6. Won’t Get Fooled Again

6 Won't Get Fooled Again That's it! I'm not going to fall for any more of Miss Banks's pranks. There's an old saying that goes, "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice..." Uh, well, I don't remember the rest. It goes something like that.* "Before we move on to social studies," said Miss Banks, "who wants a cookie?"

"Not me!" I shouted. "I don't," said Andrea. "Me neither," said Emily. In case you were wondering, nobody wanted one of Miss Banks's cookies. "What?" said Miss Banks. "I thought kids love cookies. What's wrong with you?" "You're just going to pull another one of your pranks on us," said Alexia. "Who? Me?" asked Miss Banks, like she was surprised. "Pranks? I have no idea what you're talking about!" "You offered us brownies that weren't brownies," said Michael. "Then you offered us doughnuts that weren't doughnuts. Then you offered us gum that wasn't gum. So I bet your cookies aren't really cookies either." "That's right," we all said. Miss Banks looked hurt. She took a box out of her desk drawer. "Suit yourselves," she said as she sat down and put her feet up on her desk.

"More cookies for me." She reached into the box and took out a cookie. It looked a lot like... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! "Is that... an Oreo?" I asked. "Of course," said Miss Banks. "I love Oreos. They're my favorite kind of cookie." Mine too! She took a bite of the Oreo and then closed her eyes as she chewed it really slowly. Then she took another bite. It looked like she was chewing the Oreo in slow motion.

"Mmmmmmm," she moaned. "You kids don't know what you're missing." I was drooling. That Oreo looked soooooo good. It looked like one of those double-stuffed Oreos too. They have twice

as much stuffing, so they have the perfect name. I wanted an Oreo more than anything in the history of the world. "Yum!" Miss Banks said as she finished her Oreo. Maybe for once, she wasn't pranking us. "Okay, okay!" I finally shouted. "Can I have an Oreo?" "Me too!" said Ryan. "Me three!" said Michael. "Me four!" said Alexia. "That's the spirit!" Miss Banks said. She took her feet off her desk and gave each of us an Oreo. Cookies in school! This was the greatest day of my life! I took a bite out of the Oreo. It took about two seconds for me to realize that it tasted funny. The Oreo didn't taste like an Oreo. "Ugh! Gross! Disgusting!" I said. "What is this?" asked Alexia.

"Oh, I forgot to mention something," said Miss Banks. "I filled the Oreos with toothpaste." WHAT?! "Haven't you heard?" said Miss Banks. "This is the latest thing in dental hygiene. With toothpaste-flavored Oreos, kids can eat cookies and fight cavities at the same time! Aha-ha! Time is fun when you're having flies!"