12. Everybody’s Cool

Chapter 12 Everybody's Cool Monday morning I had a dentist appointment for a tooth cleaning. I wore a new pair of jeans that were a little too long for me so that Gus's messed-up shoes wouldn't catch my mom's attention. I had the feeling she would not be happy about the dead Ruff and Tuffs. I chose bubble-gum flavor for my tooth rinse. The dentist said try to brush those back teeth more. She gave me a travel toothbrush and some floss for a prize. Which any kid will tell you is a lame reward. Mom dropped me off at school after the dentist. I ran straight to class extra fast. At least, as fast as I could go, wearing floppy shoes that were ripped to shreds. As I reached for the door to class, I heard Ms. Diz doing something unusual.

She was yelling. Loudly. "These shoes are going to drive me crazy!" she said. Wow, I thought. Coco and Hassan and Gus must really be having fun with their Walkie-Talkies! I opened the door. It wasn't Coco. Or Hassan. Or Gus.

It was everyone! Everyone was wearing a pair of Walkie-Talkies! Even Emma. I saw pink Walkie-Talkies and silver Walkie-Talkies and even polka-dot Walkie-Talkies. Feet were talking to feet all over the place. "Roscoe, we missed you!" Ms. Diz said when I entered. She looked down at my feet. "Where are your Walkie-Talkies? Everyone else seems to have a pair!" She rubbed her forehead. She closed her eyes. The noise was deafening. Gus ran over to do our secret handshake. He had on Walkie-Talkies too, but they weren't mine. They were yellow with orange stripes! "When my mom saw me wearing your Walkie-Talkies, she said she realized how much I wanted a pair of my own. And then she found out they got a big shipment of them at Shoe-mart," he said. "Isn't this amazing? It's like the whole world has a pair! Now we're all cool!" "Amazing," I said. "I put yours in my cubby. Go get them, so we can talk to each other!" Gus said. "Hey, that reminds me. Did you bring my Ruff and Tuffs?

Because Mom said she'd get me these if I save my old sneakers for Albert." I pulled up my jeans a little. "These are your Ruff and Tuffs," I said softly. Gus stared. And stared. I think he may have said something. But I couldn't hear him above all the Walkie-Talkie noise. "What… what happened?" Gus finally asked. "They died," I said. Gus opened his mouth, but instead of his voice, I heard Principal Goosegarden. He was talking out of the loudspeaker on the wall. We all got very quiet. "Attention, students!" he said. "Effective immediately, the shoes known as Walkie-Talkies are banned from our school. We regret this, but we have decided that they are simply causing too much noise during class. If you are currently wearing these sneakers, please remove them. They may be worn today only for gym, recess, and lunch, and when you leave school. Tomorrow, any person wearing these… these extremely noisy shoes will be sent home to change. That is all."

We sat there in silence. Shocked. Ms. Diz did a hoot of happiness. She threw her fist in the air. "Yes!" she said. "Go, Goosegarden!" I think maybe then she noticed all our unhappy faces. Because she settled down and said, "I'm sorry about this, children, but it's for the best. Please put your shoes in your cubbies, and we'll get right to work." I pulled off Gus's Ruff and Tuffs. "But Roscoe's feet stink!" Coco protested. I checked. "They just smell feety," I reported. "I finally got to be cool," Gus said. "And it only lasted for one morning." "Don't worry, Gus," I said. "Being cool's not all it's cracked up to be. Besides, we can wear our Walkie-Talkies when we hang out together after school." "Not after our moms see those Ruff and Tuffs," Gus said. "We're going to be in time-out till we're ninety-four."