4. The Substitute

Chapter 4 The Substitute "You were alone in her house?" Stuart exclaimed. Marvin nodded. "Oh, man, what'd you do?" asked Nick. Marvin shrugged. They were out on the playground. School hadn't started yet. "Let me see the key," said Stuart. "Did you look in her closet?" asked Nick. "No," said Marvin. Why would he look in her closet? "How about her refrigerator?" asked Nick. "Did you at least look in her refrigerator?" "Let me see the key," Stuart said again. "How about her bathroom?" asked Nick. "I don't remember," said Marvin. "You don't remember if you saw her bathroom?"

asked Nick. "Let me see the key," said Stuart. Marvin fished the key out of his pocket. Stuart took it from him. "Wow," he said, then handed it to Nick. "Hey, everybody!" Nick shouted. "I have the key to Mrs. North's house!" Kids came running from all directions. "Marvin was alone in her house!" said Nick as he gave the key to Kenny. "Did you look in her closet?" asked Clarence. "What for?" asked Marvin. "To see her clothes!" Nick and Clarence answered together. "Did you turn on her television?" asked Melanie. Marvin couldn't tell who had the key anymore. It was being passed around. "Did you use her bathroom?" asked Casey. "He doesn't even remember if he saw her bathroom!" said Nick. "What if you were alone in her house?" asked Casey. "And you had to go to the bathroom. Real bad. What

would you do?" "I'd use her bathroom," said Marvin. Everybody laughed. "She didn't say I couldn't," said Marvin. They laughed harder. The bell rang. Everyone started to class. "Wait!" called Marvin. "Where's—" "Here, Marvin," said Patsy Gatsby, behind him. She gave him the key. As he walked into class, he heard Melanie announce, "Marvin's going to use the bathroom in Mrs. North's house!" Several kids laughed. "Who's Marvin?" asked the substitute teacher, standing at the front of the room. Melanie and Warren pointed at Marvin as he made his way to his desk. He sat down. The teacher stared at Marvin a long time. "I don't appreciate that kind of talk, Marvin," she said. Marvin didn't know why she was picking on him. It

was Melanie who said it. Her name was Miss Hillway. She wrote it on the board. "I'll be your teacher for a week," she said. "So let's all try to get off to a good start. That includes you, Marvin." Patsy Gatsby sneezed. "Bless you," said Miss Hillway. "Thank you," Patsy said shyly, wiping her nose on her sleeve. Nick leaned back in his chair, took a great big breath, then sneezed as loud as he could. Miss Hillway smiled at Nick. "Bless you," she said. Casey Happleton sat next to Marvin. She had a ponytail that stuck out of the side of her head. Not the back. Casey held her nose and said, "Ah-ah-ah- CHooooooooooo!" Her sideways ponytail bounced up and down. Miss Hillway didn't bless her. Stuart sneezed. Travis sneezed. "Sneeze, Marvin," whispered Casey. "Why?" "It's funny," said Casey.

"No, it isn't," said Marvin. It was silly. No wonder Mrs. North asked me to take care of Waldo, he thought. "You think you're so great," whispered Casey. "Just because you went to the bathroom in Mrs. North's house!" Gina sneezed. Heather sneezed. "My, there must be a terrible cold going around," said Miss Hillway. Everyone—except Marvin—laughed. Kenny sneezed. Then, Miss Hillway sneezed! A whole bunch of kids blessed her. "Okay, that's enough," Miss Hillway said. "I hope we all got our sneezes out. Now, let's get back to work." Clarence sneezed. Miss Hillway didn't smile. "I'm serious now. I don't want to hear another sneeze," she warned. "But what if you really have to?" asked Melanie. "You can't punish someone for sneezing," said Nick. "It's dangerous to hold back a sneeze," said Stuart. "My dad's a doctor. He knows." "It could explode out your ears," said Casey. "You

could die!" Miss Hillway raised her eyebrows. Marvin felt a tickle in his nose. It was a small tickle at first. But it slowly grew, bigger and bigger inside his little nose. He tried to hold it back, but it felt like it would explode out his ears.