Can a really insecure kid hide behind jokes all the time?
Gary Boone is a seventh grader at Floyd Hicks Junior High School. The other kids call him “Goon” and he has just sort of accepted that name for himself. Gary is sort of small for his age and is used to being pushed around by the other bigger guys. Girls don’t take him very seriously either. He has learned to cover up his insecurity by telling jokes all the time – really corny jokes. He claims he wants to be a stand-up comic when he grows up. He’s just practicing a lot while he is still young. There was one girl named Angeline Persopolis who was the smartest kid in the whole school. She thought Gary was really funny and cracked up over about anything he said. But she was the exception. Besides, she was so smart that she was being sent away to a special school for gifted kids. A talent show was being planned for the school. A $100 prize would be awarded the winner. Naturally, Gary was the first one to sign up. He was going to win the prize and show all the other kids he really wasn’t a g
