6 Ch6-The Kindergarten Trolls

Chapter 6 The Kindergarten Trolls The next morning the tote board said we were up to five hundred poems. Miss Daisy was surprised when she collected our homework and I handed her two poems. Michael said he couldn't think of a poem, so he didn't do his homework. Ryan didn't turn one in either.

Miss Daisy, said Mrs. Patty over the loudspeaker, please send Andrea and A.J. to Ms. Coco's room. As we walked down the hall, Andrea said, Arlo, did you know that elephants are the only animals that have four knees? Ugh. She must have finished the letter E in her encyclopedia. Sure, I lied. Any dumbhead knows that stuff. Soon I'll know everything in the whole world, Andrea bragged. Yeah, everything except how not to be annoying. We finally got to Ms. Coco's room, so

Andrea had to stop telling me how smart she is. I have a great idea, Ms. Coco said. I'm going to send you two into the kindergarten class to read your poems! It will show the kids that in only a few short years, they'll be reading and writing just like you. That's a great idea! said Andrea, who never misses the chance to brownnose a teacher. It sounded like a dumb idea to me. Those little kindergarten trolls are weird. Michael has a brother in kindergarten who picks his nose and puts it on the wall. The snot, that is. He doesn't put his nose on the wall. That would be weird.

Ms. Coco handed each of us one of our poems and walked us to the kindergarten class. The trolls were sitting on the floor. Michael's brother, Andrew, waved to me. Man, kindergarten kids are tiny! A few of them looked like they could fit inside my backpack. They were all wearing name tags. Aren't they adorable, Arlo? Andrea whispered. I just want to hug them. Ugh. I didn't want to touch them. They'd probably wipe their snot on me. Children, said the kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Chan, we have two special visitors in our class today Say hello to Andrea and A.J. Hello, Andrea and A.J., the kids

repeated, like they were robots. In honor of National Poetry Month, Ms. Coco said, Andrea and A.J. are going to read you poems they've written. Someday, when you're older, maybe you'll come back to kindergarten and read to the class, just like Andrea and A.J. Ms. Coco and Mrs. Chan said they had to step out in the hall for a few minutes to talk to each other. The trolls stared at me and Andrea like zombies. A.J.'s real name is Arlo Jervis, Andrea told them. Andrea's real name is Underwear Face, I said, and all the kids laughed. Any time you say the word underwear, kids will laugh. It's one of those mysteries of science.

Andrea made a mean face at me, and then she read a poem to the kids about bunnies. It was lame, of course, and a total rip-off of Peter Rabbit. The trolls were barely paying attention anyway. They were poking each other, rolling around on the floor, and drooling. Andrew was just sitting there playing with his face. What is his problem? After Andrea finished, the trolls clapped. But they were only clapping because they know you're supposed to clap when somebody finishes reading something. It was my turn. The grown-ups were still out in the hall. I looked at the poem Ms. Coco gave me to read. It was my