Swinging is the best part of school Maude hollered as they soared through the air Without swings school would be absolutely dreadful Maude was shouting so Miranda could hear her Although they tried to swing at the exact same time the laws of motion made that impossible impossible Sometimes Maude’s words flew over Miranda’s ears Other times Miranda’s words flew under Maude’s head Miranda nodded pretty sure she’d understood understood Swinging with Maude was definitely the best part of the day Of course there were other things at school the girls liked most especially their teacher Miss Kinde Miss Kinde was so amazingly wonderful that not long ago for two whole weeks she’d let their class 3B put on a play called Banana Pants instead of taking tests The play hadn’t been perfect Costumes had ripped lines were mumbled and one dance routine was completely forgotten But the class had come together and worked extremely hard which Miss Kinde had said made it a successful 2
creative endeavor and most importantly a wonderful experience Unfortunately now that the curtain had closed on Banana Pants 3B was back to taking a preposterous number of Mandatory National Reading and Writing and Math Exam practice practice exams because Mountain River Valley Elementary School’s principal Principal Fish thought they were extremely important Neither Maude nor Miranda liked practice exams Other things they didn’t like music class PE and school lunches Also the girls thought that the school day was very long there were too many rules and they had to be quiet a lot Actually Miranda didn’t mind being quiet A lot of the time she was a quiet person Maude was not quiet She was often loud with lots to say Right now she was saying I just don’t get tag She pointed at the playground where kids from their class were running around screaming Not It Miranda who was afraid of heights looked down quickly She watched Donut leap past 3
Norbert who sprinted past Fletcher who jogged away from Felix Miranda didn’t think this looked fun because she didn’t like running or screaming screaming But Felix and Donut were grinning It was hard to tell how Norbert and Fletcher felt because they were moving so fast Miranda looked back up at Maude Some people people find it fun I guess Just like we like swinging I guess Maude shrugged and pointed down to Hillary Greenlight-Miller who was as usual walking across the balance beam There’s Hillary balancing of course Miranda quickly admired Hillary’s excellent balance What are they doing Maude pointed to a grassy spot in the middle of the playground where their classmates Agnes Agatha and Desdemona were lying on their backs holding soccer balls in the air Probably playing one of Desdemona’s animal animal games Miranda said At that moment Donut who was still trying to avoid getting tagged ran past the girls 4
Desdemona jumped up Girl tag she shouted Donut turned around but kept jogging No he hollered No girl tag Girl tag is forbidden Maude slowed her swing What did Donut say She looked at Miranda Miranda gulped Maude’s question sounded a lot like the ones on the morning practice exam tricky and without a clear answer I think Donut just forbade Desdemona from playing tag because she’s a girl Maude screeched We might be soaring thousands of feet in the air but I have excellent hearing and 5
