8 Ch8-Virtual Reality Day

Chapter 8 Virtual Reality Day I was so mad that I wouldn't even look at Mrs. Yonkers when we walked into the computer lab that afternoon. "Is something wrong, A.J.?" she asked. "Yes, something is wrong," I replied. "Your junk food detector is a horrible, terrible, mean invention!" She took me outside the computer lab, and I told her how Officer Spence humiliated me in front of the whole school. "He took away my junk food and ate it!" I complained. "I love junk food. I need junk food." "Oh dear!" said Mrs. Yonkers. "This is terrible. I thought I was solving a problem for Mr. Klutz. I didn't realize I was making one for you."

Mrs. Yonkers was really nice about it. She said she would think of a way to make it up to me. When we went back into the computer lab, I wasn't so mad anymore. "Today is Virtual Reality Day!" Mrs. Yonkers announced to the class. She gave each of us a strange-looking helmet. When I put mine on, I couldn't see the computer lab anymore. Instead, I saw a big green field with a castle! I took a step forward, and it looked like I was walking toward the castle. It was freaky weird. "Mrs. Yonkers!" announced Mrs. Patty, the school secretary, over the loudspeaker.

"Please come to the office." "Oh dear," Mrs. Yonkers said. "I'll be right back." She told us to be on our best behavior while she was gone. So as soon as she left the room, I shook my butt at the class. But nobody laughed because we all had our virtual reality helmets on. I went up to the virtual castle in front of me and started exploring it. I thought all the other kids were seeing the same thing I was, but everyone saw something different. "I'm walking in a barren desert world," Ryan said. "I'm on a busy street," Michael said. "I'm in outer space," Andrea said. We were all stumbling around the computer lab like zombies in a horror movie. Virtual reality is cool. "Too bad we don't have laser guns," Neil the nude kid said. "Yeah," I agreed. "Then we could shoot each other."

"Why do boys constantly think about shooting things?" asked Andrea. "Can't you have fun without hurting other people?" "No," I told her. Me and Andrea started a virtual argument, but we didn't have the chance to finish it because we were interrupted. You'll never believe who walked into the door at that very moment. It was Emily! She walked right into the door! "Owwwww!" she howled. Emily was on the floor, freaking out. What a crybaby! "I hit my head on the door!" she whined. "I think I have brain damage!" "No, that happened a long time ago," I cracked. Some of the kids laughed. Suddenly Mrs. Yonkers came running back into the computer lab. "Oh dear!" she said. "What happened?" "Dumbhead walked into the door," I explained. Mrs. Yonkers sat down on the floor and held Emily's head in her arms. Then she did the weirdest thing in the history of the world. She started crying too! "I'm so sorry!" she cried. "I'm still ironing out some of the bugs in the

virtual reality helmets. The pressure of this new job and my company is starting to get to me. I'm worried about Speedy, too. He's never been gone for so long." "It's okay, Mrs. Yonkers," Emily said. "I'll be all right." "It's just that I have so many ideas rumbling around in my head," Mrs. Yonkers told us. "There's so much I need to accomplish, and I have so little time to do it. Sometimes I wish I could clone myself." I didn't feel bad for that crybaby Emily. She falls down for no reason every five minutes. But I did feel bad for Mrs. Yonkers. She was a nice lady, even if her inventions were weird.