I didn’t like Mrs Burke but now I really did And I liked our class Except for Samantha Grunsky who has driven me crazy all year long I especially liked Hector His family moved here last fall from Santiago Chile and he ended up in my class sitting right beside me Since he was new and English wasn’t his best language he was kind of shy and didn’t have many friends But I found out right away that he was a really nice guy and also very good at soccer Pretty soon we became friends As the year went on he got to know a lot of the kids in the school and everyone seemed to like him Mostly he hung out with me and my other best friend Tommy Kasten We were even all on the same soccer team and we would be next year too But the reason I hated to see fourth grade end was I didn't know what would happen in fifth grade Things could change What if I got Mrs Blumgarden the teacher I 2
knocked over by accident in the hallway And what if Hector wasn’t in my class Or Tommy Just Samantha Grunsky Disastrophe That’s a disaster and a catastrophe together And Matt told me that fifth grade is a lot harder than fourth grade He said there’s more homework and the teachers are tougher because they’re getting you ready for middle school They’ll eat you alive in middle school Matt told me Stop terrorizing your younger brother Dad said That’s what Dad always says But maybe Matt was right Maybe fifth grade would be hard I liked things the way they were Except for maybe getting to have Tommy in my class I didn’t want anything to change As far as I was concerned I could stay in fourth grade forever 3
I was thinking all those things when I sat down for dinner with my family I wanted to talk about it when it was my turn to share which we do every night But before I could say anything my little sister opened her mouth 4
2 Just Say NO I have news today the Squid announced It’s very important My little sister Mabel I call her the Squid is a first grader Even though the school year was almost over she still thought everything was important and new It wasn’t new for me I’m in fourth grade so I’ve known all about first grade forever Or at least since first grade which makes three years My whole family was at our dining table Mom Dad my older brother Matt and the Squid Dad had made a huge casserole with tons of cheese on top which was very promising I was starved
