Anyone But Me by Nancy E. Krulik Page B

problem on the board. “Let’s do one more,” she said.
    Katie sunk even lower in her chair. Her lip was practically resting on her desk. But it was no use. Mrs. Derkman saw her anyway.
    “Katie, will you solve this for us?” the teacher asked.
    Katie sighed. She stood up and slowly walked toward the board.
    “Here comes the Mud Monster!” Katie heard George whisper as she walked past his desk. Katie didn’t want to walk past George, but she had no choice. He sat right in the front row—where Mrs. Derkman could keep an eye on him.
    Katie reached the board and picked up a piece of yellow chalk. She opened her mouth to take a deep, calming breath. But instead of breathing in air, she let out a great big belch.

    It was the loudest burp she’d ever heard. A real record-breaker.
    The other kids in class began to laugh. Katie blushed beet red. “I’m sorry,” she apologized to Mrs. Derkman. Katie didn’t want her teacher to think she’d done that on purpose.
    Out of the corner of her eye, Katie could see George holding his nose. He was pretending to die from the smell of her breath.
    “Katie’s stinking up the classroom!” George exclaimed. He laughed so hard, he nearly fell off his chair.

Chapter 3
    For the rest of that day, everywhere Katie looked, someone was laughing at her. Mostly because George kept cracking jokes.
    “Hey, Mud Monster, can you burp a song for us?” he asked. “I can.” George began to belch out the ABC song. By the time he got to Z, the other kids were all giggling.
    “Hey, you know something?” George announced. “Burping a song kinda sounds like a kazoo. That’s what your name should be, Katie. Not Katie Carew. Katie Kazoo ! ” Then he started chanting, “Katie Kazoo, Katie Kazoo,” over and over again.
    The other kids began to join in. “Katie Kazoo. Katie Kazoo. Katie Kazoo. Katie Kazoo!”
    Katie sank down in her chair. She tried hard not to cry.
    “All right, that’s enough,” Mrs. Derkman scolded the class. She turned to George. “I’m sending a note home to your mother. I expect you to bring it back to me with her signature.”
    George shrugged as if he didn’t care.
    As the afternoon went on, Katie wished the other kids would stop laughing when George teased her. He really wasn’t all that funny. But she did kind of understand why the kids kept laughing. If they didn’t, George might make fun of them next.
    Before school ended, Katie walked over toward the window, where the hamster cage was. It was her turn to feed Speedy this week.
    Hamsters are so lucky, Katie thought to herself as she watched Speedy running on his wheel. They never have bad days. Every day is just the same for them.
    Finally, the bell rang. The day was over. Katie grabbed her books and ran for the door. She had to make sure she was the first one out of the classroom.
    But it didn’t matter. George caught up to Katie right away. He followed her halfway home. “Katie Kazoo, I see you!” he shouted.
    “Hey, Katie, wait up!”
    Katie could hear Jeremy calling after her as she ran towards her house. She knew he just wanted to make her feel better. But Katie didn’t stop. She didn’t want to hang out with Jeremy. She just wanted to get home, go upstairs to her room, and shut the door.
    Even that wasn’t easy to do. When Katie got home, her mother was sitting on the front steps, waiting for her.
    “Hi, Kat!” Her mother greeted her with her special nickname. “I made some yummy chocolate-chip cookies. Want some?”
    “I, um, I’m not hungry right now,” Katie mumbled. She raced past her and opened the screen door. “I gotta get homework done.”
    As Katie entered her room, she found her brown-and-white cocker spaniel, Pepper, lying on her bed. Pepper picked up his head and looked at Katie. He reached out his long, pink tongue and gave her a big kiss. Katie hugged her dog tightly.

    “Thanks, Pepper,” she whispered quietly into his brown floppy ear. “At least someone isn’t making