9 The Big Surprise Ending

9 The Big Surprise Ending Mrs. Patty looked really upset. Tears were running down her face. She managed to tell us that Jake the Snake had somehow slithered out of his basket and was gone. "Where could he be?" asked Emily.

"If I knew that, he wouldn't be missing!" said Mrs. Patty, sobbing. All of us looked at the floor at the same time. If Jake the Snake was missing, that meant he could be anywhere. He could be right next to our feet. He could be about to bite our toes off! He could be

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Suddenly, everybody was yelling and screaming and hooting and hollering and freaking out. "There's nothing to be afraid of!" Mrs. Patty shouted. "Jake the Snake is harmless! He's an eastern hognose." I didn't care what kind of a hognose he was. I didn't want a snake biting my toes off. We ran inside our classroom and climbed up on our desks so Jake the Snake wouldn't be able to get at us. Once we were up on our desks, I noticed something weird. The Liberty Bell wasn't hanging from the ceiling anymore. It was on the floor. And there was a muffled noise coming out of it. "Look!" I shouted, as I pointed at the Liberty Bell. "Jake the Snake must have set off our trap! He's inside the bell!" Everybody looked at the Liberty Bell. "Jake!" shouted Mrs. Patty. "My baby!" That's when the weirdest thing in the history of the world happened. I heard another noise coming from inside the Liberty Bell. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't Jake the Snake.

"Help! Help!" cried a muffled voice. "Let me out of here!" "It's not Jake the Snake!" I shouted. "It's Larry the Leprechaun!" "WE CAUGHT HIM!" everyone shouted at once. We all jumped down from our desks and ran over to the Liberty Bell. "Okay," said Alexia. "Let's pick it up." "Get ready to grab him as soon as the bell is off the floor," said Ryan. "Remember, he's fast, and he's tricky." All of us gathered around the Liberty Bell. It was really heavy. We groaned and moaned trying to pick it up. We couldn't wait to see what Larry the Leprechaun looked like. Everybody was on pins and needles. Well, not really. It would hurt to be on pins and needles. But there was electricity in the air. Well, not exactly. If there was electricity in the air, we would have been electrocuted. But we were all glued to our seats.

Well, no. That would be weird. Why would I glue myself to a seat? How would I get the glue off my pants? But it was intense.* Slowly, the Liberty Bell started to rise. Isn't this exciting? And you'll never believe in a million hundred years what was under the Liberty Bell. I'm not going to tell you. Okay, okay, I'll tell you. IT WAS ANDREA YOUNG! Betcha didn't see that coming! Andrea was dressed up like a leprechaun! She even had a beard. "EEEEEK!" Andrea screamed, running out from under the Liberty Bell. "EEEEEK!" we all screamed as we put it down. "Andrea!" shouted Emily as the two girls hugged. "I thought you didn't like Saint Patrick's Day." "Yeah," I said. "What are you doing here? We thought you were girlcotting Saint Patrick's Day." "I couldn't stay home!" Andrea told us. "I didn't want to miss all the fun you guys were

having without me. Mr. O'Klutz said I could come to school dressed up like a leprechaun." "Nice beard," Michael said as Andrea pulled off her beard. "So you were the one who turned our desks upside down and messed up the classroom?" asked Ryan. "Yes," Andrea admitted. "And you were the one who wrote those messages?" asked Alexia.