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money under my mattress. I tossed and turned all night trying to figure out what to do with my new Mom Bucks. I realized Mom would probably have some way of knowing the difference between phony Mom Bucks and the real thing. So this morning, I decided to try a little experiment. I asked Mom if I could cash in some Mom Bucks so I could buy stamps to write my pen pal. I was really nervous when I handed Mom the money. But she took it without even blinking. I can't believe my luck! I figure I can make this $100,000 last all the way through high school, and maybe even farther. I might not even have to get a real job later on. The trick will be to not cash in too much at one time,

or Mom will know something's up. And I have to remember to earn a few Mom Bucks for real here and there so she doesn't get too suspicious. I will say one thing for sure, though, and it's that I won't be using the money Mom gave me to buy stamps. I got a picture from my pen-pal, Mamadou, in the mail yesterday, and that pretty much killed any chance of me writing HIM back. "Super" Cool"

Tuesday My big History paper is due tomorrow, but they've been saying all week that it's gonna snow about a foot tonight. So I haven't really been sweating it all that much. At around 10:00, I peeked out the window to see how many inches of snow were on the ground so far. But I couldn't believe my eyes when I pulled back the curtain.

Man, I was counting on school being CANCELLED tomorrow. I turned on the news to see what happened, but the weather guy was telling a TOTALLY different story than he was three hours ago.

That meant I had to get cracking on my History paper. The problem was, it was too late to go to the library, and we don't have any books in our house that are about the 1900s. So I knew I had to think of something quick. Then I had a great idea. Dad has bailed Rodrick out a million times on his school papers. So I figured he could help me, too. I told Dad about my situation, thinking he'd jump right in and help. But I guess Dad has learned his lesson in that department.

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT! Rodrick must have overheard me talking to Dad, because he told me I should follow him downstairs. You know how Rodrick had Mr. Huff, my History teacher, in middle school? Well, it turns out Mr. Huff gave Rodrick's class the EXACT same assignment when he was in my grade. Rodrick dug around in his junk drawer and found his old paper. And then he told me he'd sell it to me for five bucks. I told him there was no WAY I'd do that. I'll admit, it was pretty tempting. Because number one, since all of Rodrick's assignments have gone through Dad, I knew Rodrick got a good grade on his