Read Online Gertie's Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley - Free Book Online

her classmates and their parents.
    Jean leaned all the way forward toward Gertie so that she was lying on her desk like, if she could, she would jump over her desk and the front-row desks so that she could stand before the class with Gertie. Junior put his head down so that he didn’t have to watch. He helmeted his hands over his head, crushing the Riptide flat. Gertie looked down at the speech she’d worked so hard on. The words were small and wobbly, and she couldn’t read them.
    â€œMy daddy works on an oil rig,” Gertie said, and she looked up, right into Mrs. Spivey’s eyes. “Some people don’t like oil rigs. People like lobbyists .” She hoped she’d pronounced that right. “But without oil rigs, there would be no oil. Without oil there wouldn’t be any gas for people’s cars or for … ambulances.”
    Mrs. Spivey blinked several times, but Gertie didn’t break her stare.
    â€œWithout ambulances there wouldn’t be any way for people to get to hospitals when they had awful accidents in their houses.” She looked away from Mrs. Spivey and gazed at the rest of the class. Mary Sue glared at her. “So I think people who work on oil rigs are saving the planet.”
    The classroom was silent as she walked back to her seat and settled herself at her desk like she didn’t have a care in the world. In front of her, Mary Sue’s hands clenched into fists on her desktop.
    Mrs. Parks lifted her chin and applauded, breaking the silence. Jean started clapping with her. Roy clapped twice, but he was laughing while he did.
    Ms. Simms cleared her throat, and in a small voice asked, “Who wants to go next?”

 
    11
    Well Done, Gertie
    After her crackling, Category 5 Career Day speech, Gertie didn’t think she’d have to worry about Mary Sue anymore. Not if Mary Sue knew what was good for her.
    Now it was time to concentrate on what was really important, which was finding a way to show Rachel Collins that Gertie was the best thing that ever happened to Carroll Elementary School. But the next Monday, when Gertie stepped off the bus, the first thing she saw was Mary Sue and Ella putting flyers on the wall. They had already covered the front of the building in pink and yellow papers.
    Gertie read the one that was closest. Clean Earth Club, Recruiting New Members, it said. Don’t believe what some people say. Learn the truth about offshore oil rigs.
    Gertie stared at the flyer. Was Mary Sue calling her a liar? She hitched her backpack higher on her shoulders and marched up to the two girls.
    â€œWhat—what—” She was so angry she didn’t even know where to start. “What in the Sam Hill are you doing?” she said in her most dangerous voice.
    Mary Sue and Ella ignored her.
    â€œWhat do you mean some people ?” Gertie asked. “What do you mean Learn the truth ? I told everyone the truth!”
    Mary Sue rolled her eyes. “You said all that because you don’t know any better. You’re so ignorant.” She pursed her lips. “I think we need one here,” she said to Ella, and pressed her finger against the wall. Then, with a violent snatch, Mary Sue ripped off a length of tape.
    Ella passed her a flyer.
    Breathing like she’d just run a race, Gertie made herself squeeze her backpack straps and hurry down the sidewalk so she wouldn’t do anything she’d regret.
    She was not ignorant or stupid, and she would prove it. With or without Jean’s help, she would show everyone that she was smarter than that lying seat-stealer. Gertie scraped her ponytail up to the very top of her head for maximum brainpower, and she started to study again.
    *   *   *
    She studied harder than she ever had in her life. She studied for days and then weeks.
    Until one November afternoon, Gertie was holding her breath and crossing her fingers while her teacher swept around the room,