Sideways Stories from Wayside School (Wayside School 1)

“Hi, everybody. My name’s Mac,” he announced. “I traded names.” He held out his big hand.

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Todd jumped up and shook it. “Hi, Mac,” he said. “Glad to meet you.”

“How you doin’, Mac,” said Ron.

“Howdy, Mac,” said Terrence.

“Nice to see you, Mac,” said Bebe.

“You traded names?” asked Jason. Jason didn’t like his name, either.

“That’s right, Jason, old boy,” said Mac.

“Is that allowed?” asked Jason.

“Why not!” said Mac.

“Hey, anybody want to trade?” Jason called.

“I’ll trade with you,” said Terrence. He didn’t like his name, either.

“Wait. I’ll trade with you, Terrence,” said Maurecia. Maurecia didn’t like her name.

“No. He’s trading with me,” said Jason.

“I’ll trade with you, Maurecia,” said Dameon.

“No, thanks,” said Maurecia.

“I’ll trade with you, Dameon,” said Mrs. Jewls.

“No, I want to be Mrs. Jewls,” said Stephen.

It turned out that nobody in Mrs. Jewls’s class liked his name. The children all spun around in different directions until they got so dizzy that they fell over. And when they stood up again, nobody knew who anybody was.

“What are we going to do, Mrs. Jewls?” asked Leslie, who was really Eric Bacon.

“My name is not Mrs. Jewls. It’s Maurecia,” answered Terrence, who was really Jason.

“It is not. I’m Maurecia,” said Deedee, who was really Joe.

“You’re both wrong,” said Maurecia. “I’m Mrs. Jewls.”

This went on for an hour. At last they figured out who the real Rondi was. She was missing her two front teeth. After they figured out Rondi, they were able to get Allison pretty easily. And then from there they got D.J., Dameon, and Mrs. Jewls. She was the oldest one.

Eventually they figured out who everybody really was. They had some difficulty deciding which Eric was which, and actually they are still not absolutely sure.

Everybody just decided to keep his own name. The children didn’t like them, but it made things much easier.

Mac and Nancy kept their new names. But when they were together they still called each other “Hey, you,” or just plain “You.”

? Sideways Stories from Wayside School ?

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Stephen