Deedee (book chapter)

— Narration

Illustrated by Tim Heitz

"**Deedee**" is the fifteenth chapter of *Sideways Stories from Wayside School*.

## Synopsis

Deedee is desperate to get a green ball or red ball from Louis, but she is stuck with the yellow ball.

## Plot

The chapter opens with the narrator saying it is a story with a problem and a solution, then presents Deedee, a mousy-looking kid who loves recess more than spelling. In fact, she loves recess so much that she jumps down the stairs ten at a time to get to the playground and ignores the posted signs about not cutting across the grass. But even though Deedee hurries, she never makes it to recess in time to get a green ball. The green balls are the best playground balls because they can bounce very high. She asks Louis for a high-bouncing green ball, but Louis doesn't have one. She then turns to the red balls, which don't bounce as high, but ultimately are still okay, but Louis doesn't have one of those either. All he has is the yellow ball, which doesn't bounce and doesn't go in the direction it gets kicked. Deedee is upset and complains to Louis about her bad luck in playground balls since she's the last one to get to the playground because she has to come all the way from the thirtieth floor, but Louis tries to sugarcoat it, saying everyone else wanted the yellow ball, but he saved it just for her.

Deedee tries to play with the yellow ball, but struggles to get any enjoyment out of it. So instead, she decides not to play with it and plays hopscotch with Jenny and Leslie, even though she doesn't like the game and thinks it's "disgusting". The next day, Deedee asks Mrs. Jewls if she can go to recess early, and Mrs. Jewls says she can if she can spell "Mississippi" first. However, since Deedee isn't good at spelling, she becomes late to recess again, when Louis has given out all the green and red balls. She's left with the yellow ball again, so she plays jump rope with Joy and Maurecia, even though she doesn't find it better than hopscotch.

At this point, the solution to the story is introduced, and the narrator asks the reader to remember everything they can up to this point. The next day, Deedee decides to come up with a plan to get down to the playground early so she can get a green ball. She brings a cream cheese sandwich, nuts, and shredded cheese in her lunchbox and smears the contents of her lunch all over her face so that she looks "just like a dead rat", because she knows how much Mrs. Jewls hates them. Todd, who is in on the plan, tells Mrs. Jewls that there's a dead rat in the classroom. Mrs. Jewls tells the kids to put the dead rat outside immediately, and they do. When Deedee comes to, she finds herself on the playground before anyone else. She asks Louis for a green ball, but he doesn't answer at first. After she says please, Louis responds by telling her she's the first one to get a ball, even though he doesn't know how she did it. He gives her a green ball, which she proceeds to bounce fifty feet in the air. Mrs. Jewls finds out that she's been tricked, so of course, she sends Todd home early. Deedee plays with her green ball and asks if Louis likes her. He says he does, and Deedee assures the feeling is mutual and Louis is her best friend. Louis is glad, because he has always wanted to be friends with a dead rat.

## Characters

* Deedee
* Louis
* Jennifer
* Leslie
* Mrs. Jewls
* Joy
* Maurecia
* Todd

## Trivia

* In some prints of this chapter, Jenny's name is misspelled as "Jennie."

## Gallery

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

Peter Allen illustration (UK)Satoshi Kitamura illustration (Japan)