Drat! You Copycat! (3 page)
Read Drat! You Copycat! Online
Authors: Nancy Krulik
Suzanne nodded. “Yes! It’s so me!”
Katie nodded. “No one likes glitter as much as you do!”
“So, what are you doing for your project?” George interrupted. He didn’t want to sit there talking about clothes with two girls.
“Well, I ...” Suzanne began. But before she could finish her sentence, she saw something terrible heading toward the playground. “Oh, no!” she cried out.
“What is it?” Katie asked.
Suzanne was too upset to speak. She just reached out her hand and pointed.
Katie gasped. It was Becky!
She was wearing a leopard-print shirt with fake fur at the cuffs.
Her pants were glittery-black.
It was the exact same outfit Suzanne had worn yesterday.
No one in class 3A had ever bought one of Suzanne’s outfits before. They wouldn’t dare.
“This is just horrible!” Suzanne moaned.
Chapter 4
Katie walked quietly into room 3A. She hung up her jacket, dropped her homework in the bin, and sat down at her desk. One second later, a note landed on her desk.
The note was from Suzanne. Katie glanced over at her best friend. She’d been really brave to pass the note just then. Mrs. Derkman hadn’t even turned her back to the class.
Obviously Suzanne was so angry at Becky, she didn’t care if she caught.
Katie slipped the note under her desk and quietly opened the paper. Suzanne’s writing was big, thick, and dark. There were only four words on the paper.
BECKY IS A COPYCAT!
Katie took out her pink pen and scribbled an answer to Suzanne’s note.
“Maybe she didn’t know you always wear glitter,” she wrote.
“Kevin,” Katie whispered. “Could you pass this to Suzanne?”
Kevin sat, right between Katie and Suzanne. “I’m not getting in trouble,” he said.
Katie sighed. It was too dangerous for her to throw the note to Suzanne. If Mrs. Derkman read this note out loud, Becky’s feelings would be hurt.
“I’ll give you my dessert at lunch if you’ll pass the note,” she whispered quickly.
Kevin thought for a moment. “And the tomatoes from your salad, too?” he asked.
Katie nodded.
Kevin quickly snatched the note from Katie’s hand and slipped it to Suzanne.
Katie watched as Suzanne unfolded the paper. Suzanne frowned, and shook her head.
“Whose side are you on?” she hissed over Kevin’s head.
“I’m not on anyone’s side,” Katie whispered back.
“Girls!” Mrs. Derkman said sternly. “Is there something you want to share with the entire class?”
For one scary moment, Katie thought Suzanne might call Becky a copycat in front everyone. But Suzanne didn’t say anything. She just sat up tall and glared at the back of Becky’s head.
“Okay then,” Mrs. Derkman said. “Let’s get to work. The first thing I want to discuss are your topics for your research papers.” “Let’s begin with the first row.”
George sat in the first seat in the first row. Mrs. Derkman had put him there so she could keep an eye on him. “I’m doing a paper on skateboarding,” George told her. “It will be wheel-y exciting.”
A few of the kids groaned at George’s bad joke. Mrs. Derkman never even looked up. She just wrote George’s topic in her notebook. “Okay, how about you, Mandy?”
“I want to do a research paper on dragon-flies. We have a lot of them living near the creek behind my house,” Mandy answered.
“That will be very nice,” Mrs. Derkman said. “Just please don’t bring any of them into the classroom.”
Everybody laughed. They all knew that Mrs. Derkman was very afraid of bugs.
“And you, Jeremy?” Mrs. Derkman asked.
“I want to do a report on soccer,” Jeremy said. “It’s my favorite sport.”
“Just remember, you can’t play ball in the classroom,” Mrs. Derkman reminded him.
“I’m going to make a videotape,” Jeremy assured her.
Mrs. Derkman smiled. “That’s a fine idea. Okay, now let’s move on to the second row. Have you come up with something, Becky?”
Becky sat up very straight and tall. “I want to do my research project on Cleopatra,” she said.
The class was silent.
They couldn’t believe their ears. Everyone figured Suzanne would be the one to do a research project about Cleopatra. The kids all turned around to see how Suzanne was taking the news: not well.
Suzanne’s eyes were closed in angry little slits. Her mouth was clenched tightly. She was obviously really mad—so mad, in fact, that she forgot Mrs. Derkman’s rule about calling out.
“That’s my topic!” Suzanne shouted. “I was going to do Cleopatra! Everybody knew it.”
Becky shook her head. “I didn’t know it.”
Suzanne glared at her. “Yes you did. You knew how I felt about Cleopatra. You heard me talking about her at lunch. Becky, you’re a great big copycat!”
The class gasped. No one had ever acted that way in Mrs. Derkman’s room before. Not even George.
“Suzanne Lock,” Mrs. Derkman said sternly. “That is not how we behave in class. Becky will be doing a report on Cleopatra. You will have to find another topic to research. There are lots of interesting people or things you can learn about.”
“Not as interesting as Cleopatra,” Suzanne moaned.
Mrs. Derkman sighed. “Oh, I think there are. In fact, I’m going to give you a topic for your project. You will do a report on Coco Chanel.”
“What’s a Coco Chanel?” Suzanne demanded. “Some sort of candy bar?”
Mrs. Derkman laughed. “No. Coco Chanel was a person. A very special person.”
“Why?” Suzanne asked.
“You’ll see,” Mrs. Derkman said, as she wrote the topic in her book. She smiled at Suzanne. “I promise that you—of all people—will find her very interesting.”
Suzanne sat back, folded her arms, and stared furiously at Becky.
Katie gulped. She’d seen that look on Suzanne’s face before. I’m sure glad I’m not Becky, she thought to herself.
Chapter 5
“Now do you believe me? I told you Becky was a copycat!” Suzanne insisted, as she and Katie walked out of the school building at the end of the day.
Katie nodded slowly. She couldn’t defend Becky anymore. Taking Suzanne’s research topic had been really mean.
“I can’t believe Mrs. Derkman is making me do a research project on that Coco Chanel person,” Suzanne moaned. “I don’t even know who she is.”
“You can come over to my house and we can look her up on the Internet,” Katie suggested.
Suzanne shrugged. “Why not? At least I’ll be able to eat some of your mom’s cookies while we work.”
Katie grinned. Her mom did bake great cookies. Suzanne’s mother usually served the store-bought kind.
Just then, Becky came running up to the girls. “Are y’all going to the library to start your research?” she asked in her soft Southern accent.
Katie was about to tell Becky that she and Suzanne were going to her house to use the computer, but Suzanne shot Katie one of her don’t-you-dare looks.
Becky looked hopefully at Katie. That made Katie feel terrible. She was supposed to be Becky’s buddy, and she wasn’t inviting her to come along. Katie knew Becky was feeling left out.
But Suzanne’s feelings had been hurt, too. She needed Katie every bit as much as Becky did. Katie didn’t know what to do.
Suzanne solved that problem for her.
“We have other plans,” Suzanne told Becky simply. “You’ll have to float down the Nile without us.”
Becky looked curiously at Suzanne.
“The Nile,” Suzanne repeated. “That’s a river in Egypt. You’d have known that if you were as big a fan of Cleopatra as I am.”
Becky smiled. “I’m going to learn all about Cleopatra. Then you and I can talk about her. Maybe we can even start a Cleopatra club.”
“Whatever.” Suzanne sighed. She put her thumbs together and held her pointer fingers straight up to make a big W.
This was going to get ugly—Katie could tell. She quickly grabbed Suzanne by the elbow. “We’ve got to go. See you tomorrow, Becky.”
“I don’t believe that girl!” Suzanne exclaimed, as she and Katie walked off. “A Cleopatra club? How could she?”
“She just wants to be friends.” Katie said.
Suzanne rolled her eyes. “I’d rather be friends with a three-headed rat.”
Katie sighed. There was no point in arguing with Suzanne when she was this angry. It was easier to change the topic. “You can use the Internet first,” she told her. “I have a book on cocker spaniels that I can start with.”
Before long, the girls had reached Katie’s house. Mrs. Carew was sitting on the front steps with Pepper when they arrived.
“Hi, girls,” she greeted them. “How was school?”
“Rotten,” Suzanne moaned.
“Fine,” Katie said at the exact same time.
Mrs. Carew laughed. “Are you sure you were in the same classroom?” She held out a plate of warm sugar cookies with M&M’s baked into them.
“The new girl stole my research topic,” Suzanne explained between cookie bites. “Katie got the topic she wanted.”
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