10 The Real April Fools’ Day

10 The Real April Fools' Day Finally, it was the real Friday—April Fools' Day. The Prank War was just about over. The teachers were winning by the score of 15–9. It was hopeless. They would get a hot tub, but we wouldn't be getting a candy party. Bummer in the summer!

All of us were sad. One by one, we trudged into the classroom. "Congratulations," I grumbled to Miss Banks. "I guess you teachers won The Prank War. Happy April Fools' Day." "Oh, today isn't April Fools' Day," she replied. "Today is March thirty-second." WHAT?! "I didn't know March had thirty-two days," Ryan said as he sat down. "Oh yes, absolutely," said Miss Banks. At that moment, our science teacher, Mr. Docker, walked by the room. "Oh, Mr. Docker!" shouted Miss Banks. "How many days are in March?" "Thirty-two, of course," he replied. "You see, due to the earth's rotation and the pull of gravity at the equator, we have to add an extra leap day every four years to adjust for the blah blah blah blah..." I had no idea what he was talking about. But Mr. Docker knows about science stuff, so he must be right. "If there are thirty-two days in March," I said, "that means we have one more day left in The

Prank War! We can still catch up with the teachers and win a candy party!" "YAY," everybody shouted, which is also YAY backward. We were all high-fiving each other. The only one who didn't look happy was Andrea. "Wait a minute!" she said. "I remember the poem we learned in third grade: Thirty days has September, April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one, except February which has—" "March doesn't have thirty-two days!" shouted Neil. "Miss Banks is pranking us again!" "That means today isn't the thirty-second day of March," yelled Alexia. "It's the first day of April—April Fools' Day!" "Ha-ha-ha!" laughed Miss Banks. "Got you again!" "We pranked you good!" said Mr. Docker. "Score another point for the teachers!" Grrrrrrr.

At that moment, an announcement came over the loudspeaker. "All fourth-grade classes, report to the allporpoise room." We lined up in single file. When we got to the all-porpoise room, Mrs. Stoker was up on the stage. Next to her was the scoreboard: Teachers 16–Students 9. They had beaten us fair and square.

What a humiliation! No candy party for us. This was the worst thing to happen since National Poetry Month. We were the saddest group of kids in the history of the world.

"Well," said Mrs. Stoker, "The Prank War is over, and the winner is... of course... the teachers!" "YAY!" shouted all the teachers. "BOO!" shouted all the kids. The teachers were hooting and hollering and high-fiving each other like they had just won the Super Bowl. "Teachers rule, kids drool!" shouted Miss Banks, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Nah-nah-nah boo-boo on you!" "HOT TUB! HOT TUB! HOT TUB!" the teachers started chanting. "Teachers can be so immature," said Andrea. "Okay, simmer down," said Mrs. Stoker. "I have an announcement to make." Everybody simmered down. "All of you did a great job in The Prank War," said Mrs. Stoker, "so I made a decision. Even though the students lost, we're going to have a candy party anyway!" WHAT?! "YAY!" "I was going to give you kids a candy party no matter who won The Prank War," said Mrs.