Excerpt

Quote For The Day
Friends are the Pepperonis
On the Pizza of Life

Everyday, I will have a new quote on the board and your job is to write in your journal about it, said Mrs. Jinx in her sing-song voice.

I dont know why Mrs. Jinx is always so happy. Shes kind of old: somewhere between my mom and grandmas ages I would guess. She has curly black hair that she clips back away from her eyes. Her eyes seem too big for her face. Maybe thats how she sees everything from gum in your mouth to the slightest whispered comment to a friend of couple of desks away. I heard from Leslie Whitfield, the girl that sits by me and thinks she knows everything, that her husband died years ago and that teaching school is her life. Maybe she is a little crazy. She must be. We are writing about pizza for gosh sakes!

I will not read what you write. It will be for your eyes only, she continued. Please begin free writing for five minutes.

Dear Journal, I wrote. If friends are pepperonis, then Mrs. Jinx is an anchovy!

I raised my hand.

Yes, Zachary?

Are you sure that you arent going to read what we write?

On my honor, Zachary, she said, placing her right hand over her heart.

She definitely is the anchovy.

I have only seen an anchovy once in my life. My baseball team, Pattersons Plumbing, had a pizza party after we beat K & B Construction 6 to 3. An anchovy had been placed on one of our sausage pizzas by accident. It was gross! Scott picked it off his slice and threw it at Juan. Juan threw it at Nick and missed him. (That is why Juan is our catcher, not our pitcher.) It flew Nick and landed on Coach Winters cap. It sat there, between the two Ps, for half the night. I could laugh right now just thinking about it.

I glanced over at Allison. She looked like she was seriously thinking about the quote up on the board. She began to write again and her short, reddish-brown hair fell over her eye.

I dont think that Allison would ever look at me seriously. I am kind of average. I have average brown hair, spiked a little, average brown eyes, and Im average height for my age. If you looked up the work average in the dictionary, you would see my name. In fact, even my name is average. Zack Michael. Its two first names! My mom says that I am as cute as a button. Who wants to look like a button?

If friends are the pepperonis, I wrote, then Allison, well, she would be the pineapple. She is sweet

What am I writing? If Richie and Ernie ever say this, I would have to transfer to a new school!

Frosty Friends

Good Morning class, chirped Mrs. Jinx. She really does sound like a bird. I have a wonderful surprise for you today.

I hope that her surprise is that she is retiring soon. Id like to transfer to Richies homeroom and hear about war battles. Yesterday, Mr. Lanstrom brought a World War II uniform for his class to see and Richie swears that it had blood stains on it.

Mrs. Jinx was still talking. But first, lets all get our journals out and respond to the quote for today.

Quote For The Day
Its better to give a dollar than to receive a penny

Dear Journal, I began, Who taught this woman math? Id rather get a dollar any day. There isnt much you can buy with a penny!

Allison walked to the front of the room and spoke quietly to Mrs. Jinx. She had on the Sycamore Middle School shirt. It was light green and said Sycamore Woodpeckers on it with dark green block letters. A woodpecker was perched half way up the trunk of a sycamore tree. My mom bought me a school shirt at the summer orientation. She asked me to wear it, but I told her, No way. I am still not very happy about being at this middle school and I am not about to show school spirit. The shirt looks really nice on Allison though.

Mrs. Jinx cleared her throat and said, Excuse me for a minute class. Allison reminded me about the canned food drive. If anyone has brought canned food in, please place it in the box by the door. The food collected will be delivered to families before the holidays.

About ten students, including Allison, went through their backpacks and took out cans of food. They placed them in the decorated box.

Thank you class, said Mrs. Jinx. It warms my heart to see you give. Now, please finish up with your journal writing.

Im back journal. You should see how happy Mrs. Jinx is right now. She looks as if she could cry. Tomorrow, I guess that I could bring in a couple cans of food. It wouldnt weigh my backpack down too much and we always seem to have plenty of cans of green beans in my house anyway.

And now for my surprise! Mrs. Jinx smile was so big I thought her face would crack. We are going to draw names and have Frosty Friends, she shared. Frost Friends give two gifts to their chosen friend. Mrs. Otto, in the office, will collect your gifts and we will distribute them in class. Its a secret, so dont tell anyone the name you choose.

Ernie was right! We do have to do the stupidest things in this homeroom.

I may as well get this over with, I mumbled and stood up to get in the dreaded line. As I waited to pick my Frost Friend, I hoped that I would pick either Paul or Andrew. Paul would be easy to but for. All he ever did was read science fiction books and Andrews only interest was soccer. I could tolerate buying for either of those two.

I hope you pick someone special, Zachary, said Mrs. Jinx and she held out the jar that contained the names.

Paul or AndrewPaul or Andrew I whispered to myself. I unfolded the paper and opened it up slowly. On, no! Of all of the people in the entire class. I picked Allisons name!