“Think, class,” said Mrs. Jewls. “This is for Dana.”
Nobody knew the answer. Dana’s itch began to get worse and worse.
At last, Dana began counting her own mosquito bites. She counted seventy-five on one side and forty-nine on the other. Then she added them together for a total of one hundred and twenty-four mosquito bites.
“One hundred and twenty-four mosquito bites,” Dana called.
“Very good,” said Mrs. Jewls.
Dana had one hundred and twenty-four mosquito bites. And none of them itched anymore.
“I’m still thirsty,” said D.J. “Can arithmetic do anything for that?”
“I’m still tired,” said Ron.
“I’m still hungry,” said Terrence.
“I’m still stupid,” said Todd.
“I’m glad we turned my mosquito bites into numbers instead of letters,” said Dana. “I could never spell mosquito.”
? Sideways Stories from Wayside School ?
12
Jason
Jason had a small face and a big mouth. He had the second biggest mouth in Mrs. Jewls’s class. And there were an awful lot of big mouths in that class.
“Mrs. Jewls,” Jason called without raising his hand. “Joy is chewing gum in class!”
Joy had the biggest mouth in Mrs. Jewls’s class. And it was filled with gum. There was hardly even room for her tongue.
“Joy, I’m ashamed of you,” said Mrs. Jewls. “I’m afraid I’ll have to put your name up on the board.”
“That’s okay, Mrs. Jewls,” Jason called. “I’ll do it.” Jason hopped out of his seat and wrote Joy’s name on the blackboard under the word DISCIPLINE.
While he was up, Joy took the glob of gum out of her mouth and placed it on Jason’s chair.
Rondi and Allison giggled.
Jason walked back from the blackboard to his desk and sat down. “Mrs. Jewls,” he called, “I’m STUCK!”
Rondi and Allison giggled again.
Mrs. Jewls got angry. “Joy, you’re going home on the kindergarten bus today.”
“Oh, good,” said Todd. “I’ll have some company.” Todd went home on the kindergarten bus every day. He could never seem to make it to twelve o’clock without getting into trouble three times. His name wasn’t even up on the blackboard yet. But he knew that by twelve o’clock it would be up, checked, and circled.
“Mrs. Jewls, what am I going to do? I’m stuck! I’m going to have to stay here the rest of my life!” said Jason.
“Joy, tell Jason you’re sorry,” said Mrs. Jewls.
“I’m sorry, Jason,” said Joy.
“Oh, that’s okay, Joy,” said Jason. “I don’t mind.”
“Try to get up, Jason,” said Mrs. Jewls.