Jill Brenner is a fifth-grader in Mrs. Minish’s class. Her best friend, Tracy Wu, is in a different fifth-grade class. Jill laments that she’s never had a class with Tracy. The students are doing reports on mammals. While a student named Donna talks about horses, the rest of the class is bored. Two girls, Wendy and Caroline, play Tic Tac Toe secretly. Jill daydreams about Halloween, which is just a couple of days away. 

After Donna finishes, the next girl to present is Linda. Linda is a little pudgier than the other kids in the class but not the heaviest fifth grader. Linda does her report on whales and focuses on the usefulness of whale blubber. Linda is the last to present for the day. Wendy passes a note to Caroline, who reads it, then passes it to Jill. The note reads, “Blubber is a good name for her” (5). Jill smiles, not because she believes it’s funny but because Wendy is watching. Jill crumples the note and puts it on the corner of her desk. 

The boy next to Jill, Robby, grabs the crumpled paper and reads it.