Free No Messin' with My Lesson by Nancy Krulik Page B

didn’t see anyone eating anything.
    “There is no eating in this classroom,” Mrs. Derkman said, answering her own question. She strutted over to the window, and stared at Speedy. “You’ve been here long enough to know that,” she scolded the hamster.
    Speedy took one look at Mrs. Derkman’s angry face, and leaped away from his food bowl. He ran to hide inside his plastic tube.
    The kids stared at their teacher. Worrying about the contest had obviously made her nuts!
    “Boy, Mrs. Derkman is in a really bad mood today,” Katie whispered to Kevin and Suzanne.
    “I’ll say,” Suzanne agreed. “I think it has to do with that video camera. Some people act strange when there’s a camera around.”
    Katie looked at “Suzanne Superstar” and laughed. “Gee, you think so?”

Chapter 3
    Mrs. Derkman finally turned off her camera just before the bell rang. She relaxed right away. So did the kids. “Okay, children,” the teacher said, a slight smile returning to her face. “Jeremy is now going to pass out this week’s edition of the Class 3A Times. ”
    Jeremy stood and proudly began to hand out the newspapers. He really loved being the editor of the class newspaper. “There are lots of great articles this week,” he told the other kids. “Like the one about . . .”
    “ My new column is in there,” Suzanne interrupted him. “It’s called ‘Ask Suzanne.’ I know everyone is going to love it.”

    “I can’t think of anything I’d want to ask her,” Kevin whispered to George.
    “I can,” George answered. “I want to ask her to go away.” Kevin and George laughed.
    Suzanne scowled at them. “Shows what you know. I’m going to answer very important questions in my column. This week, I wrote about friendship.”
    Katie watched as Suzanne argued with George and Kevin. “Are you sure giving Suzanne her own column was a good idea?” she whispered to Jeremy.
    “I needed another article to fill the page,” Jeremy admitted.
    “But you know Suzanne. This could be trouble,” Katie told him.
    “It’ll be okay,” Jeremy answered. “Actually, her advice was pretty good. Read it.”
    Katie opened the newspaper to page three. Suzanne’s column was at the top of the page.
    The question was:
     
     
    Dear Suzanne,
    My friend has a pair of pants that she loves to wear. But they are too tight and short on her, and I’m afraid they will split open! I want to tell her, but I don’t want her to get mad at me.
    Signed,
    What Do I Do?
    Suzanne had answered:
     
     
    Dear What Do I Do?:
    You should definitely tell your friend that her pants are too small. What if they split in the middle of recess? You will save her from embarrassment. Friends should always be honest with each other. When it comes to friendship, honesty is always the best policy.
     
     
    “You see,” Jeremy said after Katie had read the column. “Suzanne said people should be honest. What trouble could that cause?”
    Katie shrugged. “I guess you’re right,” she agreed.

    That afternoon, Katie went home and did her homework. Then she went out into her yard to look for her cocker spaniel, Pepper. She found him next door, playing with Mrs. Derkman’s dog, Snowball. They were both sniffing around the tomatoes and cucumbers in Mrs. Derkman’s yard.
    Katie figured Mrs. Derkman must not be in the yard. Otherwise, she would have shooed the dogs away from her vegetables. Mrs. Derkman loved her garden. She treated her plants like babies. She even sang to them!
    Katie was right, Mrs. Derkman wasn’t in the garden. But Mr. Derkman was. Katie was very surprised. She’d never seen her teacher’s husband working in the garden before. He liked to lie in a big hammock under the tree while his wife dug up weeds and planted flowers. But, today, he was the one out there picking fresh cucumbers from the vine.
    “Hi, Katie,” Mr. Derkman greeted her.
    “Hi,” Katie replied. “I didn’t know you liked to garden.”
    “I don’t,” Mr. Derkman