Judy Moody Around the World in 8 1_2 Days - Megan Mcdonald [14]
Stephopslide. Stephopslide. Change! Step! Hop! Skip! Slapknee! Repeat!
Da da da, duh da da da,
Da da da-da-da-da-duh
Something was not right! The music was too fast!
Judy made her feet go faster and faster until her head was dizzy and her hair was in her mouth.
“Too — puff puff — fast!” she panted. “Slow — puff puff — down!” Huff puff puff.
But nobody seemed to hear. The music kept going faster and faster. Frank shook the tambourine faster than an earthquake. Judy whirled and twirled, a dizzy dancing dervish. Her feet were moving so fast, she felt like a spider with eight legs.
The class was clapping and shouting and laughing and pointing. Mr. Todd blinked the lights. Judy spun like a top out of control — a dizzy, dancing, red-white-and-green machine!
Suddenly, she banged into a desk, tripped over her own foot, and fell in a red, white, and green heap on the floor.
“Oops. Was it too fast?” Rocky asked innocently.
“Stupido!” Judy mumbled.
She, Judy Moody, knew that Rocky and Frank had revved up the tarantella music on purpose.
It was just plain red, white, and mean.
The tarantella had turned out to be a big fat flop. Nobody with two legs could dance as fast as a spider with eight legs. Now the third graders would not make it around the world in eight days. And everybody would blame her, even though she had danced her legs off!
She, Judy Moody, had flunked.
It was all Rocky and Frank’s fault. Rocky No-Talky and Frank the Prank. The My-Name-Is-NOT-a-Poem Club.
After Class 3V left the room, Mr. Todd had a private talk with Judy, Rocky, Frank, and Jessica. He talked to them about what it means to work together as a group. He wanted them to work out their differences, to give each other a second chance. He wanted them to be friends again. But most of all, he wanted to give them a second chance.
“Do I have to have a second chance?” asked Jessica. “Because I think I tried to be a T-E-A-M P-L-A-Y-E-R.”
“You know,” said Mr. Todd, “in Italy there’s a saying. ‘You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.’”
“For real?” said Judy.
“Absolutely,” said Mr. Todd. “Things often go wrong before they go right. It happens all the time.”
“I’ve heard of ‘break a leg’ but never ‘break an egg,’” said Jessica.
“Boys, how about if I give you until tomorrow morning to do your part for our Around-the-World unit?” Mr. Todd said.
“You mean we could still think up our own Italy project, and bring it in tomorrow morning?” asked Rocky.
“And then we’d still get to go around the world, even though it took eight and a half days?” asked Frank.
“I don’t see why not,” said Mr. Todd. “Even Nellie Bly had a lot of things go wrong on her trip around the world.”
“Yeah, like there was a bad storm and she almost didn’t make it back to America on time,” said Jessica.
“And McGinty, her monkey, got scared and jumped on a lady’s back!” said Judy. “Everybody said he was bad luck and wanted Nellie to throw him overboard!”
“That’s right,” said Mr. Todd. “So, what do you say? Sound like a plan?”
“It’s a plan,” said Rocky and Frank.
Rocky turned to Judy. “We’re sorry you did all the work and for messing up your dance,” said Rocky. “You were REALLY fast! So fast it looked like you had eight legs!”
“And we’re sorry for eating your Pasta Shapes Game and for getting mad,” said Frank. “We really messed up.”
“I messed up, too,” said Judy. “I’m the one who missed our practice. All I could think about was the My-Name-Is-a-Poem Club, and I guess I forgot my old friends.” She held out a hand. Rocky and Frank piled their hands on top of hers.
“Don’t forget me!” said Jessica, adding her hand to the top of the pile.
Magnifico! Fantastico! Judy could not wait to tell Amy Namey that Classes 3T and 3V were going to go around the world in eight (and a half) days after all!
Rocky and Frank had to think up a project. Fast. And Judy and Jessica did not even have to help. Mr. Todd said the boys needed to figure it out all by themselves.
“So what are you going to do?” Judy asked them.
“It’s a surprise,