Something's Fishy by Nancy Krulik Page A

should see the pretty aquarium Ms. Sweet brought in for our classroom.”
    “Our classroom is an aquarium,” George said. “Mr. G. decorated every inch of it. You almost feel like you’re underwater when you’re in class 4A!”
    Katie watched Suzanne’s face fall. Her best friend really hated it when someone topped her. And she could be pretty mean when it happened.
    “That’s perfect for you, George. You smell like a fish. You should be in an aquarium,” Suzanne told him.
    Katie sighed. That was such a typical Suzanne thing to say.
    “Of course in our class, we had a really awesome surprise,” Suzanne continued. “One that’s a lot cooler than fish stuff.”
    “What’s so cool?” Mandy Banks asked, tugging at Suzanne’s sleeve.
    “Ms. Sweet is getting married!” Miriam Chan announced before Suzanne could get the words out.
    Wow! Katie thought. That was big news.
    “I was just going to tell them that!” Suzanne snapped at Miriam.
    “Oops. Sorry,” Miriam apologized.
    “And, that’s not all,” Suzanne boasted to the kids in class 4A. “We’re having an engagement party for Ms. Sweet.”
    “We are?” Jessica Haynes asked Suzanne. “Who says?”
    “I do,” Suzanne told her. “I just decided it. Of course it’s only for our class.”
    Katie frowned. She hated it when Suzanne left her out of things.

    “You understand, don’t you, Katie?” Suzanne asked her.
    Katie shrugged, but she didn’t answer.
    “I mean Ms. Sweet is our teacher, not yours,” Suzanne reminded her. She smiled triumphantly. “It’s going to be a really great party. I bet that makes all you kids in 4A wish you were in our class.”
    “We do not wish that!” Katie exclaimed suddenly. “We don’t wish anything!”
    Everyone looked at Katie. They probably think I’m crazy, she thought to herself. But I’m not. I just know that wishes can be terrible things .

Chapter 2
    Last year, in third grade, Katie had learned all about wishes. It started one terrible, horrible day, when Katie had missed the football and lost the game for her team. Then she’d fallen in a big mud puddle and ruined her favorite pair of jeans. Even worse, she’d let out a huge burp in front of the whole class. How embarrassing!
    That night, Katie had wished she could be anyone but herself. There must have been a shooting star overhead or something, because the next day the magic wind came.
    The magic wind was a super-strong, tornado-like wind that blew only around Katie. It was so powerful that every time it came, it turned Katie into someone else.
    The first time the magic wind came it turned Katie into Speedy, the class 3A hamster. She’d escaped from her cage, and wound up inside George’s stinky sneaker. Yuck!

    Since then, the magic wind had been back again and again. One time it turned her into Mr. Starkey, the school music teacher. The band sounded really terrible when Katie was the conductor!
    Katie still got embarrassed thinking about the time the magic wind switcherooed her into her favorite author, Nellie Farrow. Nellie had come to talk to the fourth grade about her new book. The trouble was, Katie hadn’t read the book yet. Because of Katie, Nellie had looked like a fool in front of everybody!
    And once, Katie had turned into Jeremy’s kitten, Lucky. That time her own cocker spaniel, Pepper, chased her right up a tree. Katie didn’t blame Pepper, though. After all, cats and dogs just don’t get along.
    Not that it was any better the time Katie turned into Pepper himself. She’d gotten into a nasty argument with a squirrel and destroyed her next-door neighbor’s lawn. And poor Pepper was the one blamed.
    That was the worst thing about the magic wind. Every time it came, whoever Katie turned into got in big trouble. Then it was up to Katie to make things all right again. And that wasn’t always so easy.
    So now Katie didn’t make wishes anymore. She stayed far, far away from them. They caused too many problems.
    But of course