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the rest of the year. This summer Abe moved away to California and took the Cheese Touch with him. I just hope someone doesn't start the Cheese Touch up again, because I don't need that kind of stress in my life anymore. Thursday I'm having a seriously hard time getting used to the fact that summer is over and I have to get out of bed every morning to go to school. My summer did not exactly get off to a great start, thanks to my older brother Rodrick. A couple of days into summer vacation, Rodrick woke me up in the middle of the night. He told me I slept through the whole summer, but that luckily I woke up just in time for the first day of school.

You might think I was pretty dumb for falling for that one, but Rodrick was dressed up in his school clothes and he set my alarm clock ahead to make it look like it was the morning. Plus, he closed my curtains so I couldn't see that it was still dark out. After Rodrick woke me up, I just got dressed and went downstairs to make myself some breakfast, like I do every morning on a school day. But I guess I must have made a pretty big racket because the next thing I knew, Dad was downstairs, yelling at me for eating Cheerios at 3:00 in the morning. It took me a minute to figure out what the heck was going on. After I did, I told Dad that Rodrick had played a

trick on me, and He was the one that should be getting yelled at. Dad walked down to the basement to chew Rodrick out, and I tagged along. I couldn't wait to see Rodrick get what was coming to him. But Rodrick covered up his tracks pretty good. And to this day, I'm sure Dad thinks I've got a screw loose or something. Friday Today at school we got assigned to reading groups. They don't come right out and tell you if you're in the Gifted group or the Easy group, but you can figure it out right away by looking at the covers of the books they hand out.

I was pretty disappointed to find out I got put in the Gifted group, because that just means a lot of extra work. When they did the screening at the end of last year, I did my best to make sure I got put in the Easy group this year. nkledc. Mom is real tight with our principal, so I bet she stepped in and made sure I got put in the Gifted

group again. Mom is always saying I'm a smart kid, but that I just don't "apply" myself. But if there's one thing I learned from Rodrick, it's to set people's expectations real low so you end up surprising them by practically doing nothing at all.

Actually, I'm kind of glad my plan to get put in the Easy group didn't work. I saw a couple of the "Bink Says Boo" kids holding their books upside down, and I don't think they were joking. Saturday Well, the first week of school is finally over, so today I slept in. Most kids wake up early on Saturday to watch cartoons or whatever, but not me. The only reason I get out of bed at all on weekends is because eventually, I can't stand the taste of my own breath anymore. Unfortunately, Dad wakes up at 6:00 in the morning