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close the book he was reading and show the cover to us. And you're not gonna believe this, but it was Mrs. Craig's dictionary. Alex said he'd been studying the dictionary to get ready for the state spelling bee next month. Well, that would've been nice to know before we gave him our five bucks. Anyway, there was no time to waste complaining, because Mrs. Craig was gonna be back in the room at any second. Corey Lamb grabbed the book from Alex and put it on Mrs. Craig's desk. But she walked in the room right at that moment.

Mrs. Craig ended up going back on her whole "no consequences" promise, so Corey Lamb is gonna be spending the next three weeks inside during recess. Looking on the bright side, though, at least he'll have Alex Aruda to keep him company. February Tuesday

Yesterday in the cafeteria, when I emptied out my lunch bag, I got two Fruits—and no snacks. WHAT THE— This was a pretty big problem. Mom always packs cookies or sugar wafers or something in my lunch bag, and it's usually the only thing I eat. So I had no energy for the rest of the day. When I got home, I asked Mom what the deal was with the two-fruits thing. She said she always buys

enough treats to last us the whole week, so one of us boys must've taken the snacks out of the bin in the laundry room. I'm sure Mom thinks I'm the one stealing the snacks, but believe me, I already learned my lesson about doing that. Last year I took treats out of the bin, but I totally paid the price for it when I opened my lunch bag at school and pulled out Mom's substitute snack. WOULD ONE OF YOU GENTLEMEN CARE TO TRADE SOMETHING FOR A PACK OF CROUTONS? Today at lunch it was the same exact thing: two fruits and no snacks. Like I said, I really depend on the boost I get from that sugar. nkledc. I almost fell asleep in Mr. Watson's class

in sixth period, but luckily I snapped awake when my head hit the back of my chair. WOOOZAA! When I got home, I told Mom it wasn't fair someone else was eating the treats and I was having to suffer. But she said she wasn't going to go grocery shopping until the end of the week, and that I'd just have to "make do" until then. Dad wasn't any help, either. When I complained to him, he just made up a penalty for anyone caught stealing snacks, which was "no drums and no video games for a week." So obviously he thinks it's either me or Rodrick. Like I said, it's not me, but I figured Dad might be right about Rodrick. When Rodrick went up to the

bathroom after dinner, I walked down to his room to see if I could find any wrappers or crumbs. But while I was poking around in Rodrick's room, I heard him coming downstairs. I had to hide quick, because for some reason Rodrick gets really bent out of shape when he catches me in his room, like he did yesterday. Right before Rodrick got to the bottom of the stairs, I dove into his desk cabinet and shut the door. Rodrick walked in the room, then flopped on his bed and called his friend Ward. Rodrick and Ward talked forever, and I was starting to think I might have to spend the night in that desk.