The Lemonade Crime - Chapter 10

Mr. Rodriguez, a 5th grade teacher, is sharing Chapter 10 of "The Lemonade Crime" with his students. Evan feels like he's in an alternate universe as his sister, Jessie, takes charge. Evan sees his friends as the jury and they seem different. The trial is about whether Evan will get a new Xbox or have to apologize in front of everyone. The whole school seems to be following Jessie's rules. Scott Spencer, who always spins things to his advantage, is also present. Evan wonders why he feels so angry towards Scott. The trial begins with David K. as the judge. Hi, I'm Mr. Rodriguez and I am a 5th grade teacher at Ryerson Elementary School and today I would like to share Chapter 10 of the Lemonade Crime by Jacqueline Davies. Chapter 10. Trial by Jury. Trial by Jury. A legal proceeding in which the guilt or innocence of a person accused of a crime is decided by a group of his or her peers rather than by a judge or panel of judges. Evan looked around and felt as though he dropped into an alternate universe. First of all, he was sitting on a basketball, which felt strange. Second, here was his sister, acting like she was the leader of the free world. Jessie could sometimes be bossy at home, but Evan was used to seeing her on the sidelines at school, on the edge of whatever was happening, on the playground, eating quietly at a cafeteria table, sitting with her hands in her lap at the all-school assemblies. Suddenly, she was the leader and it was weird. Evan stared at the 12 kids sitting in the jury box and that was weird too. If he looked at each kid, one at a time, all he saw were the faces of kids he'd known for most of his life. Nothing new, but when he looked at them all together, standing in the box that Jessie had made out of jump ropes, they looked different. Even Adam, his best friend in the world, seemed almost unfamiliar. They were the jury, the ones who would either hand him a new Xbox 2020 or make him stand up in class and apologize in front of everybody. Suddenly, they didn't seem like the kids he'd known forever. They had turned into something much bigger. Evan's eyes traveled across the courtroom to the witnesses all standing together behind the line of the jump rope, to the audience waiting patiently for the trial to begin, and to David Krikorian, standing at his milk crate podium. That was the weirdest thing of all. Every single one of the 4th graders had shown up after school and put on a name tag, okay, so Malik had taped his name tag to his butt. But he was still standing in the witness box, ready to testify. Everyone was waiting to do whatever Jessie told them to do. It was as if, all of a sudden, there was a whole new set of rules at school and everyone, everyone had agreed to follow them. Even Scott Spencer was sitting on his basketball. He had his knees spread wide and he was drumming a beat on the ball. Chooka to chook, chooka to chook, chooka to chook. He had that look, that Scott Spencer look. The look in his eyes that seemed to say, it's all good, it's all cool, it's all mine. That was the thing about Scott Spencer. Somehow, someway, he always managed to spin things so that everything worked to his advantage. Evan remembered the time they were in 1st grade, playing in Scott's basement playroom. Scott's mom was at work. His dad worked at home like Evan's mom did, but his office was all the way at the other end of the house and it was soundproof. Evan remembered how they used to play a game of seeing who could make enough noise to get Mr. Spencer to come out of his office. They practically had to set off a bomb to get him to come out. So that day, they were playing pick-up sticks for pennies, betting a penny on every game. At first, Scott was winning and Evan had lost about 7 cents, but then Evan started catching up and then he was ahead and Scott owed him 11 whole cents, which seemed like a lot of money back then. Hey, let's get a snack, said Scott, and they could have gone all on their own to get something out of the kitchen. But instead, Scott went to his dad's office and asked him to bring them something in the playroom. And of course, when Scott's dad saw that they were betting pennies, he ended the game and made Evan return everything he'd won. Betting isn't allowed in this house, he'd said. But Evan had thought to himself, losing? That's what's not allowed. Evan looked at Scott. Evan wasn't a fighting kid. He'd only gotten into two fistfights in his whole life and one of them had been with Adam, his best friend. Both those fights had been fast and furious and then they'd been over. No hard feelings, apologies all around, everyone agreeing not to fight anymore. Why couldn't it be that way with Scott? What was it about him that made Evan's blood boil? That turned one thing into another? A fight about some missing money into a full-blown trial by jury? Evan opened his mouth to say something to Scott, which is exactly when David K. picked up the gavel, banged it on the block of wood, and read from the top index card, All rise! Court is in session. The Honorable David P. Krikorian presiding.