“Yes,” said Louis. “Don’t you believe me?”
“I guess so,” said Deedee.
“Do you like me?” asked Louis.
“You bet,” said Deedee. “You’re my best friend!”
“Terrific,” said Louis. “I always wanted to be best friends with a dead rat.”
? Sideways Stories from Wayside School ?
16
D.J.
D.J. skipped up the thirty flights of stairs to Mrs. Jewls’s room. He was grinning from ear to ear, from nose to chin, from here to there, and back again.
“Hey, D.J.,” Todd shouted, “glad to see you.” Todd was a pushover for smiling faces.
Mrs. Jewls heard him. She began to write Todd’s name on the board under DISCIPLINE, but when she saw D.J.’s smile, she put down the chalk. “Good morning, D.J.,” she said. “What are you so happy about?”
D.J. grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
Mrs. Jewls smiled.
Dameon looked at the smile on Mrs. Jewls’s face, then at Todd’s, and finally at D.J.’s. Then Dameon smiled, too. His smile was almost as big as D.J.’s. They were best friends.
Once they saw the two of them smiling, the rest of the class couldn’t help but smile. Rondi had a very cute one, due to her two missing front teeth. Nobody had an ugly smile.
Jason came to school late. He was very upset. But the first thing he saw was Dameon’s smile, and he felt a little bit better. Then he saw Rondi’s toothless grin, and he even began to smile a little himself. But when he saw the piano on D.J.’s face, he fell, laughing, onto the floor.
Everybody started to laugh, even Kathy, and she hardly ever laughed except when someone hurt himself.
The whole room seemed to be laughing, not just the people in it. The blackboard chuckled. The ceiling snickered. The desks were jumping up and down, and the chairs were slapping one another on the back. The floor was very ticklish. It laughed until the walls turned purple. The wastepaper basket started to sing, and all the pencils stood up and danced.
Finally things began to settle down. Mrs. Jewls wiped her eyes and said, “D.J., why don’t you tell the class why you are so happy? At least let us know what we are laughing about.”
But D.J. just kept on smiling.
“Aw, come on, D.J.,” said Deedee. “Tell us.”
D.J. didn’t say a word. He couldn’t. His mouth was stretched out of shape.
“Let us guess,” said Ron. “If we guess right, will you tell us?”
D.J. nodded his head. His smile began to hurt his ears.
Everyone took one guess.
“Have you been swimming?”
“Is it your birthday?”
“Are you in love?”
“Did you get a green ball?”
Nobody guessed right.