Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 It was Fish Stick Delight Day in the cafeteria, which meant that the entire lunchroom smelled like the bottom of a fishing boat. Frankie, Ashley, and I waited in line, pushing our trays forward with one hand and holding our noses with the other. I had put Journey to Jupiter on my lunch tray, thinking that maybe if I kept it close, the words would magically fly into my brain. "Let me get this straight, Zip," Frankie said, as he took a plate of fish sticks and peas and put them on his tray. "Mr. Rock asked you to try out to be on the welcoming committee for Paula Hart, but you've decided not to? That doesn't make any sense."

"No," I answered. "What doesn't make sense is the fact that I'd have to read her whole book by tomorrow. There's no way I could do that." I grabbed my plate of fish sticks, but the book took up so much room on my tray, there was barely a place to put it down. It didn't matter, anyway, because a large sweaty hand came swooping in and snatched the plate right out of my hands. The large sweaty hand belonged to the large sweaty Nick McKelty. "You snooze, you lose, Zipperbutt," he said as he stuffed one of the fish sticks into his mouth. "Your lunch belongs to me."

"Give Hank his lunch back," Ashley said. "That is disgusting, taking food off other people's trays." McKelty didn't answer. He just opened his mouth and let out one of his snorty rhino laughs. We could see the fish flakes squeezing through the gap between his front teeth. It was enough to make me lose my appetite. "That's okay, Ashley," I said. "I'm not hungry anymore." I filled my tray with three cups of diced peaches and headed for our usual table. Frankie and Ashley followed. We sat down, being careful not to sit too close to McKelty. He was at the table next to us, sucking in a giant pile of food like a vacuum cleaner. "Back to Paula Hart," Frankie said. "She writes the coolest books. I've read them all." "Me too," Ashley said. "They're not that hard, Hank. Try it. Open the book and read the first couple of sentences." I took the book off my tray and opened it to Chapter One. I stared at the first sentence for a

long time. Here is what was written: Dressed in their white space suits, Sarah and James looked out the portal of their rocket and gazed down at Jupiter. I cleared my throat and read aloud. "Dressing in whale steamships, Susan and James grazed out the pothole at Jupiter." Frankie and Ashley looked at each other without a word. "How'd I do?" I asked. Judging from the looks on their faces, I wasn't too hopeful.

"Well, it was definitely interesting," Frankie said. "And very creative," Ashley added. "But I wasn't trying to be creative," I explained. "I was just trying to read the words on the page. And I didn't, right?" Ashley and Frankie shook their heads. "See," I said. "I told you I can't read." I heard a loud rhino snort from the table next to us. "That's because you're stupid, Zipperteeth," McKelty yelled. "You can't do anything right." Ashley and Frankie jumped up and marched right over to Mrs. Crock, who was on lunchroom duty. "Nick McKelty is calling Hank names," Frankie said. And before you could say Fish Stick Delight, Mrs. Crock was escorting Nick McKelty out of the cafeteria. There is no name calling allowed at PS 87. "Don't pay any attention to McKelty," Ashley said after he was gone. "You can do anything you want to do, Hank."

"Except be on the welcoming committee for Paula Hart." "That's not the worst thing in the world," Frankie said. "The only thing you'll miss is not getting your picture on the big bulletin board." I nearly choked on my diced peaches. "What did you say?" I asked Frankie. "I said that the welcoming committee gets their picture on the big bulletin board by the entrance. It says so on the poster for tryouts." The poster! There's another thing I can't read. "Oh man, I want my picture up there more than anything," I said. "Just once, I'd like to show Emily that I can get a special honor, too." "Hey, we're here to help," Ashley said. "What's the plan?" "Well, Mr. Rock said we could be a trio. How about if you guys try out with me and help me do what I can't do?" "There's not much time. The tryouts are tomorrow," Frankie said.