7

After class ended I went to the front office to see if there was anything they could do to help me. The school secretary let me look through the Lost and Found box for a replacement shoe, but the only thing in there that even came close was a girl's winter boot. Right then Mr. Nern came out of the teacher's lounge, and the secretary asked him if he happened to have any spare shoes. Mr. Nern said he actually had an extra pair in his office, and he went to get one for me.

下课后，我去前台看看他们能不能帮我做点什么。 学校的秘书让我在失物招领箱里找一双替换鞋，但里面唯一能找到的东西是一只女孩的冬靴。 就在这时，纳恩先生从教师休息室里走了出来，秘书问他是否碰巧有多余的鞋子。 纳恩先生说他办公室里其实还有一双，他就去给我拿了一双。

I never noticed before, but Mr. Nern has some GIGANTIC feet. And I hope just because he lent me his shoes doesn't mean I have to keep playing checkers with him at recess. Wednesday Since I'm not hanging out with Rowley after school anymore, I've got a lot more time on my hands. But the thing I've learned is that you should never tell your mom you've got nothing to do.

我以前从没注意到，纳恩先生有一双巨大的脚。 我希望他把鞋借给我并不意味着我要在课间和他下跳棋。 自从放学后我不再和罗利一起出去玩，我就有了更多的空闲时间。 但我学到的是永远不要告诉你妈妈你没事可做。

So I've being going outside after school just to avoid doing chores at home. Mom's been telling me I should branch out and try to find new friends in the neighborhood, but where I live, the pickings are pretty slim. A few housing is down are the Lasky boys, but THEIR idea of a good time is stripping down to their underwear and wrestling in the front yard. Diagonally across the street is a kid named Mitchell Flammer, who I think is a year or two younger than

所以我放学后出去只是为了避免在家做家务。 妈妈一直告诉我，我应该扩大范围，试着在附近找一些新朋友，但在我住的地方，选择的余地很小。 “Lasky男孩”住在一些房子里，但他们认为的好时光就是脱下内衣，在前院摔跤。 对角线对面是一个叫米切尔·弗拉默的孩子，我想他比我小一两岁

me. But I don't even know what he LOOKS like, because I've never seen him without a motorcycle helmet on. A few houses down on the right, you've got Aric Holbert, who was suspended three weeks ago for breaking in and vandalizing the school. He tried to deny it was him, but it was pretty pointless. Then there's Fregley, who lives a few houses up from me. If there's anything GOOD that's come out of my

我。但我甚至不知道他长什么样，因为我从来没见过他不戴摩托车头盔的样子。 在右边几幢房子后面，是阿里克·霍尔伯特，他三周前因闯入学校破坏公物而被停学。 他试图否认是他干的，但这毫无意义。 还有弗雷格利，他住在离我几栋房子远的地方。 如果从我的

situation in the past few weeks, it's that I haven't had to walk by Fregley's house on my way up to see Rowley. Unfortunately, Mom's always trying to set up a play date between me and Fregley. She says she feels bad for him because he seems like a lonely boy. I really wish Mom wouldn't say things like that, because then it makes me feel all guilty. And trust me, I already feel bad ENOUGH seeing Fregley out on the playground every day.

在过去的几周里，我遇到的最大的问题就是我去见罗利的时候不用经过弗雷格利的家。 不幸的是，妈妈总是想安排我和弗雷格利一起玩。 她说她为他感到难过，因为他看起来像一个孤独的男孩。 我真希望妈妈不要说那样的话，因为那样会让我感到内疚。 相信我，每天看到弗雷格利在操场上，我已经很难过了。

But today I had a really crazy thought: I realized that if I became friends with Fregley, I could mould him into EXACTLY the type of friend I wanted. I could basically take all the things I like about Rowley and teach Fregley how to do them. Plus, Fregley could bring something EXTRA to the table. I've noticed that at my school the most popular guys have a funny sidekick. One of the boys in Bryce Anderson's entourage is Jeffrey Laffley, and I GUARANTEE you the only reason Bryce keeps Jeffrey around is for comic relief.

但是今天我有一个非常疯狂的想法：我意识到如果我和弗雷格利成为朋友，我可以把他塑造成我想要的那种朋友。 我基本上可以把我喜欢罗利的所有东西教给弗雷格利怎么做。 此外，弗雷格利还能带来一些额外的东西。 我注意到，在我的学校里，最受欢迎的人都有一个有趣的伙伴。 布莱斯·安德森的随从中有一个男孩叫杰弗里·拉弗利，我向你保证布莱斯让杰弗里在身边的唯一原因就是为了搞笑。