Jason borrowed a pencil from Allison. When he gave it back to her, it was full of teeth marks.

Allison held the pencil by its point. "Yuck!" she said. "You chewed on it."

Jason felt awful. It is very embarrassing to borrow somebody\'s pencil and then chew on it. "Sorry," he said. "I didn\'t do it on purpose."

"You can keep it," said Allison. She dropped the pencil on Jason\'s desk, then raised her hand. "Mrs.

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Jewls, can I go to the bathroom? I have to wash my hands. Jason slobbered all over my pencil."

Everybody laughed.

Jason turned red. "I\'m sorry, Allison," he said. "I know it\'s a disgusting habit. I just can\'t help it."

"Don\'t let Jason touch any of my books," said Allison as she headed out of the room. "He might eat them!"

Everybody laughed again.

"Here, you can eat my book, Jason," said Todd. "I don\'t like it anyway."

Mrs. Jewls made Todd write his name on the blackboard under the word DISCIPLINE.

Jason was so mad at himself, he broke the chewed-up pencil to bits.

That wasn\'t a smart thing to do.

"Everybody take out a pencil and a piece of paper," said Mrs. Jewls. "It\'s time for our spelling test."

Jason slapped himself on the forehead. I\'m so stupid! he thought. "Rondi, may I borrow a pencil, please?" he asked.

Rondi made a face. "All my pencils are new," she said. "How do I know you won\'t eat it?"

"I won\'t," said Jason. "I promise."

"You better not," said Rondi. She gave him one of her pencils.

It was new and freshly sharpened. Jason liked the way it smelled.

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"The first word is \'orchestra,\' " said Mrs. Jewls.

Jason tried to remember how to spell orchestra. He stuck the back of the pencil in his mouth.

"Second word, \'garbanzo.\' "

Jason chewed on the eraser.

When the spelling test was over, Rondi\'s pencil was worse than Allison\'s.

Jason looked at it in horror. He didn\'t even remember chewing it. Oh, no! he thought. What am I going to do? He stuck it inside his desk.

"Jason, may I have my pencil back, please?" asked Rondi.

"What pencil?" asked Jason.

"The one I lent you," said Rondi.

Jason opened his desk and pretended to look for it. "I don\'t know where it is," he said.

"Mrs. Jewls, Jason stole my pencil!" called Rondi.

"Jason, give Rondi back her pencil," said Mrs. Jewls.

He gave it to her.

"You chewed on it!" exclaimed Rondi.

Everyone laughed.

"No I didn\'t," said Jason, "Those are your teeth marks."

"How can they be my teeth marks?" asked Rondi. She smiled. She was missing her two front teeth.

"So?" said Jason. "You don\'t chew pencils with your front teeth. You chew them with your back............