang for school.

Mr. Scary got our morning started.

First, he took attendance of the children. Then we said,
I pledge allegiance to the flag
. Plus also, we listened to boring bulletins from the office.

Finally, Mr. Scary walked to the chalkboard. And he printed a list of words.

“Boys and girls,” he said. “This morning, I have a fun assignment for you.”

He winked at us and pointed to the list.

“I want you to read these words to yourselves,” he said. “Then—without talking
to your neighbor—choose any word from the list and draw a picture of it in your journal.”

May squealed very thrilled.

“Oh, goody, goody!” she said. “I love this kind of assignment, Mr. Scary. I am perfect at not talking to my neighbor!”

After that, she quick took a pencil out of her box. And she started to draw.

I stared at the words.

Then I tapped on my chin. And I scratched my head.

’Cause I didn't actually
get
this assignment, that's why.

“Hmm,” I said. “Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.”

I glanced my eyes at Herb and Lennie and José.

All of them were drawing, too.

I looked back at the board again.

Then I stretched my neck as far as it could go. And I squinted my hardest.

But those words had me stumped, I tell you!

Finally, I reached out to Herb real secret. And I tapped on his back.

“Psst. Herb,” I whispered. “Quick question. Which word are you drawing?”

May did a loud gasp.

She jumped up from her seat and pointed at me.

“Mr. Scary! Mr. Scary! Junie Jones is talking to her neighbor! See her? She's talking to Herbert. And that is against the rules!”

I turned my head.

“Blabber-lips!” I yelled. “Blabber-lips May.”

Mr. Scary looked back at us.

His mustache was not smiling.

I did a gulp.

Then I quick opened my journal.

And I started to draw.

We drew and drew in our journals.

Mr. Scary waited until all of us were done.

Then he walked around the room. And he looked at everyone's pictures.

He gave out shiny gold stars.

First, he gave stars to Camille and Chenille.

“What great-looking dogs you drew, girls,” he said. “Look at those floppy ears.”

Lucille raised her hand.

“Look at mine, Teacher!” she said. “I
drew a cat with
pointy
ears. See? My rich nanna has an expensive cat just like this. Its fur is a foot thick, almost.”

Mr. Scary looked strange at her.

“Really, Lucille? A whole foot of fur?” he said. “My, my.”

He gave her a gold star and moved on.

He went to a boy named Roger. Roger was in my same class last year.

“
Excellent
job, Roger,” Mr. Scary said. “You drew a man wearing a coat. The words
man
and
coat
were both on the board, weren't they?”

I did a little frown.

’Cause none of these words were actually sounding familiar.

After that, Mr. Scary walked to Sheldon and Shirley.

“Cool bat and ball, Sheldon,” he said.
“And, Shirley! You drew a bat and ball, too, didn't you?”

I put my head on my desk.

Something was very wrong here.

Finally, Mr. Scary got to May.

“Oh, May,” he said. “What a special clock you drew. The big hand has five fingers. That's very unusual.”

“Yes,” said May. “I created it myself. Plus,
clock
was the hardest word up there, wasn't it, Mr. Scary? I am the only one who even knew the word
clock
, I bet.”

Just then, my stomach felt sickish inside.

I quick closed my journal and stuffed it in my desk.

Mr. Scary saw me.

“Junie B.?” he said. “Don't you want to show me your drawing? Don't you want a gold star for today?”

I shook my head real fast.

“Nope. No, thank you. No, I don't,” I said. “Not today. I really, really don't care for a gold star today. But thank you for asking.”

Mr. Scary kept on standing there.

“The end,” I said.

He did not budge.

“Please move along,” I said.

Finally, Mr. Scary bent down next to me.

He lowered his voice so no one could hear.

“I'm sorry, Junie B. But I'd really like to see what you drew,” he said. “I need to make sure that you understood the assignment.”

Then–before I knew it–he took my journal out of my desk. And he gave it to me to hold.

After that, he walked me into the hall. And he let me show him my drawing in private.

And guess what?

He liked it, I think!

“Oh, wow. Look at
that
, Junie B.,” he said. “You drew a wonderful picture of a … a …”

He kept on looking. “A … a …”

“A screaming chicken,” I said finally.

Mr. Scary did a strange face.

“Yes.
Right
,” he said. “It's a …”

“Screaming chicken,” I said again.

I pointed at the chicken's mouth.

“See how it's screaming, ’CLUCK! CLUCK! CLUCK!'? I used capital letters for the clucks. Capitals are for screaming. Correct?”

“Well, yes. I
suppose
so,” said Mr. Scary.
“But–the thing is, Junie B.–the word
cluck
wasn't on the board today.”

“I know it,” I said. “The word on the board was
clock
. Only I didn't read all the letters right, I guess. ’Cause I accidentally thought it was
cluck
.”

I tapped on my chin.

“What I actually wanted to draw was the
but and bull
,” I said. “I really liked the sound of that one. But I didn't know how to get started, exactly. So I went ahead with the
cluck
idea.”

Mr. Scary looked confused at me.

“The
but and bull
?” he asked.

I smiled kind of embarrassed.

“Yeah… well, I read those words wrong, too, I guess,” I said. “They turned out to be
bat and ball
.”

Mr. Scary frowned.

“Hmm,” he said. “What about the other words on the board, Junie B.? Do you remember how you read some of the other ones? How about
dog
and
cat
? Or
coat
and
goat
?”

I thought back. Then I made my voice real quiet.

“
Dug
and
cot
and
coot
and
yoot
,” I said.

Mr. Scary nodded his head.

Then he patted my hand very nice.

And he gave me back my journal.

And we walked back into Room One.

Mr. Scary put down his chalk.

“You can stop peeking at me now, Junie B.,” he said.

I looked at him real surprised. ’Cause that guy has eyes in the back of his hair, apparently.

He turned around and smiled.

“Do you see these three sentences that
I just wrote up here?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I see them.”

“Excellent,” said Mr. Scary. “Could you stand up and try reading them from back there, please?”

Just then, my heart got pumpy and pounding inside.

’Cause I'm not good at reading from the board, that's why.

I kept on sitting there.

“Please,” said Mr. Scary. “Just give it a try, okay?”

Finally, I stood up. And I squinted at the sentences.

I read real slow.

“Bob… is … a … bug … bag,” I read. I did a teensy frown at that news.

“Really?” I asked. “Bob is a bug bag?”

Mr. Scary pointed to sentence number two. “Try this one,” he said.