“I guess you could say that,” Mr. Klutz said. “Sometimes my mother would give me a little reward if I did a good job on my homework. A piece of candy, for instance. You see, while I didn’t like school, I certainly did like candy. So I would try hard in school in order to get the candy. Does that make sense to you?”

“Well, sure.”

“A.J., if I were to give you some candy, do you think it might help you remember to bring in your current event next time?”

“My parents told me never to take candy from strangers,” I told him.

“I’m not a stranger,” Mr. Klutz said. “Did you ever hear anyone say ‘your principal is your pal’? If you need to spell the word principal, you can always remember, your principal is your p-a-l. Get it?”

“Well, if you put it that way, I suppose I could take some candy.”

Mr. Klutz reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a chocolate bar. It was the kind with marshmallow inside, and caramel. My mouth was watering. “Go easy with the hockey. And let’s see if you can remember to bring in that current event tomorrow,” he said as he handed me the candy bar. “Don’t tell anyone about this, okay? It’s just a little secret between you and me.”

“Okay!”

I ran out of the office just in case he had only given me the candy bar so he could tie me to a chair and torture me.

4

The Present

When I got back to the class, everybody looked at me. I guess they wanted to see if I was crying or bleeding or anything.

“Did Klutz bring you down into his torture chamber?” Ryan whispered when I sat in my seat.

“Nope,” I said. “He gave me a present.”

“What did he give you?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Oh, come on!”

“I promised I wouldn’t tell.”

“I’ll be your best friend.”

“Well, okay. I’ll show you at lunch.”

During lunch, I sat at a table with my new best friend Ryan, Michael, smarty-pants Andrea, and Emily, who cries all the time even if she isn’t hurt or anything. You should have seen their eyes bug out when I showed them the candy bar.

“Where did you get that?” Michael asked. “Your mom usually gives you carrot sticks for dessert.”

“Mr. Klutz gave it to me,” I explained. “He’s got a whole drawer filled with them.”

“Why did he give you a candy bar?” asked Emily. I could tell she was jealous.

“Because I didn’t bring in my current event,” I explained.

“Wait a minute!” Andrea said, all angry and all. “You got sent to the principal’s office for being bad, and instead of punishing you, he gave you a candy bar? That’s not fair! I brought in three current events and I didn’t get a candy bar.”