I wasn’t allowed to ride my bike alone not in the hills behind my house anyway On the street in front of the house oh that was fine I went round and round the cul-de-sac Josh and I even had a ramp It was fun to ride up the ramp and jump into the air After we landed we circled back and did it again And again and again and again The ramp was fun but riding in the hills behind our house was so much better It wasn’t the same thing over and over Every jump was different and after you did the jump you didn’t have to go back and do it all over again You just kept riding to the next one and the next one Andy said a voice Care to join us It was Mr Franks I looked up and the whole class was staring at me Even Josh I didn’t want to get in trouble Not now It wasn’t windy and it wasn’t rainy It was a perfect day to ride 6
I’m sorry can you repeat the question I said looking at the teacher politely Mr Franks already knew I wasn’t paying attention I better be polite and apologize No need to get detention or extra homework because I was thinking about riding my bike 7
Mr Franks nodded As I was saying are all snakes hatched from eggs Oh I knew the answer to that one No some snakes are born live Good said Mr Franks and then he looked away Whew No detention or extra homework for me today Josh gave me a thumbs-up But then Mr Franks noticed Josh and his thumb Uh-oh Josh liked to talk Oh did he ever But he didn’t always get his facts straight and when you pointed that out he didn’t want to budge So you like that said Mr Franks Here’s a question for you Which snake is larger the male or the female Oh everyone knows males are bigger than females said Josh Emma gave Josh a funny look but she didn’t say anything It was Megan Miss Know-It-All who did that 8
Before Mr Franks could say a word Megan said in a loud voice No that’s not right The female snakes are larger Mr Franks nodded Thank you Megan Yes that is correct But what about your old snake Mr Franks stammered Josh Cornflower was big Megan and her friends started laughing Josh’s face began to turn red Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head She lived two streets away from us so she knew how Josh could get Josh was wrong dead wrong again but he wasn’t going to let it go He just had to be right no matter what even when he was wrong Mr Franks walked over to the empty terrarium on the shelf at the back of the classroom Cornflower had lived in that terrarium until he died at the beginning of the school year Yes Cornflower was big but that was because he lived so long Snakes continue to grow their entire lives 9
