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Louis rubbed his upper lip. His mustache was beginning to grow back. “What’s her name?” he asked.
“Miss Nogard,” said Bebe as she scratched the back of her leg raw.
“Are you sure?” asked Louis.
“Huh?” asked Bebe.
“I mean,” said Louis, “are you sure it’s Miss Nogard? Not Mrs. Nogard?”
“I think,” said Bebe. “Why?”
Louis just shrugged.
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Chapter 25
Guilty
Some of the children were working in their workbooks. Others were reading in their readers. And still others were computing on the computer.
Miss Nogard looked from one to another. Eenie … meenie … minie … Maurecia! she thought.
Maurecia was stamping a stamp.
“Maurecia,” said Miss Nogard. “Will you come here, please?”
Maurecia walked to the front of the room. “Yes?” she said cheerfully.
“Don’t ‘yes’ me, young lady,” said Miss Nogard. “You know what you did.”
Maurecia looked back at her teacher. What did I do? she wondered.
Miss Nogard waited patiently. Everyone was guilty of something.
I didn’t do anything, did I? thought Maurecia. I’ve been good, I think. Unless she found out about that dictionary page I accidentally tore. No, she couldn’t know about that! It happened before she even got here. And I don’t think anybody saw me do it.
“I didn’t do anything,” she said. I probably should have told Mrs. Jewls about it, she realized, but it wasn’t even my fault! I was looking up how to spell ‘journey’ for my journal, and the page just ripped all by itself.
“It is one thing to do something wrong, Maurecia,” said Miss Nogard. “But when you do, you should admit to it. We all make mistakes. But when you lie about it, you make matters much worse for yourself.”
Maurecia nodded as she tried to figure out what to do. If Miss Nogard knew she tore the dictionary page, then of course she should admit to it. But there was no way Miss Nogard could know! It was impossible.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she said innocently. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” She smiled at her teacher.
Miss Nogard stared at her a long moment, then said, “Will you please bring me the dictionary?”
The smile dropped off Maurecia’s face and crashed on the floor.
The dictionary lay on top of the bookcase. Maurecia numbly went after it. How could she know? she wondered. It’s impossible! Maybe she just wants to look up a word.
She carried the heavy book back to Miss Nogard.
“Thank you, Maurecia,” said Miss Nogard, flipping through the pages. “I need to look up ‘journey.’ ”
Maurecia couldn’t take it any longer. “I ripped it!” she cried out. “I tore the dictionary. I’m sorry. I don’t even know how it happened. I was just turning the page, really! Maybe pages only have a certain amount of turns in them. Like, nine hundred and ninety-nine. Then when you turn the page for the thousandth time, it will rip, no matter who turns it.”
