Look at Lucy! Read Online Free PDF Page B

Monday at school, it was time to deal with Worry #1. Mrs. Lee said, “I’m sorry the fire drill interrupted our oral reports. We’ll get back to them later today.”
    All morning Bobby worried. He worriedthrough math and he worried through spelling. It was raining hard during recess, so the class stayed inside. Mrs. Lee read from
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
. Bobby barely heard her, and he loved that book.
    Soon it was almost lunchtime. Maybe he wouldn’t have to give his report until the afternoon. Then he had an even better thought. Maybe Mrs. Lee would forget it was his turn. Or what if she thought he had finished his report before the fire-drill bell rang? That would be great!
    But at eleven forty-five, Mrs. Lee said, “Let’s get to some reports.”
    Mrs. Lee looked around the room. Bobby held his breath. Then her eyes landed right on him. “I think you were speaking when the bell rang, right, Bobby?”
    “Yes, ma’am,” he whispered. Bobbydragged himself to the front of the room.
    “All right, Bobby. Start over, and speak up nice and loud,” Mrs. Lee said.
    Bobby looked at all his classmates looking back at him. He felt a little dizzy. He fixed his eyes on the clock at the back of the room. “My name is Bobby Quinn. I live with my parents. I like to draw superheroes….” Bobby rushed along. “And I have a beagle named Lucy. I got her this summer for my birthday. Any questions?”
    That was how Mrs. Lee told them to end their reports, by asking if the class had any questions. Hoping there weren’t any, Bobby turned to go back to his seat.
    “Bobby,” a familiar voice called.
    Oh no! Candy had raised her hand. Bobby frowned. Some friend.
    “Bobby, you should tell the class abouthow Lucy won the contest on Saturday,” Candy said.
    Bobby could feel his face getting hot. That was a long story.
    “Did Lucy win that contest at Pet-O-Rama?” Mrs. Lee asked.
    Bobby nodded.
    “I almost entered my kitten in that contest. Tell us about it,” Mrs. Lee said.
    “Well…,” Bobby shyly began, “the contest was out behind the Pet-O-Rama store. I came with Lucy. Shawn brought his mouse, Twitch.”
    “I was there, too,” Candy said, waving her hand. “With my dog, Butch.”
    “Yes, Butch was there.” Bobby didn’t mention the trouble Butch had caused.
    “Was there lots going on?” Mrs. Lee asked.

    “There was pretty good food, and music, and balloons, and stuff.”
    “What kind of pets were there?” Dexter called from his seat.
    “Dogs, cats, even a ferret,” Bobby remembered. “The judges thought Lucy wasthe best.” For the first time during his report, Bobby smiled.
    “What did she win?” Grace asked.
    “A blue ribbon. And some free dog food,” Bobby said.
    “Don’t forget she’s got a chance to be thePet-O-Rama spokespet,” Shawn reminded him.
    “What’s a spokespet?” one of the kids wanted to know.
    Bobby explained about the next contest. He felt a little knot in his stomach when he talked about the television commercials. The other kids thought it would be great to be in a commercial.
    “Television! That would be awesome,” Dexter said. “You and Lucy would rock!”
    Everyone in the class seemed to agree.
    “Well, thank you, Bobby. That report was wonderful,” Mrs. Lee said. “We’ll all be eager to hear if Lucy wins the next contest.”
    Bobby went back to his seat. Grace got up to give her report. But Bobby was thinking about what had just happened. He had been very, very nervous when he startedspeaking. Then everyone was so interested in Lucy and the contest. Talking to his classmates had seemed easy. He couldn’t quite believe it.
    When Bobby got home from school, he and his mom took Lucy for her walk. He told her what had happened.
    Mrs. Quinn pulled her sweater around her. It was getting cold. “Well, Bobby, you were talking about something interesting and exciting. The other kids thought it was interesting and exciting, too.”
    “I was talking about Lucy,”