CHAPTER ONE

I have had not so good of a week.

Well, Monday was a pretty good day, if you don’t count Hamburger Surprise at lunch, and Margaret’s mother coming to get her. Or the stuff that happened in the principal’s office when I got sent there to explain that Margaret’s hair was not my fault, and besides she looks okay without it, but I couldn’t because Principal Rice was gone trying to calm down Margaret’s mother.

Someone should tell you not to answer the phone in the principal’s office, if that’s a rule.

Okay fine, Monday was not so good of a day.

Which was a surprise, because it started off with two lucky signs, which fooled me. First, there were exactly enough banana slices on my cereal: one for every spoonful. Then, as soon as I got to school, my teacher said, “The following students are excused from journal writing so they can go to the art room to work on their ‘Welcome to the Future’ projects. And I was one of the following students!

So instead of having to think up things to write in my journal, which I hate, I got to glue and paint stuff, which I love.

Margaret was in the art room, too. When I sat down next to her, she threw herself across the ‘Princess-from-the-Future’ mask she was gluing sparkles onto. “Remember the rules,” she warned.

Margaret is in fourth grade and I am in third. She thinks that makes her the boss of me. I hate Margaret’s rules.

“You can’t touch my stuff,” she said. Which she always says.

“Why not?” I said. Which I always say.

“Because it’s the rule,” Margaret said. Which she always says.

“Why?” I said.

“Because you can’t touch my stuff,” she said.

And then I pointed out the window, which wasn’t exactly lying because I didn’t say there was something out there.

While Margaret was looking out the window, I accidentally touched her mask.

Twice. Okay, fine.

And then I got busy working on my project so I wouldn’t have to hear any “Clementine-pay-attention!”s. Except I did anyway.