10. Meet George

CHAPTER 10 MEET GEORGE This is George Beard. George is five-and-three-quarters years old. He and his parents had just moved from Michigan into the house next door to Harold and his family. George was what adults like to call a "precocious" child. His mother had taught him to read and write when he was four years old, and he currently scored higher on tests than most children twice his age.

George's former teachers had suggested that he skip ahead to the third grade, but his parents decided it would be better if George stayed in a classroom with kids his own age. To this day, George's parents were still not sure if they had made the right decision. On the one hand, George had developed good social skills and had been well liked by his classmates. That was good. On the other hand, George was bored in class and often got into mischief. That was bad.

George had never really liked school very much. He preferred riding his skateboard, watching monster movies, and reading comics and graphic novels. George liked writing stories, too. He had filled up more than twenty spiral notebooks with marvelously silly adventure stories that he had written all by himself. Many of George's stories had gotten him into trouble when he read them out loud at his old school. His classmates loved them, but his teachers thought they were rude, violent, and totally inappropriate.

"I hope things will be better here in Ohio," said George's mother, as she helped him get ready for his very first day of classes at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. "Your father and I bought you this nice tie to wear at school today." "A TIE?" cried George. "Kids don't wear ties!" "Well, you're going to wear one," said George's mother. "I want you to make a good first impression!" "Aw, come on, Mom!" said George. "Ties are for nerds!" "Oh, for heaven's sake!" said George's mom. "Your father wears a tie. Is he a nerd?" "Umm... kind of," said George. "Don't be ridiculous!" said George's mom. "You're wearing a tie, and that's FINAL!" "Rats!" said George.

George put his backpack on and reluctantly hugged his mom at the door. (He was still a little upset about the whole "tie" thing.) "Have a good first day at school, dear," said George's mom. "Mm-hmmm," said George. George grabbed his skateboard from the bushes by the driveway and started off toward school. It was about five blocks away, and the sidewalks were mostly smooth with hardly any pebbles. Good for skateboarding.

The ride to school had been very pleasant, actually, until George reached the corner of Dogwood Drive and Rosita Lane. There was some kind of commotion going on in front of the gas station across the street, and George watched it intently as he waited for the traffic light to change. He saw the gas station guy shove a yellow-haired kid to the ground. Then he saw some mean-looking kids yank the boy up and steal his money. This was not good. Finally, the light changed, and George walked across the street toward the gas station. He stood by the display sign while the attendant laughed at the yellow-haired kid and told him he needed to learn to stick up for himself. George was furious.