Wayside School Is Falling Down (Wayside School 2)

“Allison, may I borrow another pencil, please?” he asked.

“Eat my socks,” said Allison.

That wasn’t such a bad idea, Jason realized. If he stuffed a sock in his mouth, he wouldn’t be able to chew a pencil.

Myron looked at his work sheet. “I don’t feel like doing this stuff,” he said. “Here, Jason, you can have my pencil.”

“Thanks, Myron,” said Jason. “I promise not to chew it.” He hoped he’d be able to keep his promise.

He thought about asking Mrs. Jewls for a Tootsie Roll Pop. If I’m sucking on that, I won’t chew Myron’s pencil. And a Tootsie Roll Pop would probably taste better than Allison’s socks. He didn’t know for sure because he had never tasted Allison’s socks.

But before he could ask Mrs. Jewls, Mrs. Jewls called him. “Jason, will you come here for a moment,” she said. “I think I know how to keep you from chewing pencils.”

Jason smiled as he walked to her desk. “I like the purple ones,” he told her.

But Mrs. Jewls didn’t give him a Tootsie Roll Pop. Instead, she taped his mouth shut with heavy-duty masking tape. She had to use a lot of tape, because Jason had the second biggest mouth in the class. “There,” she said.

Jason started back to his seat.

“Aren’t you even going to say thank you?” asked Mrs. Jewls.

“Mhhmm hhm,” said Jason.

“You’re welcome,” said Mrs. Jewls.

“Hey, Jason,” teased Allison. “You look like a mummy!”

“Don’t sneeze,” said Rondi. “You’ll blow your head off!”

They both laughed.

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“Mh mhhh mhrhhmmm!” Jason said back to them. It was a very bad thing to say. He wasn’t supposed to use words like that.

“You better not pull the tape off,” said Rondi. “You might rip off your lips!”

They both laughed again.

Jason had never been more embarrassed in his whole life. His ears burned as he set to work on the arithmetic problems.

They were tough problems. Several times the pencil crashed against the tape, but the tape held firm.

Mrs. Jewls was very proud of herself. Not only did the tape protect Myron’s pencil, but Mrs. Jewls also noticed that Jason was quieter than he’d ever been. I should tape all their mouths shut, she thought. Then they’d all be so nice and quiet.

It was such a good idea, she wondered why no other teacher had ever thought of it.

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Chapter 13

A Giggle Box, a Leaky Faucet, and a Foghorn

Every day after lunch Mrs. Jewls read a story to the class.

Dana hated stories.