Shipwrecked (4 page)

Just then, Mr. Scary finished taking attendance. And he said to please put our journals away.

“As you can see, we're missing three more classmates today,” he said kind of frustrated. “It's going to be hard to do a play with so many people absent. But we'll keep our fingers crossed that our classmates will be back in time to participate.”

Just then, we heard a rustly sound.

Sheldon was crossing his fingers inside his sandwich bags.

After he got done, he waved to Mr. Scary very pleasant.

Mr. Scary looked at him for a real long time. Then he waved back.

Finally, he stood up and walked to the board.

“Boys and girls, I thought it would be fun to base our play on the facts you gathered for homework,” he said.

He picked up the chalk. “If you have a fact you'd like to share, raise your hand and I'll write it on the board. Then—when we've listed all our facts—we can choose our play parts,” he said. “Now who would like to go first?”

José shot his hand in the air speedy fast.

“I would! I would! I have a
poem
!” he said.

Then he jumped right up, and he started to read.

Mr. Scary smiled.

“Nice, José. That's a great poem you found,” he said. “Let's see how many facts we can find there.”

He wrote them down.

1. Columbus was a sailor.
   

2. He had three ships.
   

3. He sailed from Spain.
   

4. The year was 1492.
   

Just then, Sheldon started waving his plastic hands very urgent.

“I know the names of the ships! I know the names of the ships!” he called out. “They're the
Niña
, the
Pinta
, and the
Santa María.
”

“Excellent job, Sheldon,” said Mr. Scary.

He printed the names on the board.

5. Niña, Pinta, Santa María

Then Mr. Scary started to call on someone else. But Sheldon stood up and read more from his paper.

“Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. He landed on some islands near America,” he read.

Mr. Scary added the new facts to the list.

6. Sailed the Atlantic Ocean.

7. Arrived in islands near America. “Okay. Well, thank you
again
, Sheldon,”
he said. “Now I think we should let someone else have a—”

Sheldon interrupted. “My uncle Vern sailed to an island once,” he said. “He came back with a woman named Bunny.”

Sheldon kept on standing there. “Aunt Bunny has tattoos,” he said.

After that, Mr. Scary hurried to Sheldon's desk. And he put him back in his chair.

May went next.

“My fact is about the
Mayflower
,” she said. “The
Mayflower
is the ship that brought the Pilgrims to America. And so I am going to be the
Mayflower
in our Columbus play. Because both of our names start with
May
.”

Mr. Scary looked curious at her. “Yes, but the
Mayflower
didn't sail to America
until over a hundred years
after
Columbus,” he said.

“I know it,” she said. “But both of our names still start with
May.
Don't you
get
it?”

“Yes, May. I
get
it,” said Mr. Scary. “But we can't change history. So I'm afraid the
Mayflower
won't be sailing in our Columbus play.”

May sat down in a huff.

Lucille stood right up.

“My fact is about the richie queen of Spain,” she said. “The richie queen of Spain was named Isabella. And she gave Chris the money for the trip. So I am going to be richie Queen Isabella in the play. Because if there's one thing I know, it's how to be rich.”

José raised his hand.

“You shouldn't call him
Chris
, Lucille,” he said. “In Spain, they called him
Cristóbal Colón.
”

Lucille made squinty eyes at him.

“Chris … Crystal Ball … whatever,” she said. “A queen can call you whatever she wants to.”

She fluffed her hair and sat down.

That's when I springed up. And I waved my paper all around.

“Eighteen facts! I have eighteen facts!” I said real happy. “And so listen to this, people! The
Niña
was the
smallest
ship. And the
Pinta
was the
fastest
ship. And the
Santa María
was a big old tub.”

Mr. Scary winked at me.

“Those are outstanding ship facts, Junie B.,” said Mr. Scary. “Great job.”

He printed them on the board.

And guess what?

After that, Shirley told him even
more
ship facts.

And so that's how the whole rest of the morning kept going.

Room One kept on telling him facts. And Mr. Scary kept on writing them down. Until finally, we'd told him every fact in the book!

Then ha! That's when the funnest part of all happened.

’Cause Mr. Scary walked around the room. And he counted how many facts each of us had listed on our papers.

And wait till you hear this!

He said, “We have a
tie
!”

Because me and my friend José
both
had EIGHTEEN FACTS!

We jumped out of our seats and gave each other a high five!

Then I skipped around my desk very joyful. Plus also, I skipped to the pencil sharpener and back.

Mr. Scary came back and shook our hands.

He said we would choose our play parts when we come back from lunch. And so meanwhile we should be thinking about what parts we want.

“Yeah, only I already
know
what part I want!” I said real thrilled. “And it is the bestest part I can think of. Only I'm going to keep it a secret till after lunch. And so nobody ask me. And I
mean
it.”

After that, I pretended to lock my lips with a make-believe key.

Herb turned around. “You mean you're not even going to tell me?” he said kind of disappointed.

I got out my key and unlocked my lips.

“Okay … except for I will just tell Herb, and that's all,” I said.

I locked my lips again.

José frowned at me.

I unlocked my lips one more time.

“Plus also, I will tell José. But that is my final offer. And I mean it.”

Just then, Shirley did a big huffy.

“Okay, fine … and Shirley,” I said.

That's when Sheldon raised his hand and pointed to himself.

Then all of the other children pointed to theirselves, too.

And so that day at lunch, I whispered my secret to everybody in Room One.

But that was all.

After we got back from recess, Mr. Scary went back to the board.

“Okay, everyone. It's time for the big event,” he said. “We're going to begin choosing our play parts now. We'll start with Junie B. and José. Are you two ready to go?”

“Ready!” hollered José.

“Ready!” I hollered. “And guess what
else
, Mr. Scary? I'm even going to let José go first. ’Cause that will be very polite of me. Plus José already told me that he wants
to be Columbus. And I don't. So being polite will work out beautifully this time.”

I pointed at José.

“Okay, go,” I said.

José looked annoyed at me. “But you already
told
him, Junie B. I want to be Columbus.”

I clapped my hands real delighted.

“I knew it!” I said. “I knew being polite would work out good this time! On account of I want to be the
Pinta
! ’Cause the
Pinta
was the fastest ship! And the fastest ship is the winner ship. And the winner ship is the
star
ship!”

I skipped to the pencil sharpener and back again.

Mr. Scary said
please stop doing that
.

“Being the
Pinta
is fine, Junie B.,” he said. “But you
do
understand that our ships
will not be
racing
, right? All three of our ships will be arriving
together.
”

I did a little frown.

“Yeah, only that's not how I actually had it pictured in my head,” I said. “’Cause a race will be more exciting, I think. And so maybe I will just arrive a
little bit
first. Like by an inch, or a foot … or half an hour, possibly.”

Mr. Scary shook his head no.

“This play is not about stars or winners. It's about
teamwork
,” he said. “You are more than welcome to be the
Pinta
, Junie B. But you can't arrive before the other ships. Got it?”

I did a big sigh.

“Got it,” I said kind of glum.

Mr. Scary wrote my name next to the
Pinta.

Then he called on the other children to choose their play parts, too.

Lucille chose richie Queen Isabella.

And Camille and Chenille chose the Atlantic Ocean.

Then my bestest friend Herbert chose to be Land. And that is the importantest role of all, almost. ’Cause without Land, you can't actually land, probably.

After Herb, lots of other children picked their parts, too.

Then finally, it was May's turn.

May had to go last because all her facts were about the dumb
Mayflower
, and not about Columbus.

She stood up very grouchy. “All the good roles are already taken. So I guess I'll have to be the tubby old
Santa María
,” she grumped.

Mr. Scary wrote her name on the board.

“The
Santa María
is an excellent choice, May,” he said. “The
Santa María
was the biggest ship. And it carried Columbus, you know.”

May sat up a little straighter.

“It
did
?” she said. “It really
did
? It carried Columbus? Nobody told me that before.”

She reached over and tapped on me.

“I bet
you
didn't know that, either. Did you, Junie Jones? If you knew that, I bet
you'd
be the
Santa María
,” she said.

I rolled my eyeballs at her.

“Of
course
I knew that, you silly-head May,” I said. “The whole entire world knew that except for you, probably.”

May looked disappointed.

She turned her head back around.

I waited for a second to make sure she wasn't looking.

Then I slumped down in my chair. And tapped my fingers very annoyed.

’Cause guess what?

I didn't know that.