There’s A Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom by Louis Sachar

him marry her, Mom?” asked Claudia.
    Mrs. Chalkers smiled. “Well, I don’t know. She seems like a very lovely girl.”
    Bradley felt like he was going to die. His sister was hysterical.
    “So you don’t have any complaints about Miss Davis?” his mother asked seriously, getting back to the letter.
    “She’s okay,” he said without emotion.
    Claudia snickered.
    “Well, then, I won’t go to the meeting,” said hismother. “C’mon, let’s leave your brother alone.”
    “The Concerned Parents Organization never likes anything,” said Claudia. “They’re always causing trouble at my school, too. They want to turn kids into robots.”
    Bradley watched his sister and mother walk out of his room and shut the door behind them.
    He lay down on his bed. His face was on fire. “So, I love her? What’s wrong with that?”
    “Nothing,” said Ronnie. “They just don’t understand about love.”
    The door opened again. Claudia stuck her face inside and said, “If the Concerned Parents Organization ever found out Carla kissed you, she’d be fired for sure!”

32 .
     
    Bradley paid close attention as Mrs. Ebbel taught arithmetic. He nodded his head every time she said something that he already knew. Once he almost raised his hand to answer a question, but he lost his nerve. Somebody else gave the answer he would have given.
I knew it
, he thought as he nodded his head.
    He had spent recess in the library reading
My Parents Didn’t Steal an Elephant
by Uriah C. Lasso. When he was leaving the library, Mrs. Wilcott stopped him and said, “You were reading, weren’t you?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good for you, Bradley! Good for you!”
    He smiled now as he remembered it.
It’s because of Carla’s book
, he thought. The book was his lucky charm. As long as he had it with him, it seemed like nothing could go wrong.
    His black eye was all gone too.
    When the bell rang for lunch, he put his arithmetic book away, took out his lucky book, and walked to Mrs. Ebbel’s desk. “May I please borrow the hall pass?” he asked.
    She let him have it. He knew she would. He was holding the magic book.
    He walked to Carla’s office. Just as he was raising his fist to knock, she opened the door. “Bradley, what a pleasant surprise!”
    “You want to have lunch together?” he asked.
    “Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t. I have to go to the principal’s office.”
    “What’s the matter? Did you get in trouble?” he joked.
    She didn’t laugh at his joke. She shrugged her shoulders, then headed toward the principal’s office.
    Maybe she really did get in trouble
, Bradley thought as he watched her go.
It’s probably because she doesn’t believe in rules. She must have broken one without knowing it. I should have warned her
. But he wasn’t too worried. He couldn’t imagine anything bad ever happening to Carla.
    He walked through the auditorium and outside to the playground. He sat down on the steps outside the auditorium and ate his lunch. At least he had her book with him. That was almost as good as eating lunch with her.
    He didn’t read while he ate. He was afraid he might accidentally spill food on the book even if there were no such things as accidents.
    Colleen Verigold walked by.
    “Hello, Colleen!” he called to her.
    She stopped and looked at him oddly, then walked away without returning his hello.
    Bradley didn’t mind. He had said hello to Colleen because he knew Carla would appreciate it. He feltCarla was watching over him. And it didn’t matter that Colleen didn’t say hello back, because in his heart he heard Carla say,
Hello, Bradley. It’s a pleasure to see you today
.
    He finished eating, then opened the book.
    Guess what they’ve done now? They wallpapered the garage. I told you they were crazy! Whoever heard of anybody putting wallpaper on the walls of a garage? Purple paper with yellow polka dots!
I don’t even know how they got in there. The garage has been locked shut for months. The lock was broken