When school had started, Ramona was

friends with Susan, and now look at what

happened. Ramona had spoiled everything.

Ramona always spoiled everything. Ramona,

finding gloomy comfort in thinking how

bad she was, fell asleep.

The next morning as Ramona left for

school, she asked her mother what she could

say to Susan.

“Just say ‘I’m sorry I spoiled your owl,’”

said Mrs. Quimby. “And Ramona—try to

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stay out of mix-ups after this.”

The wind had changed in the night,

some rain had fallen, and the air was clean

and cool. Ramona’s feet felt heavy as she

walked through soggy leaves. How could

she stay out of mix-ups when she never

knew what would suddenly turn into a

mix-up? She plodded on, as if she were

wading through glue, and when she reached

the schoolyard, she stood quietly watching

Miss Binney’s carefree kindergartners chase

one another. How young and lighthearted

she had been a year ago! Miss Binney waved,

and Ramona waved back without smiling.

When the bell rang, Ramona walked in

dread to Room One, where she took her

seat without looking at Susan. Perhaps Mrs.

Griggs was so busy with her plans for seat

work that she would forget about the owl.

Ramona should have known better. Quite

unexpectedly, in the midst of Show and Tell, 101

Mrs. Griggs said,“Ramona has something to say to us.”

Ramona was startled. “But I didn’t bring

anything to show today,” she said.

“You have something to say to Susan,”

Mrs. Griggs reminded her. “Come to the

front of the room.”

Ramona was horrified. Now? In front of

the whole class? Room One turned and

looked at Ramona.

“We’re waiting,” said Mrs. Griggs.

Ramona felt as if she were walking on

someone else’s feet. They carried her to the front of the room, even though she did not

want them to. There she stood thinking, I

won’t! I won’t! while trapped by twenty-five pairs of eyes. Twenty-six, counting Mrs.

Griggs. Her cheeks were hot. Her eyes were

too dry for tears, and her mouth too dry for words.The silence was terrible.The click of

the electric clock finishing off a minute.

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Ramona looked desperately at Mrs. Griggs,

who smiled an encouraging but unyielding

smile.There was no way out.

Ramona looked at the toes of her sandals,

noticed that the new had worn off, and after swallowing managed to speak in a small,

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unhappy voice. “I’m sorry I scrunched Susan’s owl.”

“Thank you, Ramona,” said Mrs. Griggs

gently.

Ramona returned to her seat. The look

on Susan’s face was too much to bear. Old

goody-goody Susan. Ramona glared and

added to her apology in a furious whisper,

“Even if you are a copycat who— stinks!”

Mrs. Griggs did not notice because she

was saying, “Class, open your arithmetic

workbooks to page ten.Who can tell me how

many mittens are in the picture at the top of the page?”

The room hummed with whispers as

mittens were counted. Susan’s cheeks were