The Great Smelling Bee Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Be a man, Belzer! The new student is just a little nervous on his first day.”
    â€œIt isn’t going to work if he bites everyone!” Belzer said.
    â€œThey’ll just think he’s friendly,” I said.
    Belzer finally finished with the shirt. Then he tucked the baseball cap over Barry’s floppy bulldog ears. “Listen to me. It isn’t going to work, Big B,” Belzer said. “Look. He’s drooling on his shirt.”
    â€œSo does Feenman,” I said. “Let’s go. It’s almost time for class.”
    We led Barry downstairs. We were almost out the door when we ran into Billy the Brain. “Hey, what’s up, guys?” he greeted us.
    â€œJust heading to class,” I said. “Why the big smile, dude?”
    â€œCheck this out,” he said. He flashed a paper in front of me. “I aced the History test, Bernie. I got a forty-eight. Believe it?”
    â€œWow.” I stared at his test paper. He got almost half the questions right! “Good work, Billy,” I said.“Whoa, dude. That will bring up the curve for the whole class.”
    He turned to Barry. “Hey—how’s it going?” he asked the dog.
    Barry stared up at him with his runny brown eyes.
    â€œTransfer student,” I told Billy. “First day.”
    â€œHey, good luck,” Billy said. He reached out his right hand to shake hands with Barry.
    â€œShake,” I whispered. “Shake.”
    Barry raised a paw. They shook hands. Billy hurried off.
    As soon as he was gone, Belzer turned to me. “Bernie—he didn’t even notice. Did you see? Billy the Brain didn’t even notice that Barry is a dog!”

    I scratched my chin. “Maybe we need to think of a new nickname for Billy,” I said.
    Belzer nodded. “You mean, like, Billy the Moron?”
    â€œNo time for that now,” I said. I gave Barry a shove out the door. “Let’s see if we can fool everyone else. If we can’t, I’m in deep trouble.”
    A few minutes later, I walked Barry into Mrs. Heinie’s classroom. “Mrs. H.,” I called. “Here is the new transferstudent. Barry Bone. Where should he sit?”

    I heard a loud BRAAAAAT .
    Mrs. Heinie turned around. She wrinkled up her nose. “OOH. What’s that smell?” she gasped. “What’s that horrible STINK?”
    Kids pinched their fingers over their noses. The classroom filled with moans and groans.
    Barry stared up at Mrs. Heinie, and she stared back at him.
    My legs started to tremble. Would she see that her new student looked a lot like a bulldog?

Chapter 16
H E S PEAKS F RENCH
    The loudspeaker squealed on.

    We heard Headmaster Upchuck clear his throat. “Attention, students,” he said. “Many of you have requested that we use only one -letter words in the Spelling Bee. We have decided that might be too easy. So, the Spelling Bee is canceled. The Smelling Bee is also canceled.”
    Mrs. Heinie stared at my fat bulldog. “Barry, we were just about to start our French lessons,” she said. “Do you speak any French?”
    Barry let out a burp.
    â€œWhat did he say?” Mrs. Heinie asked. “I couldn’t hear.”
    â€œHe said, ‘Oui, Madame, ’” I replied. “He’s very shy. He speaks very quietly.”
    Mrs. Heinie smiled at Barry. “How many years of French have you had?” she asked.
    Barry burped again. Some drool dripped down his chin.

    â€œHe said, ‘ Trois ans, ’” I told her.
    â€œWow. Three years of French! You’re way ahead of our class,” Mrs. H. said. “I’m impressed.”
    Barry was off to a good start.
    â€œHave a seat, Barry,” Mrs. Heinie said.
    â€œHe’ll sit next to me,” I said. I bumped Feenman out of his chair and motioned for Barry to jump up.
    Mrs. Heinie squinted at the dog through her thick glasses. “Let’s start