Never Wear Red Lipstick on Picture Day: (And Other Lessons I've Learned) by Allison Gutknecht Read Free Book Online Page B

is, except for Dennis.
    â€œMr. Jacks took away Mandy’s new scarf because she hit him in the head with it,” Anya explains, and I give her a dirty look about this. “I mean, it was an accident. It was all Dennis’s fault.”
    â€œWas not,” Dennis pipes up. “I’m not the one who brought the ugly scarf to school.”
    â€œYou touched it,” I remind him. “You are not allowed to touch my things.”
    Dennis shrugs. “You snooze, you lose, Polka Dot,” and he walks to the back of our classroom line, because Dennis always likes to be the caboose.
    I see Mrs. Spangle come into the gym then with the rest of the second-grade teachers, so I stand in line between Anya and Natalie. Natalie whispers in my ear, “I’m sorry about your scarf. Dennis is terrible.” And I just nod my head sadly because that is the truth.
    â€œHappy Monday!” Mrs. Spangle calls down our line. “Let’s all scoot in and make our line the straightest in all of second grade. One head in back of the other.” And I stare at the back of Anya’s hair, my lips drooping lower and lower down my face into a frown.
    Mrs. Spangle begins to walk down our line as the other second-grade classes file out of the gym. She stops when she gets to me.
    â€œWhy are you looking like such a sourpuss today, Mandy?” she asks. “It’s Picture Day week, remember? Time for us all to practice our smiles. And I know how excited you are about Mr. Jacks’s lunchtime contest.”
    I try to smile at Mrs. Spangle, because I do not want to tell her about my problem with the scarf or about getting in trouble with Principal Jacks, or else she might not like me anymore. And Principal Jacks not liking me anymore is bad enough.
    Also, there is absolutely, positively no way that I would ever want to have lunch with the principal now, because thinking about him taking my scarf away makes my face feel hot and embarrassed, so the contest is not even fun anymore. I wish I could rewind my day to yesterday, when I had my click-clack heels on my feet and my glittery scarf around my neck, and the whole week was not already a big disaster.

CHAPTER 8
    How to Say “I’m Sorry”

    â€œHI, MANDY,” MOM GREETS ME in the kitchen after school. “I’m surprised you’re not wearing that scarf you love so much.”
    I nod my head slowly, because I do not really feel like talking about it. When I don’t answer, Mom looks at me like she is suspicious. “Did something happen to your scarf?” she asks, and I almost wish that the twins were awake so that Mom would not be paying such good attention to me.
    â€œIt is a long story,” I reply. “I will have it back at the end of the week.”
    â€œBut where is it now?”
    â€œI told you, it is a long story,” I repeat.
    â€œWell, I would like to hear this story.”
    I sigh a big gust of breath then and look toward the twins’ room, hoping that one of them will begin wailing immediately. When that doesn’t happen, I say, “It is missing right now.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, it’s missing?”
    â€œI do not have it.”
    â€œDid you lose it?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œDid someone take it?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWho?”
    I pause and think about how to answer this. “Principal Jacks,” I finally confess.
    Mom narrows her eyes at me. “Why did Mr. Jacks take your scarf?”
    â€œBecause I hit him in the head with it,” I say. “But it was an accident—I was trying to hit Dennis.”
    Mom mumbles words under her breath that I do not think I am supposed to hear. “You hit your principal in the head? Mandy, for goodness’ sake, what are we going to do with—”
    â€œIt was Dennis’s fault,” I say. “He was touching my scarf, and he is not allowed to touch my things.”
    â€œNo matter.” Mom waves