5 Problem Solved

Chapter 5 Problem Solved The next day me and the guys were waiting in line for lunch in the vomitorium when we saw some kids nearby sobbing and crying and freaking out. They were talking with Mr. Loring, the music teacher, and Ms. Hannah, the art teacher. Both of them were carrying big cardboard boxes. "What's going on?" asked Neil the nude kid. "We're going home," Ms. Hannah replied. "We just got fired. We wanted to say good-bye." "WHAT?!" I said. "I thought the school wasn't closing until June." "That's right," said Mr. Loring. "But they're starting to fire the teachers now."

"Art and music are always the first to go," Ms. Hannah told us. "Some people think the arts aren't important." "What are you gonna do now?" asked Ryan. "I'm going to make dresses out of old pot holders and sell them on eBay," said Ms. Hannah. "I might get back together with the guys in my old rock band and go on tour," said

Mr. Loring. It was hard to believe that Mr. Loring used to be in a rock band. He's like a million hundred years old. "What was the name of your band?" I asked. "The Rolling Stones," he said. We took our trays and found seats next to Andrea and her annoying friends. They looked like they had been crying. Everybody was sad about the teachers being fired. Nobody was in the mood to eat lunch. Not even Ryan, who will eat anything, even stuff that isn't food. One time he took a bite out of the cushion on the school bus. We were sitting there quietly when those two guys in overalls carried this big thing out of the vomitorium. "What's that?" I asked. "That's the salad bar," said Andrea.

"Is that like a candy bar made out of salad?" I asked. Andrea rolled her eyes. "You probably never tasted salad in your life, Arlo," she said. "I did too," I told her. "I tasted a salad once. Then I spit it out." "I don't care if they take away the salad bar," Michael said, "as long as they don't take away the monkey bars." All of us looked out the window toward the playground. And you'll never believe in a million hundred years what we saw. That's right! Two guys in overalls were

moving the monkey bars! "They're taking the school apart while we're sitting here!" yelled Andrea. "It's not fair!" yelled Ryan. "We've got to do something!" yelled Emily, and then she went running out of the room. Sheesh! Get a grip! What a crybaby! But Emily was right for once in her life. We did have to do something. The question was, What? I thought and thought and thought and thought.* I thought so hard that I thought my head was gonna explode. But that's when I thought of the greatest idea in the history of the world! "Hey," I said. "Mr. Klutz told us it would take a million dollars to keep the school open, right?" "Right," everybody said.

"So if we could get a million dollars, we could save the school!" "A.J., you're a genius!" said Michael. "No wonder you're in the gifted and talented program!" said Neil the nude kid. So the solution to our problem was simple. All we had to do was get a million dollars.