Sam Puckett wasn't too thrilled about repeating the third grade, but it wasn't really her choice. Plus, it had its perks. For one, she learned how much fun it was to beat kids up. It was better than letting everyone call her stupid, and she found she was quite good at it. For another, she met her best friend Carly, which meant she had someone to hang out with. Plus, Carly always had plenty of food at lunch, making Sam no longer dependent on that little Freddie. In fact, she stopped thinking about the boy altogether. Until the last day of school, that is.

On the last day, as was tradition, all three third grade classrooms went on a joint field trip to the zoo. At the beginning of the day everyone broke into groups, five kids per chaperone. Carly and Sam were assigned to the group led by Mrs. Benson which meant they would be spending the day with Freddie. The other two kids they were with, Kyle Broder and Sarah Larson, were relatively quiet. They were also cousins and got along really well. Which meant they pretty much kept to themselves for the extent of the trip.

Throughout the day Sam was her usual self; pestering the animals, throwing her food at other classmates during lunch. Carly took it all in stride, but Sam could tell Freddie was finding her behavior unexpected and unwanted. Mrs. Benson was very concerned about much of Sam's conduct and spent most of her time reprimanding the trouble-maker for various things. On a couple of occasions Mrs. Benson made comments about "what has your mother been teaching you?" or "What would your mother have to say about that?" None of the comments made Sam very happy. Who was this crazy woman to tell her what was and was not acceptable, and why did she have to bring up her mother? In the end Sam decided the best way to deal with it would be to ignore it. So that's what she did.

Later, while standing outside the gorilla pen, Sam was eating her banana from lunch while Mrs. Benson was standing in the shade a couple of meters away making sure Sarah and Kyle were properly hydrated and sunscreened (they were starting to look a little red). Sam had only taken a couple of bites of her banana when she wondered if the gorilla would like a taste.

"Hey King Kong, you hungry?" She yelled at one of the quiet beasts.

"What are you going to do Sam?" Freddie asked nervously.

"Gorillas like bananas, right?"

"Don't Sam." Carly quietly urged.

"Yeah, you can't Sam. Don't you see the sign? It says not to throw anything into the habitat, especially food."

"You worry too much, Freddo." Sam quickly tossed the banana into the gorilla's pen. Immediately a zookeeper approached the three kids.

"Which one of you threw the banana?"

"Her. It was her!" Freddie yelled excitedly, repeatedly pointing at Sam.

Twenty minutes later, after getting a stern lecture from Mrs. Benson, the three kids found themselves standing right inside the entrance to the park while inside the zoo offices Mrs. Benson and one of the classroom teachers were discussing what to do about the situation. Kyle and Sarah had been handed off to another, less troublesome, group.

Carly was leaning against the exterior wall of the park offices. Sam was a few feet away trying to step on a pigeon. Her cousin told her if you sneak up on them diagonally they can't see you coming. She was testing it out. Freddie, angry his field trip was cut short, marched up to Sam and demanded answers.

"Why did you do it Sam? How did your mother raise you?"

It was one thing for Mrs. Benson to attack her mother, but when Freddie did it, it really struck a nerve. "Don't even mention my mother. There's nothing wrong with my mom."

Freddie was quickly biting off more than he could chew. "Yeah, then why can't she pack a lunch?"

It was mean. Freddie knew that, but what he didn't know was to what extent Sam had hardened up during her second time in third grade, and he had no idea what kind of a response his badgering would produce. He quickly found out.

Sam punched Freddie square in the face and laid him out flat. Carly heard the thud and immediately ran over.

"Sam! What's wrong with you?"

"Aw, come on. The dork's been begging for it all day. You've seen his mom."

Right then both girls saw his mom again as she came rushing to her son's side.

Sam spent the first three weeks of her summer in summer school in-school-suspension. Freddie spent his in bed.