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10
Stuck
Everybody has a special talent. Bebe can draw. Joe can stand on his head and sing “Jingle Bells.”
But this story isn’t about Bebe or Joe. It’s about Dana.
Dana can make funny faces.
Just by puffing out one cheek and raising the opposite eyebrow, she can make Jenny and Leslie crack up every time.
Or there’s the one she calls her goofball face. She puts her glasses on upside down. Then she pulls down one corner of her mouth with her pinky finger, while with her other hand, she tugs her earlobe.
When Dameon and Myron saw that one, they laughed so hard they bumped heads.
Even Mrs. Jewls laughs at Dana’s funny faces. “But you need to be careful, Dana,” she warned. “You don’t want your face to get stuck that way.”
Dana wasn’t worried about that. No matter how weirdly she stretched it, her face always bounced back.
But that was before the Cloud of Doom settled over the school. It had been there a week now, even as other clouds drifted past. Each day, it seemed to grow a little bit larger.
Dana and Leslie were on the playground, waiting for Jenny. It was recess, and Jenny went to get “Patches” from Louis.
“Patches” was the ball that Louis had blown up, in more ways than one.
Louis never found all the pieces, and had to cut up an old yellow raincoat to fill in the gaps. Jenny, Leslie, and Dana liked Patches the best, because it was impossible to predict which way it would bounce.
“Hey, Dana, there’s a giant worm on your foot!” said John.
Dana looked down at her sneaker.
“Made you look!” John exclaimed. He and Joe laughed.
“So she looked at her foot?” asked Leslie. “What’s wrong with that?”
“There wasn’t even a worm!” explained Joe.
Dana felt like a big doofus. Why did she always fall for John’s tricks?
She made her Doofus Face.
She closed her right eye, raised her left eyebrow, puffed out her right cheek, and stuck out her tongue.
When John looked at it, he suddenly felt like a big doofus. “Sorry,” he muttered. “It was just a dumb joke.”
He hung his head and walked away. Joe followed.
Dana felt sad for John. She hadn’t meant to call him a doofus. She had just wanted to make him laugh. She liked it when John teased her.
Jenny returned with Patches.
“You missed it!” said Leslie. “Dana got back at John good!”
Jenny turned to Dana. “Why are you calling me a doofus?” she asked.
Dana didn’t realize she was still wearing her Doofus Face. She tried to pull her tongue back in but it wouldn’t budge. Her cheek wouldn’t unpuff. Her right eye remained shut, and her left eyebrow stayed up.
“That’s not nice,” said Jenny.
