Chapter 10

Chapter ten, All the next day, we rehearsed very hard. The best part about it was that we got to skip math and spelling. Any day I can skip math is a good day for my brain. And not having to take a spelling test is like a mini vacation. By the end of school, everyone seemed ready. Since I didn't have any lines, my rehearsal time was shorter than everyone else's. So Ms. Flowers had me work on my bookmark costume. I stapled lots of sheets of construction paper together, and then cut some fringe at the top and the bottom. To make it look really cool, I took a black crayon and wrote the word BOKMARK right down the middle. "Hey, Zip," Frankie whispered to me on one

of his breaks. "Hand me that black crayon." "How come?" "You left out one of the Os in book," he said. "It has two Os." I handed him the crayon, and he added a very skinny O to make it look like it had always been there. I'm so lucky to have a friend like Frankie. He always saves me from being really embarrassed. The next day was the big performance. All our moms and dads were coming to see us. We were so excited. Everyone got there early. We helped Ms. Flowers arrange the chairs for the parents around the edge of the classroom. Lots of us brought snacks for the

treat table. Frankie's mom made her famous brownies without walnuts, in case any kids were allergic to nuts. Katie Sperling brought rice- crispy treats that she decorated with M&M's. My mom, of course, had to be different. She sent in a deli tray with nothing on it that even looked like food. Well, there was one thing that could have been tuna fish, but nobody was willing to taste it and find out for sure. Ms. Flowers had us wait in the hall while the parents filed in and took their seats. Once they were in the room, we put on our costumes. Frankie wore just a sweatshirt and jeans. Ashley had a zombie wig with fake blood dripping off it. The top of my costume went up over my face, so I had to cut out holes for my eyes and mouth. Just before the play was about to start, Ms. Flowers came out into the hall to check our costumes and give us a pep talk.

"Is everyone ready?" she asked. "Everyone but Nick McKelty," Ashley answered. "He went to the bathroom." "I always pee a lot when I'm nervous, too," Luke Whitman said. "Before my oral report on Thomas Edison, I must have gone to the bathroom twenty times." "That's something we really don't need to know," Katie Sperling said.

"As soon as Nick returns, I'll introduce you," Ms. Flowers said. "There's no reason to be nervous. You all know your lines. If you just concentrate and work together, nothing will go wrong." Just then, Nick McKelty ran down the hall. Well, he was half running and half hopping, trying to tie his Aqua Fly wings back on. "Are you ready, Nick?" Ms. Flowers asked. "You should have heard me practicing in the bathroom," he bragged. "I crushed it." "How do you know?" I said to him. "Did all the sinks applaud?" "That's so funny I forgot to laugh," he snarled. "That's enough, boys," Ms. Flowers said. "Remember, keep your mind on the play and enjoy yourselves." She went into the classroom. "Welcome to Children's Reading Week," we heard Ms. Flowers say to the parents. "And now, allow me to present the Room Four Players, starring in A Night at the Library."

The parents clapped as we all filed in and took our places. I looked out and saw a sea of flashing lights, some from real cameras and some from cell phones. My mom and dad were there, and so was Papa Pete. It was easy to pick him out because he was wearing his favorite bright red running suit. It makes him look like a ripe strawberry.