remembered, so I wrote them downâ The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria .
 6. Where does freedom of speech come from?
Any dumbhead knows that. I wroteâ Your mouth .
 7. Name one benefit of being a citizen of the United States.
Hmmm, there are lots of good things about our country. But there was only room for one answer, so I wroteâ Candy .
 8. Who did we fight in the Revolutionary War?
I had no idea who we fought in the Revolutionary War. I looked around to see if I could copy the answer from somebody else. Little Miss Know-It-All was sitting in front of me, and she knows everything.
âPssssst!â I whispered to Andrea. âWho did we fight in the Revolutionary War?â
âIâm not telling,â Andrea whispered back. âThat would be cheating, Arlo!â
She calls me by my real name because she knows I donât like it. I leaned over to Ryan, who was sitting next to me.
â Pssssst! Who did we fight in the Revolutionary War?â
âThe Galactic Empire,â Ryan whispered to me.
Ryan knows just about everything there is to know about Star Wars , so he had to be right. I wrote downâ The Galactic Empire.
âNo talking, please!â said Mr. Granite.
 9. Who becomes president of the United States if the president should die?
Easy! I wroteâ Chuck Norris .
 10. Who makes the laws in the United States?
Again, I wroteâ Chuck Norris . I was almost finished with the test.
 11. Who said, âGive me liberty or give me deathâ?
I leaned over to Alexia, who was sitting on my other side.
âPssssst!â I whispered. âWho said, âGive me liberty or give me deathâ?â
âHenry,â Alexia whispered.
âHenry who?â
âPatrick,â Alexia whispered.
âWell, which is it,â I asked her. âHenry or Patrick?â
âBoth!â she whispered.
âNo talking, please!â said Mr. Granite.
I wroteâ Henry and Patrick .
 12. What are the duties of Congress?
I giggled, because âdutiesâ sounds just like âdoodies,â and weâre not supposed to talk about that in school. But all I could think about was a bunch of politicians sitting on toilet bowls. I wasnât sure what to write, so I just put downâ number two .
 13. Who invented the lightbulb?
Hmmm. I had no idea.
âPsssst!â I whispered to Michael, who was sitting behind me. âWho invented the lightbulb?â
âBob Lightbulb,â he whispered back.
Bob Lightbulb? I never heard of anybody named Bob Lightbulb. Michael may have been yanking my chain. But I know that a lot of stuff was named after the people who invented it. Like McDonaldâs. And that vacuum cleaner was named after President Hoover. Maybe Michael was right. I wroteâ Bob Lightbulb .
 14. Who helped the Pilgrims when they came to America?
Hmmm. When the Pilgrims came to America, they probably had to chop down trees, build their own houses, and work on all kinds of do-it-yourself projects like that. So there could only be one answer. I wrote downâ Home Depot .
Finally, the dumb test was finished. Andrea was done before anybody else, of course. She was sitting there, all proud of herself. Mr. Granite came around and collected our papers.
âNow, that wasnât so bad, was it?â he asked.
âIt was a piece of cake,â Andrea announced.
Why is everybody always talking about cake? And why canât a truck full of cakes fall on Andreaâs head? *
3
Bad News
After a few days we all forgot about that dumb test. Life went on. Andrea was annoying, as usual. I had a Pee Wee football game, and my team won. Ryan had his birthday, and his mom brought in brownies for the whole class.
A week later Mr. Granite was trying to teach us math when an announcement came over the loudspeaker.
âAll classes please report to the all-purpose room for an
S. J. A. Turney
John Boyko
K. Sterling
Nicholas Smith
M. C. Scott
Vallen Green
Nigel Bird
Brett Adams
Jim Kelly
Clive Cussler