Out to Lunch Read Free Page B

salad.”

    Katie sighed. These kids were so mean. They were acting as though she’d cooked the food or something. She knew she had nothing to do with this menu. Lunch ladies weren’t chefs. They just served what they were given. It wasn’t like she was having a whole lot of fun serving the stuff, either. It was awful standing back there behind the counter, having to stare at rotting fruit and sniffing the scent of boiled hot dogs, overcooked baked beans, and egg salad all day long.
    But Katie couldn’t argue with Malcolm. She only had to serve the food. He actually had to eat it. Katie smiled at him and nodded her head. “I don’t like egg salad very much, either,” she said as she pointed to the egg salad tray. “Especially this egg salad. It’s all gloppy. Too much mayonnaise.”
    “Like always,” Malcolm moaned.
    “You know where this egg salad belongs?” she asked Malcolm as she picked up a huge scooper full of the yellow-white glop.
    “Where?” Malcolm said.
    Katie gave him a naughty smile. “In the garbage!” she announced. Then she hurled the egg salad toward the garbage can.
    Malcolm stared at her with surprise. He’d never seen Lucille the lunch lady throw food in the garbage before. Nobody had.
    Katie watched as the big ball of egg salad soared in the direction of the trash can. Unfortunately, Katie’s aim was not very good. The egg salad landed right on top of George’s tray.
    Katie gulped. Maybe I should’ve worked on my throwing with Jeremy yesterday, she thought to herself. Katie looked nervously at George. She couldn’t tell if he was angry or not.
    A big smile flashed across George’s face. “ Food fight! ” he announced loudly. George shot a big glob of strawberry yogurt right at Kevin. The yogurt landed on a pile of tomato slices inside Kevin’s lunch box.
    Katie gasped. George shouldn’t have done that. He knew how Kevin felt about tomatoes. Kevin was going to be really mad that George had ruined some of them!
    A fifth-grader named Stanley was sitting at the next table. He began to laugh. “Looks like your lunch is gone,” Stanley told Kevin. “You can’t eat it now.”
    Kevin nodded. “I know. But there are lots of things you can do with a tomato!” He picked up a yogurt-covered tomato slice and flung it right at Stanley. The round slice landed in the middle of the fifth-grader’s shirt. “Bulls-eye!” Kevin called out excitedly.

    After that, it seemed like everyone in the entire cafeteria started throwing food. Stanley tossed his jelly sandwich toward the table where class 3A was sitting. It landed right on Jeremy’s face. Suzanne began to giggle as Jeremy wiped grape jelly from his glasses. Jeremy threw a glob of mashed potatoes at Suzanne. Suzanne rolled a piece of hot dog bun into a little ball and threw it at Jeremy.
    Mandy was so busy watching Suzanne and Jeremy that she didn’t notice a hot dog with mustard flying towards her. It landed right on her head. “Oooh! Gross!” she shouted out. The hot dog slid onto the floor below, but the mustard stayed in Mandy’s hair.
    Miriam started giggling. Mandy grinned and shook her head wildly—splashing yellow mustard all over Miriam.
    Miriam picked up a slice of salami and threw it at Mandy. Mandy ducked. The salami landed on Zoe’s nose.
    George laughed so hard he fell off his chair and landed on the floor. Zoe picked up her milk and poured it over George’s head. George wiped the milk from his eyes, smiled, and licked his lips. “Mmmm!” he exclaimed. “Chocolate. My favorite!”
    The kids were going wild! They launched lunchmeat. They flung frankfurters. They heaved hamburgers. Everyone and everything was covered with food. The teachers tried to stop the food fight, but they couldn’t. The lunchroom was a mess.
    Katie looked up. A canned peach was flying straight at her head. She ducked. The bright orange fruit smacked into the wall behind her and slid toward the floor.
    “Look out!” Katie cried as she