Billy sat outside the office waiting
while the principal called his mother.
Billy hadn't been in this much trouble
since the third grade,
when he found out you're not supposed to hit girls,
even if they hit you first.
But what really made Billy feel like crying
was this whole mess wasn't even his fault.

Judy Jefferson had stood outside
the cinder block box and shouted,
"Billy Balinski, I know you're in there!
And if you think I'm coming in there, too,
you're crazy!"
But she had anyway.
Randy Anderson dared her,
and he wasn't in trouble.
And nobody caused her to trip and fall -
that was her own stupid fault.
And it was Kevin Cline who had given Billy
the dumb rubber spider in the first place.

But none of that mattered
to Judy Jefferson,
or Mrs. Addison,
or the principal,
and it wouldn't matter to Billy's father,
and that is what made Billy cry.