The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room (4 page)

Richard hated Thursdays.

His mother worked late and he had to walk home with his big sister, Holly.

She and her friend Joanne were always the last ones out.

Richard waited on the stone steps in front of the school.

He watched some ants come out of a little hole in the middle step. They headed for someone's leftover cookie on the bottom step.

After a few minutes there were about a hundred ants rushing back and forth.

He built a little stick bridge to help them out.

One of the ants spotted it and climbed up. After a few minutes they were all marching along on the stick.

Richard stood up and peered through the window into the hall.

Holly and Joanne were all the way down the other end. They were talking and laughing and acting as if they'd be an hour just walking down one hall.

They didn't care that he had to waste his whole afternoon waiting for them.

He went back and watched the ants.

At last Holly and Joanne opened the door. They started down the path. Richard jumped off the steps and followed them.

They went down Cole Street. Instead of crossing at the corner, they turned in at the big doors of the library.

“Got to get a book for a book report,” Holly called over her shoulder. “A book report on James K. Polk.”

Richard caught up with them. “Who?” he asked as they opened the doors.

“Polk,” Holly said again.

“Who's that?”

“He doesn't know anything,” Holly told Joanne.

“I do so.”

“It's a president,” Joanne said.

“Don't you even know the name of your school?” Holly asked.

“Polk Street,” Richard said. “That's a president's name?” He shook his head. “He's got a funny first name.”

Holly started to laugh. She leaned against Joanne. “I told you, Joanne,” she said after a minute. “He's a dummy.”

“Not Polk Street,” Joanne said. “The school is
on
Polk Street. They're both named for President Polk. President James K. Polk.”

“Don't try to tell him,” Holly said. “He doesn't even know George Washington.”

“I do so,” Richard said.

“Or Christopher Columbus.”

“I do so.”

“Who was he?”

Richard stopped. “A president.”

Holly and Joanne went over to one of the tables. “Dumb,” Holly said.

“I remember now,” Richard said. He felt like clipping Holly right on her frizzy brown hair. “I remember the whole thing. Christopher Columbus
discovered America. He had three boats. I even know their names.”

But they weren't paying any attention.

He went to the back to look for his favorite book. The one with the red cover and all the pictures.

Last time he was there, he had hidden it.

He knelt down next to one of the racks. He looked on the bottom shelf.

It wasn't there.

It was gone. He wondered if he'd ever find it again.

He stood up. He bumped right into Drake Evans.

“What are you doing here?” Drake asked.

“Reading.” Richard stepped around him. He pretended to be looking for a book.

“Reading what?” Drake asked.

“Watch out,” Richard said over his shoulder. “I saw Ms. Rooney checking over her marking book yesterday.”

Drake followed him down the aisle. “You're lying, Richard,” he said.

Richard pulled a book off the shelf. It was a fat one. Huge.

He opened it up and made believe he was reading it.

“You can't read that,” Drake said.

“lean so.”

Drake started to laugh. “You have to go to remedial reading.”

“Special,” Richard said. “Special reading.”

“Because you can't read. Baby.”

Baby. Richard pushed at his teeth with his tongue.

“That's not true,” he said, keeping his top lip down as far as he could.

Drake started to walk away.

“It's special reading for the smart kids,” Richard said.

Drake looked back. “Kids who wet the bed,” he said. “Like your friend Matthew.”

“He's not my friend,” Richard said. He wondered how Drake knew so much about everything.

Drake laughed again. “He's your friend, all right. He told me. And you both go to baby reading.”

Richard looked down at his book. “I have to do a report,” he said. “That's why I'm reading this book. I have to do a report on—”

“On kindergarten stuff,” Drake said.

“No,” Richard said. “On James K. Polk. I bet you don't even know who that is.”

Drake pushed him. “You just made him up. There's no such person.”

“I knew it,” Richard said. “That's why Mr. Mancina told me to—”

“To what?”

“To find out who the dumb kids are. To see who should have been left back instead of me. The kids who bother everyone. The kids who don't even know that James K. Polk was a president.”

“Liar.”

“Besides,” said Richard, “Mr. Mancina said we were going to get the banner. Just because of me. Just because—”

He closed his mouth. He couldn't think of anything else to say.

He backed down the aisle with Drake still looking at him.

“Hey,” a voice said from in back of the magazine rack. “Beast.”

He twirled around.

It was Emily Arrow. She was sitting on the floor paging through a book.

“Hi,” he said. He wondered if she had heard him talking to Drake. He wondered if she had told her father that she had to stand against the wall all because of him.

“Did you say we're going to get the banner?” she asked.

He looked back down the aisle. Drake was gone.

“Uh. Well,” he said. He went over to the magazine rack. “I meant to tell you.” He swallowed. “I'm sorry.”

“About the wall?” She pulled the horse with the horn out of her pocket. “It's all right. I'm tough. I've got my unicorn.” She galloped him across her book. “He makes me tough.”

“I know you're tough,” Richard said.

“Mr. Mancina told you we were going to get the banner?”

He sank down on the floor next to her. “No, I made it up.”

“Let's try for it,” Emily said.

“How?”

“I don't know.” Emily shook her head.

Richard looked up at the front desk. Drake was checking out some books. Three or four. Big ones with hard covers.

“I wish we could,” Richard said.

“Come on, Richard,” Holly called from the front.

“I have to go now,” he said.

Emily's head was bent over her book. “I wish I could read this,” she said, “instead of looking at all the pictures.”

Richard didn't say anything. He followed Holly out the door. He turned back to wave at Emily before he shut the door behind him.

Richard was in early the next morning.

There were only about six kids in the classroom.

Emily Arrow was sitting on top of her desk. She was showing Ms. Rooney her white unicorn.

Alex was watering the plants.

Sherri Dent was telling Alex to stop spilling water on the floor.

Wayne was standing at the science table in the back. He was the shortest kid in the class and had the biggest teeth. He was dropping tiny dots of powdered food into the fishbowl he had brought in the other day.

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.”