Class President (Marvin Redpost 5)

“Well, well, well,” said Mrs. North.

She walked from one end of the room to the other, then back again.

Marvin’s head was spinning. He couldn’t wait to get home and tell his parents that the president had said he might be president someday.

“You guys were terrific!” Mrs. North said at last. “I have never been so proud.”

“Was I a good citizen?” asked Clarence.

“Yes, Clarence, you were,” said Mrs. North. “You all were.”

“Did we earn a marble?” asked Gina.

When the children were good, Mrs. North would add a marble to the jar on her desk. When the jar was full, they’d get to go to Lake Park.

Mrs. North opened her desk drawer and took out her bag of marbles. She pulled out a handful of marbles and dropped them in the jar.

Plop ploppity, ploppity plop.

“Let’s go to Lake Park!” she said.

Everyone cheered.

On the way to the park, Marvin spoke to Casey. “Thanks for helping me on the math problem.”

“I knew you knew it,”

said Casey. “Your brain just got stuck.”

Marvin smiled. He thought Casey was a good citizen.

If Casey hadn’t helped him, then he never would have gotten the problem right, and the president wouldn’t have told him he might be president someday.

He decided that when he got to be president, he would ask Casey to be vice president.

Just so long as nobody thought he liked her.

He wondered if she would still have a ponytail sticking out of the side of her head.

Stuart came up alongside him. “Lake Park on a Thursday! Can you believe it?”

Usually, they only got to go to Lake Park on Fridays.

Marvin couldn’t even remember what day it was anymore.

“Hey, you guys want to come over to my house after school?” asked Nick.

“Sure,” said Stuart.

“How about you, Marvin?”

Marvin really wanted to go home and tell his family about the president. But he knew his parents wouldn’t get home until after five o’clock, anyway. They both worked.

“Sure, okay,” he said.

He stumbled, but caught his balance. He looked down at his feet. He had a strange feeling, as if his feet were trying to tell him something.

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