3 Here Comes Trouble

CHAPTER THREE HERE COMES TROUBLE 17 degreesfahrenheit "WHAT'S YOUR THIRD idea?" Rosie asked. "Do you remember my Halloween costume last year?" Rosie and I both nodded. Simon had been a muscleman in a big rubber inflatable suit. It was super fun watching him bounce into trees and mailboxes and stuff without getting hurt. "We should all get muscleman suits," he said quickly. His voice got louder, his words came out faster, and he sort of bounced up and down as he talked.

"We'll inflate the costumes with hair dryers. They trap the hot air inside. I got pretty warm when I was trick-or-treating—

and that was a really cold night." Mr. Willow finished writing the schedule. He stood in front of his desk waiting for everyone to get quiet. Rosie and I noticed. Simon did not. "We keep the hair dryers going all the way to school," Simon said, continuing with his idea. "It will be totally warm. I mean, we might be sweating by the time we get here! I bet we could wear shorts inside the muscleman suits!" Mr. Willow clicked his tongue behind his teeth. Everybody got quiet—except Simon.

Rosie and I nodded toward the front of class. But Simon misunderstood us. "I'm glad you both like my idea!" Simon said. Then he just did what he always does—he kept talking. "We have to keep the hair dryers going and it's almost a mile to school. So we'll need lots of extension cords. We'll plug them into each other—like Christmas lights!" Rosie wanted to tell Simon his idea was crazy— you can't drag electrical cords through snow and slush. We wanted to tell him everybody else was quiet. And class was starting. And Mr. Willow was staring at him. But we weren't allowed to talk. Only Mr. Willow could talk.

"Simon!" Mr. Willow said loudly. "Ee-ack!" Simon squealed and jumped in his seat. His chair jerked backward. Lots of people laughed. It wasn't mean. They just saw Simon being Simon. "Yes?! Yes, Mr. Willow?" "Why are you talking about Christmas lights?"

"You heard that?" "We all heard it," Mr. Willow said. He sighed and shook his head. "The classes at the end of the hall heard it." "Sorry," Simon said. "I was jus—" "I don't need to know," Mr. Willow said and raised his hand toward Simon. "I'd rather get our day going. Before we get started, does anyone have questions about what we worked on yesterday?" Rosie shot her left hand up in the air. "Yes, Rosie?" Mr. Willow said and smiled. He didn't like Simon talking when he shouldn't. But he did like it when Rosie had a good, smart question.