“Nice outfit,” Josh said as I got on the bus.

“Same to you,” I said, laughing. “Is your underwear on backwards?”

Josh nodded. “Yep. How about you? Did you turn your tighty-whities around?”

“Yes, I did! I have everything on backwards, just like Miss Clark said.”

“So do you have it?” Josh whispered to me.

I patted my pocket and smiled. “Yep. I got it right in here.”

“Be careful,” Josh said. “You don’t want to smash it.”

“Don’t worry. I’m taking really good care of it.”

“This is going to be awesome,” said Josh.

“I know. I can’t wait,” I said. “Max is always playing tricks on other people. Now it’s finally time for him to be tricked.”

“So when it’s snack time, are you going to give him the cookie, or do you want me to?” asked Josh.

“I think you’d better do it,” I said. “Max scares me.”

“He scares you because you let him scare you,” said Josh. “You’ve got to stop being so afraid of him all the time.”

“I know, I know,” I said. “You’re right, but today I still want you to give him the cookie.”

Josh laughed. “Okay, no problem. Why don’t you give the cookie to me so I can put it in my pocket.”

We made sure no one was looking, and then I quickly passed the cookie to Josh. He hid it in his pocket.

“Max is going to be so surprised,” Josh said, laughing.

The bus pulled up to school, and we hopped out.

When we reached the classroom, Josh said, “Oh no! Freddy, look!”

“What?”

“It looks like we have a substitute today.” The person standing at the front of the room had black hair. Miss Clark has blond hair.

Chloe, Max, and Jessie walked in. They were all wearing their clothes backwards.

“Look, Jessie,” I said. “We have a substitute.”

“Good!” said Chloe.

“Good? Why is that good?” asked Jessie.

“Because now Max has to be on his best behavior.”

“Says who?” said Max.

“Miss Clark always tells us to be on our best behavior when she’s not here,” said Chloe. “Now Max can’t play any tricks on me.”

“It’s a bummer Miss Clark isn’t here,” I said. “She told us that April Fools’ Day was one of her favorite holidays. Too bad she’s missing it.”

“Yes, that is too bad,” said the person at the front of the room.

“Wait a minute,” said Josh. “That person sounds just like Miss Clark. Doesn’t she, Freddy?”

“Yes!” I said. “Exactly like her. Maybe she has a twin sister.”

Just then the person turned around. “April Fools’,” said Miss Clark as she took off a black wig. “It’s really me. I was just wearing this wig.”

“That was a good one, Miss Clark,” said Josh. “You had us fooled!”

“You sure did,” said Jessie.

“See, Chloe?” said Max. “Miss Clark really is here.”

Chloe ignored him and went to put her stuff in her cubby.

Max walked over to her.

“Get away from me!” Chloe yelled.

“Fine,” said Max. “I just thought you might want to know that you have a spider on your back.”

“What?” said Chloe. “A spider?”

“Yes, a big black one,” said Max.

“Help! Help!” Chloe screamed as she ran around in circles. “Someone get it off! Someone get the spider off me!”

“Come over here, Chloe,” said Miss Clark. “Let me see.”

Chloe ran over to her and was jumping around like a monkey, waving her arms and screaming. “Get it off! Get it off!”

“Stop jumping around,” said Miss Clark. “I need to look at your back.”

Chloe stopped jumping.

“I don’t see anything,” said Miss Clark.

“It’s on my back, and it’s big and black. Max said so.”

“Oh, Max said so,” said Miss Clark. “Really?”

“Yes!” said Chloe. “Get it off! I hate spiders!”

Miss Clark looked at Max. He was laughing hysterically. “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”

“What’s so funny?” said Chloe.

“I think you’ve been tricked,” said Miss Clark.

“What?” said Chloe.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!” Max continued laughing. “April Fools’! There is no spider on your back.”

“OOOOOOOO!” Chloe growled. “You are such a big meanie, Max Sellars.”

“You were jumping around like a monkey,” said Max. “It was so funny.”

“Well, I didn’t think it was very funny,” said Chloe. “You’d better watch it, Max,” said Chloe. “You never know when someone might do something to you.”

“Yeah. Right,” said Max. “No one’s going to play any tricks on me.”

Josh and I looked at each other and smiled.

After we put our things away, we started on our morning work, but all I could think about was snack time. It seemed like the day was taking forever.

“I made a special treat for you all for snack time today,” said Miss Clark.

“Really?” said Jessie. “That was so nice of you!”

“What is it?” asked Josh.

“Brownies,” said Miss Clark.

“Brownies,” said Max. “I love brownies!”

“Oh, I’m so glad,” said Miss Clark, “because I baked them myself. If you all sit down, I will give you each one.”

We sat down, she took the cover off the container, and started passing out the brownies.

“Wait! What’s this?” said Max, holding up a brown piece of paper in the shape of the letter E.

“It’s your ‘brown E,’” said Miss Clark laughing. “Gotcha again!”

“Good one, Miss Clark,” said Jessie. “You really are good at April Fools’ Day pranks.”

“Bummer! I really wanted a brownie,” said Max, pouting.

“I don’t have a brownie,” said Josh, “but I have your favorite cookie. Do you want one?”

“Yes. Say yes,” I whispered to myself.

“You have Oreos?” said Max. “I don’t have any because I finished the box yesterday. My mom has to go buy some more.”

“I’m happy to share one with you,” said Josh. “Here you go,” and he handed Max the Oreo.

I held my breath.

Max took a big bite.

I waited.

The next thing I knew, chewed up pieces of cookie came flying out of Max’s mouth and sprayed all over his desk. “Ewww! Ewww! Ewwww!” he yelled as he coughed and spit some more.

“April Fools’ Day, Max,” said Josh. “Gotcha!”

Max glared at Josh, and the rest of us laughed so hard we thought we would pee in our pants!

Josh gave me a high five. “Happy April Fools’ Day, Freddy!”

“Happy April Fools’, Josh!”