Jason (book chapter)

Illustrated by Tim Heitz

"**Jason**" is the twelfth chapter of *Sideways Stories from Wayside School*.

## Synopsis

Jason finds himself in a sticky situation.

## Plot

The reader is introduced to Jason, a boy who is described as having a big mouth, which he uses to tattle on his classmates. He tells Mrs. Jewls that Joy is chewing gum in class, which ashames Mrs. Jewls, and she prepares to write Joy's name on the DISCIPLINE list, but Jason volunteers to do it for her. But while Jason is out of his seat, Joy spits out her gum and sticks the giant wad on his seat to get him back for tattling on her. When Jason returns, he gets stuck when he sits down, and Mrs. Jewls is so angry by this she decides that she orders Joy to go home on the kindergarten bus - but that doesn't help Jason, who's still stuck to the chair. Todd is glad to have company, even if his name isn't on the board yet.

Jason panics, worried he'll have to be there for the rest of his life. Mrs. Jewls tells Joy to apologize, but Jason says he doesn't mind. Mrs. Jewls asks Jason if he can get up, but he can't because he is stuck to his chair, so she gets the Three Erics to help out. Eric Fry and Eric Ovens hold on to Jason, while Eric Bacon holds the chair, but Jason worries that he'll rip his pants. Rondi and Allison giggle at the circumstances.

Mrs. Jewls decides that what she's doing isn't working, and she offers to get ice water from Miss Mush, who is introduced as the school chef who can remarkably both overcook and undercook a meal at the same time. Her specialty is a hot bowl of mud which she calls "porridge." Mrs. Jewls theorizes that the ice water, which might be as cold as Miss Mush's soups, will freeze the gum and Jason can break free, but Jason is wary of Rondi and Allison, and thinks Miss Mush's ice water is probably warm anyway. When Mrs. Jewls leaves, Rondi and Allison decide to tickle Jason profusely to make him fall out of his chair, but it doesn't work. When Mrs. Jewls returns, Rondi and Allison get back in their seats, acting like nothing had happened.

Mrs. Jewls comes with the ice water, which she throws over Jason's head, but that doesn't work either, as Jason is just cold and wet and still stuck. Mrs. Jewls decides the only option now is to cut Jason's pants off. She says the Erics can take Jason to the bathroom and his mother can bring a new pair of pants, but Jason isn't too fond of this idea and continues to freak out. The Erics flip his chair upside-down and begin to carry it away as Jason tries arguing that he's much better off permanently stuck to his seat, because now he won't have to worry about finding a place to sit on the bus. But then Joy gets a new idea to free Jason, and Mrs. Jewls says that if it works, she won't have to go home early. Joy decides to kiss Jason, which causes him to panic, wishing for anything other than that. Despite his protests, Joy kisses him on the nose causing Jason to fall off his chair and hit his head on the ground, letting Joy erase her name from the board. Since Joy got Jason unstuck, she doesn't have to go home early, but Todd isn't happy about it because he'll have to go home alone on the early bus.

## Characters

* Jason
* Mrs. Jewls
* Joy
* Rondi
* Allison
* Todd
* Eric Fry
* Eric Bacon
* Eric Ovens
* Miss Mush (mentioned, debut)
* Louis (mentioned)
* Jason's mother (mentioned)

## Trivia

* In a non-literal sense, when someone says someone has a big mouth, they usually mean they talk too much.
* Miss Mush is mentioned for the first time in this chapter.
* No matter how much gum there is, it isn't actually sticky enough for someone not to fall off his chair while upside-down.
* The climax of "Safety Monitor" in the cartoon may be a reference to this chapter, as it features the entire class stuck to the walls after Myron encourages them to chew gum.

## Gallery

Dennis Hockerman illustrationJulie Brinckloe illustrationAdam McCauley illustration
### Foreign editions

Peter Allen illustration (UK)Peter Allen second illustration (UK)Satoshi Kitamura illustration (Japan)Unknown illustrator (China, Simplified Chinese)