school.
The only one who wasnât happy was Andrea. She was looking at her watch.
âNow weâve missed music class,â she complained.
That was fine with me. I hate music.
âYâknow,â Michael said, âmaybe Mrs. Kormel isnât a bus driver at all. Did you ever think of that?â
âYeah,â Ryan said. âMaybe she captured our real bus driver and has her tied up in a cave. Stuff like that happens all the time, you know.â
âStop trying to scare Emily,â Andrea said.
âMaybe weâre being kidnapped,â I added. âMaybe Mrs. Kormel is driving us to her secret underground hideout at the North Pole, where sheâs going to do unspeakable things to us.â
âLike what things?â Emily asked, all worried.
âI canât tell you,â I told her. âTheyâre unspeakable!â
âWeâve got to do something!â Emily said. âI donât want to go to the North Pole!â
That girl will fall for everything. Emily probably wanted to run away. But there was no place to run. She was stuck on the bus. So she started crying. What a baby!
Once Emily started crying, it set off achain reaction and other kids started crying, too. Some of the first graders said they wanted their mommies. Some kid peed in his pants. Everyone was freaking out.
The fifth graders made a sign and put it in the back windowâ HELP ! OUR BUS DRIVER IS DRIVING US CRAZY !
I didnât cry. I figured that it would be pretty horrible to be kidnapped and driven to the North Pole, but at least we wouldnât have to go to school anymore. And they have penguins at the North Pole too. Or maybe thatâs the South Pole. Either way, penguins are cool.
âAre we there yet?â somebody asked.
âKNOCK IT OFF!â yelled Mrs. Kormel.
11
We Finally Meet the Nude Kid
The bus turned a corner, and we saw the big signâ ELLA MENTRY SCHOOL .
âWeâre there yet!â announced Mrs. Kormel.
âYippee!â yelled all the girls.
âBoo!â yelled all the boys.
Mrs. Kormel pulled the bus up to the curb, and Mr. Klutz came running over.
âBingle boo!â he said. âWhatââ
But he never got the chance to finish his sentence because, at that moment, the weirdest thing in the history of the world happened.
Mrs. Kormel must have leaned against the magic STOP sign button by accident. Because the magic STOP sign on the side of the bus swung out at the exact same time as Mr. Klutz arrived. The STOP sign smackedMr. Klutz on the side of his bald head! He fell down! It was a real Kodak moment.
Those STOP signs are dangerous!
We all rushed off the bus to see if Mr. Klutz was okay. He stood up slowly. He looked like heâd been in a fight, or heâd drunk too much beer.
âW-what happened?â he asked.
âThe STOP sign hit you in the head,â said Mrs. Kormel. âIâm so sorry.â
âNo, I mean why were you so late?â asked Mr. Klutz.
Everybody started telling Mr. Klutz what happened.
âWe had a flat tire!â
âWe got kidnapped and drove to the North Pole!â
âWe went to the nude kidâs house!â
âA.J. threw a doll out the window!â
âRyan ate his seat cushion!â
âWe got lost in the rainforest!â
âWe pushed the bus out of a ditch!â
âWe had a funeral for Striker Smithâs head!â
âWell, Iâm just glad youâre all safe!â said Mr. Klutz.
âDid we miss the big spelling test?â asked Andrea.
âOh, your teacher Miss Daisy was out sick today,â said Mr. Klutz. âSo your class had a substitute teacher named Ms. Todd. Youâll have your spelling test tomorrow.â
âYippee!â yelled all the girls.
âBoo!â yelled all the boys.
While we were yelling, the school bell rang. The front door opened, and kids started pouring