Chapter 24

Some of the children were working in their workbooks. Others were reading in their readers. And still others were computing on the computer.

Miss Nogard looked from one to another. Eenie . . . meenie . . . minie . . . Maurecia! she thought.

Maurecia was stamping a stamp.

"Maurecia," said Miss Nogard. "Will you come here, please?"

Maurecia walked to the front of the room. "Yes?" she said cheerfully.

"Don't 'yes' me, young lady," said Miss Nogard. "You know what you did."

Maurecia looked back at her teacher. What did I do? she wondered.

Miss Nogard waited patiently. Everyone was guilty of something.

I didn't do anything, did I? thought Maurecia. I've been good, I think. Unless she found out about that dictionary page I accidentally tore. No, she couldn't know about that! It happened before she even got here. And I don't think anybody saw me do it.

"I didn't do anything," she said. I probably should have told Mrs. Jewls about it, she realized, but it wasn't even my fault! I was looking up how to spell 'journey' for my journal, and the page just ripped all by itself.

"It is one thing to do something wrong, Maurecia," said Miss Nogard. "But when you do, you should admit to it. We all make mistakes. But when you lie about it, you make matters much worse for yourself."

Maurecia nodded as she tried to figure out what to do. If Miss Nogard knew she tore the dictionary page, then of course she should admit to
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it But there was no way Miss Nogard could know! It was impossible.

"I don't know what you mean," she said innocently. "I didn't do anything wrong." She smiled at her teacher.