“No,” said the counselor.
Paul shrugged. He returned to class. As he passed Leslie, she stuck out her tongue at him.
He sat down behind her.
“What’d the counselor do to you?” asked Eric Fry.
“Nothing,” said Paul. “He’s a nice man.”
He looked at Leslie’s pigtails. He had pulled the one on the left. But he still wanted to pull the one on the right.
He lunged for it.
It hissed at him. Its tail rattled.
g
g
He screamed and fell back over in his chair.
Everyone laughed.
“Paul, are you all right?” asked Mrs. Jewls.
“Uh, I guess so,” said Paul, getting back up.
He didn’t feel much like pulling Leslie’s pig-tails anymore.
g
It was just a short while later that Leslie’s pencil point broke.
“Oh, great!” she complained.
“What’s the matter?” asked J
enny, who sat next to Leslie.
Leslie showed her the broken pencil point.
“You want to borrow mine?” asked Eric Fry, who sat behind Jenny.
“No, I’ll just go sharpen it,” said Leslie. She went to the back of the room and sharpened her pencil.
She returned to her seat. She set the pencil on her desk, but it rolled off when she sat down.
“Hey, where’d it go?” she asked, turning around.
“Where’d what go?” asked Paul.
“There it is,” said Jenny. “Under Paul’s desk.”
“What’s under my desk?” asked Paul.
“I’ll get it,” said Eric Fry. He reached under Paul’s desk, picked up the pencil, and handed it to Leslie.
She thanked him and everyone returned to work.