No Messin' with My Lesson Read Online Free Page A

honest if you’re trying to help someone. But you should do that in private. And sometimes it’s better to keep quiet than to say something that’ll hurt your friend’s feelings. You guys didn’t care whose feelings you hurt.”
    The class stared at her. Mrs. Derkman never called her class you guys . She always called them children or students. Mrs. Derkman sure was acting strange.
    But she was right. And the kids knew it.
    At first, no one said anything. Then, Mandy turned to Kevin. “I guess it wasn’t nice to say you weren’t good in math or sports. You’re really good at basketball.”
    Kevin nodded. “Thanks. And you’re amazing in math. I guess I was just mad that I got the problem wrong.”
    Katie smiled at the class. “I think we should put our math books away. I have a better lesson.” She began to hand out pieces of paper. “I want each of you to make a list of everyone in this class. Then I want you to write one nice thing about each of your class-mates.”
    “I’ll start with George. He’s really funny,” Jeremy said as he began his list.
    “Suzanne has great style,” Becky said, writing on her paper. “And Jeremy is an awesome soccer player.”
    “Zoe is a terrific artist,” Miriam added as she wrote.
    “Manny has good handwriting,” Suzanne murmured as she began to make up her list.
    Before long, the kids were all busy writing. Katie looked back at the contest judge. He seemed really happy to see the students interested in their work!
    But would that be enough for Mrs. Derkman to win the contest?

Chapter 8
    Somehow, Katie managed to get through the rest of the day as Mrs. Derkman. When school ended, she was really tired. Keeping a whole class of third-graders busy and out of trouble wasn’t easy. Katie just wanted to go home and relax.
    But which home should she go to? She couldn’t go to her house. Not as long as she looked like Mrs. Derkman. As she walked home, Katie began to worry. This was the longest she’d ever spent as someone else.
    Katie hoped the magic wind would come back soon. If it didn’t, Katie might wind up eating dinner with Freddy Bear Derkman!
    Just then, the door to Mrs. Derkman’s house swung open. But it wasn’t the magic wind that did it. It was Mr. Derkman.
    “Surprise, Snookums,” he called out as he walked toward Katie. “I got out of work early.”
    “Oh, hello, Mr. Derk . . .” Katie began. “I mean, Freddy Bear.”
    Mr. Derkman reached out his arms. “How about a kissy-poo, Snookums?” he asked. He puckered up his lips for a big smooch.

    Yuck! Katie certainly didn’t want to give Freddy Bear a kissy-poo! But how could she avoid it?
    “Ruff ! Ruff !” Just then, Pepper came running over to Katie. He rubbed his back up against her knees and barked happily. Katie bent down and scratched him gratefully behind the ears.
    Pepper licked Katie on the nose. He knew she wasn’t really Mrs. Derkman. Pepper would know his Katie anywhere.
    But Snowball didn’t know who Katie was. She ran up and sniffed at Katie. Then she looked up, confused. This person looked like her human mommy, she smelled like her human mommy, but somehow Snowball knew that she wasn’t Mrs. Derkman. Snowball began to bark wildly.
    “I guess she’s hungry,” Mr. Derkman said. “I’ll take her inside and give her some food.”
    As Mr. Derkman went back into the house, Katie breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for dogs. But Katie knew she couldn’t avoid kissing Mr. Derkman forever—at least not as long as she was Mrs. Derkman.
    Just then, Katie felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. Katie looked up at the trees. The leaves were still. She looked down at the grass. Not a blade was moving.
    The magic wind was back.
    Within seconds, the wind was swirling around her like a giant tornado. Katie felt like she could be blown away at any minute. Quickly, she grabbed onto a tree and shut her eyes, tight.
    And then it stopped. Just like that.
    Slowly, Katie opened