Chapter 1 Possible Alien Encounter Who knows what is so special about next week Miss Flores asked I raised my hand A mega-asteroid is going to hit the moon and school will be canceled for the rest of our lives Good try but that’s not quite the answer I was looking for Rocket My name is actually Ronald Carson Gonzaga but everyone calls me Rocket on account of me being the speediest kid around My friend Tully raised her hand Next week we have both the 100th day of school and Valentine’s Day Miss Flores smiled Right The 100th day of school is Wednesday and Valentine’s Day is Thursday For the 100th day of school I’d like you to put 100 items on an article of clothing to wear 6
to class I exchanged grins with Caleb Lyra Tully and Alex my four best friends and the best detectives at Watson Elementary We are so good at solving cases we even have a name the Gumshoe Gang We do not actually have gum on our shoes A gumshoe is a detective who solves cases The school secretary Mr Sleuth gave us that name way back when we were in second grade Can I glue 100 Hot Wheels cars to my shirt Caleb asked He loves cars and math He is also really messy What about glass beakers asked Alex pushing his glasses up his nose Alex was really smart and he loved science Miss Flores frowned Unfortunately I think that would be a safety hazard I’m going to do candy Aidan said I want to use safety pins Maya said I call diamonds Tully said She was very smart and organized and her favorite thing was (cid:87)(cid:82)(cid:3)(cid:90)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:79)(cid:82)(cid:87)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:3)(cid:90)(cid:72)(cid:76)(cid:85)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:83)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:78)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:87)(cid:191)(cid:87)(cid:86)(cid:17) Lyra raised her hand I want to use candy hearts Can I eat them off my shirt Lyra was a 7
great singer but she had trouble with being too loud sometimes I did too I’m not sure the glue would taste very good Miss Flores said She was the teacher for Room 113 and my favorite teacher ever Great ideas class Let’s break for silent reading Find your favorite spot Most of the class raced for the reading loft I (cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:90)(cid:68)(cid:92)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:74)(cid:82)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:191)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:48)(cid:82)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:44)(cid:3)(cid:79)(cid:82)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:69)(cid:72)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3) in third grade but sometimes it wasn’t so much fun because Miss Flores made us read so much As in every single day I am not even joking Reading is tough because I have dyslexia which means I read words backward and mix up letters Sometimes my eyes get so tired I have to prop them open with toothpicks Well not really but you get the picture Because reading is so hard I couldn’t concentrate very well I opened my book but the words were fuzzy on the page So instead I started thinking about the problem of our new computer lab teacher Mr Benton He was what the school principal Mrs Holmes called a long-term sub for Mrs Joseph Last week Mrs Joseph left to be on 8
something called maternity on account of having two babies at the same time Mr Benton had a big hairy beard on his face and eyebrows so thick they looked like one long fuzzy caterpillar He never smiled He called the cafeteria the chow hall and he yelled Drop and give me 20 every time he caught someone doing note passing He always forgot everybody’s name too Instead he called us Roger this and Roger that and the funny thing was we didn’t even have a Roger in the whole school Who knew where he got these things
