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Mr Leroy’s voice crackled through the intercorader nae of Allegiance

"This is your principal, Mr Leroy," he said, and Mrs Pidgeon’s second-graders all laughed They kneas their principal He didn’t need to tell them It wasn’t like the day in October when Gooney Bird Greene had appeared in their classroom for the first time and said, "I’m your new student" She’d needed to explain that, because nobody had had a clue who she was, and she had arrived wearing pajamas and cowboy boots, which made her somewhat mysterious

But everyone already kneho Mr Leroy was He was Watertower Elementary’s principal and he was the best principal, the children thought, in the whole world He was s neckties, except for the blue striped one He had explained that his wife’s iven him the blue striped one for his birthday, so he felt that he had to wear it now and then He really thought it was a boring necktie, but if they ever ht that

"I just want to alert you all to the weather forecast," Mr Leroy’s voice continued through the intercouess we shouldn’t be surprised, since it is January, but the prediction is for snow tomorrow

"Walkers? Be sure to arm boots and › mittens," he said

"That’s me," Ben announced fro my LLBean boots tomorrow!"

"Me, too," Nicholas chimed in "I’m a walker, too"

"And bus people?" Mr Leroy went on

"Me," Keiko said in her very quiet voice

"And et on Bus Eleven at the corner of Cherry Street"

"Be sure to be extra well behaved on the bus," Mr Leroy reht be difficult in the snow We want all of our drivers to pay careful attention to the slippery roads, not to children who ly"

"That’s you, Malcolrinned It was true; he did have trouble sitting still He iggling back and forth in his seat at this very moment

"Of course," Mr Leroy continued, "if there is a lot of snow, you knohat that means!"

"Snow day!" the children all called out

"Snow day! OKAY!" Tyrone shouted

"Snow day," Mr Leroy said, like an echo, even though he couldn’t hear Mrs Pidgeon’s classroom from his office "But let’s hope not We all have lots of schoolwork to get done, don’t we?

"Now," he added, "so hed "Yes, he is," she said "I sahen I was having coffee in the teachers’ lounge It gives uanas and everything!"

"Koross," ht possibly be sli She pointed to the speaker and re to the principal’s voice

"So I’ll sign off by saying: ’See you later--’"

"Alligator!" the second-graders called out as the intercoator!" and then Watertower Elean their day

"Well, class," Mrs Pidgeon said, "as you all know, usually I begin each eon!" Barry Tucker his hand in the air

Mrs Pidgeon sighed "What is it, Barry?" she asked

"Look at what Gooney Bird’s wearing!" Barry said loudly, and pointed toward the desk where Gooney Bird Greene had just opened her spelling book

All of the children giggled They frequently giggled at Gooney Bird’s outfits Ever since her first day as a new student, when she had worn pajamas to school, they had been as she decided to wear A ballet tutu, soh she took the boots with an organdy pinafore Sandals with un an oversize tie-dyed sweatshirt She had worn that particular shirt to school before, so it wasn’t unusual But today she had soreen helh which her red ponytails poked out

Gooney Bird looked up when she heard the giggles "What?" she said "I’ test I can never remember whether it’s an a or an e in separate"

"We were just noticing your, ah, your headpiece," Mrs Pidgeon commented

"Yes It’s my two-ponytail hat On days when I have just one ponytail, I wear a baseball cap with h the hole in back But thismy teeth when I looked in the bathroom mirror and I said to myself, ’Gooney Bird, I do believe today is a two-ponytail day!’"

"I’ve seen you with your baseball cap on, Gooney Bird," Mrs Pidgeon said, "but never with this, ah, two-ponytail hat before"

"It’s brand new" Gooney Bird turned her head to give the teacher a side view of the pale green ruffles and the ponytail holes "Do you like it?"

"Well, it’s unusual," Mrs Pidgeon replied "I’ll say that for it"

"It’s underpants!" Chelsea shrieked The entire class roared with laughter

Gooney Bird sighed She waited patiently until the class becaain Then she said, "Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea Whatever a to do with you? You knohat that word does to the class! Re stories and I explained that you could always get a laugh with arh"

She looked back at her spelling book "It’s an a I have to remember that Desperate has an e but separate has an a It’s very confusing"

"My h, "and it’s very confusing because I live in two houses, and so book is in the other"

"My mom and dad are desperate," Malcolhed They all knew about the co in Malcolm’s fa voice "I see Gooney’s--"

"Enough," announced Mrs Pidgeon She glanced suddenly at Tyrone "Tyrone, what do I see in your hand?"