Petal's Problems Read Online Free PDF Page A

the bed like me," Petal advised. "Under the bed, no one cares what your nails look like. Really. And it's rather peaceful once you convince yourself that all those dust bunnies don't necessarily mean there are real bunnies about to attack you. In fact—"
    "Oh brother," Rebecca muttered. "Sometimes I'm tempted to leave her under that bed forever. It'd certainly be quieter, and there'd be less stupidity floating around the universe too."
    ***
    But the next day we couldn't leave her under the bed, as much as some of us would have liked to, because the next day was the last day of school.
    Too bad it was also Friday the thirteenth.
    "Oh, this is the absolute worst!" Petal cried. "It's worse than death! It's my power month and the last day of school is Friday the thirteenth? Oh, you can't possibly expect me to—"
    Yank!
    "I don't care how scared you are," Annie said. "It's our last day as third-graders—in September we'll be in fourth grade!—and we are all going."
    ***
    The nice thing about the very last day of the school year is that it's a half day. Another nice thing is that it always feels like a Big Moment. Even if a person isn't having a major graduation, like from kindergarten to grade school or from grade school to high school, it still has that feel. Something is changing. Something is over and something else is beginning. It's like having your birthday. Once you turn eight, you can never be seven again, which is what would happen to us on August 8, 2008, but that moment in time was still in our future.
    We, on the other hand, were still in our present.
    "Before we begin having our last-day-of-school party," the Mr. McG announced, "I'd like to say how pleased I am with the progress you've made in the short time I've been your teacher."
    Mandy Stenko raised her hand. Even though it was the last day of school and we were about to have a party, she was still raising her hand. Who does such a thing? Oh, right. She does.
    "Yes, Mandy?" the Mr. McG said.
    "Can you tell us who our teacher will be when we come back in the fall?" she asked. "It's just that I'm very worried. I heard that the very nice fourth-grade teacher has suddenly decided not to return in the fall"—and here, for some odd reason, Mandy glared at all of us—"and I'd really like to know who the new person will be. You know, so I can think about it all summer long."
    "Sorry," the Mr. McG said, "but I can't give out that information. Besides, I don't want you to worry about school over the summer. I just want you to enjoy yourselves and have fun."
    "Are you joking?" Mandy was shocked.
    "Not at all," the Mr. McG said. He even smiled. Sort of.
    "Can I come up there and feel your forehead?" Durinda asked.
    "It's what Durinda does whenever one of us looks feverish," Marcia said.
    "A rrrrr eally high feve rrrrr can kill a pe rrrrr son," Rebecca pointed out, rolling her r 's again.
    "I am very scared of high fevers," Petal said. "The sniffles too. Those can be terrifying."
    "I don't have a deathly high fever and I think I'd notice if I had the sniffles." The Mr. McG laughed. "I just think kids should enjoy being kids at the appropriate moment. Time and adult responsibilities will catch up with you soon enough."
    Annie couldn't help but snort at this. Adult responsibilities had caught up to all of us to a certain extent when our parents disappeared—or died, as Rebecca would add—but Annie more so than the rest of us.
    "Laze in a hammock," the Mr. McG suggested. "Drink lemonade. Lie on your back in a field and stare up at the puffy clouds, trying to see animal shapes in them."
    "Or go to France," Jackie said.
    The Mr. McG blinked but recovered quickly. "Or"—and here he waved his hand—"you could go to France."
    "Then we don't need to study at all over the summer?" Marcia wondered.
    "It would be nice not to," Georgia said.
    "It would practically be like getting a present," Zinnia said.
    "Don't be ridiculous," the Mr. McG said testily. "Of course you need to