10 Throwing Up

Chapter 10 Throwing Up I threw my cap up like a Frisbee, really high and far. And then, like a Frisbee, it caught the wind and curved back toward me. I thought it might hit the stage—but instead it hit the bowl that held the eternal flame! The bowl fell off its stand and onto the ground. My cap caught on fire, and everybody started freaking out. "Quick! Somebody get a fire extinguisher!" Mr. Klutz yelled. Mrs. Dole went running off to look for a fire extinguisher. Meanwhile, the wind whipped the flame and sparks around. The next thing we knew, the CONGRATULATIONS, GRADUATES! banner was on fire. "Forget the fire extinguisher!" Mr. Klutz

yelled. "Call the fire department!" The banner was whipping around in the wind, and soon it didn't say CONGRATULATIONS, GRADUATES! anymore. All it said was RAT DATES, because the rest of it had burned up. Everybody was freaking out because there were sparks flying all over the place. Some of the sparks were falling on the hay at the petting zoo. "Excuse me," I said to Emily. "What do you want, A.J.?" Emily asked, like she was all annoyed. "I just wanted to let you know that you're on fire," I told her. It was true! Somehow a spark must have landed on Emily's gown, and her gown was going up in flames. Emily freaked out and went running around like she was, well, on fire. Which she was.

"HELP! I'M ON FIRE!" Emily screamed. "STOP, DROP, AND ROLL!" everybody shouted. Emily stopped, dropped, and rolled. But the only problem was that she rolled right into the table that was holding the giant

cake! The table toppled over and the cake slid off—landing right on top of Emily! The good news was that the cake put out the fire. The bad news was that our cake was ruined. "Five-second rule!" I shouted, and a bunch of us ran over to grab chunks of cake off the playground before five seconds were up. Mmmm! It was great! Meanwhile, the hay in the petting zoo had ignited, and the cows and chickens and goats were mooing and squawking and freaking out. One of the cows knocked down the wooden fence, and soon all the animals were running around the playground. You should have been there! It was a real Kodak moment. But nobody was taking pictures because all the parents were busy trying to avoid being trampled by the cows and goats.

"Remain calm!" screamed Mrs. Dole as she ran around, spraying a fire extinguisher. "Run for your lives!" shouted Neil the nude kid as a goat chased him across the playground. I was wondering if third grade would be canceled if the school burned down. But it didn't matter, because soon there was a siren coming down the street. A fire truck pulled up, and Officer Spence hopped off.

He attached a hose to a hydrant in the street and sprayed water all over the place. Everybody got soaked. I thought it was all over; but in the middle of the playground, I saw Andrea's mom and Ryan's mom yelling at each other. "This is all your fault!" Andrea's mom shouted. "You and your stupid graduation!" "How was I supposed to know somebody would knock over the eternal flame?" shouted Ryan's mom. The next thing we knew, the two PTA moms were wrestling each other on the