It's Raining Benjamins Read Online Free PDF Page B

the first time Dorinda has ever stuck up for me. One day, me and Bubbles had a big fight, right on the sidewalk outside of my house. Bubbles stormed off, and Dorinda went running after her and left me standing there on the sidewalk.
    â€œOh, squash it, Do’, I know!” Bubbles snaps, then rolls her eyes at me.
    â€œI’m sorry, okay?” I hiss.
    â€œThat’s cool, we’ll just go with the flow—like I said,” Bubbles retorts.
    We stand there, silent, trying to plan our next move, but I should’ve known we weren’t getting off the hambone hook that easy. All of a sudden, we hear Derek rolling down the hallway, calling us out.
    As soon as he has us in his sights, he moans, “Yo, Cheetah Girls, your product is
fowl
like a nearsighted
owl
!”
    â€œTell me this isn’t happening!” Bubbles moans. “I wish I could use Wacky Glue on Derek’s trap!”
    Bubbles tries to squash the situation. “Derek, hold up—”
    But Derek isn’t having it. “Cheetah Girl, what you trying to do to me? You got jokes or something?” Derek asks, handing Bubbles the choker we sold him earlier.
    â€œW-what do you mean?” Bubbles asks him, stuttering. We all stand there, pretending we don’t know a tropical storm like Furious Flo is blowing our way—again.
    â€œYou
know
what I mean,” Derek says, sucking on his lollipop, and posturing like he’s ready to pounce—on us. “I’m on my way to English class, where I’m supposed to be dropping knowledge, and instead I’m dropping letters from the alphabet—like I’m Daffy Duck, or Elmo on
Sesame Street
!” Derek resumes sucking on his lollipop. He’s waiting for Bubbles to explain.
    Cheez whiz, I’m thinking,
someone musta told Derek that we call him Daffy Duck, too
! Dorinda is the one who thought of that one.
    Galleria hasn’t opened her mouth, so Derek starts in again. “All I wanna say is, if this is the best joke you got, I got jokes for you, too—but you’re gonna have to pay me just to hear them. In the meantime, you can gimme back my ten dollars!”
    â€œDerek, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sell you a wack choker. It just happened,” Bubbles whimpers. She reaches into her cheetah wallet to give him back his ten dollars.
    â€œWord, Derek, we didn’t know what we were doing,” Do’ Re Mi offers, trying to be super-
simpático
.
    â€œMack, did you hear an echo or something?” Derek says, looking at Mackerel, then looking around like he can’t figure out who’s talking. Finally, he looks down at Do’ Re Mi. “Oh, shortie! Was that you? You got something to say to me?”
    â€œDerek, don’t go there—” Bubbles tries to counter, but he cuts her off.
    â€œNo. Shame on
you
, Cheetah Girl, ’cuz I’m not the ‘shay-mo’ you think I am. As a matter of fact,
you
are. And you’d better go back to Finger Painting 101 before you start acting like you ‘all that’—ayiight?” He throws the metal letters that fell off his choker on the ground in front of us. “’Cuz you definitely got an F on your report card for social studies.”
    â€œ
Awwriight
,” seconds Mackerel, handing the choker he bought back to Bubbles, too—and taking
another
ten dollars from her.
    â€œYou gotta have skills to pay the bills, Cheetah Girls—not jokes!” Derek yells all the way down the hallway, heckling with Mackerel. The two of them sound like hyenas, heading back to the hills to pounce on more innocent prey.
    â€œLet’s bounce,” Bubbles mumbles, leading us toward the exit. “We’re gonna have to be late for next period. We need to get outside and bounce from this situation.”
    * * *
    â€œWe’re definitely gonna have to regroup,” Do’ Re Mi says, sighing, as we sit on the steps in front of the