Fuzzy Fights Back by Bruce Hale

Author:Bruce Hale
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

As it turned out, a troubled conscience made for just as restful a sleep as napping on a bed of nails. Bleary-eyed, Fuzzy awoke the next morning to the sound of Miss Wills’s key in the lock.

For a moment or two, it felt like any other groggy morning after a sleepless night. And then he remembered.

Wheek! Fuzzy shot bolt upright, banging his head on the ceiling of his igloo. Scurrying outside, he scanned his cage for evidence of last night’s caper. There! A corner of his cheat sheet peeked out from under the pine shavings.

Wiggling whiskers!

He dove across the cage to block it from his teacher’s sight.

“What’s gotten into you, big guy?” asked Miss Wills, heading for her desk. “Did you have jumping beans for breakfast?”

With elaborate casualness, Fuzzy kicked some pine shavings over the slip of paper, hiding it from view. He watched as Miss Wills set down her bag, hung her sweater over the back of her chair, and unlocked her desk.

Would she notice any sign of their tampering?

The teacher frowned slightly as she opened the second lock, the one Luther had had the hardest time re-engaging.

Just then, the classroom phone rang. With a final glance at the desk, Miss Wills set down her key ring and went to answer the call.

“Yes …? Oh, I see,” she said. “And when is—? Okay … okay, I will.”

By the time she’d hung up, Miss Wills’s expression had turned serious. Fortunately, Fuzzy noticed, she seemed to have forgotten all about the locks on her desk.

“Miss Wills, Miss Wills!” Two students, Maya and Natalia, burst through the door.

“What is it, girls?” asked the teacher.

They hurried up to her desk, book bags still swinging from their shoulders. “We heard there’s going to be some big meeting on Monday about getting rid of pets,” said Maya.

Fuzzy crossed his cage and gripped the bars. Mrs. Krumpton had followed through on her threat already? His throat went drier than a ditch digger in the Sahara Desert.

“They can’t really do that, can they?” asked Natalia, pushing her enormous glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“You girls are well informed.” Miss Wills raised her eyebrows. “I just heard about it myself.”

“You won’t let them kick Fuzzy out, will you?” asked Maya.

“It’s not right,” added Natalia. Several students who’d just walked in echoed her complaint.

The teacher held up a palm. “I agree. It’s a terrible idea to get rid of our classroom pets, and I’ll certainly speak against it at the meeting. But the decision’s not up to me.”

Natalia pouted. “Why not?”

Smoothing the girl’s hair off her forehead, Miss Wills said, “Honey, in our country, the majority rules—even when we don’t like the choices it makes.”

“That’s not fair,” said Natalia.

Miss Wills gave a wry smile. “Tell me about it.”

More and more kids trickled into the classroom, but Fuzzy scarcely noticed. His attention was riveted to the conversation.

“But won’t the principal stop this from happening?” asked Malik, sitting down.

“Mrs. Flake’s power isn’t absolute,” said the teacher. “If the whole school votes to ban pets, there’s not much she can do.

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