The Wizzle War by Gordon Korman Read Free Book Online

said Bruno. “They won’t be there long. Tonight, just after lights-out, we’re each going to take a batch and slip them under doors.”
    Wilbur dropped a cookie. “Hold everything! I’m not risking getting demerits. I got three this morning because Mr. Wizzle saw me eating between classes. Did you know we’re not allowed to eat between classes?”
    “If you don’t help deliver the
Free Press
,” warned Bruno, “Wizzle’s going to stay, and then you’ll
never
be allowed to eat between classes.”
    “That’s blackmail,” accused Wilbur.
    “That reminds me,” said Mark irritably. “I got three demeritsthis morning for leaving the print shop in a mess. Thanks a lot, Bruno!”
    “I got five demerits last night,” said Elmer, shamefaced.
    “You?”
chorused all the boys at the table.
    “Yes,” Elmer admitted. “Last night the constellation of Orion was so well positioned in the sky that I couldn’t resist getting out my telescope, even though it was after lights-out. I was sketching the positions of the stars when, suddenly, they were gone and this huge eye was looking at me.”
    “I didn’t get any demerits,” said Larry. “Mr. Wizzle complimented me on my efficiency.”
    “Your kind causes unrest!” snarled Wilbur.
    Elmer sighed nervously. “If I get five more demerits, I’ll have to write lines!”
    “Oh, no!” Bruno held his head. “My lines! I forgot to hand in my lines! I haven’t even got them from Sidney yet!” He ran out of the dining hall.
    “That Bruno!” exclaimed Wilbur. “How come he makes everybody do what they don’t want to do?”
    “It’s for our own good,” explained Pete. “We have to stop Wizzle before he gives another test!”
    Bruno stomped determinedly out of the Faculty Building. Outside he met Boots and Wilbur on their way to afternoon classes.
    “I brought your books,” said Boots.
    “That Wizzle!” stormed Bruno. “Do you know what he did with those lines? He just scrunched them up and threw them in the garbage! After all Sidney’s hard work!”
    “What did you expect him to do?” asked Wilbur. “Framethem?”
    “And I got five more demerits for being late!” added Bruno. “If demerits were money, I’d be rich!”
    “If demerits were brains,” said Boots, “you’d behave yourself.”
    “Look who’s talking! You’ve got five!”
    “So what?” Boots defended himself. “Elmer’s got five, too. I’m in distinguished company.”
    “Come on,” said Wilbur. “We’ll be late for class.”
    * * *
    “Well, Mildred,” said Mr. Sturgeon, enjoying a roast beef dinner, “of all the people I might have guessed Miss Scrimmage would hire, that Miss Peabody would be the last.”
    “What a horrible person,” agreed Mrs. Sturgeon. “I feel so sorry for those poor girls.”
    The Headmaster grimaced. “Those hooligans deserve anything they get. Besides, it could be worse for them. They could have Wizzle. Save your sympathy for our boys. Wizzle gave Drimsdale five demerits last night for having his telescope out after ten PM.”
    “Well,” said his wife, “he was violating curfew. That could interfere with a boy’s school work, you know.”
    “Drimsdale has been a one-man observatory for three years,” said the Headmaster, “and never once has his average dropped below ninety-five. Mildred, to give that boy demerits is a crime against science!”
    “Mr. Wizzle is new here,” Mrs. Sturgeon explained, “and all he saw was a boy breaking the rules.”
    “I suppose being smarter than Wizzle is against the rules. It would appear that harbouring the smartest boy in the world is one of the things that makes Macdonald Hall a dinosaur.”
    “Oh dear,” said Mrs. Sturgeon. “You think poor Mr. Wizzle is handing out demerits too freely?”
    “He is as free with his demerits as he is with his advice,” said the Headmaster sourly. “He’s called a surprise dormitory inspection for tonight so he can give away even more. Anyway, thank heaven