stinks !â Upchuck said. âBut I donât care ! Bernie and his friends are going to Preppy Prep Prep. Good-bye, boys, and good luck!â
Chapter 10
BELZERâS PPP PROBLEM
A week later, Feenman, Crench, Belzer, and I stared out the windows as our bus pulled up to the Preppy Prep Prep campus. We gazed at a field of white and yellow flowers, a wide, green lawn, tennis courts, and tall buildings covered in ivy.
Two girls trotted past us on horseback. âCheck out the stables over there,â I said, pointing to a long, red-roofed building.
âBernie, what are those kids doing with those hammers?â Belzer asked.
I squinted out at the lawn. âThose arenât hammers.Theyâre mallets. Theyâre playing croquet,â I said.
âCan you hit each other with those things?â Belzer asked. âThat would be cool !â
The bus came to a stop. The four of us eagerly jumped off.
A boy and a girl came running across the parking lot to greet us. They both had wavy blond hair and blue eyes and big smiles on their tanned faces. They wore their official PPP school uniformsâwhite polo shirts and khaki shorts.
âWeâre the Welcoming Committee,â the girl said. âIâm Alli Katz, and this is my friend Corky Pigge.â
I flashed them my best smile, the one with the adorable dimples. Then I introduced myself and my three buddies.
âWhat happened to your nose?â Alli asked Feenman. âItâs totally inside out.â
âA tiny accident,â I said. âNo big deal. He can still breathe through his mouth.â
Alli pulled out a clipboard. She thumbed through several pages. âYour bus is two minutes late,â she said. âBut we can make up the time.â She kept tossing her blond hair back over her shouldersas she scanned the pages on her clipboard.
âI have your schedules here,â she said. âI marked off your free times and your work times.â
âAlli is very organized,â Corky said.
âI signed you up for several activities,â she said. âWe have an after-school work program I know youâll want to be part of.â
âHuh? Work ?â Crench cried. âIs she kidding?â
I clamped a hand over his mouth.
âI have you staying in Pigge House,â Alli said. âI think youâll like it there.â
âPig House?â I said.
Corky nodded. He had a stubby nose, which he kept stuck up in the air. âItâs named after my great-great-grand-pater,â he said. âMy family is one of the founding families of PPP. Thereâs been a Pigge at Preppy Prep Prep for over two hundred years!â
âAwesome,â I said.
Feenman giggled. I clamped my other hand over his mouth.
âI know all the school traditions,â Corky said. âTuesday is Wear Clean Underwear Day. Donât forget that. We gargle with mineral water on everyother Thursday. And do you know the shoelace rule?â
âDonât think I do,â I said.
âShoelaces are worn inside the shoe,â Corky said. âNever outside.â He showed me his shoes. I couldnât see any shoelace.
Alli thumbed through more pages on her clipboard. âIâve drawn you maps of the campus,â she said. âAnd floor maps of each building. I outlined the paths to the classroom buildings in yellow.â
âI told you, Alli is very organized,â Corky said again.
Alli handed out our schedule sheets. âI made a list of several good times for you to go to the bathroom.â
âHow about now ?â Belzer asked. âThat was a long bus ride!â
Alli checked her clipboard. âSorry. Not on the schedule.â
Chapter 11
WHOâS GOT THE INVENTION?
âFirst is the campus tour,â Alli said. âWe will walk exactly three quarters of a mile. That will be one thousand, two hundred, and forty-two steps. Follow me.â
We started to walk