Wayside School Is Falling Down (Wayside School 2)

He shrugged. “I ate some Mushroom Surprise. It wasn’t bad. Sort of like a mixture of a hot dog and grape jelly. I wonder what the surprise is.”

He dug his plastic fork back into the goop.

Everybody ran away.

When Mrs. Jewls entered the cafeteria, no one was there except for Ron. He was sitting alone at a table eating Mushroom Surprise.

Mrs. Jewls sat down next to him. “Hi, Ron,” she said. “So how does it taste? And what’s the surprise?”

Ron swallowed another mouthful. He looked at his teacher. His face flushed and his eyes changed color … .

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Chapter 10

Music

Benjamin still hadn’t told anybody he wasn’t Mark Miller.

His grades had never been better. Mark Miller is a lot smarter than Benjamin Nushmutt, he thought.

When they chose up teams for kickball, he was always the first one picked. Mark Miller is a better kicker than Benjamin Nushmutt, he realized.

The girls in the class liked him too. Mark Miller is better looking than Benjamin Nushmutt, he decided.

But unfortunately, he knew he had to tell Mrs. Jewls his real name. He sighed, then slowly raised his hand.

Mrs. Jewls gave him a tambourine.

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He had been so busy thinking about his problem, he hadn’t noticed that Mrs. Jewls was passing out musical instruments. She had just asked, “Who would like the tambourine?” So when he raised his hand, she gave it to him.

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“Who would like the triangle?” asked Mrs. Jewls. Joe raised his hand, and Mrs. Jewls gave it to him.

“Why is it called a triangle?” asked Joe.

“I don’t know,” said Mrs. Jewls.

“Maybe because it’s shaped like a triangle,” suggested John.

“No, that can’t be it,” said Mrs. Jewls. “Then the tambourine would have to be called a circle.”

“Maybe it was invented by a person named Joe Triangle,” said Rondi.

“That’s probably it,” said Mrs. Jewls. She held up the next instrument. It was a glockenspiel. “Who would like the glockenspiel?” she asked.

Sharie raised her hand.

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