8. Smiling

8 Smiling When we finally got to school, I started feeling shaky inside. 'Cause I didn't want to get laughed at, remember? Plus I was still concerned about the fruit throwing. I closed my mouth real tight. And I walked back to my desk. Lennie smiled and waved at me. I waved back. Then, very slow, I did a shy smile.

That's when Lennie jumped up from his desk. And he did a loud whoop! "Cool!" he said. "You look cool, Junie B.!" José heard Lennie and came to see. Then he grinned and grinned at my brand-new smile. And he gave me a happy high five. And that is not even the best part! Because Mr. Scary saw what was going on. And he came all the way to my desk to see my tooth. And he gave me a smiley-face sticker! After that, he clapped his hands together. And he made a 'nouncement to Room One. He told them I lost my tooth. And he

asked me to stand up and show them my special new smile. I swallowed real nervous. Then I stood up kind of jittery. And I opened my lips a teensy bit so the children could see my tooth hole. And what do you know? Room One was happy for me! All of them smiled real nice. Except, not May, of course. May just rolled her eyeballs. "I think you look weird, Junie Jones," she said. "I think your smile looks silly." I sat down. "No, May. This is a silly smile," I said. Then I put my fingers in the sides of my mouth. And I stretched my smile across my face. And I wiggled my tongue at her very fast.

Lennie and José laughed and laughed. And guess what? At lunchtime, I made my smile even funnier. 'Cause Lennie gave me a raisin. And I put it right in my tooth hole! And it stuck there very hilarious! Shirley laughed her head off at that joke. I am beginning to enjoy that girl. "So how much did the tooth fairy leave you?" she asked. "Did you get a bundle?" "Yeah," said Lennie. "I was wondering that, too." I started feeling squirmy again. I looked at Herb kind of worried. He tried to explain the matter to them. "Well, uh… Junie B. didn't exactly leave her tooth for the fairy yet," he said. All of the children looked at me. "Why?" they said. "Why didn't you leave it, Junie B.?"

I squirmed some more. Then finally, I took a deep breath. "I've got issues with that fairy, that's why," I said kind of quiet. "Issues?" asked Lennie. "Like what kind of issues?" I swallowed real hard. "Issues like… well, you know… like what does she do with the teeth, for instance," I said. For a minute, nobody said anything. Then May made the cuckoo sign at me. "What does the fairy do with the teeth?" she said. "What kind of dumb issue is that?" I flashed my angry eyes at that girl.

"Well, if it's so dumb, then you must know the answer. Right, May?" I said. "And so what does the fairy do with the teeth? Huh? She doesn't pay money just to throw them