The Peanuts Movie Read online

  Grateful to his friend for saving him, he took the paper from Woodstock and read over the last line he had typed.

  He thought he had lost her forever.

  Chapter Fourteen

  A Perfect Score?

  As Charlie Brown walked into his classroom the next day, he noticed that the Little Red-Haired Girl’s desk was empty. Was she late?

  He sat at his desk and stared at hers, wishing for her to appear.

  “You can quit daydreaming, Charlie Brown,” Linus said. “She’s not here.”

  “Daydreaming? Me?” Charlie Brown asked innocently. Then he blushed.

  “She’ll be back Monday,” Linus explained. “I heard she went back east to help take care of her grandmother, who isn’t feeling well. I thought that was nice of her.”

  “She seems like the kind of person who would do that sort of thing,” Charlie Brown mused.

  “Waa wa waa waaa wa,” said Miss Othmar as class began.

  “Aww! Not another book report!” someone moaned.

  “Waa wa waa,” Miss Othmar went on.

  “Time to pick our partners,” said Linus.

  The teacher called Violet to the front of the room first. Violet reached into a paper bag and pulled out a slip of paper.

  She looked at the name. “Patty!”

  “Yes! All right!” Patty cheered.

  The two girls mimed high-fiving each other as Violet returned to her seat. Then it was Lucy’s turn. She picked a name from the bag and looked at it.

  “Nope,” she said. Then picked another one. “Not this one.”

  She kept going until she found the name she was looking for.

  “Schroeder!” she cried happily, gazing at him. “There’s no denying it. It was meant to be.”

  Schroeder put his head in his heads.

  “Waa wa waaa,” said Miss Othmar.

  Charlie Brown walked to the front of the class. He cast a hopeful glance at the Little Red-Haired Girl’s desk. Would he be lucky enough to pick her name? He imagined the two of them getting their book report back from Miss Othmar with a gold star on it—the prize for the best book report in the class. The Little Red-Haired Girl would be so impressed with him!

  Charlie Brown stuck his hand into the bag. Then he pulled it out and read the name. A huge grin spread across his face!

  “The Little Red-Haired Girl,” he said quietly to himself. “My lucky day!”

  But as Charlie Brown walked back to his desk, the reality sank in. He and the Little Red-Haired Girl would be working together. Side by side. Talking.

  By the time the lunch bell rang, he was in a panic. He grabbed Linus’s shirt and shook him in the hallway. Then the words spilled out of him.

  “You’ve got to help me, Linus! I’m not sure I can handle being partners with the Little Red-Haired Girl. I need to slow things down. Maybe I’m not ready for a serious relationship. How will I support her? I can’t afford a mortgage. What if I’m put into escrow?”

  “Charlie Brown, you’re being ridiculous,” Linus told him, breaking away from his friend. “You haven’t said one word to her, and you’re already married with a house payment?”

  “I’ve never been responsible for anything before,” he said. “This could be the worst thing that ever happened to her!”

  They entered the cafeteria and headed toward their table. Charlie Brown took the pink pencil from his pocket and stared at it.

  Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration.

  “Linus, it just hit me,” he said. “I think I know how to become her hero! While she’s away helping her grandmother, I could complete the book report for the two of us.”

  “That’s one way to go,” Linus said. “But if you want my advice—”

  Suddenly, the other kids began to stream out of the cafeteria.

  “Where is everyone going?” Linus wondered out loud.

  “They’re posting the test scores! Come on!” someone yelled.

  Charlie Brown and Linus followed the crowd. A group of kids had gathered in front of a display case in the hallway.

  “Look! Someone got a perfect score, sir,” Marcie told Peppermint Patty.

  “You would have to be a genius to get a perfect score,” her friend replied.

  “I didn’t even know that was possible,” said Violet.

  There was a gasp as the kids in front read the name of the kid who had the highest score. As Charlie Brown approached with Linus, kids turned to stare at him.

  “It’s him!” cried Patty.

  “Here he comes,” said Violet.

  “No one in the world has ever gotten a hundred before,” Patty added.

  The crowd parted for Charlie Brown. He stepped up to the glass case, confused. He started at the bottom of the list, searching for his name. But it wasn’t on the bottom. He scrolled all the way up to the top.

  He stared at his name at the top of the list, stunned.

  “A perfect score? Me? This can’t be right,” he said.

  “No, Charlie Brown, look. You really do have a perfect score,” Linus pointed out.

  “Huh,” said Charlie Brown, still stunned. He would never have believed it, but there it was, on the list, right in front of his eyes. “I have heard peanut butter is brain food.”

  Peppermint Patty slapped him on the back. “Nice job, Chuck ol’ boy.”

  “I always knew you had it in you, Charles,” said Marcie.

  Lucy’s voice came from the back of the crowd.

  “This can’t be right! Out of my way!”

  She pushed her way through the kids and stopped in front of Charlie Brown. “Mr. Perfect: Charlie Brown? It must be a typo! I don’t believe it. I won’t believe it!”

  She stormed off, enraged. Then a voice came over the speakers.

  “Good afternoon, students and staff,” said Franklin. “We have a special announcement. There will be an all-school assembly on Monday morning to celebrate our illustrious classmate, Charlie Brown, who achieved a perfect score on the standardized test.”

  Everyone stared at Charlie Brown in shock. Then they burst into cheers. A kid came up and grabbed Charlie Brown’s books for him. Then a bunch of kids escorted him down the hallway.

  “Make way! Genius coming through!” Peppermint Patty yelled.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Charlie Brown, Genius

  Kids treated Charlie Brown like a celebrity as he walked down the hallway.

  “I have a science project due next week,” said Franklin. “Can you give me your thoughts?”

  “Hey, I saw him first!” complained Shermy.

  Charlie Brown’s next class was art, where he was supposed to be making a sculpture out of wire coat hangers. He looked around at the other kids. Schroeder had made a perfect piano. Shermy’s looked like a cool dinosaur.

  Charlie Brown bent and twisted the coat hangers, quickly ending up with a mess. Franklin spotted it.

  “Will you look at this,” he said. “What a contemporary piece.”

  A group of kids gathered around.

  “Nice use of space,” said Patty.

  Lucy looked at the mess at Charlie Brown’s workstation and rolled her eyes. “Have you all lost your minds?”

  Charlie Brown was still famous when school ended. After the last bell, the kids all went to the ice pond for a game of hockey. Charlie Brown got control of the puck and skated toward the goal.

  “Shoot it, Charlie Brown! Shoot it!” Franklin yelled.

  Charlie Brown hit the puck. It veered off course, flying off the pond and bouncing off a tree trunk. Then it zoomed back to the pond toward the goal, where Marcie was guarding the net. Her goalie pads were bigger than she was, and her glasses were fogged up from the cold.

  Peppermint Patty quickly skated in front of her to try to intercept the puck, but she missed. Marcie could barely move, and the puck glided past her through the net. Marcie was impressed.

  “Nice use of angles there, Charles,” said Marcie.

  Charlie Brown’s
teammates crowded around him, cheering. Lucy kept her distance.

  Something was wrong here, she thought. She knew that Charlie Brown wasn’t a genius. But how could she prove it?

  Charlie Brown’s fans escorted him to his house, and he waved good-bye to them at his front door. Except for the Little Red-Haired Girl not being there, this had been the best day of his life!

  His little sister, Sally, was happy for her big brother—and she knew just how to latch on to his fame. Early the next morning, before school, she led a group of Charlie Brown’s biggest fans—Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and some little kids from her class—through a tour of the Browns’ house.

  “And this is where it all began,” she said, pointing to a living room chair. “As a youth he passed many hours just sitting in that chair, keeping his deep thoughts to himself.”

  Next she led them to a closet. When she opened it, a bunch of broken kites fell out.

  “And here we have his early kites, used in many aerodynamic studies,” she said, pointing at the broken kites.

  “Whoa!” The group of kids was impressed.

  Then Sally led them to Charlie Brown’s bedroom door.

  “If we are lucky, we will see him in his natural habi-tat,” she whispered.

  She slowly opened his door and led the group inside. They surrounded Charlie Brown’s bed.

  “And this is the actual bed where he lies and ponders life’s greatest questions,” Sally said.

  Charlie Brown woke up to see a crowd of kids staring at him.

  “Hey! What are you doing?” he cried.

  “I’m trying to cash in on your celebrity,” Sally explained.

  Charlie Brown shooed them out and managed to eat his breakfast in peace. But another throng of kids waited for him at his bus stop. He needed Snoopy and Woodstock to safely escort him onto the bus, wearing Secret Service uniforms.

  The whole school day was a crazy blur. Lots of kids were wearing yellow shirts with black zigzags, just like Charlie Brown. Everyone kept asking him for advice. He was more popular than he had ever dreamed!

  At the end of the day, he and Linus left the school.

  “I haven’t seen you in a while,” Linus said.

  “I’ve been so busy lately, I keep getting pulled in all sorts of directions,” Charlie Brown explained. “Even my little sister is treating me like I’m some sort of celebrity.”

  Just as he said it, a bunch of kids swarmed out of the school.

  “There he is!” someone shouted.

  They crowded around him. Frieda grabbed his right arm. “Charlie Brown, let’s go sledding!”

  Franklin grabbed his left arm. “Come help us with our snow castle!”

  Sally pushed her way through the crowd, accompanied by a kid carrying a camera and another with a microphone.

  “This will make a great documentary,” she said. “Action!”

  Pigpen pushed past Franklin. “Do you have time to help me with my book report?” he asked. “It’s due on Monday.”

  Charlie Brown’s heart sank.

  “Monday? The report is due on Monday?” he asked. That was just a few days away! “She’s back on Monday! I haven’t even started yet.”

  He was in trouble. But he knew who could help him.

  “Does anybody know where Marcie is?” he asked.

  “She went skating with Peppermint Patty,” Schroeder replied.

  Charlie Brown ran off toward the ice pond.

  “Cut!” Sally yelled.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Longest Book Ever

  Over at the ice pond, Marcie sat on a bench, freezing, as Peppermint Patty shot pucks across the ice.

  “Please just pick one book for your report, sir,” Marcie pleaded, looking down at the paper in her hands. “I made this list of the greatest books of all time just for you.”

  “Ah, let me sleep on it, Marcie,” Peppermint Patty said, shooting another puck.

  Frustrated, Marcie got up and walked away. A minute later Charlie Brown walked up to the pond.

  “I’m looking for Marcie,” he told Peppermint Patty. “I need her to help me find the greatest book of all time.”

  Peppermint Patty skidded to a stop. “I just might be able to help you there, Chuck. Marcie just read off a long list of great novels. Huckleberry something, Catcher with a Pie. But she said the greatest book of all time is Leo’s Toy Store by some guy called Warren Peace.”

  “Leo’s Toy Store,” he repeated thoughtfully.

  “Yup! That’s the one, Chuck!” she said, and then skated away.

  Charlie Brown thanked Peppermint Patty and went to the library. He started off in the children’s section. He went to the Ls and started pulling out books one by one.

  “Nope. None of them are Leo’s Toy Store,” he said with a sigh. He walked away, leaving a tower of books behind him. That could only mean one thing.

  The book must be in the grown-up section. He headed there and found the fiction shelves. What had Peppermint Patty said the author’s name was, again? Warren Peace? He found his way to the Ps and took two books off the shelf. Behind them, he saw Marcie on the other side of the shelf.

  “Charles? I’ve never seen you in here before,” she said, surprised.

  “Marcie, can you help me find a copy of Leo’s Toy Store?” he asked. “Peppermint Patty told me you said it was the greatest—”

  Marcie shook her head. “Stop right there, Charles. Come with me.”

  She led him down another aisle of books and stopped, looking up. At the very top was a massive book, covered in dust.

  “That’s what you’re looking for,” she said. “War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.”

  Charlie Brown climbed a ladder and looked at the book in disbelief.

  “Yikes! How long was this war?” he asked.

  “Are you sure that is the book you want to read?” she asked. “Might I remind you, Charles, you only have the weekend to complete your report.”

  “I have to if I’m going to win that gold star,” he said.

  He tried to pull the book off the shelf, but it was stuck. He yanked with all his might. The bookshelf began to wobble.

  Suddenly, the book broke free, sending Charlie Brown flying backward. He fell to the floor, still clutching War and Peace as a waterfall of books tumbled down and landed on top of him.

  “Charles!” Marcie wailed. She helped Charlie Brown out of the pile of books. Getting the 1,225-page copy of War and Peace out of the library wasn’t going to be easy, but Charlie Brown was determined. Snoopy and Woodstock came to help him.

  First, they pushed the book down the library steps. It fell right at the feet of Lucy.

  “Big book. How are you going to get it home, smarty-pants?” she asked.

  Charlie Brown pulled up a wooden sled. He opened up the book and flipped it over onto the sled.

  “Pretty smart,” Lucy said as Charlie Brown pulled the sled away, and then she slapped her hand over her mouth. No! She was not going to become one of Charlie Brown’s fans.

  Charlie Brown pulled the sled down the street. He came to the top of a hill, and the sled pulled away from him. He quickly jumped on it as the sled slid down the hill, over bumps and dips in the street. Snoopy came sledding down next to him, riding his dog dish.

  Bump! The sled lurched, and the book slid off! Charlie Brown reached out to grab it, but the book was just out of reach.

  Bump! The sled hit the bottom of the hill and soared, landing on a frozen river. So did the book! Charlie Brown zipped across the ice at super speed, but he still couldn’t reach the book.

  Zoom! Charlie Brown launched off the frozen river and into his neighborhood. He came to a slow stop in his backyard. Behind him, the book shot across the snowy lawn like a freight train.

  Bam! The book hit Charlie Brown, and they both went flying into his house.

  It was Friday afternoon. Charlie Brown had until Monday to read the book and write the report. As soon as he finished dinner, he sat in a comfy c
hair and slammed the book open on a table in front of him.

  “ ‘War and Peace,’ ” he read aloud. “Page one. ‘En bien, mon prince, so Genoa—’”

  Zzzzzzzzz! Charlie Brown fell asleep right in the middle of the sentence! His head slammed down onto the book.

  When he woke up, sun was streaming through the front window, and his friends were banging on the glass.

  “Hey, Charlie Brown, come out and play!” Shermy called out. He was surrounded by kids holding their skates and hockey sticks.

  Charlie Brown walked to the window, and his friends cheered. But he closed the curtains and went back to his chair.

  “Okay, where was I?” he wondered, and he started reading again. “ ‘. . . took a horse from a commander, and hungry and weary . . .’ ”

  Charlie Brown read the book all day Saturday. He read it in the kitchen while he ate his lunch. He read it in the bathroom while he took a bath and brushed his teeth.

  On Sunday he started reading as soon as he woke up. He settled into the living room again. When he looked up, he saw a bunch of kids sitting in chairs on his lawn, watching him read. Frustrated, he walked into his bedroom.

  “Okay, show’s over!” Sally told the crowd outside. “Clear out!”

  Charlie Brown was still reading when the sun set on Sunday night. He was exhausted as he croaked out the last sentence.

  “ ‘. . . and to recognize a dependence we do not feel. The End.’ ”

  He closed the book. “I did it!” he said proudly. But he wasn’t quite finished. He still had to write the report!

  Charlie Brown started by writing down notes on index cards. Then he tacked all the cards to his wall. He used a red string to connect the ideas. His wall started to look like a crazy spiderweb.

  “If only she could see me now!” Charlie Brown exclaimed.

  Finally, he was ready to start writing his report. Miss Othmar had said the report was supposed to be a thousand words.

  This is my book report about War and Peace, he began. Then he counted the words. Nine!