Pig City (17 page)

Gabriel looked down at the ground. “I told you that I knew all about Pig City, but I promised not to tell anybody. I also wrote that you had pretty hair, but then I erased it because …” He blushed. “But I never said it was ugly. Sheila wrote that, too.”

“But how did you ever find out about Pig City?”

“Oh,” he said. He smiled sheepishly. “I didn't. I heard you and Tiffany and Allison talking about it, but I had no idea what it was. I was hoping the note would trick you into telling me. I'm sorry. I'm always playing tricks on people and then they backfire on me!”

“I know what you mean,” Laura grumbled.

“I'm really sorry,” he said. “I'm sorry for trying to trick you and for not believing you and for bringing all those treasures to school.”

Laura looked at his sad brown eyes.

She wondered what would have happened if Sheila hadn't changed the note. Gabriel's trick probably would have worked. She probably would have asked him to join Pig City. But that wouldn't have been so bad. She wondered what she would have asked him to do for insurance: Wear a dress or kiss her?

But that was the old Laura. The new Laura didn't play those kinds of games.

“When you asked me to join Pig City,” he said, “that was the happiest moment of my life. I just wanted you
to like me. That's all I ever wanted.”

She felt a warm tingle inside her.

“I don't blame you for hating me. If I were you, I'd hate me, too. Even if I weren't you, I'd probably still hate me. I hate myself and I'm me.”

She didn't hate him. She knew he didn't do anything she wouldn't have done, if she were him.

“No more tricks!” Gabriel promised. He crossed his heart.

“No more tricks,” Laura agreed.

Gabriel shook his head. “I just wish … Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” he asked.

She held back a smile.

“You don't even have to forgive me. I just don't want you to hate me for the rest of your life.”

She thought he had beautiful eyes.

“I'll do anything you say,” he said.

She picked up the peacock feather and gently brushed it across the floor. “There is one thing you could do,” she said very quietly.

“What?” he asked.

She smiled sweetly. “Eat a raw egg.”

Now they were even.

The final week of school is usually the most exciting week of the year, but compared to the last four weeks, it was nothing.

Sheila and Howard weren't there. They were suspended from school for the last week, but would still go on to junior high next year.

Everyone had something to say about Laura's new hairstyle. Almost everybody said they liked it, but she didn't care. George Washington didn't care what people said about his hair. Which was a good thing, she thought, since his hair was white and stiff.

On the final day of school, Laura handed in her seventeen completed dictionary pages.

Mr. Doyle was shocked. After all that had happened, he no longer expected her to do them. He thought she knew that.

She did. She did them, anyway. Allison, Tiffany, Gabriel, Kristin, Debbie, Nathan, Aaron, Yolanda,
Jonathan, Karen, and even Linzy all helped. Linzy said she felt bad about tricking Laura. Besides, she wanted to find out what it was like to copy a dictionary page.

They'd had a dictionary-page copying party. But if Mr. Doyle ever noticed some of the words they had copied, he'd – well, they didn't know what he'd do. Besides, it would be too late.

Laura's friends liked her again. They even liked Gabriel, since she and he were
together
.

The final bell rang.

Laura was no longer a sixth-grader.

She felt strangely sad as she walked through the yellow curtain for what she thought would be the last time.

“Laura!” Mr. Doyle called after her.

She turned around and stepped back into the room.

Mr. Doyle was standing at attention. His fist was at his nose.

She returned the salute.

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Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin and New York

First published in Great Britain in September 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
36 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QY

First published as
Sixth Grade Secrets
in the United States by Scholastic Inc.

This electronic edition published in February 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright © Louis Sachar 1987
The moral rights of the author have been asserted

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise
make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
(including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying,
printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the
publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 4088 1804 6

www.bloomsbury.com/louissachar
www.louissachar.co.uk

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