11 The 13-Story Treehouse School

CHAPTER 11 THE 13-STORY TREEHOUSE SCHOOL I look around. There's nothing but an enormous puddle of slime where the school used to be. "Our school!" cries Ms. Treacle, emerging from the slime. "What happened to our lovely school?" "Monkeys," says Terry. "Monkeys is what happened."

"But where did they come from?" says Ms. Treacle. "They followed the mirror gang here," says Jill. "The mirror gang?" says Ms. Treacle. "That's us," says Anti-A, stepping forward. "Me and my pals Terrible-Terry and Junkyard-Jill. Sorry about your school, but look on the bright side— now you don't have a school." "But I liked school," says Ms. Treacle. "Don't be a chump," says Anti-A. "Nobody likes school." "We did," say the students. "And so did Principal Gradgrind," says Ms. Treacle. "And speaking of Principal Gradgrind, where is he?" "Last time we saw him he was in the time-out

room," I say. "We'd better go look for him," says Jill. "Come on." I'm searching around near where the time-out room used to be when I hear loud snoring. The snoring is bubbling up from underneath the slime. I scoop some handfuls of slime out of the way

and there is Principal Gradgrind, safe and sound, sleeping like a baby. Except that babies, as far as I know, don't snore quite so loudly. I gently prod Principal Gradgrind on the shoulder and he wakes up. "What happened?" he says, slime running down his face, and dripping off his suit. "Where's the time-out room gone? And where's my school, for that matter?"

"It's been slimed," says Ms. Treacle. "Completely slimed." "Slimed?" says Principal Gradgrind. "Yes— and it's all their fault," says Ms. Treacle, pointing at us. "It's not our fault," I say. "The monkeys did it!" "Well, I can't expel monkeys," says Principal Gradgrind. "But I can expel you. You are all hereby officially expelled from this school… forever!" "We wasn't even enrolled in the first place," says Anti-A. "And what school are you even talkin' about? I don't see no school around here." "I'm referring to the school that was here," says Principal Gradgrind. "The school that was my life! What am I going to do now?"

"How about you give everyone the rest of the day off?" suggests Terrible-T. "No, I've got an even better idea," says Anti-A. "How about you give everyone the rest of their lives off?" "Not a chance," says Principal Gradgrind. "I built this school with nothing but the sweat of my brow and an instruction book called How to Build a School with Nothing but the Sweat of Your Brow and This Book and I can— and will—do it again! Who's going to help me?" "ME!" says Ms. Treacle. "ME!" say the students. "ME!" says Terry. "AND ME!" says Jill.