Free Fabulous Five 012 - Katie's Dating Tips by Betsy Haynes Page B

those
letters to the Post was a brilliant idea," Mr. Dracovitch said.
    Willie looked sheepish. "It was Tony Calcaterra who did
that. In fact, the whole campaign to get better food was Tony's idea. My lesson
on letters to the editor just gave him a way to carry it out."
    Mr. Dracovitch turned to Katie. "Go find Tony and meet
us on the front sidewalk. That young man's a hero."
    Katie whirled around and sprinted toward the school.
    "Bring along as many of the other letter writers as you
can find," he shouted after her. "And hurry."
    She wanted to ask him what he was planning to do, but he had
said hurry, so she kept on going. She found Tony nosing his bike into the rack
by the side of the school. While he locked it in, she quickly explained all of
the things that had happened since her mother first got the call about the
letters from her friend Peggy the afternoon before, ending with Mr. Dracovitch's
calling Tony a hero and wanting to see him and the other letter writers in the
parking lot.
    "What's he going to do?" asked Tony.
    Katie shrugged. "I don't know, but he's really excited.
Come on. Let's get moving."
    They rounded up all but two of the kids who had written the
letters. Counting herself and Tony, there were seventeen boys and nine girls in
the group. Lots of them were seventh-graders who had gone to Mark Twain
Elementary with her. There was Matt Zeboski, Joel Murphy, Mark Peters, Randy
Kirwan, Richie Corrierro, Clarence Marshall, and even Curtis Trowbridge among
the boys. Alexis Duvall, Lisa Snow, and Sara Sawyer were among the girls. Some
other friends were Dekeisha Adams, Shawnie Pendergast, and Mandy McDermott, and
even a few eighth- and ninth-graders such as Garrett Boldt, Colby Graham, and
Kaci Davis.
    By the time the students were all assembled, Mr. Dracovitch
and Willie had joined them.
    "There isn't much time before the bell," the
science teacher explained. "And I think we should march straight to the
principal's office and demand to discuss the issue."
    "But what about your experiment?" asked Willie. "It's
so important. Shouldn't you be in your lab working on it?"
    "It can wait," he replied. "This is
important, too. Besides, it may take years to develop my formula. One more
morning won't matter that much."
    Katie groaned inwardly. Years? she thought. That
could mean that he would still be cooking up those awful smells when she was in
ninth grade. What a thing to look forward to.
    Mr. Dracovitch raised a fist in the air and shouted like a
cheerleader. "Okay, gang! Are you ready for our talk with Mr. Bell?"
    "Right on!" yelled Garrett Boldt.
    His cheer was echoed through the crowd as kids began locking
arms in groups of twos and threes and falling in line behind Katie and Tony.
She felt as if they were leading a parade as they headed toward the front door
of the school. Beside them, Willie and Mr. Dracovitch marched with their arms
locked, too. Katie shot a glance at her mother, who responded with a smile and
a thumbs-up sign.
    It was the first moment Katie had had to think about Mr.
Dracovitch since they got to school. Wow, she thought. Was I ever wrong about
him! I couldn't have misunderstood him more if I had set out to do it on
purpose. Glancing sideways at Tony, she couldn't help remembering how upset she
always got when people misunderstood him. How could I miss something so
obvious? she wondered.
    By this time the little army had entered the school and they
were marching down the hall toward the office. A few feet from the door Mr.
Dracovitch stopped and held up his hand for silence.
    "Listen up," he called, and then waited for
everyone to stop talking. "Now we're all pretty excited, and we're
convinced that we're right."
    Kids nodded and murmured agreement, and Mr. Dracovitch held
up his hand for quiet again.
    "But don't forget that we represent only one side of
the question. When we get into Mr. Bell's office, we're going to be calm and
courteous and try to win him over in an orderly fashion instead of