4 Maybe the bully was someone in another class Maybe an older kid who snuck into our classroom to slip the note in Cooper's lunch box Or did it on the bus when Cooper wasn't looking You could look at the situation from two different angles The note could just be stupid A dumb-kid joke Which wasn't funny Or it could be something scarier A warning Cooper really needed to stay alert
Chapter 2 Jassi our teacher paced in front of the room all excited I have a wonderful new project for you to work on I think you're all going to like it Jassi was always coming up with projects Her long black hair reminded me of Rapunzel's hair in that fairytale I imagined Jassi dropping her hair out of a tower window so a prince could climb up and help her escape Only our school didn't have tower windows And Jassi didn't need to be rescued Animals I heard Jassi say What's she talking about I whispered to Cooper She wants everyone to choose an animal and do a report And say why you picked that animal But just for our class And you can share the report when you're ready 5
Maybe Jassi was preparing all of us to be TV reporters Or politicians Or actors Because she was always having us research topics and do oral reports I guess she thought if we gave enough of these talks as kids we would grow up to be good public speakers So now the topic was animals The first one that popped into my head was my dog Blue a Basset Hound with a droopy face and three ears two regular ones and one small one My mom and I got him from a shelter and he turned out even better than we expected Smart Loyal A good sniffer And with extra sharp hearing He could tell when the mail carrier was coming from three houses away So if you had any mysteries to solve he was your guy I wondered whether Cooper would choose her dog Princess A Giant Poodle with reddish-brown fur who wore a rhinestone collar thanks to Cooper's little sister Her sister Ruby insisted on the sparkly collar even though Cooper was embarrassed by it So Cooper spiked Princess's hair and spray painted it the same color as her own Fair trade she said Before I got the chance to ask Cooper if she was going to pick Princess for her animal I realized Jassi was still talking I know many of you have pets she said But I'd 6
like you to choose an animal different from the ones you have at home It can be an animal other people have in their houses a wild animal or even one that has become extinct You want us to pick an animal that stinks asked Trip I said extinct said Jassi Can anyone tell Trip what that means Trip was a triplet one of three boys His brothers were in different classes They all looked alike Pudgy red-haired with black framed glasses sliding down their flat freckled noses Their real names were Oliver Oscar and Owen But they each wanted to be called Trip And since they were in different classes that's what we did Penny flapped her hand in the air She didn't even wait to be called on Extinct means there are no more animals of that type alive anywhere in the world All of those animals have died out Exactly said Jassi Can anyone think of an example Dinosaurs Cooper called out I thought that was brave of her After all someone called her a Coopersaurus in the note And that sounded like a dinosaur name to me 7
