10 Ch10-Say Cheese!

Chapter 10 Say Cheese! We walked Miss Suki to the gym. Mrs. Roopy brought along the Blueberry Award. Miss Suki, I've read all your books, said Andrea, who never misses the chance to brownnose a grown-up, and I have a question. What is it? Well, in The Reluctant Rhino, you

wrote that Ricky the Rhino ate a fish for lunch. But I looked it up in my encyclo- pedia, and rhinos are vegetarians. They're animal doctors? I asked. No, dumbhead, Andrea said. That's a veterinarian. A vegetarian doesn't eat meat. Rhinos are vegetarians, so a rhino wouldn't eat a fish. It would too, I said. It would not, Andrea said. We went back and forth like that for a while. Then I came up with a genius idea to win the argument. A rhino that went to medical school could be a veterinarian, I said. And vet- erinarians can eat meat. So there! Nah-nah-nah boo-boo on Andrea. In

her face! No wonder they put me in the gifted and talented program. Is that true? Miss Suki asked. She looked all upset. Rhinos are vegetarians? That ruins my whole story! Then Miss Suki started crying again. Man, what is her problem? That lady cries more than Emily. When we got to the gym, the photog- rapher lined us up in ABC order. The girls were frantically combing their hair and putting on bracelets and necklaces and earrings and all kinds of other girly stuff. I can't believe girls poke holes in their ears and hang gold things all over them- selves like they're Christmas trees. What's

up with that? My mother said she would put my picture on our refrigerator, Andrea told us. So, does she put food on her camera? I asked. Oh, snap! said Ryan. Me and the guys made funny faces when our pictures were taken. But the pho- tographer got mad

and made us do them over again. Finally it was time to take a picture of the whole class. The photographer lined us up in three rows on the bleachers. I had to stand next to Emily. Miss Daisy stood in the back row on the left side, and Miss Suki stood on the right side. Hey, can Rappy be in the picture, too? I asked. That would be cool. Rappy's had a long day, Miss Suki replied. I think he needs to rest. Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Well, okay, said Miss Suki. I tell you, it works every time. Miss Suki took Rappy out of the mystery

box and put him on her finger. Rappy turned his head around slowly to look at everybody. It was cool, but a little scary, too. He looked like he was searching for something or someone to eat. I'm glad we didn't have any pigeons or ducks in the gym. Don't worry, Miss Suki said. Rappy wouldn't hurt a fly. Emily pulled out her little mirror to fix her hair one last time. Okay, said the photographer. Is everybody ready? Say cheese'!