2 February

2 February Everybody was sad that Dr. Carbles canceled summer vacation, spring break, and all the other holidays. The teachers were upset, too, because if we have to go to school, they have to go to school. "This is the worst thing to happen since TV Turnoff Week," I said.

"I can't survive without summer vacation," said Michael, who never ties his shoes. "It's not fair," said Ryan, who will eat anything, even stuff that isn't food. "This is terrible," said Andrea Young, this annoying girl with curly brown hair. "I agree," said Emily, who always agrees with Andrea. "We need to do something," said Alexia, this girl who rides a skateboard all the time. "What can we do?" asked Neil, who we call the nude kid even though he wears clothes. There was nothing we could do. The president of the Board of Education is like the king of the world. Everybody was upset. For a few weeks, we were all walking around in a daze, like zombies. Mrs. Stoker tried to tell jokes to cheer us up, but that only made things worse. We all needed a vacation badly. Then came the first Friday in February. We were in the media center. It used to be called the library, but they changed the name. Nobody knows why. Mrs. Roopy, our media specialist—who used to be

called a "librarian"—read us a story. When she finished, she said we could take five minutes to get a drink of water. Smarty-pants Andrea took out her smartphone. She's the only kid in our class who has one, of course. She's always looking stuff up so she can know things that nobody else knows. What is her problem? "Hmmm," Andrea said. "Did you know that January twentieth was Penguin Awareness Day?" "What's Penguin Awareness Day?" asked Neil. "Penguin Awareness Day," Andrea read off her screen, "is a day for us to appreciate penguins. The number of penguins is getting smaller, so we need to protect their habitats." "That's a holiday?" asked Ryan. "Sure," said Andrea. "It's on the internet, so it must be true." "I love penguins," I told Andrea, "but Penguin Awareness Day is a lame holiday."

"It is not," she replied. "The penguins need our help." "Is too." "Is not." We went back and forth like that for a while. "Ooooooh!" said Ryan. "A.J. and Andrea are arguing about Penguin Awareness Day. They must

be in LOVE!" "When are you gonna get married?" asked Michael. I was going to say something mean, but I didn't have the chance because Mrs. Roopy came rushing over to us. "What were you kids just talking about?" she asked. "We missed Penguin Awareness Day," said Andrea. "It was on January twentieth." "But it's not a real holiday," I said. "Is Penguin Awareness Day a real holiday, Mrs. Roopy?" asked Ryan. We all looked at Mrs. Roopy. She had on her wrinkly accordion face, which is what grown-ups get when they're thinking. Their forehead gets all wrinkly, like an accordion. But suddenly, she broke out in a big smile and got a wild look in her eyes. "Who cares whether or not Penguin Awareness Day is a real holiday?" said Mrs. Roopy. "That gives me an idea!" She rushed over to a computer. She googled "What holiday takes place on the first Friday in February?"

"National Bubble Gum Day," it said on the screen. "Today is National Bubble Gum Day!" Mrs. Roopy shouted excitedly. "That's a holiday?" asked Ryan. "Yes!" said Mrs. Roopy. "It says here that National Bubble Gum Day started in 2006. It's celebrated in schools, libraries, and museums. We should celebrate it here at Ella Mentry School!" "YAY!" everybody shouted, which is also "YAY" backward. We're not allowed to chew gum in school. But Mrs. Roopy ran out of the media center, and when she came back a few minutes later, she had a bag full of bubble gum. She gave out pieces to everybody. It was the greatest day of my life. "Happy National Bubble Gum Day!" Mrs. Roopy said while we were blowing bubbles. "Let's research bubble gum!" Ugh. Not research! Mrs. Roopy had us sit at the computers and look up stuff about bubble gum. We learned about the history of bubble gum, how it's made, what's in it, and all kinds of other stuff that we didn't know.