No Girls Allowed (Dogs Okay) (12 page)

Warning! Super Spy radar has locked on to me again.

Slowly, slowly, slowly I turn. “Uh, huh?”

Isabelle catches up to me. “Okay,” she says. “I'll do it.”

“You mean—?”

“I'll tell Mom and Dad I want a dog too.”

Yes!

My sister points at me. “But you have to feed him.”

Yes!

“And you have to walk him.”

Yes!

“And I get to name him.”

NO!

“Isabelle, you can't—”

“That's the deal. Take it or leave it.”

When it comes down to it, I guess having a dog named Princess Bonbon Fancypaws is better than no dog at all. Right? So I say the only thing I can say. “Take it.”

Isabelle grins. “When do we ask?”

“Tonight.”

“You know, Mom and Dad
still
might say no.”

“They won't.” How could they? I'll have the money and my responsible sister on my side. What could go wrong? It's going to happen. I am really going to get a dog! I want to jump a mile up into the air. But I don't. I don't dare slosh now. Once my sister is gone, I do a victory lap around the monkey bars on my way to the orchestra portable. Sweeeeeeet!

I am the first one to show up. I am supposed to meet Elliot Parkhurst, Thor Bryant, and a sixth grader named Rocco with a blue streak in his hair. I kick a plastic cup around in a figure eight while I wait for them to show up.

Brrrrring!

That's the first bell. I decide to stay until the second bell. Of course, that means I will be tardy. I start pacing. Before long, I wear a path into the gravel.

Brrrrring!

Second bell. Still no sign of the guys. Bug spit!

I try to sneak into class when Miss Sweetandsour's back is turned.

“Scab McNally, you're late.”

How does she do that?

“Put your backpack away and take your seat, please.”

Doyle lets out a cackle when I pass his desk. He tries to kick me. He misses.

“You're such a
Pilobolus
,” I say. Gently, I place my pack on the bottom shelf. “You probably don't even know what a
Pilobolus
is, which makes you a dumb
Pilobolus
.”

“You're the only fungus around here,” he hisses.

I give him a whopping raspberry. I really let it blow through my lips. I sound like a garbage truck.

“Quiet, class!” Miss Sweetandsour glares at me. “It's time for morning announcements.”

Each day a different student from the audiovisual club gets to read the school bulletin on camera. It's broadcast to every classroom in the school through closed-circuit television. Doyle is in the AV club.
He's a pretty good reader, too. Miss Sweetandsour turns up the TV. Felice Pryor speaks very softly. She holds the paper in front of her so we can't see her face. We all lean forward to hear. When the news is over, my teacher says, “Clear off your desks and take out a pencil.”