by Abby Klein
To Lucas and Leila:
Two of the coolest kids I know!
Here’s hoping you always have a little bit of luck!
Love, A.K.
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
CHAPTER 1: Lucky Duck
CHAPTER 2: Exciting News
CHAPTER 3: Ooey, Gooey Worms
CHAPTER 4: Mud Monster
CHAPTER 5: Oh No!
CHAPTER 6: Lost!
CHAPTER 7: Practice Makes Perfect
CHAPTER 8: The Spelling Bee
FREDDY’S FUN PAGES
10 SUPER FUN WAYS TO STUDY YOUR SPELLING WORDS!
CATCH A LEPRECHAUN! HIDDEN WORDS
GOOD-LUCK SYMBOLS
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
OTHER STORIES BY ABBY KLEIN
ALSO AVAILABLE
COPYRIGHT
I have a problem. A really, really big problem. The Second Grade Spelling Bee is coming up, and I’m not going to spell any words right because I’ve lost my lucky shark’s tooth!
Let me tell you about it.
RINNNGGG! RINNNGGG! My alarm clock screamed in my ear. I smacked the snooze button and covered my head with my pillow.
I don’t want to get up, I thought to myself. Just let me sleep ten more minutes.
I closed my eyes again and was just drifting off to sleep when my sister, Suzie, barged into my room and yelled in my ear, “Get up, Sharkbreath!”
I swatted my hand in her direction. “Go away!” I shouted. “Leave me alone!”
“You have to be downstairs for breakfast in five minutes,” said Suzie, “or you’re going to be late for the bus.”
“You’re not my mother!” I growled. Then I picked up my pillow and threw it at her.
Suzie jumped out of the way, and the pillow landed with a thud on the floor. “Missed me!” she said, smiling.
“I’ll get up when I want to,” I said, pulling the covers over my head. “Now get out!”
Suzie didn’t move. I could still hear her breathing.
“Did you not hear me? I said get out!”
Suzie picked up the pillow, whacked me on the head, and marched out of the room.
“You’re so annoying!” I yelled after her.
I sat up slowly, stretched my arms up high, and yawned. I walked over to my dresser, pulled out my favorite shark shirt, and put it on.
I wandered into the bathroom and brushed my teeth with my eyes half closed, as toothpaste dribbled down my chin.
I rinsed out my mouth and slowly made my way downstairs. I practically crawled into the kitchen.
“Wow! I don’t think a snail could move any slower,” said my dad.
“You look like you’re sleepwalking,” said my mom.
I yawned again. “I think I might be sleepwalking,” I said.
All of a sudden, Suzie pointed at me and started to laugh. “HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!”
“Hey! Stop laughing at me!” I said. “What’s so funny?”
Suzie was laughing hysterically now. She could barely breathe.
“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” I yelled. “Tell me what’s so funny!”
“You don’t … you don’t … ,” Suzie stammered.
“I don’t … what?”
“You don’t have any pants on!” Suzie blurted out.
I slowly looked down at my legs. I had on my undies, but no pants. My legs were bare.
“You must have been half asleep when you got dressed this morning,” said my mom.
“You’d better go put on some pants,” said my dad. “I don’t think you want to go to school dressed like that!”
“I think you should go in just your underwear,” said Suzie. “That would be hilarious!”
“Oh yeah, really funny,” I said.
“Well, you’d better hurry up, Freddy,” said my mom. “You don’t have a lot of time before the bus comes, and you still haven’t eaten your breakfast.”
I jogged out of the kitchen and ran upstairs to get a pair of pants. I looked around my room for my jeans. I found them on the floor in the corner and put them on. Then I slid down the banister, raced into the kitchen, and skidded into my seat at the table.
“Much better,” said my mom.
“Good thing I have my pants on,” I said, smiling.
“I’ll say,” said my dad. “I don’t think you want to go to school naked. That could be quite embarrassing!”
“No,” I said, laughing. “I mean it’s a good thing I have my pants on because I always keep my lucky shark’s tooth in my pocket. If I didn’t have my pants on, I wouldn’t have my lucky shark’s tooth.”
“I can’t believe you think that dumb shark’s tooth is lucky,” said Suzie.
“First of all, it’s not dumb. And second of all, it is lucky,” I said, patting my pocket.
“Oh really?” said Suzie. “I don’t believe it.”
“It is!” I said. “I’ll show you.”
“You’re going to show me?” said Suzie. “How are you going to show me?”
“Just watch,” I said. I turned to my mom. “Can I please have the Tooty Fruity O’s for breakfast?”
“Sure, honey,” said my mom, and she went to get the Tooty Fruity O’s out of the cupboard.
“I thought you were going to show me,” said Suzie.
“I am. Just wait a minute,” I said.
My mom came back with the cereal. “Here you go, honey.”
I picked up the box and shoved it in Suzie’s face. “Do you see there is a secret Commander Upchuck surprise in this box? You can get Commander Upchuck, his dog Cookie, or his spaceship.”
“Yeah,” said Suzie. “So what?”
“So I know which surprise I’m going to get.”
“No, you don’t!”
“Yes, I do!”
“Do not!”
“Do too!”
“Fine,” said Suzie. “Which surprise are you going to get?”
“The spaceship.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because my lucky shark’s tooth always brings me good luck. All I have to do is rub it before I reach my hand into the cereal box.”
“I still don’t believe it,” said Suzie.
“Then watch and be amazed,” I said. I stuck my hand in my pocket and rubbed my lucky shark’s tooth. Then I reached into the cereal box and felt around with my hand until I found the prize.
“Hurry up already!” said Suzie. “We haven’t got all morning.”
“Hold on to your pants!” I said.
“At least I didn’t forget to put mine on this morning,” said Suzie.
I started to slowly pull the prize out of the box.
Suzie glared at me and tapped her fingers on the table.
“Are you ready?” I asked Suzie.
“Ready, Freddy. Pull it out already!”
“TA-DA!” I announced as I yanked the prize free.
Suzie stared at the prize in my hand. Her eyes got big and wide.
“It’s the spaceship!” I shouted, waving the toy in the air. “The one I wanted.”
“WOW!” said Suzie. “That is a lucky shark’s tooth.”
“Told you so,” I said, smiling. “It always brings me good luck.”
Even though I was a bit late finishing my breakfast, the bus also happened to be a little late, so I didn’t miss it. That was lucky! I patted the shark’s tooth in my pocket.
When we arrived at school, Robbie, Josh, and I walked down the hall together. My best friend Robbie wasn’t in my class this year, so every morning we made plans to meet up at recess.
“What do you guys want to do today at recess?” Robbie asked.
“Let’s play tag!” I suggested. “We haven’t played that in a while.”
“Nah, I don’t feel like that today,” said Josh.
“Besides,” said Robbie. “Max always plays tag lately, and he pushes everyone when he tags them. Yesterday, I saw him push Dean so hard, Dean went flying to the ground.”
“Max really needs to learn how to play by the rules,” said Josh. “He’s always hurting other kids.”
We nodded. The biggest bully in the whole second grade never played by the rules.
“I know!” said Josh. “We could play soccer.”
“I do love to play soccer, but we’ve been doing that a lot lately. I’m getting kind of tired of it,” I said.
“I’ve got it!” said Robbie. “Let’s look for worms! It rained last night, so we should be able to find a lot of them.”
“That’s a great idea!” I said.
“Yeah,” Josh agreed. “I love doing that. We can ask Jessie if she wants to go worm hunting, too.”
We all high-fived each other. Then the bell rang for school to start.
“We’d better get going,” I said. “We don’t want to be late.”
“See you guys at recess!” Robbie yelled as he disappeared down the hall.
“Yeah, meet you by the big tree,” Josh and I called back.
We walked into our classroom and started to put our stuff away.
“Good morning, boys,” said our teacher, Miss Clark. “How are you this morning?”
“Good,” said Josh.
“Great!” I said, smiling.
“I’m glad to hear that, Freddy,” said Miss Clark. “What has made your morning so great?”
I pulled the Commander Upchuck spaceship out of my backpack and held it up for her to see. “This!” I said with a big grin on my face.
“What is that?” asked Miss Clark.
“It’s a Commander Upchuck spaceship. I found it in my Tooty Fruity O’s this morning.”
Max whipped his head around. “No way!” he shouted. Then he came running over and grabbed it out of my hands. “I’ve been wanting this for so long. How did you get this? You are soooooo lucky!”
“Max, you need to give that back to Freddy. You can’t just grab something out of someone’s hands like that,” said Miss Clark.
Max ignored her and kept turning the spaceship over in his hands and staring at it. “This is so cool.”
“Max, did you hear me?” said Miss Clark, tapping him on the shoulder. “That belongs to Freddy. Please give it back to him.”
Max looked at Miss Clark, and he looked at me.
“Now, Max,” Miss Clark said a little bit louder.
Max sighed, and then he handed the spaceship back to me.
“Thank you,” said Miss Clark. “Now go finish putting your things away.”
Max walked back over to the cubbies, but Chloe had arrived and was hanging up her coat. Instead of waiting for her to finish, Max shoved her out of the way.
Chloe lost her balance, dropped her lunch box, and accidentally sat down right on top of it. “Oh no! Oh no, you big bully! Look what you made me do!” she cried.
Max did not even turn around.
“This is my brand-new pink ballerina lunch box, and now it’s smushed!” she wailed. “My nana just gave it to me yesterday!”
Miss Clark came running over. “Here, Chloe,” she said, extending her hand, “I’ll help you up.” Chloe got up. “Max, what do you have to say to Chloe?”
Max pretended he didn’t hear. He was really good at that.
Miss Clark put her hands on Max’s shoulders and slowly turned him around to face Chloe. “Max,” she repeated. “You owe Chloe an apology.”
Silence.
Chloe put her hands on her hips. “I’m waiting for my apology.”
“Sorry,” Max mumbled.
“Please look at her when you say it, and say it a little bit louder so she can hear you,” said Miss Clark.
“Sorry!” Max said loudly.
“Thank you,” said Miss Clark. She picked up Chloe’s lunch box. “Here you go. I think your lunch box will be okay,” she said. “Luckily, it’s the soft kind, so you can just push it back the way it was.”
“But it is brand-new,” Chloe sniffled.
“And it’s beautiful,” said Miss Clark. “Pretty in pink, just like you. Why don’t you go put it away, so we can get our morning started?”
Chloe twirled around twice, holding her lunch box high above her head, and then put it gently in her cubby.
“Boys and girls, please come to the rug,” said Miss Clark. “I have some very exciting news to tell you.”
“I can’t wait to hear what it is,” said Jessie.
“Me either!” I said.
When everyone was sitting quietly, Miss Clark said, “This morning Principal Pendergast told me that there is going to be a Second Grade Spelling Bee!”
“A Spelling Bee! Really?” said Jessie.
“Really,” Miss Clark answered.
“I’ve always wanted to be in a Spelling Bee,” I said, grinning.
“Well, I guess it’s your lucky day!” said Miss Clark.
It sure is, I thought to myself, patting my lucky shark’s tooth.
“Is the Spelling Bee just for our class?” asked Chloe.
“No, Fancypants,” Max barked. “She just said it was the whole second grade.”
“The whole second grade is a lot of kids,” said Josh.
“Eighty children, to be exact,” said Miss Clark.
“The winner is going to have to spell a lot of words!” said Jessie.
“That’s right,” said Miss Clark. “A lot.”
“Does the winner get a prize?” asked Max.
“Yes,” said Miss Clark. “The winner gets a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to the bookstore.”
“Oh, I really want to win,” said Jessie. “Last week when I was at the mall, I saw three new books I wanted in the bookstore window.”
“Then you’ll need to do a lot of studying,” said Miss Clark. “It will take a lot of hard work, but I know you can do it.”
I patted my pocket again. Jessie may have to study hard, but I didn’t. I had my lucky shark’s tooth.
When it was recess time, Josh, Jessie, and I ran outside to meet Robbie on the playground.
“Race you to the big tree,” said Jessie. “Ready, set, go!”
The three of us took off running. Josh started out in the lead, but Jessie sprinted past him. Josh tried to catch up to her, but he couldn’t. Jessie reached the tree first.
“You … are … so … fast … Jessie,” Josh said, panting.
“She’s the fastest kid in the whole school,” I said.
“No I’m not,” Jessie said, laughing.
“Well, you’re really, really fast,” I said. “I’m pretty sure you could beat most of the fifth graders.”
Robbie came jogging up. “Hey, guys,” he said.
“Hey, what’s up?” we all said.
“You guys ready to go look for worms?”
“Yes!” said Josh, pumping his fist in the air. “The bigger, the better!”
“A big, fat, juicy worm is the best kind,” Jessie said, grinning.
“Where do you think we should go look?” I asked Robbie.
“Let’s go check out that mud puddle over near the slide. I think we might find a lot of worms in there.”
We all ran over to the mud and got down on our hands and knees.
“I think we might have to dig around in the mud a little bit to find them,” said Robbie. “Sometimes they like to hide.”
We started digging through the mud. It was cool, and squishy, and gooey. “This is great mud for making mud pies!” I said, letting the mud ooze through my fingers.
“I love playing in the mud,” said Josh. “It’s so much fun!”
“Found any worms yet?” asked Robbie.
“Not yet!” I said.
“Me either,” said Josh.
“I found one! I found one!” Jessie shouted.
Just then Chloe sli
d down the slide and came running over to us. “What did you find, Jessie?” she asked excitedly. “Did you find a jewel?”
“A jewel?” Josh whispered to me. “Where does she think we’re digging, ancient Egypt?”
I laughed.
“No! I didn’t find a jewel. I found this,” Jessie said, dangling the huge, slimy worm in Chloe’s face.
“EEEWWW! EEEWWW! EEEWWW!” Chloe screamed and flapped her arms around wildly in the air. “Get that thing away from me! Get it away!”
Jessie put the worm in the palm of her hand. “But it’s so cute.”
“Cute! Cute? It is not cute!” Chloe shouted. “It is DIS-GUS-TING!”
“No it’s not,” said Jessie, bringing the worm up close to her own face, as if she were about to kiss it.
“Yes it is,” said Chloe. “It’s dirty and disgusting, and it has germs. Lots and lots of germs!”
“So you don’t want to hold it?” Jessie teased.
“No I don’t! I’m going to play somewhere else!” said Chloe, and she turned around and marched off.
“Little worm, say bye-bye to Chloe,” said Jessie.
“That girl is unbelievable,” said Josh. “But at least now I know that if I want to get rid of her, all I have to do is show her a worm!”
I chuckled. “We’ll have to remember that for April Fools’ Day.”
“Good idea,” said Josh. “Maybe we could put a gummy worm in her sandwich. That would really freak her out!”
“I can picture it now,” I said. “She’d be jumping around and screaming, ‘Help! Help! I ate a worm. Call 911! Call 911!’”
“HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!” Josh and I laughed hysterically.
“Hey, guys, I got one!” Robbie yelled. “Come look!”
“Wow! That one is ginormous!” I said. “I think it might be bigger than Jessie’s worm.”
“Let me see,” said Jessie. “I don’t know. Mine might be bigger.”
“Why don’t you hold the two of them next to each other, so you can compare their size,” Josh suggested.
“Good idea,” said Robbie. “Jessie, you hold yours up right next to mine, so we can measure.”
They held up their worms.
“It’s close,” I said. “But I think Robbie’s worm is bigger.”
