To all the students at schools who don’t use bottled water
Chapter One As usual Justine met her friends for lunch in the school cafeteria She set her backpack on the floor She pulled out her lunch box and a bottled water that she had marked with a felt-tip pen The words on the plastic bottle said DO NOT OPEN Then Justine took her seat and said hello to her friends Michael Safdar and Jimmy Blatzo Their other friend Savannah Blue had just moved away 1
to another city And their school had a brand-new principal His name was Mr Proctor You got it Blatzo said to Justine I won’t open your bottled water Especially since you used capital letters Capital letters make it a very serious thing Blatzo was big and looked pretty mean At one time he was proud to be known as the school bully But Justine had changed all that My turn for her fortune cookie Michael said He opened Justine’s lunch box Justine’s friends knew that her grammy sometimes worked at a Chinese restaurant and brought home fortune cookies Michael found Justine’s fortune cookie and looked at the plastic wrap 2
I don’t see anything written on this Michael said I guess I can open it As long as you give me the wrap to recycle Justine said Question Safdar said to Justine Why did you write that on your water bottle You mean where it says DO NOT OPEN Justine asked Yes Safdar said Because I don’t want anyone to open it Justine answered Of course Safdar said Silly question But why don’t you want it to be opened Bad question Blatzo told Safdar That’s why I didn’t ask I knew it would be smarter just to obey and not open it 3
