Dinosaur Boy Read Online Free Page A

Even before my dino gene had made me a vegetarian, the thought of eating dried Bambi strips would have made me want to barf.
    â€œWhat about that one?” Parker asked, reaching a skinny arm around Allan to point at the screen. There were too many heads in the way for me to see what he was talking about.
    â€œCan’t be that one,” Allan argued, his mouth still full. “He doesn’t have anything on his head. What about—”
    â€œThere!” Cecilia Craig interrupted. Cecilia, who preferred to be called Cici, shoved both boys out of the way so she could stick her rather prominent nose right into the thick of things. She gestured triumphantly at the screen. “ That’s totally it.”
    All of the heads around the computer turned to look at me.
    â€œ Stegosaurus ,” Allan said, grinning so hard I thought his face might rip apart. He had really thick eyebrows, which sort of loomed over both of his eyes so that even his smiles tended to look like frowns. “Definitely Stegosaurus .”
    â€œI could have told you that,” I muttered. “I know what I am.”
    â€œNobody asked you, Spikey,” Allan said, and turned back to the computer. “Let’s see. Stegosaurus. A big but gentle herbivore from the late Jurassic period. Identifiable by two rows of bony plates and a spiked tail…Could have weighed up to four tons…native to western North America…”
    â€œBoring,” Cici singsonged. She flung her hair back over her shoulder, spraying a few drops of water in my direction. Cici had swim practice every morning before school, so her long, mousy brown hair was always a little bit damp. “Skip to the good stuff.”
    â€œ Stegosaurus had an unusually small head ,” Allan continued. “ w ith a brain roughly the size of a walnut— ”
    â€œA walnut!” Parker exclaimed, turning to fix his beady eyes on me. He was scowling, as usual, and he looked just as mean as the Angry Bird on his bright red shirt. “You hear that, Sawyer? Did it hurt when your brain shrank?”
    â€œShut up, Parker,” Elliot said loyally. “Obviously his brain didn’t shrink.”
    â€œStay out of it, Gigantor,” Cici hissed. “We’ll look up what kind of dinosaur you are next.”
    â€œI am not a dinosaur,” Elliot fumed, then immediately looked guilty. He turned to me. “Sorry, Sawyer. It’s not that I’d mind being one. It’s just that I’m—”
    â€œYou guys, you guys ,” Allan interrupted, waving everybody silent. “Listen to this: Because of its small head size and the existence of a mysterious cavity in its upper hip region, some scientists have theorized that Stegosaurus had a supplementary brain located in its hindquarters.”
    â€œA supplementary brain?” Cici sniffed. “In its hindquarters? You mean its—”
    â€œButt,” Allan finished, turning around so that I could see the victorious grin on his oversized face. “I mean its butt . This article is saying that Spikey here probably has a brain in his butt .”
    Every kid in the room, except for Elliot and me, started laughing hysterically. I stared down at the keyboard in front of me, burning with embarrassment. I couldn’t look up. Especially when, over the deafening laughter, I heard Parker start chanting, “Butt Brain! Butt Brain! Butt Brain!”
    It had been a huge mistake to come back to school.
    I sneaked a glance over at Mr. Broome, but he was still passed out like a useless lump. At that point, I doubt he could have done anything to bring the room back to order anyway. Elliot’s weak protests on my behalf were being drowned out by Allan’s booming laughter and Cici’s deafening cackle. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Parker stand up on a chair. His red shirt hung loosely on his skinny frame as he raised his hands like a conductor and led his whole