Free Pig City by Louis Sachar

would have had all the proof he needed.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Laura?” asked Allison.
    She shook her head.
    They lined up for class. Yolanda was ahead of them in line, next to Karen. Gabriel was behind them.
    Laura was dancing on the edge of a razor blade. She couldn’t afford to make mistakes.
    She heard the kids ahead of her laugh when theyentered the room. She smiled. She was glad they liked her message, especially after Gabriel’s speech.
    She pushed through the yellow curtain and glanced at the board. Then she looked at it again. Then she looked at it a third time. Written in the center of the board were the words:
PIGS STINK!
    The citizens of Pig City were all staring at her. They wore big questions marks on their faces.

23
Poor Yolanda
    Laura was stunned. She put her hand down on somebody’s desk to steady herself.
    â€œGet your fat paw off my desk!” said Sheila.
    Laura regained control. She let her hand rest on Sheila’s desk for a second longer than necessary, then elegantly raised it, like a queen might raise her hand for a knight to kiss. Her long hair swished in Sheila’s face as she turned and walked to her seat.
    I know I didn’t write that, she thought. I wrote PIGS THINK, didn’t I? She wasn’t sure. She remembered how flustered she became when she couldn’t think of anything to write. She stuck the chalk in her pocket without realizing it. Is it possible I wrote PIGS STINK instead of PIGS THINK?
    She closed her eyes and tried to get a picture of the blackboard, the way it was earlier, in her mind. Nothing came to her.
    Okay, if I didn’t write it, who else could have written it? The answer came to her instantly. Sheturned and looked at Gabriel.
    He was looking straight ahead. His face gave away nothing.
    Well, if he wrote it, that’s good. Then he can’t tell on
me
for writing on the board anymore.
    Her eyes went from Gabriel to Sheila sitting behind him. She could have written it, too, Laura realized. Sheila hates me. But she doesn’t know about Pig City. Unless Gabriel told her.
    In front of Gabriel sat Karen. Karen knew about Pig City. Maybe Karen wrote it because we wouldn’t let her join. Or Yolanda because we gave her note to Jonathan.
    She wondered if Jonathan had found the note yet. She could see only the back of Jonathan’s blond head. His ears looked a little red.
    PIGS STINK remained on the board. Mr. Doyle had changed the number next to the rectangle from 7 to 8 but didn’t erase the message.
    Aha! she thought triumphantly. You think you’re so clever, don’t you! Well, it won’t work, Mr. Doyle! You don’t fool me.
    It had to be Mr. Doyle who wrote it, she realized. It was a trick to try and trap her. That was why he hadn’t erased it.
    Good try, Mr. Doyle! Laura thought. She had it allfigured out. He would leave the message up there all day, staring at her, trying to break her. He wanted her to admit she wrote the other messages by saying that someone had changed what she had written. You must think I’m really stupid, Mr. Doyle.
    He erased the board.
    Laura shook her head. I must be going crazy.
    â€œWhy’d you write ‘Pigs Stink’?” Allison asked, fist on nose, on their way out to recess.
    â€œI didn’t write it.” She hoped it wasn’t a lie. If she said something she thought was true, but realized it might have been false, and then it turned out to be false, did that make it a lie? She shook her head. Now I’m thinking like Nathan! I don’t even make sense to myself.
    Debbie approached. Fists went to noses and back again.
    â€œWhy’d you write ‘Pigs Stink’?” asked Debbie.
    â€œShe didn’t write it,” said Allison.
    â€œI wrote ‘Pigs Think’,” said Laura. “Somebody changed it.”
    â€œWho?” asked Debbie.
    She shrugged.
    â€œHey, why’d you write ‘Pigs Stink’?” demanded