The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room Read Online Free PDF Page A

nice air.
    There were people outside. Mothers with baby carriages. Three little kids were running back and forth across the school lawn.
    Richard wondered what they'd think if they saw something fly out the window.
    Something like a plane.
    He spotted some white paper on the nurse's desk. He reached for a piece.

    Quickly he folded it into a plane. He couldn't wait to see what the kids would do. Maybe they wouldn't see it come from the window. Maybe they'd think it came from somewhere else.
    Somewhere far away. Outer space.
    He shot it out the window.
    It sailed a little bit. Then it settled down on the school lawn.
    No one even saw it. One of the kids ran right over it.
    Richard reached for another paper and sailed it out the window.
    This time a little girl spotted it. She ran to get it.
    Richard thought he'd make another one. Maybe two. One for each kid. He'd sail them out the window together. Use both hands.
    He opened the window a little more. Then he took the new planes, one in each hand, and—
    “What
are you doing?” said a voice. “Just what is going on?”
    It was Mrs. Ames. She looked cranky.
    Before Richard had time to answer, she said,“Richard Best. Go back to your classroom. I'm going to report you to your teacher. And to Mr. Mancina.”
    Richard threw the planes in the wastebasket. Slowly he walked back to the gym. He wondered what everyone would think when they saw him without a bandage. Without any raisins.
    He wondered what everyone would say when they heard that he had been reported.
    His class had just lost the banner for the week. And it was all his fault.

Chapter 9

    Richard was right. The second grade didn't win the banner. The next day Mr. Mancina told them over the loudspeaker that Mrs. Kettle's class had won.
    For a couple of days Richard didn't tell anyone it was his fault.
    On Thursday, just before spelling, he told Emily.
    For a minute Emily looked as if she were going to get mad. But then she raised her shoulders in the air. “Don't worry,” she said. “We'll get it next time.”
    But she didn't look as if she really believed it.
    And Richard didn't either. He was always doing something wrong.
    Today they were having spelling partners. It was just his luck that Matthew was his spellingpartner. Matthew sat down at his desk, practically on top of him.
    “Only ten minutes to study together,” Ms. Rooney called from the front of the room. “The test is in ten …no, nine minutes from now.”
    “Spelling is easy,” Matthew said. He grinned at Richard and shuffled through the pages of the spelling book. “Here it is, lesson four.”
    Richard inched his chair away from Matthew a little. He looked down at the ten spelling words for lesson four.
    He hated spelling.
    Last night his mother made Holly go over all his spelling words with him.
    Holly didn't ask the words one-two-three the way he wanted her to. She skipped around and mixed him all up.
    Then she got mad when he made mistakes.
    “Spelling is easy,” Matthew said again. “All you have to do is stick some little words together. Turn them into big ones.”
    “Like what?”

    Matthew scratched at his ear. “Like what? Let me see. Like Noah.”
    “Noah?”
    “You know—Noah.” Matthew pointed to the seat next to his. “By the window.”
    Richard nodded. “What about him?”
    “Do you know how to spell his name?”
    Richard shook his head. “No.”
    “Easy,” Matthew said. “You know how to spell w/?”
    “Everybody knows how to—”
    “Do you know how to spell a?”
    Richard nodded again.
    “Stick them together,” Matthew said. “Go ahead.”
    “No, a,” Richard said. “N-o-a,” he spelled out loud. “Hey. You're right.”
    “It's time to put your spellers away now,” Ms. Rooney said. “Take out a piece of white paper.”
    Matthew went back to his seat. Richard took out his looseleaf book.
    All the pages looked a little crumpled. Most of them had drawings all over them.
    He pulled out a piece and looked at