Read Jasper John Dooley, NOT in Love for Free Online Page A

collection.
    â€œNo!”

    Jasper slammed the lid closed before she could blow all the lint out of the box.
    He pulled his desk chair over to his bookshelf and stood on it so he could put his collection on the top shelf. He was so so so so mad again.
    â€œOkay! Let’s jump!” Isabel said, standing on the bed.
    Jasper remembered the trampoline he was going to get for his birthday if he was nice to Isabel until her nanny picked her up. When he remembered, he wasn’t mad anymore. He jumped on the bed with Isabel until she said, “This is boring.”
    â€œWhat do you want to do instead?” Jasper asked.
    â€œLet’s wrestle!”
    â€œHey!” Jasper cried as Isabel pulled him down by the leg.
    She sat on his back and bounced up and down, making the air
pfft-pfft-pfft
out of him and not come back in. Jasper knew then that he would never get a trampoline.
Pfft-pfft-pfft!

He would never get a trampoline because he couldn’t —
pfft-pfft-pfft!
— be nice to Isabel until her nanny picked her up.
    He’d be dead by then.
    Jasper thought of Ms. Tosh. How did she keep not only Isabel but all the kids in the class from throwing books on the floor and bouncing on each other?
    She did it by talking to them in a voice they had to obey.
    â€œIsabel!” Jasper said. “You’ve disrupted us enough for one day!”
    And Isabel stopped.
    Jasper sat up and breathed some air. What else? What else did Ms. Tosh do to keep control?
    She gave seatwork.
    Jasper pointed to the chair. “Isabel? Will you please sit down?”
    Isabel sat on the chair. Jasper got up and cleared space on his desk, which was piled with toys. On the bookshelf, he found some puzzle books. “Here. Do this page.”
    He tapped the book twice with his finger, the way Ms. Tosh did, so that Isabel would focus.
    â€œOkay,” she said. “Do you have a pencil?”
    Jasper couldn’t find a pencil anywhere. “You stay in your seat, Isabel,” he said, backing out of the room.
    â€œI will,” Isabel promised.
    He ran to the kitchen, where there were pens in a jar by the phone. He was surprised that Isabel was still in the chair when he got back. She took the pen and started on the crossword puzzle. Jasper opened another puzzle book and sat on the bed to connect the dots.
    â€œDone!” Isabel sang before Jasper had even connected half the dots.
    He got up to check her work. Isabel had filled the little squares like this:

    Isabel asked, “Do you know what
X
and
O
mean, Jasper?”
    â€œNo,” Jasper said.
    â€œ
X
is a kiss.
O
is a hug.”
    â€œWhat letter is a lick?” Jasper asked.
    â€œA lick?” Isabel laughed. “Jasper John, you’re so funny!” She snatched Jasper’s puzzle book out of his hand. “Connect-the-dots! I love connect-the-dots! Connect my dots, Jasper.”
    She held out her arm.
    â€œOkay,” Jasper said.
    They sat on the floor together. Jasper put the tip of his pen on one freckle and drew a straight line to another. He had no idea what he was drawing. He was just connecting Isabel’s dots. Soon he saw a picture coming.
    â€œA sailboat!” Isabel sang. “You’re good at drawing, Jasper. Draw a dog on this arm. Draw Rollo.”
    She held out her other arm and Jasper connected the dots to make a dog.
    Isabel laughed. Jasper laughed. Then Isabel stretched out on the floor so Jasper could connect more of her dots. She had so so so many dots on her stomach.
    The doorbell rang. Mom didn’t hear it from the basement, so Jasper went to answer it. Isabel followed him.
    â€œWhere’s your mom?” she asked.
    â€œShe’s working.”
    â€œWhat does she do?”
    â€œRight now she’s writing a book,” Jasper said.
    â€œA book! What kind of book? A kids’ book?”
    â€œA small, blue book.”
    Jasper opened the door. It was Mandy. “Already?” he