8. William

8/ William All of Room Nine kept on staring and staring at that boy. "Look at his little arms," whispered that Grace. "Where are his little muscles, do you think?" "William doesn't have any little muscles," said Paulie Allen Puffer. "I've seen the wind blow him down on the playground." "Yeah," said Roger. "William doesn't even know what a pull-up is, I bet. Our team is going to look worse than ever." Mrs. snapped her angry fingers at us.

That woman has ears like a hawk. Strong Frankie went first. The Room Eight teacher lifted him up to the high bar. Then, quick as a wink, he did a loud grunt. And he pulled his chin right up to the bar. "ONE!" hollered Room Eight. Strong Frankie did another grunt. Then he pulled himself up again. "TWO!" shouted Room Eight. After that, he just kept right on going. Strong Frankie kept grunting and pulling. And Room Eight kept on counting. "THREE!" "FOUR!" "FIVE!" "SIX!" "SEVEN!"

Finally, Strong Frankie dropped down to the ground. "SEVEN! SEVEN! STRONG FRANKIE DID SEVEN!" shouted New Thelma. Room Nine sat down in the grass real gloomy. 'Cause William was next, that's why. We covered our eyes and peeked through our fingers. Mrs. lifted him up to the pull-up bar. It was not fun to watch. 'Cause William just kept dangling and dangling up there. And he didn't even move a muscle. Pretty soon, Room Eight started to laugh. It was loudish and meanish. I made a fist at those people. "Hey! You want a piece of this?" I shouted real mad. Mrs. snapped her fingers at me again.

Then, all of a sudden, William kicked his legs a little bit. Then he kicked them again. And wowie wow wow! His chin went right up to the bar! And that is not even the best part! Because as soon as he came down, he went right back up again! I springed up from the grass. "TWO, WILLIAM! YOU DID TWO PULL-UPS! AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN GRUNT!" I hollered very thrilled. William went up again. My mouth fell all the way open. "THREE, WILLIAM! YOU DID THREE!" After that, all of Room Nine springed up from the grass, too. "FOUR, WILLIAM! FOUR!" we shouted.

"FIVE, WILLIAM!" we shouted. "SIX!" we shouted. "SEVEN … EIGHT … NINE … TEN!" we shouted. William dangled for a little while longer. Then he kicked his legs one more time. And what do you know? "ELEVEN!" It was the happiest day of our whole entire kindergarten. When William dropped down, all of Room Nine piled on top of him. "WILLIAM! WILLIAM! YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT!" we hollered real joyful. Pretty soon, we heard a muffly voice. It said, "Get off of me," I think. Then all of us got up. And we stood

William on his feet. Room Nine danced all around that guy. Also, we tried to lift him on our shoulders. 'Cause he was our hero, that's why! Only our shoulders kept on collapsing. Plus William's shoes kicked us in the face. Then, all of a sudden, a bright idea popped into my head! "People! Wait! I've got it! I've got it! I know how to show William he is our hero!" I said. After that, I whispered my idea to Mrs. And guess what? She took the red cape right off my shoulders. And she pinned it onto William's shoulders instead! Just like I told her! "William saved the day!" I said. "William is our superhero. His name should be Super William, I think!"