Todd came running across the playground.
“Hi, Todd!” shouted Sharie, right in Louis’s ear.
Todd kept running.
“Hey, Todd!” called Jason. “Good to see you!”
“Hi, Todd!” called Myron and D.J.
But Todd didn’t answer. He just kept running until he reached the school building.
Then he kissed Wayside School.
Out of all the schools, Todd had been sent to the very worst one. It was awful! The first thing he had to do every morning was—
Wait a second. I don’t have to tell you. You already know.
Todd was sent to your school.
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Chapter 2
A Message from the Principal
Dameon hurried up the stairs. He couldn’t wait to see Mrs. Jewls, his favorite teacher in the whole world.
But the thirtieth floor was a lot higher up than he remembered, even if there was no nineteenth.
By the time he got up there, his legs hurt, his side ached, and he had a blister on the back of his ankle where it rubbed against his sneaker.
He stumbled into the room and collapsed on the floor. “Hi, Mrs. Jewls,” he gasped.
“Hi, Dameon, welcome back!” said Mrs. Jewls.
Dameon looked up at her. Something seemed different about her, but he wasn’t sure what it was.
“Oh, Dameon, would you do me a favor?” she asked.
“Sure,” said Dameon.
“I left my pencil in the office,” said Mrs. Jewls. “Would you mind going down and getting it for me?”
“No problem,” said Dameon.
“It’s yellow,” said Mrs. Jewls. “It has a point at one end and a red eraser at the other.”
Dameon got to his feet and headed down the stairs.
One by one the other children staggered into the classroom, huffing and puffing. They were all out of shape.
Still, they were very excited to be back in Mrs. Jewls’s class. Shouts of joy could be heard from every corner of the room.
Mrs. Jewls held up two fingers.
All the children became quiet. Joy stopped shouting.