The Candy Corn Contest (3 page)

“I wouldn't look,” Richard said. He tried not to move his lips too much.

“I wouldn't look either,” said Matthew. He moved the jar around a little. “Ms. Rooney said we're going to count them again. After someone wins. She said it will be a good math les-son.”

“Oh,” Richard said again.

“I'm going to work on my book to-night,” Matthew said. He held it up.

Richard couldn't read the name. “It looks good,” he said.

“I can't read the name,” Matthew said. “I can't read any of the words either. But it's about
the desert. And the jungle. And rain forests. I can tell by the pic-tures.”

“Neat,” Richard said. He started across the room. “I have to find Holly. She'll be mad if she has to wait.”

He hurried out the door.

What would Ms. Rooney do when she saw that three pieces of Candy Corn were gone? he wondered.

Holly was standing at the end of the hall. “Get mov-ing,” she yelled.

Maybe Ms. Rooney wouldn't find out he had eaten them.

“I'm coming,” he yelled back at Holly. “Stop rushing me.”

Ms. Rooney would find out.

She always did.

'Time for math buddies,” Ms. Rooney said the next day.

Wayne was Richard's math buddy.

Richard went to sit with him. They were going to work on o'clocks and half pasts.

“I have three Candy Corn guesses,” Wayne said.

“Lucky,” Richard said.

He looked out the window. It was raining today. Lunch would be inside.

“I hope I win,” Wayne said.

Richard looked at Wayne's book. It had lots of words.

Richard didn't want to tell Wayne that his book was skin-nier. Almost a baby book.

Wayne was a good reader. He might win.

Timothy would probably win though.

Richard shut his eyes. If only he could win.

He'd take off the top of the jar. Put a few pieces of Candy Corn in his mouth.

“Too bad,” Ms. Rooney would say. “We were going to count together. It would have been a good math les-son.”

“Oh,” Richard would say. “I don't know how many I just ate.”

“Don't worry,” Ms. Rooney would say. “You're the winner. You can eat every one of them.”

“Study hard,” Ms. Rooney said. “I'm going to ask some o'clocks very soon.”

Wayne held up his cardboard clock. He moved the hands around. “What's that?”

“Easy,” Richard said. “Two o'clock.”

Wayne looked down at the card. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” said Richard.

“I'm not so good at o'clocks,” Wayne said.

“Let me ask,” Richard said. He took the clock. He pushed the little hand to the three. “Do you know what that is?”

Wayne stared at it. “I don't know,” he said. He leaned closer. “About your sleep-over …”

Richard felt a little worried feeling. “I forgot,” he said. “You wanted to tell me something.”

“Ask,” Wayne said. “I want to ask you something. Where are we going to sleep?” Wayne asked.

“In the den,” Richard said. “We'll put our sleeping bags on the floor.”

Wayne looked at the clock again. “I think it's three o'clock.”

“Yes,” Richard said. He moved the big hand to the six.

“Too hard,” Wayne said.

“I think so too,” Richard said.

“Who's going to sleep near Mat-thew?”

Richard raised his shoulders up in the air.

“I hope it's not me,” Wayne said.

Richard turned the hands around the clock.

“I'm not coming if—” Wayne began.

“All right,” Richard said. “You don't have to sleep near him.”

'That's good,” Wayne said. “If you sleep near Matthew, you'll have to wear your rain-coat.”

Richard started to laugh. He could see everyone asleep in his den. Everyone was wearing a yellow raincoat. Even Matthew.

Wayne poked him. “Matthew's reading a book about rain forests,” he said.

“I know,” said Richard.

“Rain forests,” Wayne said. He started to laugh. “Matthew lives in his own rain forest.”

“Is everybody ready?” Ms. Rooney asked.

Everybody went back to his own seat.

Richard took out a piece of paper. He put his heading on top.

He drew a bunch of circles underneath. He was a good artist. His circles were nice and round.

Matthew's were terrible. They looked like boxes.

Matthew turned around. He looked at Richard's paper. “Nice circles,” he said. Then he pointed. “I don't think you spelled
Polk
right.”

Richard knelt up on his seat. He looked out the window. He tried to see the street sign outside.

But it was too far for him to see.

He erased
Poke
and thought a little.

Then he wrote
Poak
.

4'Draw three o'clock,” Ms. Rooney said.

In front of him Matthew counted. “Twelve. One. Two. Three.”

Richard drew the hands too.

“Now draw ten o'clock,” said Ms. Rooney.

“Twelve. One. Two …” Matthew be-gan.

Richard thought of Matthew in a yellow raincoat.

He thought about Matthew in a rain forest.

He started to laugh again.

He hid his head behind Matthew. He didn't want Ms. Rooney to see him.

Who was going to sleep near Matthew?

He pulled his list out of his desk. It was all crum-pled.

He smoothed it out. He was going to sleep next to Timothy and Alex.

Wayne would sleep on the other side of Alex.

Then what?

Noah.

Matthew could sleep near the wall.

Noah could sleep near Matthew.

He hoped Noah wouldn't find out until the last min-ute.

Richard sighed. He was sick of fixing up this whole thing.

4Tour thirty,” said Ms. Rooney.

''Shoot,” said Matthew.

Richard drew a hand on the four. Then he looked out the win-dow.

Four thirty was just too hard.

It was a rainy-day lunch. Mrs. Kettle, the sixthgrade teacher, was in charge. She was the strictest teacher in the whole school.

She clapped her hands. “Are you finished eat-ing?”

Everyone yelled yes.

''Clean your places,” Mrs. Kettle said. “Go straight to the gym.”

Richard didn't go straight to the gym.

He was going to sneak upstairs to his classroom. He was going to change the number on the Candy Corn jar.

If Ms. Rooney had written 103, he would write 100. If she had writ-ten 421, he would write 416. No. He would write 417. No.

He hoped she hadn't written 421.

Right after he changed the number, he was going to forget what it was.

He didn't want to cheat.

He stopped for a long drink of water at the water fountain.

He hoped Ms. Rooney wasn't in the classroom. Maybe he should wait a few minutes. Maybe he should sneak to the classroom right before the bell rang. Ms. Rooney would be downstairs in the gym with the class.

He went past the auditorium. The fifth-grade band was play-ing.

He opened the door a little bit.

Pom. Pom. Pom
.

The drummer was banging as hard as he could. Richard could feel the pounding in his head.

He opened the door a little wider. He pounded a make-believe drum on it.

Then he spotted his sister, Holly. Her lips were squeezed over her fife.

Nobody could hear her though.

All you could hear was
pom, pom, pom
.

She frowned at him.

She shook one finger over the fife. She stopped
squeezing her mouth together. She opened her mouth wide. She whispered something.

Richard leaned forward.

“Get lost,” she mouthed again.

Richard closed the door of the auditorium.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder.

It was Timothy Barbiero. He had a book in his hand. A big fat book.

“Hi, Richard,” Timothy said. “Getting ready for your Thanksgiving sleep-over?”'

Richard nodded.

Noah Greene came from around the corner. “Hey, you guys,” he said.

“What about Matthew?” Timothy asked. “Is he coming to your party?”

“Yeah,” Noah said. “I was going to ask you that too.”

Richard looked back toward the auditorium.

The band had stopped playing. Everything was still.

“Matthew?” Richard said.

“Who is going to sleep near Matthew?”

“I'm not,” Timothy said.

“No,” Richard said. “You're sleeping near me. We're going to have a great time.”

“I'm not sleeping near Matthew,” Noah said.

Richard leaned forward. “It's my sleep-over. I'm the one who says where everyone is going to sleep.”

“Then I'm not coming,” Noah said.

Mrs. Avery, the music teacher, came out to the hall. “Aren't you supposed to be in the gym?” she asked.

“We're going right now,” Richard said.

They turned and started for the stairs.

“Listen, Noah,” Richard said. “You've got to come.”

“I'm not—” Noah be-gan.

“All right,” Richard said. “Maybe Alex will sleep near Matthew.”

“Are you crazy?” Timothy said. “Nobody is going to sleep near Matthew.”

Noah started to laugh. “Nobody but the beast.”

Richard kicked at the stairs. “Not me. I'm going to tell him to sleep behind the TV set.”