Bases Loaded by Mike Knudson Read Free Book Online Page A

he said. Then he turned and walked away.
    â€œWhoa!” Graham burst out laughing. “That was awesome! I’ve never heard David apologize to anyone. Did you see his face?” Graham made a mad face to imitate David.
    â€œIt’s not funny and it’s not awesome, Graham,” Mom said. “Punching other kids is serious business.”
    â€œYeah, but you’re not really going to call his mom, are you?” I begged her.
    â€œNo, not this time. Hopefully, he’s learned his lesson.”
    After recess, we all came in and sat in our regular places. It wasn’t fun switching places when my mom knew who most of us were anyway. David sat down next to me and whispered “You’re going to get it!” in my ear. Mom looked at me, but I just gave her a smile to let her know everything was all right.
    Graham was a little mad because he still wanted to sit by Kelly. Kelly, on the other hand, looked kind of happy to have Graham back in his normal spot. Just as Mom started writing our spelling words on the board, David raised his hand.
    â€œBy the way,” he said. “Did Mrs. Gibson tell you about the party she promised us this Friday? We’ve been planning it for months.” Mom walked back to Mrs. Gibson’s desk and picked up the folder of instructions for the next week.
    â€œI don’t see anything in here that mentions a party,” Mom said, looking at the calendar.
    â€œWell, she did promise us,” he said. “You can ask anyone.”
    â€œOkay,” Mom said, looking around.
    Don’t ask me, don’t ask me, don’t ask me , I repeated in my head.
    â€œRaymond,” Mom finally called out. My heart sank. “Is this true about a party?” Every eye in the class was on me. I could tell they were begging me to confirm David’s story. But how could I lie to my mom? I mean, she always knows when I’m lying. If she caught me, I’d be in trouble for lying and we still wouldn’t get the party. But if I did lie and for some reason I didn’t get caught, everyone would love me. I would be the hero of the day. Oh man , I thought to myself, this stinks! As badly as I wanted to be the hero, I just couldn’t do it. After all, Mom was so excited to be my substitute. How could I let her down? So what if everyone would be mad at me? I decided to do the right thing and tell the truth. And I felt good about it too.
    I proudly looked up at my mom, ready to tell her that we were not planning a party. But just as I was about to spoil our fun, Lizzy beat me to it.
    â€œMrs. Knudson,” Lizzy blurted out, holding her hand up. She never waits to be called on—she just raises her hand and starts talking. “I think you should know that we are not supposed to have a party. It’s just something that the students were trying to trick you into doing.” There was a soft groan from the rest of the class, and everyone just hung their heads.
    I couldn’t believe it! In my heart I actually wanted to do the right thing, even if it meant a slug in the arm and having everyone else in the class be mad at me, and Lizzy had ruined it. Mom looked at me with a disappointed expression on her face. Then she turned to Lizzy.
    â€œThank you, Lizzy,” Mom said. “I appreciate your help.”
    â€œNo problem,” Lizzy answered. “You can tell Mrs. Gibson that I helped you if you want.”
    I looked around the room. People were still looking at me like they were mad. It was like they were madder at me for not telling my mom that we were supposed to have a party than they were at Lizzy for telling the truth. I didn’t get it.
    With the party thing out of the way, we all got back to work. Mom gave us the math assignment and told us we had until lunchtime to work on it. About five minutes later, my mom asked for a volunteer to bring some papers to the office. My hand shot up in an instant. This part of having my mom as