11 Ch11-Grown-ups Are Weird

Chapter 11 Grown-ups Are Weird Recess is the best time of the day because that's when we get to go out on the play- ground while the teachers do all the boring things grown-ups do when kids aren't around. Lately Andrea was practicing her jug- gling during recess. She put on her dumb

show, and kids in the other classes would gather around and watch. Like she was famous or something. But today Andrea wasn't juggling. She and Emily were just sitting on the monkey bars looking all serious, like the world was about to end. Me and Michael and Ryan couldn't resist going over to bug them. "What's the matter with you?" I asked Andrea. "Did you set your house on fire while you were juggling?" "No," she said, "we're worried about Miss Small." "What about her?" asked Ryan. "We're afraid she might die," Emily said.

"What!" I said. "You're nuts! All she did was break her leg." "Miss Small is a quarter of a century old," Andrea said. "That's like, ancient. Old ladies aren't supposed to run around and jump up and down and play games all the time. Old people are sup- posed to sit around talking about the weather and eating and reading the newspaper and complaining about the kids today and telling us to be quiet. Miss Small doesn't do any of those things. She's like a big kid. She grew tall, but she never grew up." "My dad is a doctor," said Emily. "He told me that when old people fall down,

they can get hurt really badly. They can even die." Wow. I didn't know that. "If Miss Small dies, it will be our fault," Andrea said. For a while nobody said anything. Maybe Andrea was right, for once in her life. "We've got to do something," said Emily. "We should talk to her," Andrea said. "We need to tell her she has to grow up and act mature like other adults." So all of us— me, Michael Ryan, Andrea, and Emily— went around the school to the gym. We figured that's where Miss Small

would be during recess. "Shh!" Andrea said as we snuck around the corner. "If Principal Klutz catches us, we could be in big trouble." Me and Michael and Ryan got down on our hands and knees and pretended to be undercover agents on a secret police mis- sion. It was cool. Finally we reached the back door to the gym. "We may have to pick the lock like they always do in police movies," Ryan whispered. "Then they run inside and shout, 'Freeze, dirtbags!"' "No," Michael said, "in the movies they kick the door in with their feet and

shout, 'Freeze, dirtbags!'" "No, they don't," I told them. "They use bombs to blow the door off the hinges. Then they run inside and shout, 'Freeze, dirtbags!"' "Maybe the door isn't even locked," Emily said. "The door is always locked, dumb- head," I said. "Why else would they have to blow it off the hinges? Andrea put her hand on the doorknob and turned it. And you know what? The door opened! Me and Michael and Ryan ran inside the gym, just like they do in all the police movies.