Miss Holly Is Too Jolly! Read Online Free PDF Page A

get married?” asked Michael.
    I told them to shut up. Andrea gave me the present. I tore off the wrapping paper and the dumb bow (which serves no purpose anyway). Then I opened the box. And do you know what was inside?
    I’m not going to tell you.
    Okay, okay, I’ll tell you.
    It was a hat.
    A hat! Who gets a kid a hat? A hat isn’t a present. A hat is clothes. It was horrible.Not only that, but it looked just like the dumb hat Andrea wears all the time.

    â€œI knitted it myself,” Andrea said, “in my knitting class.”
    â€œHow wonderful, Andrea!” said Miss Daisy. “A homemade present is so much nicer than something you buy in a store.A.J., what do you say to Andrea?”
    No way was I going to wear a hat that looked just like Andrea’s dumb hat. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to do. I had to think fast.
    â€œI hate hats,” I said.
    â€œYou’re mean!” Andrea said.
    Miss Daisy made me apologize to Andrea, so I told her I was sorry she made me a dumb hat.
    â€œWho is Emily’s Secret Santa?” asked Miss Daisy.
    â€œI am,” I said.
    I took out the present and gave it to Emily. I was so excited because my present was way cooler than all the others.She opened it up.
    â€œWhat is it?” everybody asked.
    Emily pulled the plastic bag out of the box and started crying.
    â€œIt’s a dead fish!” she sobbed. “I can’t believe you got me a dead fish for Christmas, A.J.!”
    â€œIt wasn’t dead when I got it!” I said. “And there were two of them. Where’s the other one?”
    â€œThey must have eaten each other,” said Ryan. “Stuff like that happens all the time with fish, you know.”

    â€œMan, that’s twenty cents I wasted,” I said.
    â€œThis is going to be a terrible Christmas,” Emily cried as she went running out of the room, “and A.J. is responsible!”
    See? I told you I was responsible.

12
The Big Holiday Pageant
    Finally the day of the big holiday pageant arrived. Everybody came to school in their costumes. Miss Holly wore a Santa suit. Me and Ryan and Michael wore black jackets and had our hair greased up so we looked like Elvis. It was cool.
    We peeked through the curtains frombackstage. The all-purpose room was packed with parents. A bunch of them were setting up video cameras to record the show.
    â€œGuess what?” Miss Holly said. “Dr. Carbles, the president of the Board of Education, is here! He’s sitting in the front row! Let’s put on a great show for him.”
    The stage was decorated with big candy canes, snowmen, fake snow, and agiant reindeer. It looked great. Miss Holly nodded to me and Ryan and Michael. We pulled a long rope to open the curtain.

    The show started out with one of the fifth-grade classes telling the story of Christmas. After that me and Michael and Ryan sang “Hound Dog.” Everybody went crazy! After that one of the fourth-grade classes told the story of Kwanzaa. After that we sang “Winter Wonderland.” After that one of the third-grade classes told the story of Hanukkah. After that Emily sang “The Dreidel Song.”
    â€œDreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay….”
    Me and Michael and Ryan were takingturns working the spotlight, and it was my turn. I shone the light on Emily while she sang and spun around.
    â€œThe light is too high, A.J.,” Ryan said. “You’re shining it in her eyes.”
    â€œI am not,” I said.
    â€œAre too,” he said.
    We went back and forth like that for a while, but we didn’t get the chance to finish the argument, because the most amazing thing in the history of the world happened.
    While Emily was singing and spinning around, she must have slipped on some fake snow or something because she fell off the stage! You should have beenthere! When Emily was falling, she tried to grab hold of the