Stink erased some more. “How many erasers do you think it would take to circle Planet Earth?”
“Stink Moody, you are so e-noying!”
“E-noying? Is that like annoying with an e-raser?” Stink laughed at his own joke.
“FYI, Mr. Eraser Head, e-noying is extremely annoying.”
“Did you learn that at Space Camp?”
“For your info, it’s none of your beeswax.” Riley rubbed her eraser superhard. “I was never in trouble before, and now I’m in trouble and I have to stay in at recess, and it’s all because of you, Stink Moody!”
“I’m not the one who scribbled all over the science books! I don’t see why you hate Pluto so much. What did Pluto ever do to you?”
“Don’t you get it?” said Riley. “You’re just like Pluto.”
“Why? ’Cause I’m short? I have gas? What?”
Rotten Riley, Queen of Space Camp, looked like an Oort cloud about to explode. “No, because you’re always crossing my orbit!”
“Okay, okay,” said Stink. “You don’t have to go all asteroid on me!”
Wicked wormholes! Sometimes Riley Rottenberger was just plain extraterrestrial, maximum warp-speed, supernova annoying!
At last it was Friday. Time for the Class 2D scientists to present their cases!
Team KPB went first. Riley held a wooden spoon in the air. “Today we are here to decide if Pluto is a planet. I’m a Solar System Supreme Court judge. This is my hammer thingy.” Bang! Riley rapped the wooden kitchen spoon on Mrs. D.’s desk.
“It’s called a gavel,” said Mrs. D.
“There are three laws, like tests you have to pass, to be a planet.”
Morgan and Heather walked in neat circles around a yellow beach ball marked SUN. Logan was walking funny around the beach ball.
“Hey, Pluto, why are you walking funny?” Heather asked Logan.
“I can’t help it, Neptune. My orbit’s out of whack,” said Logan.
“Law Number One,” said Riley. “To be a planet, you have to orbit around the sun.
“Law Number Two. To be a planet, you have to be big and round, or else you get pushed around by the other planets.”
“Pluto is almost round,” Stink pointed out.
Bang! “Odor in the court!” Riley said by mistake. Everybody cracked up.
“Law Number Three. To be a planet, you have to be big enough to kick rocks and other space junk out of the way.”
Logan bumped into Morgan. Logan bumped into Heather. But they did not budge. Not one inch.
“Pluto is way too puny to bump stuff out of the way. Therefore,” said Riley, using a big word to sound super-duper smart, “Pluto is NOT a planet. No way, no how.”
Logan (aka Pluto) shrank to the ground, took off his sweatshirt, and showed off the T-shirt he had on under it. It said, 134340.
“I rest my case.” Riley hit the desk with the spoon so loud it sounded like the Big Bang. “Vote NO for Pluto. It’s the law.”
“Let’s give Riley’s team a big hand,” said Mrs. D. Everybody clapped. “Next up is Stink’s team with a short play.”
Riley: No way! Don’t let him in!
Mrs. D.: Riley. you had your turn. Let’s hear them out.
Class 2D went wild. Stink and his fellow planets took a bow.
“Nice job,” said Mrs. D. “Now, let’s see what the rest of Class 2D thinks. We’ll put it to a vote.”
Everybody took out their pencils and secretly scribbled down their votes. They dropped them into a big jar. Mrs. D. sat at her desk, unfolding slips of paper. She came to the last vote. Slowly, she unfolded it. “Looks like it’s unanimous. We all agree. Class 2D votes YES for Pluto to still be a planet.” Everybody clapped and hooted.
“The whole class? Are you sure you counted right?” asked Stink.
“I’m sure,” said Mrs. D., winking at Riley. Riley smiled back, a not-so-rotten smile.
“Woo-hoo! Pluto lives!” Stink yelled.
“Let’s hear it for Stink, Solar System Superhero!” called the Underdogs.
Stink beamed, proud of all the kids in his own little solar system, Class 2D.
After school, Stink went to find smiley Riley. “Hey, Riley, um, I was just wondering, what made you change your mind about Pluto?”
“None of your beeswax,” said Riley. Still rotten.
Stink started to walk away.
“It’s just . . . I know how Pluto feels,” Riley mumbled.
“Huh?”
“At Space Camp —”
“Here we go again,” said Stink, rolling his eyes.
“This isn’t a brag. For real. I was going to say, at Space Camp, the other kids said I was extremely e-noying. They kicked me out of our bunkhouse. So, when you were in the corner crying —”
“Pretend crying,” said Stink.
“Whatever. I know how Pluto feels. To be kicked out, I mean.”
Stink could not believe his ears. Maybe Rotten Riley was not so rotten after all. “At Space Camp, do you get to launch super-duper monster rockets and make robots?”
“Of course. And the robots rescue astronauts on the Space Station.”
“Wow.” Stink had only ever dreamed of Space Camp. “Hey, we should start a new club. Friends of Pluto or something.”
Riley twirled her hair into a knot. “You mean, just for your friends?”
“Any friend of Pluto is a friend of mine,” said Stink, grinning.
Just then, Judy came to the door of Stink’s classroom. “C’mon, Stinker. Mom’s picking us up today. I have soccer, and you have karate.”
“See you later, ex–Pluto Hater,” Stink said to Riley, and they both cracked up. Stink grabbed his stuff and hurried down the hall after Judy.
Judy climbed into the backseat.
“I’ll be right there,” Stink called.
“What’s he doing?” Mom asked, looking in the rearview mirror.
“I think he dropped something,” said Judy. “Stink. Hurry up! I’m going to be late!”
Stink scrambled into the backseat. Mom pulled away from the school and took a left turn. At the first red light, a car honked.
“I wonder why they’re honking,” said Mom. “I’m sure I had my turn signal on.” As they drove on, another car honked. And another.
Honk, honk! Toot, toot! Beep!
“Mom, do you know them?” Judy asked. “They’re all waving at us.”
“Here a beep, there a beep, everywhere a beep, beep!” sang Stink, smiling to himself. Someday, a spaceship would travel to the planet Pluto, 2.7 billion miles away. Someday.
But today, Stink was happy. Happy to be here on Croaker Road, State of Virginia, Planet Earth, Milky Way Galaxy: His own little corner of the universe.
Beep, beep!
Megan McDonald, Stink: Solar System Superhero
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