Everyone said hi to Richard.
“You're early,” Emily said.
Richard ducked his head.
“We were talking yesterday,” Emily Arrow said to Ms. Rooney. “Beast and me. We were talking about winning the banner.”
“Good for you,” Ms. Rooney said. She turned her head for a moment and smiled. Then she went back to writing the new spelling words on the blackboard.
Richard walked over to the back table to look at the fishbowl. There were two fish swimming around inside. He knocked on the glass a little to see if they would pay any attention to him.
They didn't. Maybe they were too busy eating their food to think about what was going on in the classroom.
“What are their names?” Richard asked Wayne.
“The striped one is Harry,” he said. “The other one doesn't have a name yet.”
“How come?” Richard asked.
“He's mean,” Wayne said. “He hogs all the food. I can't think of a mean name for him.”
“I know a mean name,” Richard said.
“What?”
“Drake.”
“Like that big kid?” Wayne asked. “The one in your old class?”
“Just like him,” Richard said.
Wayne looked at the fish for a moment. “I guess he looks like a Drake. All right.” He called up to Ms. Rooney. “Richard just named my fish.”
Ms. Rooney turned around again to look at them. “What's his name?”
“Drake,” Wayne said.
“Drake?” Ms. Rooney asked. “That's a nice name.”
Richard and Wayne grinned at each other.
Emily came back to watch the fish. “Hey, Harry,” she said. She tapped on the side of the bowl.
“You want to win the banner?” Wayne asked.
Richard nodded.
“How?”
“That's what we don't know,” Emily said.
Ms. Rooney finished with the boardwork. She put down her chalk and walked to the back of the room.
“We don't know how to win the banner,” Emily said.
“By doing the best you can,” Ms. Rooney said.
“But suppose no one notices?” Emily asked.
Ms. Rooney raised her eyebrows. “They'll notice, all right. Be good in the hall. Don't get in trouble at recess.” She stopped for a second. “Or in the boys' room.”
Richard wondered if she was looking at him.
“We can tell the rest of the kids too,” Emily said.
“Right,” Richard agreed. He went back to his desk. He couldn't remember what his mother had given him for lunch.
It was tuna fish. He could smell it right through the bag.
Matthew slid into the seat in front of him.
Matthew had wet the bed again.
He smelled a little bit like the tuna fish.
Richard opened the bag to see if there was any dessert.
Cookies.
The terrible kind with the orange-tasting stuff in the middle.
“What have you got for lunch?” Matthew asked him.
“Tuna fish.”
“I've got Fluffernutter,” Matthew said.
“What?”
“Peanut butter and marshmallow. My mother put it on rye bread. It's the best.”
Richard thought it was probably the best too. “Lucky,” he said.
“Want some?” Matthew asked.
Richard could taste it in his mouth. Gooey. Peanut-buttery. Rye-bready.
If only Matthew didn't wet the bed.
He shook his head. “I like tuna fish.”
Matthew looked a little disappointed. Maybe he didn't like Fluffernutter as much as he said he did, Richard thought. Maybe he was dying for some of Richard's tuna fish. No, Richard told himself, it was because Matthew wanted to share. Matthew wanted to be friends.
But Richard didn't even want to touch Matthew's lunch bag. “Want some of my tuna fish?” he asked.
“Naah,” Matthew said. He turned around and started to copy his spelling.
Richard hoped Matthew's feelings weren't hurt. He hoped Matthew didn't guess why he didn't want to share his Fluffernutter.
By this time everyone was in the classroom. Everyone but Emily's friend Jill. She had been coughing a lot yesterday. She was probably home in bed. Sick. Watching television. Having a snack on a tray.
Maybe Fluffernutter.
Ms. Rooney held up her hand. “Emily Arrow wants to say something,” she said.
Emily marched up to the front of the room.
“We want to win the banner, right?” Emily said to the class.
Nobody said anything. They were all busy with their boardwork, or sharpening their pencils, or looking out the window.
“Hey,” Emily yelled. “Pay attention.”
“That's right,” Ms. Rooney said. “Wait a minute, Emily. We'll wait for everyone to listen.”
At last everyone was quiet.
“Beast wants to win the banner,” Emily said. “And me too. And Wayne.”
“Who's Beast?” Noah Greene asked.
Emily made a face as if Noah were crazy. “Richard Best, of course. You didn't know that's his nickname?”
Noah looked embarrassed. He turned around and smiled a little at Richard.
“So everyone be good,” Emily said.
“Especially in the halls,” Wayne said.
“And in the boys' room,” Richard said.
“Everywhere,” Matthew said.
Mrs. Paris stuck her head in the door. “Reading. All right?” she asked Ms. Rooney. “I have to go to a meeting later. May I take the children now?”
“Certainly,” Ms. Rooney said. “I hope they're working hard in reading.”
“Til tell you something,” Mrs. Paris said. “They're terrific. Top kids.”
Richard grinned at Emily. That Mrs. Paris was much nicer than she had looked in the beginning.
He stood up and followed Matthew out the door. He was going to walk down the hall as quietly as he could.
Winning the banner was going to be easy. He knew it.
Chapter 8
It was time for gym. Richard tied his sneakers a little tighter. He hitched up his gym shorts.
Mr. Bell, the gym teacher, was waiting for them. He tossed a basketball to Alex Walker.
For a moment Alex stood there watching them. Then he threw the ball at Matthew.
Matthew ducked. Then they were all running. And yelling. Trying to stay away from Alex and the ball. It was a terrific game.
Richard saw Alex coming toward him. He tried to get out of the way, but he tripped. He skidded down onto the shiny gym floor.
“Look at Beast,” Emily called. “He's bleeding.”
Richard stood up and looked at his leg. There was a round red circle in the middle of his knee.
Everyone came running over.
“Why don't you go down to the nurse,” Mr. Bell said. “Get a bandage.”
Richard didn't know what to do. He hated to miss gym. But he liked going to see Mrs. Ames, the nurse.
Everyone did.
She had plaid bandages and raisins.
“All right,” he said. “I'll be right back.”
He hurried down to the nurse's office. There was a bunch of kids ahead of him.
One boy was sitting on the cot. The thermometer paper was stuck to his forehead. A first-grader was leaning on the chair next to Mrs. Ames's desk.
Mrs. Ames was in the little room next to this one. Richard could hear her talking on the phone. She was telling a mother to come to school to pick up a sick kid.
Richard looked at the first-grader. He wondered if he was going to throw up.
Richard moved away from him. He went over near the window. While he was waiting he thought about the banner. Everyone in the class was trying to win.
Nobody ran in the hall.
Nobody had gotten into trouble all week.
Richard couldn't wait until Mr. Mancina told them who won. He was sure it w
ould be his class.
He stood there waiting a long time. Mrs. Ames stopped talking on the phone. She put ice on a boy's wrist.
Richard looked at his knee. It had stopped bleeding.
Maybe he should go back to gym.
But what about the bandage? And the raisins?
The window was open a little. It smelled good outside.
He stuck his hand out. Then he bent his head down so he could breathe some of the nice air.
There were people outside. Mothers with baby carriages. Three little kids were running back and forth across the school lawn.
Richard wondered what they'd think if they saw something fly out the window.
Something like a plane.
He spotted some white paper on the nurse's desk. He reached for a piece.
Quickly he folded it into a plane. He couldn't wait to see what the kids would do. Maybe they wouldn't see it come from the window. Maybe they'd think it came from somewhere else.
Somewhere far away. Outer space.
He shot it out the window.
It sailed a little bit. Then it settled down on the school lawn.
No one even saw it. One of the kids ran right over it.
Richard reached for another paper and sailed it out the window.
This time a little girl spotted it. She ran to get it.
Richard thought he'd make another one. Maybe two. One for each kid. He'd sail them out the window together. Use both hands.
He opened the window a little more. Then he took the new planes, one in each hand, and—
“What are you doing?” said a voice. “Just what is going on?”
It was Mrs. Ames. She looked cranky.
Before Richard had time to answer, she said,“Richard Best. Go back to your classroom. I'm going to report you to your teacher. And to Mr. Mancina.”
Richard threw the planes in the wastebasket. Slowly he walked back to the gym. He wondered what everyone would think when they saw him without a bandage. Without any raisins.
He wondered what everyone would say when they heard that he had been reported.
His class had just lost the banner for the week. And it was all his fault.
Chapter 9
Richard was right. The second grade didn't win the banner. The next day Mr. Mancina told them over the loudspeaker that Mrs. Kettle's class had won.
For a couple of days Richard didn't tell anyone it was his fault.
On Thursday, just before spelling, he told Emily.
For a minute Emily looked as if she were going to get mad. But then she raised her shoulders in the air. “Don't worry,” she said. “We'll get it next time.”
But she didn't look as if she really believed it.
And Richard didn't either. He was always doing something wrong.
Today they were having spelling partners. It was just his luck that Matthew was his spelling partner. Matthew sat down at his desk, practically on top of him.
“Only ten minutes to study together,” Ms. Rooney called from the front of the room. “The test is in ten …no, nine minutes from now.”
“Spelling is easy,” Matthew said. He grinned at Richard and shuffled through the pages of the spelling book. “Here it is, lesson four.”
Richard inched his chair away from Matthew a little. He looked down at the ten spelling words for lesson four.
He hated spelling.
Last night his mother made Holly go over all his spelling words with him.
Holly didn't ask the words one-two-three the way he wanted her to. She skipped around and mixed him all up.
Then she got mad when he made mistakes.
“Spelling is easy,” Matthew said again. “All you have to do is stick some little words together. Turn them into big ones.”
“Like what?”
Matthew scratched at his ear. “Like what? Let me see. Like Noah.”
“Noah?”
“You know—Noah.” Matthew pointed to the seat next to his. “By the window.”
Richard nodded. “What about him?”
“Do you know how to spell his name?”
Richard shook his head. “No.”
“Easy,” Matthew said. “You know how to spell w/?”
“Everybody knows how to—”
“Do you know how to spell a?”
Richard nodded again.
“Stick them together,” Matthew said. “Go ahead.”
“No, a,” Richard said. “N-o-a,” he spelled out loud. “Hey. You're right.”
“It's time to put your spellers away now,” Ms. Rooney said. “Take out a piece of white paper.”
Matthew went back to his seat. Richard took out his looseleaf book.
All the pages looked a little crumpled. Most of them had drawings all over them.
He pulled out a piece and looked at the picture he had drawn the other day.
It was a picture of Holly. She was holding their cat, Meow. They were both smiling.
He reached for his pink eraser.
“Tut your name on top,” Ms. Rooney said.
He began to erase the picture so he could use the paper for the test.
He went a little too hard. Suddenly there was a hole in the paper. Right on top of Meow.
“Meow,” Richard said under his breath. “Me. Ow.” He wrote his name in while he was waiting for Ms. Rooney to say the first word. M-e, he spelled in his head. Ow. He looked at Matthew and nodded. “Meow.”
“Who is making cat noises back there?” Ms. Rooney asked.
Why hadn't anyone told him about spelling before? he wondered. It was easy.
“First word,” Ms. Rooney said. “Along.”
Along. With his thumb Richard tried to flatten out the hole he had made in his paper.
Easy. A. Long. Along.
“Could,” Ms. Rooney said.
Richard pushed at his teeth. Could. He tried to say it slowly. To find the little words inside.
There weren't any.
It was just could.
He remembered Holly yelling at him last night.
Was it c? Or k?
He knew there was an l.
C-u-l-d.
It didn't look right.
Too bad it didn't work out the way Matthew said. It was probably one of those things Mrs. Paris had said. An exception.
“Backyard,” Ms. Rooney said.
In front of him Matthew muttered, “Back … yard.”
Richard looked at Matthew's ears. Back. Yard. Easy. With a bossy r. Easy as anything.
Matthew was right. That baby with the wet-the-bed smell was right.
He wasn't such a baby.
He wondered if Matthew hated to wet the bed.
Just the way he hated his little baby front teeth.
He gave Matthew a little punch on the back. Then quickly he began to spell backyard.
Chapter 10
Today was banner day: the day Mr. Mancina would tell them who won.
Richard's class had tried hard this week.
Even if they didn't win the banner, they were the best. He knew it.
“Time for reading,” Ms. Rooney said.
Quietly they started down the hall.
Kevin Klein was coming out of the boys' room.
“Hi,” Richard said. He remembered to whisper. “I've been meaning to tell you. Ms. Rooney didn't really mix her records up.”
“Whew,” Kevin said. “I was really worried. I thought it was me.”
“It takes some people a little time to zip into reading,” Richard said. “That's what happened to me.”
Kevin nodded slowly. “You're a good artist though.”
“Right,” Richard said. “That's right.”
He started down the hall and looked back over his shoulder. “Are you going to tell Drake?”
“That kid can find out for himself,” Kevin said. “Let him ask the teacher if he wants to know.”
They grinned at each other. Then Richard rushed down the hall to reading.
r /> He didn't remember the surprise in his desk until he was almost at Mrs. Paris's door.
“I forgot something,” he told Mrs. Paris. “Can I go back to my room for a minute?”
“Sure,” Mrs. Paris said. “But try not to take an hour.”
Richard shook his head. He wanted to get back to reading. Even though they were reading a little skinny baby book, it was kind of interesting. It was all about a kid who got lost in a snowstorm.
Besides, he was beginning to know a lot of the words. Not all of them. But a lot more than he ever thought he would.
He started to race down the hall. But then he remembered the banner.
He slowed down.
He made believe he was caught in the snowstorm. He closed his eyes and took about ten steps.
But then he remembered the banner.
He opened his eyes and hurried into his classroom.
“Forgot something,” he told Ms. Rooney.
Richard raced back to his desk. He pulled out his notebook and went into the hall again.
He stopped at Holly's classroom to wave to her, then bent over the faucet for a quick drink.
A very quick drink. He didn't want to get into trouble for hanging around in the hall.
Drake was coming out of the boys' room.
“Hey, Richard.”
Richard turned around. “Shh,” he said. He could see Mrs. Kettle at the other end of the hall.
Richard started to walk down the hall as fast as he could without running.
Drake followed him. He was banging on the wall with a wooden pass.
Mrs. Kettle started down the hall toward them. She was frowning.
Richard ducked into Room 100 just in time.
He looked at Mrs. Paris. And Emily and the other two kids. They were waiting for him.
He opened his notebook and pulled out the surprises.
He had worked on them until bedtime the night before.
“I made some drawings for the bulletin board,” he said.
Everyone looked up.
“To cover the spots,” he said. “The bunny spots and the tulip spots.”
Mrs. Paris reached for his drawings. She looked at them carefully. “You're a great kid,” she said. “The best.”