Mascot Madness! Read Online Free Page B

ridiculous that I had to laugh . . . and clap. Jenny joined in. So did Jack.
    â€˜If you’re a banana and you know it, then you really ought to show it,’ sang Mr Brainfright loudly. ‘If you’re a banana and you know it, clap your hands!’
    Gretel and Newton joined in, followed by Fiona, David and Grant. By the time Mr Brainfright had started the second round, everyone but Clive was clapping.
    â€˜You know one of the other things I love about bananas?’ said Mr Brainfright, after we’d sung the song for a third time.
    â€˜What?’ said Jack.
    â€˜The word is so much fun to spell!’
    â€˜I love spelling!’ said Fiona excitedly.
    Mr Brainfright wrote it up on the board. ‘Say it with me,’ he said, pointing to each letter as we chanted it.
    â€˜B-a-n-a-n-a-s.’
    â€˜Good!’ boomed Mr Brainfright. ‘Again . . . but louder this time!’
    â€˜B-A-N-A-N-A-S!’ we yelled.
    â€˜THAT’S RIGHT!’ yelled Mr Brainfright, jumping and punching his fist into the air.
    â€˜LET’S GO . . . BANANAS! Now, get up and say it all together: B-A-N-A-N-A-S . . . LET’S GO . . . BANANAS! B-A-N-A-N-A-S . . . LET’S GO . . . BANANAS! B-A-N-A-N-A-S . . . LET’S GO . . . BANANAS!’
    By this time we were all out of our chairs, jumping, punching the air, and yelling ‘B-A-N-A-N-A-S . . . LET’S GO . . . BANANAS!’ as loud as we could. We made a mess of the spelling, but nobody was in doubt about the feeling behind it.
    â€˜This is really fun!’ said Jenny.
    â€˜I feel great!’ said Jack.
    â€˜Me too!’ said Newton, who for once wasn’t looking scared at all.
    â€˜This is all highly irregular,’ shouted David above the noise. He had the school handbook open in front of him and was pointing at a page. ‘Section thirty-one, sub-paragraph three specifically forbids chanting in class.’
    â€˜It most certainly DOES!’ agreed Mrs Cross, who was standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips, but before she could tell Mr Brainfright to control his class and stop making so much noise, she saw the giant banana that was dancing and singing and pointing at the letters onthe blackboard. Her mouth dropped open.
    â€˜Oh, hello, Mrs Cross!’ said Mr Brainfright. ‘Would you be so kind as to point to the letters for me? I’m trying to dance, you see, and the pointing is really cramping my style.’ And with that, he skipped over, put the pointer into her hand and guided her to the front of the room.
    At first, poor Mrs Cross was too surprised to do anything but stand there and point, but as the chant continued, an amazing thing began to happen: the corners of her mouth began to twitch, and spasm, and curl up.
    â€˜Henry!’ cried Newton, alarmed. ‘Something’s wrong with Mrs Cross!’
    I laughed. ‘There’s nothing wrong,’ I reassured Newton. ‘She’s just smiling.’
    And soon she was doing a whole lot more than that. She was singing and dancing and chanting along with the rest of us.
    If we needed any more proof of the power of Mr Brainfright’s banana suit, the sight of Mrs Cross kicking her heels up and smiling was it.
    But there was more to come.
    Plenty more.

15
Principal Greenbeard arrives

    We had just formed a conga line behind Mr Brainfright and were parading and stomping around the room when Principal Greenbeard appeared.
    He was all decked out in a brilliant white suit, looking more like the captain of a ship than a school principal.
    And there was a good reason for this.
    Principal Greenbeard didn’t think that he was a school principal.
    In fact, he didn’t even think that the school was a school.
    He liked to imagine that the school was a big ship and that he was the captain and the staff and students were all members of the crew.
    Principal Greenbeard