Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger (Wayside School 3)

“You’re scared of her, aren’t you?” asked Eric Bacon.

“You shouldn’t be scared,” said Eric Ovens. “You’re bigger and stronger and faster than anyone on the playground.”

“And you’ve got the best mustache too,” said Eric Fry.

“I’m not afraid of her,” Louis tried to explain. “It’s just—” He looked up at the very tall school. “Miss Nogard is way-high-up there, and I’m way-down-low here. You’ll understand someday when you’re older.”

He picked up the ball and threw it way high up. It hit somewhere between the eighteenth and twentieth story.

And never came down.

There was no nineteenth story.

g

Chapter 28

Flowers for a Very Special Person

Of course Miss Nogard knew all about Louis. The children’s brains were buzzing about him.

Louis likes Miss Nogard, thought Stephen.

Louis is in love with Miss Nogard, thought Todd.

Louis wants to marry Miss Nogard, thought Sharie.

But even if she couldn’t listen to their brains, she would have found out anyway. “Louis, the yard teacher, is madly in love with you,” said Jenny.

“Oh, really?” said Miss Nogard.

“He dreams about you every night,” said Calvin.

“He thinks your eyes are like the moon,” said Bebe.

Miss Nogard smiled.

“Do you like him?” asked Jenny.

“He’s kind of cute,” said Miss Nogard.

“Ooooh,” Bebe and Calvin said together.

“What about his mustache?” asked Jenny. “Do you like his mustache?”

Miss Nogard thought a moment. “It would probably tickle if he kissed me.”

The children gasped as their mouths fell open.

They returned to their desks and told everyone around them what Miss Nogard said.

Miss Nogard smiled. She wondered just how she’d break Louis’s heart.

Ever since Xavier broke her heart, she’d become an expert at breaking other people’s. She listened to men’s brains and knew just what to say to make them fall in love with her.

And then she knew just the right thing to say, at just the right moment, to shatter their hearts into a million pieces. Even the biggest and strongest man would cry like a baby.

She was incapable of love. Her heart was clogged with bitterness and hate. And besides, she knew no one would ever love someone with three ears.