2. Jingle Hats

2 Jingle Hats The rest of the morning, we did arithmetic. Arithmetic is the school word for adding and taking away. Only I couldn't even concentrate on my numbers that good. On account of May kept giving me mean looks. And flopping her sweater sleeve around. Pretty soon, there was a knock on the door. "COME IN, PLEASE!" said Room One. Mr. Scary taught us to say that. Only I don't actually know why. 'Cause people come in anyway. The door opened very slow.

And ha! It was Mr. Toot, the music teacher! He was carrying a big brown box in his arms. It was dusty, I think. 'Cause when Mr. Toot plopped the box on the floor, Sheldon started to sneeze his head off. Sheldon is very allergic to dust particles. Also, he is allergic to hoagies… and dairy products… and nature. "AH… AH… AH… AHCHOO! AHCHOO! AHCHOO! AHCHOO!" Mr. Scary looked at him real panicked. Then he quick picked up a tissue box. And he rushed to Sheldon's desk. But Sheldon was already wiping his nose on his shirt sleeve. "Ha! I beat you again, Mr. Scary!" he said. "I beat you at that race every time I sneeze!"

Mr. Scary closed his eyes. "I have told you before, Sheldon. We are not racing," he said. Sheldon laughed. Then he threw his fist in the air. And he shouted, "SHELDON POTTS RULES!" Mr. Scary rolled his eyes. Then he moved the dusty box farther away from Sheldon's desk. And Mr. Toot lifted the lid. I stood up to look. And wowie wow wow! Guess what was in there? ELF CLOTHES! That's what! There were little green elf hats with jingle bells on their ends! Plus also, there were cute elf vests with belts! Mr. Toot held them up for us to see. "Boys and girls, our PTO made these costumes several years ago for our Holiday

Sing-Alongs," he said. "Aren't they great? Every single first grader is going to get to wear one today!" He started passing them out. My richie friend Lucille got hers first. She looked at it and made a face. "Okay… Number one: I don't wear this shade of green. And number two: I don't wear bell hats," she said. Mr. Scary looked up at the ceiling.

Then he took Lucille by her hand. And he walked her into the hall. And she came back wearing her bell hat. Pretty soon, all of the rest of Room One were wearing our bell hats, too. We shook our heads. The bells jangled very jingly. "Hey! This room sounds just like a jingle- bell sleigh!" I said. Mr. Toot did a chuckle.

"You're right, Junie B. Every year, one lucky class gets to wear the jingle-bell hats. And this year—because Room One has been so well behaved in music class— I chose you!" All of the children clapped and cheered. Except for not Lucille. Instead, she threw her hands in the air and shouted, "What are the odds?" After that, she flopped her head on her desk. And she didn't come up again. Mr. Toot ignored her. "And that's not all my good news, either," he said. "Because each year, the class with the bell hats goes onstage. And they lead the whole auditorium in singing 'Jingle Bells'!" Room One jumped up from our seats. "'Jingle Bells'! 'Jingle Bells'! Yay! Yay! We're going to lead 'Jingle Bells'!"