ROSALIA AND THE HORRIBLE MONSTER PASTE
Hi! My name is Maria. I like to write more than anything in the whole world. Sometimes I write about my family, and sometimes about my friends. But mostly, I write about my class. My best friend ever is a girl named Lucia. She’s always nice to me. I first met her in kindergarten. Now we’re in 2nd Grade, and we’re still friends. Lucia’s nice, but no one is as nice as the nicest person in my class, Rosalia J. Parkinsaw. Sometimes we just call her Rosa to make it shorter. The J stands for Jeklinshure. So the whole name would be, “Rosalia Jeklinshure Parkinsaw.” Isn’t that a long name? We mostly call her Rosa, but in this story I’m going to use her whole first name, Rosalia. I’m also friends with Rosalia. I hadn’t even dreamed that someone would try to harm Rosalia. But if you want to know more about Rosalia, then read on.
CHAPTER 1, GETTING SCOLDED
It all began one bright sunny day. It was Tuesday. My class was sitting on our Reading Rug. I was sitting next to my best friend, Lucia. Rosalia was sitting next to a boy named Jake. Kassie, another girl in our class, got to sit right next to our teacher, Miss Cornra. Kassie is a mean, bossy girl, I tell you. She called out as loud as she could, “Look everyone, look at me!” “Me, Kassie Portrer, is sitting right next to our most loyal teacher, Miss Cornra!” “Aren’t I special?” “Surely, Miss Cornra must have chosen me to sit next to her because I was the best person in the class, don’t you think?” “Kassie Portrer is special!” “I’m so special!” “Cheer for me, guys!” But no one cheered. Miss Cornra said, “Please stop shouting across the classroom, Kassie.” “Other classes are working as well.” “We should try not to disturb them.” But that mean old girl Kassie ignored our teacher! Can you believe it? She ignored a teacher! That bossy person shouted, “Hey, guys, can’t you hear me?” “Cheer!” “Cheer for Kassie Portrer.” “I wouldn’t mind if you guys took my picture.” “You could show my picture to your parents.” “You could say, ‘Here’s a picture of the most special person in all the world!’” “I bet your parents would cheer too.” This was just too much. We all started shouting back at Kassie. But not Rosalia. As I told you, she’s the nicest person in the class, so she wouldn’t even think of fighting with a person. Rosalia just covered her ears. “Enough!” Miss Cornra shouted. We all fell silent. Miss Cornra said, “I told you that other classes were working!” “How dare you ignore my words, Kassie!” “You made the whole class shout!” “I’m sure our principal, Mr. Mugare, will come downstairs at this very moment to scold you!” I froze at hearing Mr. Mugare’s name. For he’s our principal, and he’s the most strict person in the whole school. Being scolded by him is like being scolded by a monster. Miss Cornra continued, “I am very disappointed in this class right now.” But, luckily, Mr. Mugare didn’t come down to scold us. I sighed a sigh of relief. At least we wouldn’t be scolded by our principal now. “Now,” Miss Cornra said, trying to calm herself down. “This is your last warning, class.” “If at anytime Mr. Mugare does come down to scold you, then we will put our heads down on our desks and remain like that for the rest of the day.” My class nodded. Except for Kassie. She continued shouting. “Kassie Portrer!” “Your name will be on the board this very minute.” Kassie fell silent. But it was too late. Miss Cornra had already put Kassie’s name on the board. Kassie frowned. I just looked at that mean girl.
CHAPTER 2, CLASS WORK FUN
Miss Cornra read us a story while we were on the Reading Rug. Then she asked some questions about it. Her first question was, “How do you think Squeak the Mouse felt when his best friend fought with him?” Everyone raised their hands, except for Kassie. She had been putting her head in her lap all throughout the story. I raised my hand. “Maria?” Miss Cornra said. I said, “Squeak must be feeling super sad when his best friend fought with him.” Miss Cornra said, “Good try, Maria, but that’s not exactly what Squeak was feeling.” Rosalia raised her hand. “Rosalia?” Miss Cornra said. Rosalia said, “Squeak was feeling sad, but he was also feeling happy because he knew that friends always fight.” “Excellent answer!” Miss Cornra said. She handed Rosalia a sticker. When Kassie saw Rosalia putting her sticker on her shirt, she felt jealous. Miss Cornra asked the next question. She asked, “How do you think Tortoise was feeling after he fought with Squeak?” I raised my hand. Kassie raised her hand, too. “Maria?” Miss Cornra said. I said, “Tortoise regretted having fought with his best friend, and that’s why he apologized to Squeak.” “Great job, Maria!” Miss Cornra said. She gave me a sticker as well. By the time Miss Cornra had finished asking all her questions, everyone had at least one sticker. Except for Kassie. Miss Cornra never called on her. “Humph,” Kassie grumbled. Miss Cornra said, “Now, class, the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 10.” “So what time is it?” I raised my hand. But too bad. Miss Cornra called on Kassie. Kassie said, “It’s 12:00!” “Good try, Kassie,” Miss Cornra said. Next she called on Rosalia. Rosalia said, “It’s 10:00, Miss Cornra.” “Excellent!” Miss Cornra said. “So it’s snack time.” “Children, go get your snacks.” We all raced to the closet. That’s where we put our stuff. We got our snacks. Kassie bumped into Rosalia. Kassie shouted, “Can’t you see where you’re going?” “Look what you did to my apples!” “Now I won’t get to have a snack.” Miss Cornra said, “It’s okay, Kassie.” “Harra, would you go with Kassie to the cafeteria to get her an extra snack please?” “Sure, Miss Cornra,” Harra said. Harra is almost as nice as Rosalia. She and Rosalia are best friends. When Harra and Kassie came back, Kassie was whining. She didn’t like the snack she got. Kassie didn’t eat a thing for snack. After snack, Miss Cornra wrote 8 math problems on the board. She gave us each a piece of paper folded into four squares. Miss Cornra said, “Class, it’s math time.” “Solve these math problems on your paper.” “Do one problem on each square.” Kassie shouted, “Hey, there are 8 problems on the board, but there’s only 4 squares!” “How am I supposed to do this?” Miss Cornra wrote 4+4 on the board. “Solve this problem for me, Kassie,” Miss Cornra said. Kassie got up from her seat and wrote 4+4=8 on the board. “Exactly,” Miss Cornra said. “You can do four problems on the first 4 squares.” “Then do the rest of the 4 problems on the back side where there’s also 4 squares.” Kassie nodded. By lunch time, everyone was done with the math problems except Kassie. Kassie was having too much trouble figuring out how to do 8 math problems on 4 squares. “Don’t worry about it, Kassie, you can do it tomorrow,” Miss Cornra said. “Now get your lunch box and line up for lunch.” “We’re already late.” Kassie said, “But Miss Cornra, I’m not bringing lunch, so I don’t need to get my lunch box.” “I’m buying lunch.” “I need my lunch money, please.” Miss Cornra gave Kassie her lunch money. Kassie took the lunch money and lined up. But on our way to lunch, Kassie was trying to talk to Jake. Jake was trying to stay quiet. “Kassie!” Miss Cornra said, “You already have your name on the board, remember?” “And now you can have 5 minutes off recess.” Kassie grumbled. After lunch, we went back to our classroom.
CHAPTER 3, TOOTHPASTE FREEZE TAG
It was time for recess. We all lined up to go outside. Just then, Rosalia covered her ears. It was thunder! My class all hid in one spot. Miss Cornra said, “It’s okay, class.” “It looks like there’s going to be a thunder storm today.” “I guess we won’t be able to go out for recess.” “Can anyone think of a game we might play for recess instead?” I raised my hand. “What’s your idea, Maria?” Miss Cornra asked. I said, “Maybe we should play Garden Hose Tag in the gym.” “All we need to play is a water hose filled with water.” Miss Cornra said, “Garden Hose Tag is an outside game, Maria.” “Think of some game which we can play indoors.” Harra raised her hand next. “Maybe we could play checkers,” she said. “Checkers is an indoor game.” Miss Cornra said, “But we don’t have the game checkers in our classroom, Harra.” “Anyone else have an idea?” Jake raised his hand next. “Why don’t we play bingo?” he asked. Miss Cornra said, “But we don’t have enough students for bingo, Jake.” Kassie, Lucia, and I all raised our hands, but either Miss Cornra didn’t like our idea, or the rest of the students thought the game was boring. Finally, Rosalia was called on. Rosalia said, “Maybe we could play Toothpaste Freeze Tag.” “It’s an indoor game, and all we need to play is a tube of toothpaste.” Miss Cornra shook her head and said, “Toothpaste Freeze Tag sounds like a great indoor game, but we don’t have any toothpaste in our classroom.” I suddenly smiled. I raised my hand. “Yes, Maria?” asked Miss Cornra. I said, “Last night I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom and someone turned off the light.” “I did get a chance to put the brush away, but I was forced to put my toothpaste tube in my backpack.” “Maybe we could use my toothpaste.” “Excellent idea, Maria!” Miss Cornra said. “Rosalia gets a sticker for having the idea, and you get a sticker because you had some toothpaste.” Miss Cornra gave Rosalia and I each a sticker. “Humph,” Kassie grumbled. This was like the third time in the day Kassie said, “Humph.” Everyone in the room wanted to play Toothpaste Freeze Tag except for Kassie. She wanted to play Seven-Up. So Miss Cornra took a vote. It was settled. More people voted for Toothpaste Freeze Tag. We all quickly lined up to go to the gym. I got my tube of toothpaste from my backpack and handed it to Miss Cornra. Kassie was fighting with Rosalia again. She wanted to be first in line. Miss Cornra stopped their fight. She said, “Kassie, do you remember that you have 5 minutes off recess because you made the whole class scream in the morning?” “Well, to make it fair, why don’t you sit on the benches of the gym for 5 minutes and watch the rest of the class play?” Kassie groaned. Miss Cornra said, “Well, you did get 5 minutes off recess, so isn’t it fair that you don’t play with the class for 5 minutes?” “Now, you line up with me, Kassie.” “Don’t groan.” Kassie grumbled to herself as she walked towards the teacher. We watched as Miss Cornra led Kassie all the way to the gym. Then she made Kassie fold her hands and sit quietly on the benches of our gym. Then Miss Cornra asked Rosalia how to play Toothpaste Freeze Tag. Rosalia said, “Well, it’s like this.” “There are 3 teams.” “All the people in the first team get a cup of toothpaste.” “And all the players in the second team get a cup of water.” “The players in the third team don’t get anything.” “This is how you play.” “When you blow the whistle, Miss Cornra, all the kids start running.” “If a person from the first team squirts some toothpaste on a player from the third team, then that player has to freeze.” “When a player from the second team squirts you with water and the toothpaste is washed off, then you can run freely again.” Everyone cheered. Miss Cornra wrote everyone’s names on sheets of paper. Then she put the sheets in a cup and picked them out. It was clear. Jake, Harra, and Kassie were on the Toothpaste Squirting team. Lucia, Rosalia, and I were on the Water Squirting team. And Gina, Tylor, and Fira were on the Freezing team. The whistle blew. The game started. We all ran through the gym. This sure was fun! Suddenly, Harra squirted toothpaste on Fira. Fira screamed, then shouted across the gym to me. I ran over to Fira and squirted her with water. As soon as the toothpaste got washed away, Fira ran across the gym floors again. Next Tylor needed my help. Jake had squirted him with toothpaste. But before I could squirt Tylor with water, Rosalia came over and did the job. This went on for 5 minutes. Then Miss Cornra blew the whistle. Everyone froze. Miss Cornra said, “Kassie, your punishment is over.” “You can join the game.” Kassie smiled. That was the first time I ever saw Kassie smiling. Kassie got her cup of toothpaste. The game started again. We played for 30 minutes. “Now, class, it’s time for Language Arts,” Miss Cornra said. “Recess is now over.” All of us lined up at the gym doors.
CHAPTER 4, HORRIBLE MONSTER TOOTHPASTE!
We all sat down on the Language Arts Rug as soon as we got to the classroom. “What’s next?” Gina asked Miss Cornra. Miss Cornra said, “I’m going to read you a story.” “It’s called ‘The Special Surprise.’” “Yeah!” everyone shouted. I raised my hand. “What is it, Maria?” Miss Cornra asked. “Miss Cornra, isn’t that story a classic?” “Yes, Maria,” Miss Cornra said. Everyone shouted some more. “Quiet down, class,” Miss Cornra said. Until the middle of the story, everything went just fine. But just as the other half was coming in, Rosalia screamed as hard as she could. “Oh my!” “What’s the matter, Rosalia?” Miss Cornra asked. Rosalia shouted, “There’s some toothpaste on my hands!” “And there are ants stuck to the toothpaste!” “That’s strange,” Miss Cornra said. “I’m sure everyone washed up after recess, right class?” “Yes,” we all answered. Miss Cornra said, “Lucia, why don’t you take Rosalia to the bathroom so she can wash up?” “Sure, Miss Cornra,” Lucia answered. After they returned, Miss Cornra continued on with the story. After the questions were answered, Miss Cornra said it was time for science. We were going to learn about beetles. Just then, Rosalia screamed again. “My shoulders are covered with toothpaste with beetles in it!” This ime Miss Cornra picked Kassie to take Rosalia to the bathroom. After science, Miss Cornra said it was reading time. That’s when we get to read our books silently. As I was reading my book, Harra tapped me on the left shoulder, and Lucia tapped me on the right shoulder. “What is it, guys?” I asked Lucia and Harra. They said, “Isn’t is strange that Rosalia keeps getting toothpaste on her shoulders covered with all kinds of bugs?” “It sure is,” I replied. We all talked for some time. Then I said, “Maybe it’s some monster toothpaste.” “Monsters have toothpaste covered with bugs, don’t they?” “You’re right,” my friends said. We all said, “Let’s start a quest to figure out who is squirting Rosalia with the monster toothpaste.”
CHAPTER 5, OUR QUEST TO FIND THE TOOTHPASTE SQUIRTER
When Miss Cornra wasn’t looking, we sneaked up behind our desks and looked everywhere in the classroom for the Monster Toothpaste Squirter. No one saw us, but after some time Kassie noticed us sneaking. She tattletaled on us. Miss Cornra scolded us. Since Harra started it, Miss Cornra put Harra’s name on the board. Soon it was dismissal time. Harra, Lucia, and I all go on the same bus. We talked together. Lucia said, “Tomorrow, at recess, we will all search for the Monster Toothpaste Squirter.” We all agreed. As soon as my stop came, I skipped off the bus and rang the doorbell. My mom answered. I was exhausted. “What’s the matter, honey?” my mom asked. I said, “You know Rosalia, right?” “Well, today someone squirted Rosalia with monster toothpaste.” “Lucia, Harra, and I are all going to find the Monster Toothpaste Squirter tomorrow.” My mom smiled. Then she led me in. When my dad came home, I told him all about the Monster Toothpaste Squirter. All night I dreamed about finding the Monster Toothpaste Squirter. On Wednesday morning, I was so eager to get to school, I didn’t even eat my breakfast properly. I hopped on the bus. When I got to school, Miss Cornra said it was Reading Time. We all sat on the Reading Rug. This time, we were going to make up a rhyming poem about cats. “Now,” Miss Cornra said. “Who would like to suggest some rhyming words?” Rosalia raised her hand. She was called on. Rosalia said, “Cats are sweet, they sure are, too little to put in an ocean, but too big to put in a jar.” Miss Cornra wrote those words on the board. “Who would like to suggest another rhyme?” I was called on next. “Cats have fur, and sometimes their sweet little tails pur.” Jake, Kassie, and Gina were called on next. Then Miss Cornra picked Tylor to read the cat poem to us. As I listened, I got a clue. The words in the cat poem rhymed, so maybe we could use rhymes to figure out who the Monster Toothpaste Squirter was! This was a great clue! At lunch, I sat next to Lucia and Harra. I shared my clue with them. We all cheered. At recess, it was sunny, so we were able to go outside to play.
CHAPTER 6, CLUES!
We were thinking of how to use our clue at recess, when we heard a cry. It was coming from Rosalia. Rosalia had the monster toothpaste on her shoulders again! We told Rosalia to hold still. We carefully studied the shape of the toothpaste. The Monster Toothpaste Squirter had written something on Rosalia’s shoulders with the toothpaste! We read what it said. It said, “From: -fl b says k.” Now who would ever write that? I said, “Maybe these are clues.” “Let’s use them to find out who squirted Rosalia with the monster toothpaste.” We thought and thought what those clues might mean. Then I said, “Hey!” “Look at these letters.” “They’re not written in manuscript, they’re written in cursive!” “And what do cursive letters have in common?” We all shouted, “Cursive letters flow!” I said, “That’s it!” “The first word is ‘flow!’” Then Lucia said, “It says, ‘-fl,’ which must mean that you take away the f and the l from flow.” “And what word would that make?” We all shouted, “It makes the word, ‘ow!’” Harra said, “And ow means that you are hurt.” “Hmm.” “Then it says, ‘b.’” “Let’s think.” “The first letter of ow is o.” “What word can we make with the letter o that is related to something which can make you sad?” “Let’s remember, we also have to use the letter b.” I said, “How about the word ‘board’?” “If you get your name on the board, you will be sad.” “That makes perfect sense!” “And board also has the letter b!” Lucia said, “And then it says, ‘says k.’” “Who’s the person in our class who’s name starts with a k?” “Kassie!” “Remember yesterday?” “Kassie got her name on the board, so maybe she was sad.” “And maybe she means to say that she got her name on the board because of Rosalia, so she squirted Rosalia with the toothpaste!” “We got the answer!” “Kassie is the Monster Toothpaste Squirter!”
CHAPTER 7,TELLING ON KASSIE
We happily ran to Rosalia and told her that Kassie was the one who squirted the toothpaste on her. We asked Rosalia to tell on Kassie. But Rosalia refused, since she’s the nicest person in our class. Anyways, I told on Kassie. Miss Cornra listened, but didn’t say anything. Next it was time for Language Arts. Miss Cornra said that she wanted to speak privately to a student. She said it was Kassie. When Miss Cornra came back with Kassie, she sent Kassie to Mr. Mugare’s office. I think she did that so that our principal could scold her. Then Kassie came back with Mr. Mugare by her side. Mr. Mugare announced, “From now on, not only Kassie Portrer, but all the students in all the classes will not squirt anything on their classmates.” “Is that clear?” “Yes, Mr. Mugare,” we all answered. Then Miss Cornra said, “Kassie, you better write a note of apology to Rosalia right now.” Kassie frowned, then walked to her seat and wrote a letter. It said, “I’m sorry I squirted toothpaste on you, Rosalia.” “I’ll never do it again.” “You’re so nice.” “Love, Kassie Portrer.” “To, Rosalia Jeklinsure Parkinsaw.” Kassie handed the letter to Rosalia. Rosalia read it, then smiled at Kassie. Slowly, Kassie’s frown turned into a smile. Both girls hugged each and promised to never harm each other again. Lucia and I smiled as well, and so did the rest of the class.