Keena Ford and the Second-Grade Mix-Up (4 page)

She did not.

She said, “Keena, when did you first know that Ms. Campbell thought your birthday was today?”

“Yesterday,” I admitted.

“Why did you not tell her right away that your birthday is in February?” she asked.

I didn’t answer for a little while. Then I whispered, “Because of the chocolate cake.”

Mom stared at me. Then she said, “Keena, your teacher spent time making you a birthday cake when it wasn’t your birthday. Maybe you didn’t lie on purpose, but you didn’t tell the truth either. I am very disappointed in you.” She frowned at me. Then she said something that was even worse than being disappointed. She said, “I want you to go back in that classroom right now and tell your teacher and classmates the truth.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I whispered. Then I stood still for a long time.

“NOW, Keena,” she said.

When we walked back into the room, all of the other girls were sitting at their desks eating cake. “Your cake is on your desk, Keena,” Ms. Campbell said. “And we saved a piece for you, Ms. Ford,” she told my mom.

“Thank you, Ms. Campbell, but Keena has something she needs to tell you and the class,” my mom said. “Go ahead, Keena.”

I looked at the floor. “My birthday is February 9,” I whispered.

“Speak up, Keena,” my mom said sternly.

I closed my eyes tightly. “My birthday,” I said louder, “is February 9.”

I opened my eyes and looked at Ms. Campbell. She looked at me and then at Mom. “I’m afraid I don’t understand,” she said.

“Keena wrote her birthday backwards,” Mom explained. “So you thought her birthday was today. Then she did not tell you the truth. I am very disappointed in her behavior. And I am sorry that you went to all that trouble to make a cake.” Then Mom turned and looked at me. “Keena,” she said, “I am going to have to think about your punishment. I will see you at home.” Then she left the classroom.

I stood in the front of the room alone. I felt very, very small.

Ms. Campbell took the piece of cake off my desk. She looked very serious. “Keena, I know this started as a numbers mistake. But you should have told me the truth. So you do not get to eat any cake. And you know what else?”

I waited for her to send me to Mr. Lemon’s time-out classroom. But she didn’t. She said, “I think we need a lesson in how to write the date using numbers. Take your seat, Keena.”

Then Ms. Campbell showed us how to use numbers to write the date. Even though I will never, ever forget how to write the date using numbers, I think I’ll stick to writing out the name of the month from now on.

When I got home, Mom said, “Keena, I have decided that you will not be allowed to watch TV or have dessert for one week. I also want you to go to your room right after dinner and think about what you did wrong.” I nodded. “Also,” she said, “I bought you a bottle of ginger ale when I thought you were sick. But you lied to me about being sick, so I am going to give your ginger ale to Brian.” I nodded again, but I felt sad. Ginger ale is my favorite drink. I also felt sad because I knew Brian would make fun of me when he heard about my big fat lie.

Brian just came into my room. He was holding the ginger ale bottle. “Mom told me about your fake birthday,” he said. “That was really dumb, Keena.”

“I know,” I said.

“I was wondering why you were asking me all those questions.” Brian was smiling like he was about to laugh at me.

I felt my face get warm again.

Then Brian said, “Sorry you got so confused.” He set the ginger ale bottle on my bedside table. “You can have that if you want,” he said. Then he started walking out of the room. “Don’t tell Mom,” he said over his shoulder.

“Thanks, Brian,” I said. But I don’t think he heard me.

So I got a piece of white paper and some crayons out of my art box. I drew a tall boy wearing shorts and a T-shirt. “BEST BROTHER!” I wrote in big letters. Even though I wasn’t supposed to leave my room, I tiptoed into the hallway. Brian’s door was closed. I slid the paper under his door and ran back to my room. I looked at the ginger ale. It felt like a birthday present. I put the bottle in a drawer and jumped into bed.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

10:30 A.M.

 

 

This morning I didn’t want to go to school. I thought Ms. Campbell hated me for sure. But when I got to the classroom, she just smiled and said, “Good morning, Keena,” like I was not a big fat liar. So I felt better.

While Ms. Campbell was still in the hall saying good morning to the students, Tiffany Harris came into the room. “You don’t even know your own birthday,” she said in a very mean voice. “Are you going to say today is your birthday too?” Then she stuck her tongue out at me.

I was about to call her a mean name, when Linny Berry said, “It’s not nice to tease someone who made a mistake. So just close your mouth, Tiffany.” I looked at Linny. “Thank you,” I said. But she looked away. I guess she still hates me. Maybe she just hates Tiffany even more.

After all of the girls were sitting at their desks, Ms. Campbell said, “I think today is a good day to make the list of rules for our classroom. You are going to work with a partner to come up with some ideas for class rules. Then you will share your list with the class.” Guess who she said had to be my partner?

Linny Berry.

Linny moved her chair near my desk. And we both looked at our knees for about one minute. Then I looked at Linny. I said in my quiet voice, “Maybe we should make a rule that you should not take someone’s green crayon. Even if you didn’t mean to.”

Linny said, “That is a good rule, Keena.”

Then she said, “I’m sorry I didn’t invite you to my birthday party.”

I said, “I’m sorry I called you a very bad name. Three times.”

Then Linny said maybe we should make a rule that you shouldn’t call anyone a very bad name. I told her that was a good rule. And Ms. Campbell thought we had good rules too! Although she didn’t understand about the green crayon. She said we shouldn’t take someone else’s crayon of any color. Linny smiled at me when she said that. I think we are going to be friends! I think Friday is my lucky day!

Friday is the most terrible day in the whole wide world. I am in time-out with Mr. Lemon.

 

 

Here’s what happened: When we went outside to play after lunch, Ms. Hanson was outside with the boy class. I saw Eric waiting for me at the monkey bars. That is our favorite place to play. But then Linny Berry said, “Hey, do you want to play on the slide?” I decided I should probably play with Linny so she would be my friend for sure. So I said yes. Linny and I started taking turns on the slide. We were sliding pretty fast. Then Linny said, “Hey! Watch this!” She went down the slide headfirst. I was about to go down the slide headfirst too, when I heard Ms. Campbell say, “Linny Berry! That is not safe. Please have a seat.” I decided that going down the slide headfirst wasn’t such a good idea if it meant I would have to sit down. So I went over to the monkey bars and started talking to Eric. I told him that Linny Berry and I were going to be friends! I told him all about our class rules and how Linny said she was sorry that she didn’t invite me to her birthday party. I thought Eric would be very excited.

But Eric didn’t look excited. He said, “Oh yeah? Well Ms. Hanson said that we don’t have to follow ANY rules. And she said that she made a pudding pie for us. She said that she is going to make a pudding pie for us every day.”

I was so amazed. Pudding pie? Every day?

“I wish I could be in your class when you eat pudding pie,” I said to Eric.

“Well, too bad for you,” he said in kind of a mean way. But I didn’t say anything back. I could only think about that pudding pie. When I eat pudding pie, I like to drink milk. The last time my mom made pudding pie, I drank three glasses of milk.

Thinking about all of that milk made me have to go to the bathroom REALLY bad.

So I asked Ms. Campbell if I could go inside and go to the bathroom. I waited for her to say, “No, Keena, we will stop at the bathroom on our way back to class.” But she didn’t. She said . . .

“Sure, Keena, that would be fine.”

So I went to the bathroom. After I went to the bathroom I think I was supposed to go right back outside. But I didn’t. I went into Ms. Hanson’s classroom. I was walking by her door when I noticed that there was a very sharp pencil on every desk. Why did they have pencils? They were supposed to write in pen. So I walked into the classroom to look for the pens. I didn’t see pens anywhere. I DID see a big, long list of rules taped to the wall.

Just then I heard the bell ring. I knew I should run back outside. Or at least GET OUT of Ms. Hanson’s classroom. But I didn’t. I needed to look for one more thing.

I needed to look for pudding pie.

I looked on the table at the front of the room. There was no pudding pie. I didn’t see pudding pie on the bookshelf. So I walked to the back of the room where Ms. Hanson’s desk faced the door. That’s when I heard a lot of feet outside the door. Ms. Hanson’s class was back!