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.