The Secret Cookie Club Read Online Free PDF Page B

has straight light brown hair, a small nose, and green eyes. On her jaw there is a mole like a squashed flea.
    â€œOkay, we have to work together, so let’s get this over with.” Shoshi pulled her notebook out of her backpack along with a pink gel pen.
    I didn’t say anything.
    â€œCat got your tongue?” she asked.
    â€œWhat? No,” I said.
    â€œDo you agree we should get this over with?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œGood,” said Shoshi. “So what’s going to happen is you find the ten facts and write them and then I do the illustrations for them. I’m good at art. Later this week, you e-mail me the facts you find, and if they’re okay, then I’ll start my part.”
    If I had said, “Okay,” the meeting would’ve been over, which would’ve been good. But it was irritating to be told what to do. I could feel Snot-Nosed Grace wanting to speak up, but I tried to keep my voice normal. “No,”I said. “You do five facts and illustrate them, and so will I. Then we’ll read each other’s to make sure they’re okay.”
    Shoshi scowled. “My way’s better because I’m good at art.”
    Besides Snot-Nosed Grace, there is something else about me that isn’t entirely nice. Sometimes I have a bad temper. Most of the time it doesn’t show because most of the time I am not arguing with anybody, but now I felt my temper building like steam in a teakettle. To cool it down, I took a breath. “No,” I said. “My way’s better because it’s more fair.”
    Shoshi tipped her chair back and shook her head. “You really do think you’re smarter than everyone else, don’t you? Well, you’re not.”
    Now my temper burst out in a squawk. “I never said I was!”
    â€œ And you’re stuck-up.”
    â€œOh yeah? Well, you’re a bully.”
    â€œYou’re a runt.”
    â€œAt least I don’t slouch.”
    By this time everyone from room 111 was staring, and Mrs. Collins the librarian was striding toward us. “ Girls! What has gotten into you?”
    Shoshi jumped up. “She started it!”
    And then I was on my feet too. “No, I didn’t—she did!”

CHAPTER 11

    Grace
    The principal of my school is Mrs. Lila Barnes. Her short gray hair and black-rimmed glasses make her look serious, but for holidays she wears ugly sweaters, and sometimes for no reason she wears a light-up headband or pink high-tops covered in sequins.
    It was 2:56 p.m. when Shoshi and I arrived in her office. There were only ten minutes left till the firstbus bell, and Mrs. Barnes probably didn’t expect new discipline problems that day.
    I’m sure she didn’t expect Shoshi and me.
    â€œI trust you two can take the long walk to Mrs. Barnes’s office together without further incident,” Mrs. Collins had said. “Now go.”
    And we did, me walking a couple of steps behind Shoshi, neither of us saying anything.
    In the outer office, the school secretary told us to take a seat and wait. By this time, my temper had turned from hot steam to icy dread. The wait was probably only two minutes, but it was the longest two minutes of my life. I had never been in trouble before. My stomach was tied in a knot.
    Of course Shoshi did not deserve any sympathy. But I did wonder a little bit if she might be feeling the same. She was sitting right here next to me, both of us here for the same reason. In a strange way, we were bound together.
    The door to Mrs. Barnes’s inner office opened, and she looked out at us, sitting side by side. “Come in, young ladies.”
    We went, and Mrs. Barnes gestured at two orange plastic chairs across from her desk. We both sat down. The seat felt hard and uncomfortable.
    â€œShouting in the library? Calling each other names?” Mrs. Barnes shook her head sadly. “That’s what Mrs. Collins said when she phoned. I