Ivy and Bean Bound to Be Bad (6 page)

In Mrs. Trantz’s yard, there were two rows of rosebushes, one on either side of the front path. Each rosebush had a little circle of dirt to live in. Each circle of dirt had a tiny white fence around it and then a sea of sparkly white rocks stretching out around that. Sometimes Mrs. Trantz came outside and washed her front path. Sometimes she even washed her rocks.
Mrs. Trantz liked things to be very clean. When she saw dirt, her face shriveled into a frown. When she saw children, her eyes narrowed into tiny slivers. When she saw dirty children, her frown sucked her lips all the way inside her mouth and her eyes slivered into nothing. She frowned so hard her face went away.

Bean drove Mrs. Trantz crazy. She didn’t try to; she just did. Every time Bean walked by Mrs. Trantz’s house, one of the tiny white fences circling around the rosebushes fell over. Bean didn’t know how it happened. Then Mrs. Trantz would call Bean’s mother and say that Bean was destructive. That meant she wrecked things.

Bean didn’t know quite what she was going to do to Mrs. Trantz’s yard, but it wouldn’t be boring, that was for sure. She stood in front
of the stiff rosebushes and looked carefully to see if Mrs. Trantz was peeking from behind her curtains. The coast was clear.

“Do something!” yelled Dino. “This is boring!”

Boring! Bean would show him!

She leaned over the tiny white fence and brought her face close to a rose. And then she spit on it as hard as she could.

She turned around to face Dino. “How was that, huh? You’d never do that!”

Ivy grabbed her by the shoulders. “Bean!” she cried. “Promise you’ll never do that again! You’re hurting the flowers, and they have feelings, too!”

Oh. Right. Just for a second, Bean had forgotten about turning good. “Yeah, sure. I’ll never do it again,” she told Ivy.

“She’s reformed!” yelled Ivy.

But Bean whirled around to make sure Dino was watching. “Oh no!” she hollered. “It didn’t stick! I’m turning bad again!”

This time the Sophies clapped along with Katy.

Ha! Bean was the Queen of Bad! “Keep your eyes peeled!” she screeched and started to run toward her house.

Bean knew a lot of things that Nancy didn’t know she knew. One of the things she knew was where Nancy hid candy. Nancy thought she was pretty smart. She didn’t hide candy in her own room. She hid it in the bathroom, behind the stacks of toilet paper, in a brown paper bag. What Nancy didn’t know was that Bean spent a lot of time prowling around the house, looking for treasure. One day when she was prowling in the bathroom, Bean found Nancy’s paper bag full of candy.

Bean was always careful not to eat so much candy that Nancy would notice. Just a Tootsie Roll or a mini–candy bar—that’s all she ever took. Until today.

Bean whisked into her house and rushed to the bathroom. Bean often rushed to the bathroom, so her mom and dad and Nancy didn’t even notice. When she came out, there was a bulge inside her shirt, but nobody was watching.

Bean marched back up the street toward Ivy’s house, but she didn’t stop there. She walked around Pancake Court until she was standing next to Dino, Liana, the Sophies, and Katy. Ivy came running. “What are you doing, Bean?” Her eyes were shining.

“Look,” said Bean. She pulled the brown paper bag from her shirt. “I’ve got candy. Except it isn’t mine. I stole it.”

“Great!” said Ivy. “Who’d you steal it from?”

“Nancy,” said Bean.

Ivy giggled.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be good,” said Bean, and Ivy stopped giggling. “I’m going to eat stolen candy,” Bean said to Dino and the other kids, “before lunch and in front of you guys, without sharing.” She reached into the bag and looked at Ivy. “How’s that for bad?”

Everyone watched while she ate a Butter-finger.

“Aw, come on,” said Katy. “Give us some. Please?”

“No,” said Bean with her mouth full. “I’m so bad I don’t share with anyone. Right, Ivy?”

Ivy nodded, her eyes on the candy.

Bean opened a pack of peanut-butter cups and ate one.

“Isn’t your sister going to be mad?” asked Liana.

“Yg,” said Bean, jamming the other peanut-butter cup into her mouth. She was starting to feel a little sick. She looked at Ivy. “Aren’t you going to stop me?” she whispered.

“Oh! Right!” Ivy said. She clasped her hands together and said, “Bean, I beg you! Stop stealing and eating dessert before lunch and not sharing! You’ve got to get good.”

Bean was glad to stop eating candy. “Well, okay, since you put it that way.”

“You should give us some to show that you’re reformed,” said Ivy.

Bean thought about that. “No. Because it’s stolen, you’d be doing something bad if you ate it. All of you.”

“I don’t care if I’m bad or not,” said Liana. “I want some Milk Duds.”

“Halt!” said Ivy, stepping between Bean and the other kids. “I can’t let you go down the path of badness by eating this candy.” She smiled her pure-of-heart smile.

“Yeah,” said Bean. “And right now I’m reformed so I can’t lead you down the path of badness either.”

“This is dumb,” said Dino. “It’s just a little piece of candy.”

“Stolen candy,” Bean reminded him. “And it’s before lunch, too.”

“I didn’t steal it,” said Dino. “And what if I want to be bad, anyway?” He reached around Ivy to grab the bag.

But someone was already there.

It was Katy.

She ripped the bag out of Bean’s hands
and tore down the street, her white sandals flashing in the sun.

Bean looked at the shred of paper bag in her hands. “Wow,” she said. “Badness is catching.”

They all stood there watching Katy run away. Suddenly, Dino slapped his hand against his forehead. “Oh no!” he groaned. “Now I’ve got it, too!” He looked sideways at Bean. “I think I’ve got it bad!”

Sophie W. smiled. “Me, too,” she said. “I’ve got it worse.”

“Now wait a second,” began Ivy.

“I’m the bad one around here!” said Bean.

“You wish,” said Liana. She glanced at the row of front yards that lined the street. “First dibs on all the mailboxes,” she said.