Judy Moody Around the World in 8 1_2 Days - Megan Mcdonald [15]
“It’s a really big scoop,” said Rocky.
“Well, it better not be the Leaning Tower of Pizza Tables again, because half my collection melted.”
“It’ll be better,” said Frank.
“It’ll be big,” said Rocky.
“It’ll be red, white, and green!” said Rocky and Frank, cracking themselves up.
“Is it . . . the Grinch . . . on a fire engine?” Jessica guessed.
“You’ll see,” said Rocky.
“You’ll see,” said Frank.
“Break an egg!” said Judy.
The next morning, Rocky was not on the bus. And Judy was dying to show him the letter and the photo she’d gotten from Nathaniel Daniel in California.
When Judy got to school, she ran over to Amy’s class.
“Look what I got!” she told Amy Namey.
“It’s Bubblegum Alley!” said Amy.
“Look closer,” Judy said.
Amy peered at the photo and found the initials JM made out of chewed-up gum.
“JM for Judy Moody! I’m on the Wall of Gum!” said Judy. “In the Bubblegum Hall of Fame.”
“Double check!” said Amy.
“Hey, have you seen Rocky? Or Frank?” Judy asked Jessica Finch when she got to class.
“Didn’t you hear? The two of them got here super early and they’ve been down in the cafeteria all morning. I can’t wait to find out what they’re up to.” The whole class was buzzing about the big scoop. Rocky and Frank even got to miss Spelling.
Finally, Rocky and Frank came back upstairs. They told Mr. Todd and Ms. Valentine to bring everybody down to the cafeteria in five minutes.
“What IS it?” asked Judy, rushing up to Rocky and Frank.
“We’re not telling!” they said.
Class 3T and Class 3V walked single file down the hall and down the stairs to the cafeteria. They could smell it before they saw it. Everybody had a seat at one of the lunch tables.
The project was so big, it would not fit through the door, so the lunch ladies had to help them slide it through the wide window from the kitchen. In came a lunch lady, then Rocky, then Frank, then another lunch lady. They were holding their hands over their heads and carrying the biggest, roundest circle of cardboard Judy had ever seen.
“YUM!” said Jessica Finch.
“Smells good!” said Judy.
“What is it?” everybody asked.
It took six pushed-together tables just to hold it. They set the cardboard down. On it was the biggest, bubbliest, yummiest, cheesiest pizza in the world.
“What’s red, white, and green all over?” asked Frank.
“The World’s Biggest Pizza!” Rocky announced. “Red sauce and white cheese with green-pepper topping!”
“No way!” everybody said.
“Yah-huh,” said Rocky. “At least it’s Virginia Dare School’s Biggest-Ever Pizza. It’s six feet wide, and we used thirty pounds of dough and thirty-six pounds of cheese.”
“That pizza weighs more than me!” shouted Judy.
“Actually,” said Frank, “the real World’s Biggest Pizza is about the size of a parking lot.”
“But this is the World’s Biggest Pizza Map!” said Rocky.
“What? Huh?”
Everybody gathered around the pizza and took a closer look. It was big and round as a world, and the cheese was piled in seven funny shapes. One for each continent. Like a map! Green peppers made a trail from North America to the tip of Asia.
“I get it! It’s a map!”
“It’s the world!”
“I see North America!”
“I see Italy! It’s the shape of a boot,” said Judy.
“Look!” said Amy Namey. “The pizza map follows Nellie Bly’s trip around the world.”
“Right — it’s all the places we went around the world in eight and a half days,” said Judy.
Amy Namey took out her clipboard. “I’m going to be first to get the big scoop,” she told Judy. “I’ll write this up for my newspaper! WORLD’S BIGGEST PIZZA MAP AT VIRGINIA DARE SCHOOL.”
“Don’t forget CLASS 3T AND 3V GO AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHT AND A HALF DAYS!” said Judy.
“Eight and a half days, two hours, thirteen minutes, and twenty-seven seconds,” said Amy, looking at both her watches.
“Check!” said Rocky and Frank, sounding like Amy Namey.
“Fantastico!” said Judy.
“Dig in!” said a lunch lady. “There’s more than enough for everybody.”
“There’s more than enough to have pizza for lunch every day for a week!” said Rocky.
“Pizza for lunch every day? Told you that could happen,” said