Ellray Jakes Walks the Plank Read Online Free Page A

Ms. Sanchez starts to read to us, and we change, too.
    1. Emma and Annie Pat chew on their knuckles during the scary parts, which so far is most of the book.
    2. Fiona bites her lip and draws pictures of whatever Ms. Sanchez is reading. Fiona is the shyest kid in our class, but she’s a really good artist.
    3. Stanley closes his eyes, and Jared and Kevin look at nothing, but they tilt their heads like they are listening in on someone.
    4. And even though some part of me notices the other kids, all I am really seeing is Jim Hawkins, the boy in the book.
    I think Jim Hawkins is pretty much like me, only white. Well,
maybe
he’s white. And he’s a few years older than I am, and probably taller. Most kids are. But differences like that don’t matter, not with books.
    I really like
Treasure Island
.
    In fact, I like it so much that I took it home over spring break, because aboard the ship
Hispaniola
, Jim Hawkins had just overheard Long John Silver—who was supposed to be the ship’s cook—say he was going to kill everyone on the ship who wasn’t a secret pirate. I couldn’t wait a whole week without knowing what was going to happen next, could I?

    How was I supposed to sleep at night?
    So I asked Ms. Sanchez in a quiet voice if I could borrow the book over vacation, and she said yes, which is why
Treasure Island
is now sitting on the chair next to my bed.
    That’s right. I forgot to bring
Treasure Island
back to school today.
    I was kind of busy with a couple of other things, remember?
    “Let’s see. Where could that book be?” Ms. Sanchez says, thinking out loud as she searches her shelves.
    Wriggling around, my class makes an excited rustling noise that sounds like the wind blowing through tree branches on a stormy day. Kids are silently high-fiving each other on this piece of surprise good luck: being read to on a Monday afternoon, instead of having to take a spelling test.
    But of course I sit frozen in my seat.
    “Where did I put that book?” Ms. Sanchez asks herself, tapping her chin with her solid gold pen.
    And all of a sudden, she remembers. “Oh,” she says, and she slides a quick glance in my direction—then looks away.
    Don’t tell, don’t tell,
I think as hard as I can, hoping the words will somehow jump into Ms. Sanchez’s brain, because this would just be one bad thing too many for the kids in my class to forgive. Ever.
    Even Kevin and Corey. They will be ashamed they know me.
    Killing Zip, the class mascot,
and
messing up a surprise story time?
    No way!
    I feel like I am about to WALK THE PLANK .
    I guess Ms. Sanchez gets my silent message, because she says, “Oh, dear. I must have left
Treasure Island
at home. Silly me. Sorry, everyone. I guess we’d better take that quiz after all. Just a short, fun version of it, though.”
    Thank you, Ms. Sanchez
.
    First, thanks for not telling anyone that Alfie killed Zip, and now, thanks for this.
    “No, wait,” Cynthia Harbison says, her eyes getting skinny as she goes back in time inside her head. “
Treasure Island
can’t be at your house, Ms. Sanchez, because EllRay borrowed it. Don’t you remember? Right before vacation?”
    Then Cynthia actually smiles like she expects to be congratulated.
    And all my good feelings crash down around my feet—because Ms. Sanchez might be willing to pretend-forget something to keep a kid frombeing embarrassed in class, but she’s not the type of person who would ever tell a lie. Not once someone else remembered the truth.

    “Oh, yes,” Ms. Sanchez says, sighing. “Do you happen to have it with you, EllRay?”
    “Nope,” I tell her—and everyone else. “Sorry.”
    “Well, that’s okay,” Ms. Sanchez says in her nicest voice. “In fact, it’s perfectly understandable.You had your hands full. Anyway, we’re running too short on time to do the book justice.”
    “Yeah.
Now
we are,” Jared Matthews mumbles, giving me a dirty look.
    “Oh, man,” Stanley says, looking like someone just stole his