Class Is Not Dismissed! by Gitty Daneshvari

Author:Gitty Daneshvari [DANESHVARI, GITTY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
ISBN: 9780316122887
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2010-09-14T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

EVERYONE’S AFRAID OF SOMETHING:

Neophobia is the fear of anything new.

Time check?” Mrs. Wellington barked at Schmidty as she crossed two lanes of traffic without looking.

“You know when you’re having a nightmare and you realize it’s only a dream, and this sudden relief comes over you?” Theo whimpered. “I really want that to happen now.”

“I said time check, Schmidty,” Mrs. Wellington roared as she barreled down Highway 90 without any regard for staying in her lane.

“We have an hour, so Madame, might I ask you to refrain from driving in reverse on the road,” Schmidty said as he gripped the dashboard with white knuckles. “And please try to stay within the lines, or at the very least near them.”

“Is this how all Americans drive on the motorway?” Madeleine whined. “No wonder people complain about American tourists.”

Mrs. Wellington weaved between two large trucks before hitting the brakes, then speeding up, then hitting the brakes again.

“Celery feels kind of carsick from all these maneuvers,” Hyacinth announced.

“Celery’s lucky we’re still alive,” Theo said, before wiping his sweaty brow and bursting into tears. “I don’t want to die on an empty stomach!”

“Theo,” Garrison said, leaning forward to grab his shoulders, “you need to calm down. You have your seat belt on, and the van has air bags. You’ll definitely survive.”

“Um, I think I speak for all of us when I say we want to do more than survive. We want to avoid an accident altogether. Do you hear me, old lady in the tutu?” Lulu screamed while covering her now throbbing left eye.

“Would it be terribly inconvenient to stop by a hardware store on the way to the pageant?” Madeleine asked. “I would love to get a proper veil and some repellents.”

“Now is hardly the time,” Theo said to Madeleine with immense satisfaction.

“Hey, Mrs. Wellington?” Garrison croaked as he watched the elderly woman apply lipstick in the rearview mirror. “I think you’ve forgotten something.”

“What’s that, Sporty?”

“That you’re driving!”

“Oh, so I am,” Mrs. Wellington said, grabbing the wheel and jerking it abruptly in the other direction.

The van weaved across numerous lanes of traffic, setting off a storm of honks and clouds of burning rubber. Cars literally came to a grinding halt as the van careened across the highway, perilously close to causing a pileup.

“Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Theo yelled before putting his hands over his eyes.

“Isn’t that polite, all these drivers making room for me? Oh, and a parade’s coming!”

“Madame, I believe that’s a police officer,” intoned Schmidty.

“Oh, don’t be silly, there’s music.”

“That’s the siren.”

“The what?”

“Pull over, Madame.”

“We don’t have time. We are in a terrible hurry. You know you can’t be late to a pageant, especially when someone’s blackmailing you.”

“Yes, but I’m afraid we must make time or they may arrest us.”

“Arrest us? Absolutely not. I refuse to have my mug shot taken when my wig is in such a state!”

“Madame,” Schmidty pressed on firmly, “you must stop.”

Mrs. Wellington sighed loudly before slamming on the brakes.

“Madame! No! You have to pull off the highway.”

“Honestly, all these rules. It’s a terrible headache of useless information.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.