Everyone is expected to attend. Thank you." I sighed. I had just gotten to school. It was early in the morning, I was tired, school assemblies are usually boring, and my locker smelled. The only funny thing was that our public-address system wasn't working too well, so the announcement sounded like this: "A-ention, ease. A-ention, ease. . . . will be an ... embly in the au-i-orium mediately fol-ing ome-oom. Every-nn is ex-ted to a-end. -nk oo." Luckily, the PA system had been working like this for quite awhile, so I understood the announcement perfectly.

"Darn," said Mary Anne, running down the hall and leaning dramatically against the locker next to mine. "What do you think this assembly will be about? The dress code? The food fight the seventh-graders had last week? Or . . . dum da dum-dum . . . student government?" "Good morning, Mary Anne," I replied.

Mary Anne grinned. "Good morning. Sorry about that. It's just that assemblies - especially ones about student government - are - " "Boring? Dull? A brain-numbing waste of valuable time?" "That's it!" cried Mary Anne. "A brain-numbing waste of valuable time." She began to laugh.

"1 agree," I said. Then, "Ew. ... 1 wonder what this used to be." I pulled a plastic baggie out of the back of my locker. Something in the bag was very mushy and very moldy.

"Oh, disgusting!" exclaimed Mary Anne, who is easy to gross out.

"So that's what smelled so bad," I said. "I thought it was my gym suit." Mary Anne looked like she might barf if I went on, but she was rescued by the first bell for homeroom, which rang then. She darted away, calling over her shoulder, "See you in the brain-numbing assembly!" "Okay," I called back.

Thank goodness we don't have to sit with our classes during assemblies. The members of the BSC like to sit together, and we hardly have any other chances to do that at school because of Mal and Jessi. They're in an entirely different grade, so we don't even get to eat lunch together.