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“Wowie wow wow! That thing will hold a million bajillion Valentime’s cards!” I said real thrilled.

That Grace did a frown at me.

“Stop saying valentime, Junie B.,” she said. “You keep on saying valentime with an m sound. And you are supposed to say valentine with an n sound.”

I did a frown back at her.

“Who said so?” I asked.

“I said so,” said that Grace. “Didn’t you hear my voice? I just got finished telling you it has an n in it. The word is valentine.”

I did a huffy breath at that girl.

“You are not the boss of my words, Grace,” I said. “This is a freed country. And if I want to say valentime, I can. And I will not even go to jail.”

That Grace looked annoyed at me.

“I didn’t say you would go to jail, Junie B.,” she said. “I just wish you would say the word correctly, that’s all.”

“Yeah well, we can’t always have what we wish for, Grace,” I told her. “I wish valentime had an m in it. But it doesn’t, does it?”

After that, me and that Grace made squinty eyes at each other. Plus also we crossed our arms. And we tapped our angry feet.

Only pretty soon we got tired of that. ’Cause fighting with your friends is not that fun.

That’s how come both of us hugged each other. And we said a ’pology.

“Sorry, Junie B.,” said Grace. “Sorry I tried to be the boss of your words.”

“Sorry, Grace,” I said back. “Sorry valentime doesn’t have an m in it.”

After that, both of us holded hands. And we skipped all the way to Room Nine.

That is called a victory skip.

And guess what else?

After we got to Room Nine, Mrs. said it was time to decorate the valentimes box!

Everybody quick sat down in their seats.

Then we watched Mrs. cover the box with shiny white paper. Plus also she cut a mail slot in the top.

After that, all of the children got our scissors. And we cut out paper hearts to paste onto the sides.

I cut my fastest.

“Mrs.! Look! Look!” I said. “I am already done cutting my heart! And so I have the fastest scissors in Room Nine, probably!”

Just then, a meanie boy named Jim jumped up from his chair.

“No, you don’t! Look over here! I already cut two hearts! See? One…two! So ha ha on you!” he said.

I quick cut another heart.

“Yeah, well now I have two, too! And so you are not the winner anymore, Meanie Jim!”

Jim held up one more.

“Three!” he yelled. “I just cut number three! So I am still one ahead of you!”

I made my scissors go speedy fast.

“Ha! Now I have three, too. So there!” I said.

Jim did a fast snip.

“Four! I’m up to four!” he said.

That’s how come I got fusstration inside me.

“STOP IT, JIM! STOP CUTTING SO FAST! AND I MEAN IT!”

After that, I tried to cut one more heart. But my scissors went very out of control. And my heart turned out like scribble scraps!

“DARN IT! NOW LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!” I hollered real mad.

All of a sudden, a big hand came flying over the top of my head. And it snatched my scissors right off my fingers.

I bended my head back to see who it was.

It was Mrs.

I did a gulp.

“I was afraid it was you,” I said kind of soft.

Then Mrs. went to Jim’s table. And she snatched his scissors, too.

And so me and him had to sit in our chairs for the rest of the day. And we didn’t get to decorate the valentimes box.

’Cause our cutting days were over, that’s why.

And our pasting days never even got started.

3/Picking Out Valentimes!

The valentimes box turned out very beautiful!

After it was finished, Mrs. passed out lists for us to take home. The lists had the names of all the children in Room Nine.

“There are eighteen children in our class,” said Mrs. “So that means that everyone needs to bring eighteen valentines.”

I raised my hand.

“Do we bring valentimes for ourselves, too?” I asked her.

“Well, no,” she said. “I mean there’s no rule against it, I suppose. But valentines are really supposed to be given to others.”

She thought for a second.

“Oops. I guess that means I made a mistake, doesn’t it?” she said. “Since you won’t be bringing in cards for yourselves, you will only need to bring in seventeen valentines.”

I raised up my hand again.

“Yeah, only what