were laughing They were doubled over clutching their stomachs and laughing with snorts and howls Meri reached the coatroom door and peered in Mrs Miller was comforting Jenna Paige whose paper lunch sack was smashed flat when her backpack fell on it In fact all of the backpacks had fallen off the wall All of the backpack hooks lay scattered on the floor When Tommy slammed the door and rattled the classroom the loose hooks had simply pulled out of the wall dumping backpacks on everyone's lunch Mrs Miller shooed everyone out of the coatroom Please take your seats and start your morning work while I clean up the coat closet She handed the thick pile of work packets to Meri Please hand these out I need to call the custodian Meri hurriedly passed out the packets She expected Gina and Megan to say something mean when she reached their table but both
girls looked as shocked as everyone else Finally she reached the table at the back of the room where Sean and his friends were struggling to look innocent That was a mean trick she whispered as she handed out the packets I don't know what you're talking about Sean said his eyes wide Meri frowned at him Then why were you guys laughing like hyenas after the crash Steve said something funny Sean answered patting the other boy on the back He's a funny guy And you guys weren't interested in seeing what crashed Sean shrugged We were busy Meri looked hard at David He was in her reading group and she felt like they were friends She didn't think he would lie to her He didn't He just looked down at his packet with fierce attention David she said
I'm working he mumbled Finally Meri gave up Mrs Miller will figure it out she said She won't if you don't tattle Sean said Tattle about what Meri asked Steve's great joke Sean grinned Right Meri carried the rest of the packets around the room She hoped this would be Sean's last prank She didn't want to tell on anyone but if Room Eight went prank crazy she didn't want to get caught in the middle either
No More Catastrophes It took most of the morning for Mr Genova to put all the backpack hooks back up on the wall He had to fasten a long board across the whole wall and then screw the hooks into the board That should keep those hooks out of trouble he said giving everyone a wink as he walked out of the coatroom Mrs Miller sent the class into the coatroom one table at a time to hang their backpacks on the hooks and bring out their lunches Meri heard moans all over the room as people opened up smashed lunches Meri took a deep breath and unzipped her lunch box Her mom always used plastic
