Wayside School is Falling Down

Dameon always distributes the papers in Mrs. Jewls’s room. He loves to help her because he has a crush on her. At lunch one day, Joy accuses Dameon of being in love with Mrs. Jewls. He tries to deny the accusation, looking to his friends Myron and D.J. for support, but they only smile knowingly, which makes Dameon even more desperate to prove that he is not in love with Mrs. Jewls. Joy hands him a paper sack with a dead rat inside. She tells him that he can prove he does not love Mrs. Jewls by putting the sack inside Mrs. Jewls’s desk, since the teacher hates dead rats more than anything. After lunch, Dameon hides the dead rat in Mrs. Jewls’s desk. He feels terrible when she discovers it and screams, and he immediately confesses. He tells Mrs. Jewls that he hates her because she is always making him help her with things. For the rest of the day, she does not let him help her with anything. After school, however, he returns to the classroom to explain his real feelings and motivations. Mrs. Jewls explains to him that she can love both her husband and him.