Green Gravy (4 page)

SEVEN

It was time for morning recess.

Miss Hartman's class flew out the side door.

“Jimmy's a smart one,” Dee Dee said. “He's wearing green, after all.”

“Whose side are you on?” asked Carly.

Dee Dee didn't say anything. She rubbed her ear.

Carly stared at her.

“Not nice to stare,” Dee Dee said.

“I wanna know whose side you're on,” Carly said.

Dee Dee sniffed. But she didn't talk.

“Aw, c'mon,” Carly pleaded. “Talk to me.”

Dee Dee shook her head. “Only if you fix things up.”

“With who?” Carly asked.

“You know who,” Dee Dee said. “Start treatin' your brother nicer!”

Carly felt a fuss face coming. “You can't tell me what to do, Dee Dee Winters!”

She dashed to the swings.

Dee Dee ran the opposite way. She went in Miss Hartman's classroom door.

“You're a squealer,” Carly said out loud. She stamped her foot.

“Who's tattling?”

Carly turned her head.

There stood Abby and Stacy.

“Are you fussing with Dee Dee?” Abby said.

Carly pouted. “Nobody's business.”

Abby sat on the swing next to her. “You look pretty today,” she said. “I like your green polka-dot skirt.”

Carly shook her head. “I know what you're doing,” she said. “I'm no dummy.”

“Didn't say you were,” Abby told her.

“So why are you saying I look pretty?” Carly asked.

“Listen to me,” her big sister said. “You're the Student of the Week, right?”

Carly nodded. She bit her lower lip. “Guess you don't think I oughta be.”

Stacy stepped up. She leaned too close to Carly's face. “Abby didn't mean that. You're a good citizen, Carly.”

“Just not a
perfect
citizen,” said Carly.

Abby scratched her head. “Don't say that.”

Stacy glanced at Abby and lifted her shoulders. “Here comes someone,” she said.

Carly looked up. Dee Dee was coming toward them.

“Hey, look, she's smiling,” Abby said.

“It's a Sour-Pie smile,” said Carly. “I know a squealer when I see one!”

EIGHT

The bell rang. Morning recess was over.

Carly hurried inside the classroom. She looked at Miss Hartman's face.

Is she upset?
Carly wondered.

She couldn't tell. Not for sure.

Carly turned around in her seat. “Why did you squeal?” she asked Dee Dee.

“I just said what
you
said,” Dee Dee replied. “And Miss Hartman said that it wasn't very nice.”

Carly muttered, “Especially for a good citizen.”

“What?” Dee Dee said.

“Oh, nothing,” replied Carly. She wanted to cry.

Nothing was turning out right. Nothing at all.

Jimmy was getting away with wearing purple.

Dee Dee was mad. Capital M!

Miss Hartman was taking sides.

And . . . oh no!

She was putting “good-citizen” stars beside Jimmy's name. Up on the board where everyone could see.

Why?
she wondered.
Jimmy doesn't deserve stars!

She felt Dee Dee tapping her back. “Look. Jimmy's earning points,” Dee Dee said.

Carly didn't turn around.

How could Miss Hartman do this?

Dee Dee kept whispering, “Jimmy didn't wanna wear green, remember? He's not Irish one bit! But he followed your
wish, Carly. He wore green. Now
that's
a good citizen.”

“Shh!” said Miss Hartman. “It's time for our Student of the Week. Carly Hunter, will you please come forward?”

Carly was upset. She twisted the eraser off her pencil.

Ka-pop!

It sailed over Dee Dee's desk and landed on Jimmy's head.

“What was that?” asked the teacher.

Jimmy felt the top' of his head. He found the round pink ball. “Eraser drop down from sky,” he said.

The kids laughed.

Carly froze. Now what?

Miss Hartman went around the room. She looked at everyone's pencil.

She came to Carly's desk and looked at her pencil.

The pink top was missing.

Carly looked down. “I didn't mean to,” she said. “It was a mistake.”

Dee Dee giggled behind her. “That's what erasers are for—mistakes!”

Everyone was laughing even harder.

Suddenly, Carly felt sick. “Excuse me,” she said.

Off she ran to the girls' room.

First thing, Carly turned on the water. Cold water.

She slapped some on her face.

Then she dried off with a paper towel.

The face in the mirror was a fuss face. Capital F!

“What's the matter with me?” she said out loud.

Soon Miss Hartman came in. “Are you all right?”

Carly shook her head. “I don't know.”

“Maybe the nurse should check you,” said her teacher.

Miss Hartman took her to the little
square room. It smelled like mushroom soup.

The nurse had her sit down. She checked for a fever. She made her say “AHHHH!”

“You seem normal,” the nurse said. “Maybe a little rest will help.”

“OK. I'll rest,” Carly said. She went to the cot to lie down.

But rest was impossible. Things were on her mind. Things like green foods and lunchtime. And Jimmy's not-green hot lunch.

She thought about the Pinch Rule. It was
Ker-plooey.

Why not a Lunch Rule, too? A rule for anyone who didn't eat green foods.

Like Sour-Pie Jimmy!

She looked at the clock. It wouldn't be long now until lunch.

Would her brother trick her again?

NINE

Carly stared at the wall in the nurse's room.

She let herself daydream.

Jimmy was wearing a sour apple pie. It was smashed on his head. It had rotten green apples in it. And long green worms.

Carly shivered. She took a breath.

“How are you feeling?” asked the nurse.

“I need a drink of water, please,” Carly said.

The nurse helped her up.

“Thank you,” said Carly.

The lady in white let the water run. She gave her the full glass.

“Is it time for lunch yet?” Carly asked.

“Almost,” said the nurse. “Are you hungry?”

Carly nodded and scooted off the cot. “I think I'm better now.”

The nurse walked her back to Miss Hartman's room. “Tell your teacher if you're sick again.”

“Thank you very much,” Carly answered.

The nurse smiled. “What a polite girl.”

“Thank you.” Carly smiled, too.

The nurse was right. She
was
polite. Most of the time.

Carly opened the classroom door.

Miss Hartman was checking handwriting papers.

Quickly, Carly went to her seat and took out her notebook.

“We're making
P
's and
D
's today,” Miss Hartman told her. “For St. Patrick's Day.”

Carly made her letters curly.

“That's not right,” Dee Dee said in her ear.

But Carly didn't turn around. She made seven more letters. Each more curly than the other.

When Jimmy wasn't looking, Carly stared at him. She could see his paper. He was drawing a clover leaf at the top.

A green one!

Would he eat a green lunch, too?

At last it was lunchtime.

Miss Hartman's green students walked to the cafeteria.

Carly watched Jimmy. She didn't let him out of sight.

“Feeling better?” asked Dee Dee. She didn't wait for Carly to answer. “Still mad at your brother?”

“Not nice to be nosy,” answered Carly.

She headed to a different table. Abby
and Stacy were sitting there. Jason Birchall and Dunkum Mitchell were there, too. And Shawn, of course.

“Hi, Carly,” they all said.

“Can I sit here?” she asked.

“Well, I don't know if you
can,
but you may,” Stacy said.

Carly smiled. Stacy liked to correct the way kids talked. She had the best speech in the cul-de-sac.

“Why aren't you sitting with your class?” Abby asked.

Carly lifted one shoulder. “Don't wanna.”

She kept looking over at Jimmy. He was in the hot-lunch line now. And it looked like his friendly freckles were gone.

Carly thought about the Lunch Rule. “Is there any green food for hot lunch?” she asked.

Stacy laughed. “Our cook's not
that
creative.”

“Well, I am!” Jason Birchall said. He held up a long, skinny tube. “This is my dessert.”

Jason didn't just like the color green, he loved it. Especially green things like bullfrogs. Dill pickles, too.

Carly looked at the long tube. “What's it for?” she asked.

“It's cake icing,” Jason said. “Wanna squeeze?”

“Maybe later,” Carly said.

She stared at Jason's lunch. It was definitely a St. Patrick's Day meal. There were bunches of green grapes, slices of green melon, and a cup of green Jell-O. And a giant dill pickle.