The Judy Moody Star Studded Collection - Megan Mcdonald [2]
“Pizza? Pizza! For real?” The room buzzed with excitement.
Judy Moody wanted to be the one to pick up the pizza. She wanted to be the one to open the box. She wanted to be the one who got to keep the little three-legged plastic table that kept the box top from sticking to the pizza.
“So. Who would like to pick up the pizza today?” asked Mr. Todd.
“Me!” yelled Judy. “Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!” everyone shouted at once, waving their hands like windmills in the air.
Rocky raised his hand without saying a word.
“Rocky, would you like to pick up the pizza?”
“Sure!” said Rocky.
“Luck-y!” Judy said.
When Rocky came back with the pizza, the class grew quiet, everyone chewing teeny-weeny cheesy squares of Gino’s pizza and listening to Mr. Todd read them a chapter from a book about a pepperoni pizza–eating dog.
When he finished reading, Judy asked, “Mr. Todd, can I look at your little pizza table?”
“That does look like a miniature table, Judy. I never thought of it that way.”
“I collect them,” said Judy Moody. She didn’t really collect them — yet. So far, she had collections of twenty-seven dead moths, a handful of old scabs, a dozen fancy toothpicks, hundreds of designer Band-Aids (she needed the box tops), a box of body parts (from dolls!) including three Barbie heads, and four unused erasers shaped like baseballs.
“Tell you what,” said Mr. Todd. “If you think you can come to third grade in a good mood tomorrow, it’s yours. Do you think you can agree to that?”
“Yes, Mr. Todd,” said Judy. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!”
Judy was teaching Mouse to walk on two legs when the phone rang.
“Hello?”
All she heard was air.
“Hello?” Judy asked the air.
“Hello, Judy? Are you allowed to come to my party?” a voice asked. A Frank Pearl voice. It had only been two days since he gave her the invitation.
“Wrong number,” said Judy, hanging up. She dangled her new pizza table from a string in front of Mouse’s nose.
The phone rang again. “Hello? Is this the Moodys’?”
“Not now, Frank. I’m in the middle of an important experiment.”
“Okay. Bye.”
The phone rang a third time.
“The experiment’s not over yet,” Judy yelled into the phone.
“What experiment?” asked Rocky.
“Never mind,” said Judy.
“Let’s go to Vic’s,” said Rocky. “I want to get something for my Me collage.” Vic’s was the Mini Mart down the hill where they had cool prizes in the jawbreaker machine, like tattoos that wash off and magic tricks.
“Let me ask,” said Judy.
“Mom, can I go to Vic’s with Rocky?”
“Sure,” said Mom.
“Sure!” said Judy, tossing Mouse the pizza table.
“I’m going too,” said Stink.
“No, you’re not,” Judy told him.
“You and Rocky can take him along,” said Mom, giving her one of those looks.
“But he doesn’t know about crossing through China and Japan on the way,” Judy said. Only best friends knew that the first speed bump on the way was crossing into China, the second, Japan.
“I’m sure you could teach him,” Mom said.
“Teach me,” said Stink.
“Meet me at the manhole,” Judy said back into the phone. The manhole was exactly halfway between Judy’s front door and Rocky’s. Over the summer they had measured it with a very long ball of string.
She ran out the door. Stink ran out the door after her.
Rocky had a dollar. Judy had a dollar. Stink had six pennies.
“If we put our money together, we can buy eight jawbreakers,” said Rocky.
“Two heads are better than one,” Judy laughed. “Get it?” She unscrunched the dollar bill from her pocket and pointed to George Washington’s head.
“I’ve got six heads,” said Stink, showing his pennies.
“That’s because you’re a monster! Get it?” Judy and Rocky cracked up.
Stink did not have enough money for even one jawbreaker. “You’ll break your mouth if you try to eat eight jawbreakers,” said Stink. “I could eat at least two for you.”
“It’s for the prizes,” Judy told him.
“Eight quarters give us eight chances to win a magic trick,” said Rocky. “I need a new magic trick to paste on my Me collage.