Free Bookworm Buddies by Judy Delton Page A

teachers.
    “Let’s load these bags in the van and get back to our meeting,” said Mrs. Peters. “I can’t wait to tell you all about the badge we’re going to earn next!”

CHAPTER 2
The Boring Badge
    T he Pee Wees loved getting badges. All the way back to Mrs. Peters’s house they talked about the new one coming up.
    “I hope it isn’t a raking badge,” said Sonny. “My arms are tired.”
    “Maybe it’s an allergy badge,” said Lisa Ronning. “Then Tracy would get hers first.”
    “There’s no such thing as an allergy badge, is there, Mrs. Peters?” asked Ashley. “Otherwise none of us could get it. We don’t have allergies.”
    “It is not an allergy badge,” said Mrs. Peters, laughing. “Just wait and see. You’ll know soon enough what it is.”
    At Mrs. Peters’s house the Pee Wees piled out of the van. They still had leaves sticking to their sweaters and shoes and even their hair. Mrs. Peters used a broom to brush them all off. Then they washed their hands in Mrs. Peters’s bathroom and raced down the basement stairs to their meeting place.
    “Tell us, tell us, tell us!” shouted Roger, banging on the table. Soon some other Pee Wees joined in his chant. They sang and pounded too.
    “He has such bad manners,” said Rachel. “I told Mrs. Peters we need to get a manners badge. I’d get mine in a minute, but Roger would have a lot of work to do.”
    Molly could not picture Roger, or even Sonny, with good manners. Both boys interrupted others and talked with their mouths full of food and never said thank you or pardon me.

    Mrs. Peters stood at the head of the table and waited. The Pee Wees knew what she was waiting for: quiet. She would not tell them a word about the new badge until they were quiet.
    The drumming stopped. The chants got weaker. Finally it was quiet.
    Mrs. Peters had a pile of books on the table in front of her. Molly tried to see what books they were, but the titles were upside down and she couldn’t read them. Maybe they were books about getting their new badge!
    “We all know that it’s fall,” said Mrs. Peters. “And the biggest thing that happens in fall, is what?”
    All the Pee Wees shouted at once.
    “Leaves fall!” shouted Tim Noon.
    “Halloween!” shouted Kenny.
    “We can’t swim anymore,” said Lisa.
    “We could swim in fall if we were in California,” said Ashley. “It’s still warm there, and we can swim in our pool all the time.”
    “Cannot,” said Tim.
    “Can too!” said Ashley, getting cross.
    Mrs. Peters frowned. She looked unhappy that the Pee Wees were straying from the subject.
    “None of those suggestions is the biggest thing that happens in fall,” she said firmly. “The biggest thing is—”
    “Snow,” said Patty Baker.
    “Wiener roasts,” said Sonny.
    “School starts,” said Jody. Jody was the smartest Pee Wee of all. Molly loved both Jody and Kevin, and planned on marrying one of them when she grew up. She had not decided which one yet.
    “Exactly!” said Mrs. Peters eagerly. “Jody is right! School starts!”
    The Pee Wees all frowned. Even though some of them liked school, they did not think it was the most important thing about fall.
    “What does school have to do with a new badge?” Tracy asked Molly. “I hope it’s not a school thing we have to do.”
    The Pee Wees all liked to keep school and scouts separate. They did not want their Pee Wee meetings to turn into lessons. They always watched to see that this did not happen. Not long ago they had had to write to pen pals, and at first that had felt too schoolish. But in the end it had turned out to be fun.
    “School starts again in the fall,” said Mrs. Peters. “And of course in school, the most important thing we do, is—”
    “Have recess!” shouted Roger.
    “Eat lunch!” said Sonny.
    “Take tests,” said Lisa.
    “Go on field trips,” said Kevin.
    “No!” said their leader. She looked as if she was tired of this wordplay. “The important thing